Damavand: Roof of Persia

Overview

Damavand is the mountain of Persian myth — the 5,610 m volcano where the tyrant Zahhak was chained, presiding over every poem and banknote in Iran — and the highest peak in the Middle East. From the south it is a beautifully simple proposition: a village start at Polour, a 4x4 track to the mosque-hut at Goosfand Sara (3,040 m), a day's climb to the modern Bargah-e-Sevom refuge at 4,220 m, and a long summit morning up scree and snowfields to a crater rim that steams. The final 300 m brings the signature hazard: sulphur fumaroles pour gas across the route when the wind is wrong — time the last pitch for early morning, cover your face and do not linger. Otherwise the summer climb is non-technical — crampons for the frozen waterfall of Abshar-e-Yakhi at 5,100 m, honest altitude above. Tehran is two hours away, which makes the logistics strangely easy: local operators arrange the climbing permit, hut bookings, mules and a guide for about £750 for a five-day acclimatised ascent. June to September is the season. The reward for the paperwork of an Iranian visa is a great mountain with almost no Western crowds, tea served at 4,220 m and the Caspian forests glittering to the north.

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Prefilled for 1 June 2027 — the next best-season window. Search on partner sites — opens in a new tab.