At 7 a.m. Mahsoud is here again making breakfast. There's fried eggs, pita bread, feta cheese, carrot jam and of course tea. The breakfast of course is not only for me, but for everyone else, working up here. There's the mule-guys, carrying the luggage for the tourists and the food to the base camp III and the trash down again. Also the Jeep driver, who earn good money with transport of luggage and tourists up here to Gusfandsara. Also guides that take tourists (mostly Iranians) to Mount Damavand.
I just see the mountain in clouds today, but it's already impressive how high he is. I'm at 3000 meters already. After breakfast the baggage I don't need goes into Mahsouds metal hut and the bicycle gets a lok. He promises me that he will put it in his metal hut each night, so it can´t get stolen. All my valuables I take with me.
The view of the surrounding mountains from here is just terrific, especially when the sun is still low and the mountains throw long shadows into the valleys.
And then I start walking with my backpack, tent, sleeping bag and mattress. The BaseCamp III and starting point for the summit storm is located at 4200 meters. On the way there, I meet mostly Iranians who at the weekends try to climb Damavand. Most of them don´t succeed. I see a woman who is completely worn out and her husband even has to carry her backpack in addition to his own. She will never make it further than to BaseCamp III. People greet me with the sentence "khaste nabushid", which means "don´t get tired". Everyone asks me, where I am from. One man offers me candy from Esfahan. I've forgotten the name of the candy, but it tastes a bit like Turkish honey with pistachios in it. Somewhat too much rose water is in it.
It takes me about 6 hours to reach BaseCamp III. I actually feel quite good with the height. There are already some tents on the prepared platforms and I choose a place, far away from the other tents, because I don't want to wake up from some snoring neighbor. Unfortunately it does not stay like this, because by night a lot of people arrive. It's getting pretty crowded up here at Persian weekends.
First of all I put up my tent and then walk up to the hut. They offer tea and a tasty soup, everything for around €2.50. From Mahsoud I bought 2 bananas, I have the sweets from Esfahan, 3 packs of nuts I brought from Germany, that's it. I wanted to ask somebody for the toilet, which turns out to be unnecessary because you only need to follow the stench. Wow, I have not seen a worst toilet ever in my life. It is housed in a stone building. There are about 5 toilets, iranian style of course. But that's not the worst. First the stench is almost unbearable, second there is just a hole in the metal plate on the ground and one should look not so closely, because down below there are piles of shit from the people who went there before me. If you have seen the movie "Slumdog Millionaire" and are remembering the scene where the boy jumps into the toilet full of shit, you can imagine how it looks here. A pity that I cannot send you the smell by mail. Sink and soap are not existent. Outside there are two large rain barrels with water, where you can wash your hands with a smaller container. From this barrels, you are supposed to the smaller jug, take it to the toilet and somehow clean the hole after you are done. Some people even are not able to hit the hole right and you have to take good care of where you walk. I start rolling up my pants up before entering. You can only lock two toilet stalls. It seems odd to me, that men and women are not separated here. It also seems as if nobody up here cares about scarves and the islamic clothing-regulations anymore.
After having experienced my first visit to the toilet in the mountains it is almost dark. I buy a bottle of water and then go to my tent.
The alarm clock is set to 5:45 a.m., because I want to start the hike before sunrise. Above me there are a lot of clouds and it gets very cold after the sun sets. But my sleeping bag is really warm but I still have to sleep with my softshell pants and a long sport top. Of course everyone keeps talking very loudly until late at night and you are not able to sleep. So I get my earplugs out to get at least a few hours sleep.
I just see the mountain in clouds today, but it's already impressive how high he is. I'm at 3000 meters already. After breakfast the baggage I don't need goes into Mahsouds metal hut and the bicycle gets a lok. He promises me that he will put it in his metal hut each night, so it can´t get stolen. All my valuables I take with me.
The view of the surrounding mountains from here is just terrific, especially when the sun is still low and the mountains throw long shadows into the valleys.
