The story of the ascent to koloon bastak from west ridge

Koloon bastak is still a beautiful mountain

-"arezoo,try not to sleep?"and shake him to wake her up. -"I'm awake"and cringe herself from the cold. Time is 10,22 Friday night.wind is intensly blowing and throw the powder of snow inside the snow room. -"mohammad!let me try once again to contact our friends,let me see where they are?"and started searching for the cell phone in her clothing,but serching did not working. -"mohammad!haven't you seen my cell phone?"and start murmuring."damn it!it seems it has lost" I and mohammad saboori started searching too.we diged the snow below us but there was no cell phone. -"In the last time I had put it in my clothing to keep it warm" Silence,wind howling,cold and searching again. We got tired of searcjing. -"doesn't matter.skip it.arezoo!go inside . move a bit ,let me see this corner. _"I can't . I'm really cold." -"you should move.hurry.move your fingers." …

Time is about 11,30 at night.whole three of us has gathered together and has drawn the cover of our backpacks on our faces.under this cover there is a warmth of the vapor of inspiration that little by little melt the ice sticked to our hair and hats. -"it's very good we have these headlights.without light it would be worse than this." -"yes" And still silence .the only constant is the howling of the wind. We try to sing an ancient song. I have worn a good gore-tex and a powerful polar and snug pants ,but still feeling cold .taking the cover of my face I see about 2 cm of new snow covered our feet that has come with the wind .still have to move and sing to feel warm.

-"here it is the cell phone .it was in the sleeve of my clothing .let me call and see where our friends are?" And start dialing. -"hi ramin .where are you?" -a bit silence and then: -"16 persons?" And we get confused! -"hello…hello…disconnect again ."intense cold make the battery of cell phone go off in some seconds. 16 of our friends are coming to help and bring warm drinking .we don't know to become happy or become ashamed .these many of friends?!

Taking out the baclpack out of new snow and stick to my body to prevent the wind and snow but it seems that the snow storm is more purposeful. -"how is it going arezoo?" -"feeling so cold." I'm calling mohammad to make sure that he is not sleep.it was about half an hour ago that he left us to dig in the snow to cover himself some meters away from us in another side of this small gorge. Maybe he can't hear me.this time louder and he answeres.i come out of our snowy shelter and go toward him.in some seconds all my clothes start freezing.gore-tex's zip has freezed and doesn't work. I should back to the wind. -"how is it going on here?" -"it is better here.snow is not coming inside with the wind." -"so let us join." -"it's very narrow here." -"ok.let's make it bigger." And start working on it.we try to make blocks with the pick to make it easier to send them out.we put the blocks in front of the entrance that faces west this time.wind direction has changed and we have to make this snow room toward west.the main problem is that we can't make this one so big.from one side is a stone and from another side is a snow cover! Time is about 1 in midnight and this moving make us warm.