And then I start walking with my backpack, tent, sleeping bag and mattress. The BaseCamp III and starting point for the summit storm is located at 4200 meters. On the way there, I meet mostly Iranians who at the weekends try to climb Damavand. Most of them don´t succeed. I see a woman who is completely worn out and her husband even has to carry her backpack in addition to his own. She will never make it further than to BaseCamp III. People greet me with the sentence "khaste nabushid", which means "don´t get tired". Everyone asks me, where I am from. One man offers me candy from Esfahan. I've forgotten the name of the candy, but it tastes a bit like Turkish honey with pistachios in it. Somewhat too much rose water is in it.
It takes me about 6 hours to reach BaseCamp III. I actually feel quite good with the height. There are already some tents on the prepared platforms and I choose a place, far away from the other tents, because I don't want to wake up from some snoring neighbor. Unfortunately it does not stay like this, because by night a lot of people arrive. It's getting pretty crowded up here at Persian weekends.
First of all I put up my tent and then walk up to the hut. They offer tea and a tasty soup, everything for around €2.50. From Mahsoud I bought 2 bananas, I have the sweets from Esfahan, 3 packs of nuts I brought from Germany, that's it. I wanted to ask somebody for the toilet, which turns out to be unnecessary because you only need to follow the stench. Wow, I have not seen a worst toilet ever in my life. It is housed in a stone building. There are about 5 toilets, iranian style of course. But that's not the worst. First the stench is almost unbearable, second there is just a hole in the metal plate on the ground and one should look not so closely, because down below there are piles of shit from the people who went there before me. If you have seen the movie "Slumdog Millionaire" and are remembering the scene where the boy jumps into the toilet full of shit, you can imagine how it looks here. A pity that I cannot send you the smell by mail. Sink and soap are not existent. Outside there are two large rain barrels with water, where you can wash your hands with a smaller container. From this barrels, you are supposed to the smaller jug, take it to the toilet and somehow clean the hole after you are done. Some people even are not able to hit the hole right and you have to take good care of where you walk. I start rolling up my pants up before entering. You can only lock two toilet stalls. It seems odd to me, that men and women are not separated here. It also seems as if nobody up here cares about scarves and the islamic clothing-regulations anymore.
After having experienced my first visit to the toilet in the mountains it is almost dark. I buy a bottle of water and then go to my tent.
The alarm clock is set to 5:45 a.m., because I want to start the hike before sunrise. Above me there are a lot of clouds and it gets very cold after the sun sets. But my sleeping bag is really warm but I still have to sleep with my softshell pants and a long sport top. Of course everyone keeps talking very loudly until late at night and you are not able to sleep. So I get my earplugs out to get at least a few hours sleep.
In the middle of the night I awake, because there is a lot of wind. I put up my tent without the pegs, because the earth is too hard to get them in. But the tent stays steady, well of course I am in it :-)
But what is this noise? I can not believe it, I am in a country that consists mostly of desert and now I wake up to the sound of rain? It has gotten very cold and when I open the tent to look outside, I know what the sound was. That was no rain at all, it was snow. The sight of Mount Damavand is blocked by big clouds. But since I see some people with headlamps starting to hike, I also make myself ready to go. After a few hundred meters, people meet me again and telling me that there are thunderstorms and a snow storm up there and nobody should go today. It would be too dangerous.
I'm going back to my tent again, trying to sleep some more hours, but in the end it starts to thunder and light down here also and the snowstorm also hits the BaseCamp. When it´s over I go to the hut and have some tea with bread and cheese.
Around noon, the weather has become good enough for me to do a short acclimatization tour up to 5000 meters to a frozen waterfall. I meet 3 Austrians, with whom I had a talk the day before already. The 3 are totally crazy. They have carried their Mountainbikes up to the waterfall yesterday and wanted to climb up with the bikes to the top today to do a nice downhill to the BaseCamp. However, they have decided now that there is too much snow and went up to get their bikes back. So nobody can say now that I am the crazy person here.
Shortly before the waterfall at around 4800 meters, I enter the clouds it starts to be too windy and ice-cold. I don´t desire to go up into the clouds and turn around again. It was a good idea to do this hike as another acclimatization before trying to reach the summit. Hopefully, the weather will be better tomorrow.
When I get back to the tent, 3 Iranians next to me invite me for tea. That´s what I really need right now, because it has become quite cold. They also offer me the most delicious dates I've ever tasted. They also give me four limes, from which they make a delicious drink and take it for mountain climbing. Just add water and sugar. Totally yummy! From this small limes (similar to the limes we know, but still a little bit smaller and yellow like our lemons with a very soft skin), they make very nice dishes, cooking them or cut them in slices and eat it fresh. A great refreshment for hot days. We talk for a while and also the Austrians join us. One of the Iranians, an elderly man tells me "Sheikh no good, Hedschab no good! " I don´t comment on this.
For dinner, I have a nice and tasty soup in the BaseCamp. A kind of tomato soup with pasta and rice in it. It´s perfect for this cold weather.
I prepare everything for tomorrow then again, fill up my water supply, check out what I take with me to eat and then go to sleep.
Around midnight I'm awakened by thunder and lightning directly over my tent. I really can't believe it, is this actually happening? What is going on here? And then again we go with the snow storm and thunder. Just unbelievable. I dig out my GoPro to film it. Well, not really a movie, because actually it´s only thunder and the crackling of snow on my tent.
That can´t be true at all. What will I do tomorrow? Stay here for one more day doing nothing? I don´t like this idea, but I really want to try reaching the summit. That´s the reason I even flew here in August. Somebody told me today, that the weather will be good tomorrow. I don't know what kind of app he has used.
It remains exciting, stay tuned to find out what happens next.
But what is this noise? I can not believe it, I am in a country that consists mostly of desert and now I wake up to the sound of rain? It has gotten very cold and when I open the tent to look outside, I know what the sound was. That was no rain at all, it was snow. The sight of Mount Damavand is blocked by big clouds. But since I see some people with headlamps starting to hike, I also make myself ready to go. After a few hundred meters, people meet me again and telling me that there are thunderstorms and a snow storm up there and nobody should go today. It would be too dangerous.
I'm going back to my tent again, trying to sleep some more hours, but in the end it starts to thunder and light down here also and the snowstorm also hits the BaseCamp. When it´s over I go to the hut and have some tea with bread and cheese.
Around noon, the weather has become good enough for me to do a short acclimatization tour up to 5000 meters to a frozen waterfall. I meet 3 Austrians, with whom I had a talk the day before already. The 3 are totally crazy. They have carried their Mountainbikes up to the waterfall yesterday and wanted to climb up with the bikes to the top today to do a nice downhill to the BaseCamp. However, they have decided now that there is too much snow and went up to get their bikes back. So nobody can say now that I am the crazy person here.
Shortly before the waterfall at around 4800 meters, I enter the clouds it starts to be too windy and ice-cold. I don´t desire to go up into the clouds and turn around again. It was a good idea to do this hike as another acclimatization before trying to reach the summit. Hopefully, the weather will be better tomorrow.
When I get back to the tent, 3 Iranians next to me invite me for tea. That´s what I really need right now, because it has become quite cold. They also offer me the most delicious dates I've ever tasted. They also give me four limes, from which they make a delicious drink and take it for mountain climbing. Just add water and sugar. Totally yummy! From this small limes (similar to the limes we know, but still a little bit smaller and yellow like our lemons with a very soft skin), they make very nice dishes, cooking them or cut them in slices and eat it fresh. A great refreshment for hot days. We talk for a while and also the Austrians join us. One of the Iranians, an elderly man tells me "Sheikh no good, Hedschab no good! " I don´t comment on this.
For dinner, I have a nice and tasty soup in the BaseCamp. A kind of tomato soup with pasta and rice in it. It´s perfect for this cold weather.
I prepare everything for tomorrow then again, fill up my water supply, check out what I take with me to eat and then go to sleep.
Around midnight I'm awakened by thunder and lightning directly over my tent. I really can't believe it, is this actually happening? What is going on here? And then again we go with the snow storm and thunder. Just unbelievable. I dig out my GoPro to film it. Well, not really a movie, because actually it´s only thunder and the crackling of snow on my tent.
That can´t be true at all. What will I do tomorrow? Stay here for one more day doing nothing? I don´t like this idea, but I really want to try reaching the summit. That´s the reason I even flew here in August. Somebody told me today, that the weather will be good tomorrow. I don't know what kind of app he has used.
It remains exciting, stay tuned to find out what happens next.
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