Koloon bastak(koloon baste)is a 4200m. height peak that is positioned in the central alborz ridge.the weather condition is usually unstable and the main property of this mountain can be the intense wind that is blowing from west and north-west.
South and south-west foothills are positioned totally in Tehran province and overlooking the roodbar ghasran zone and the runny of this foothill is the jajorood river that fanaly goes to latian dam and provide a part of drinking water in Tehran and the requested water for agricultural reasons in varamin field.also the valley of velayat rood river ,in east to west direction,is passing from the north of this peak and along the ridge of the mountains of harzekooh it goes on and after reaching to the foothills of sechal peak ,goes to the south and after passing from the west and north-west foothills of koloon bastak ,it changes direction to the west.actually,velayat rood as the runny of the north and west foothills of koloon bastak,after joining with varangrood and shaping karaj river,provides another part of the drinking water of Tehran. South,east,west and north-west foothills are the main foothills of this mountain and two last ones gather together in high altitude and reaches the top from north-west. Normal route to reach the top of koloon bastak is from southern foothill that from this route it is possible to reach the summit in all seasons that doesn't request a long and tough climbing and from the 3280m. height dizin gorge in one day.maybe according to this easy access to reach the top from this gorge,reaching the summit of koloon bastak is considered as one the easiest 4000m. ascents in alborz. Eastern foothill is connecting to the east-west ridge of koloon bastak-sarakchal and is one of ridge passing routes in central alborz that has been passed in different seasons as a classic ridge ascent.
But this time our rout was the west foothill that has absorbed my interest during some ascents to sechal(3950m.) in the west of koloon bastak.as far as I pursued ,there hasn't been a documentary and epistle ascent from this rout.this foothill is starting from the bottom of the valley of velayat rood in the west of koloon bastak with a bank and in an altitude of about 3500m. it reaches a stony vein that seems like a sleepy wall beside the western stony vein.height of the stony part here is between 100 and 150m. that its ascent doesn't seem so hard at first glance.frozen snow between stones and unstable holds and falling stones and passing from the narrow ….. full of hard snow are some problems of passing here.before reaching this part ,it was 3,5 hours………. from dizin parking to the start point of west foothill and 2,5 ……..to here has mad eus so tired.here for 5 hours challenging with these unstable stones is adding to the othe rdifficulties of the ascent.it should be noticed that in the previous detection program and from the pictures,it was expected that passing this part may take about 2 hours from us.

Time ha spassed 5 in the evening and we have passed the stony part of the route. We are somehow worried about the time and the appointment that we have with hosein zanbagh.he left us before challenging with the stony part and returned.he said that he would wait for us in dizin parking beside the car. Challenging with the stony part took more time than we expected. So far the weather was excellent,sunny but cold. Getting near to sundown time,weather is getting so cold and an intense wind is blowing from south and south-west. We are passing a slope that conducts us to the north-west foothill and to the ridge ending to the top. Wind is blowing faster and faster and the slope is not finishing.

We are on the ridge toward the peak and going through east.our vision is not clear because of the mist.there is less than one hour to the peak and then descending from southern foothill. But it doesn't seem logical to go on.we are stepping on the narrow foothill of north-west and the intense wind is unbalancing us.it has been more than 15 hours of rough climbing.regarding the so low temperature-min. 25 degree centigrade- our drinkings are all frozen and useless.staying here without sleeping bag and even without mat seems horrible. Thinking a little and we have to choose between bad and worse. -"we will stay for the night.let's dig for snow room."

-"mohammad,wake up,how is your feet and hands?haven't your fingers of your feet feeling cold?"and shake me heavily. Between feeling sleepy and being awake idon't know what to reply but they make me get out and move. I'm not sleepy anymore and now that I consider that the condition of my feet and my hands is not bad but how can I convince them!start murmuring for myself"damn it!no one has awakened me at 3 o'clock in the morning to do some sports in this horrible coldness."

This damned seconds don't pass. We need some drinking and the only one that is not frozen is a Nescafe in the flask.but it is so cold and bitter that make you vomit.i try to pick a part of jam that is frosted with my teeth .oh! it doesn't taste bad.and another bite. -"what time is it?" -"5 o'clock"

Outside the snow room is the light of sun.we are getting out.there is a mist everywhere.some steps farther still wind blowing intensely.we hear voices unclearly that is lost in the howl of wind.we scream but there is no response.we made mistake.we are staring at the top.we can't see more than 10 meters.hesitating to go on or wait for our friends. The mist has thinned and we can see the shape of the stony foothill the conduct us to the peak.distance is not so much but needs so much considering.intense wind and the falling risk from the northern part of this foothill makes us wait for the clear sky. Our telephone connection with our friend is disconnected.

Time has passed from 8 but the mist is not thinning. Suddenly we can see the peak and some small human shapes.clouds are gone and we can shake our hands for our friends. Half an hour later we and our friends are embracing eachother.we are all happy and drinking hot tea unfreezes us. We wear the clothes that they have brought.we have to hurry and pack and leave. It is less than an hour to the peak and our friends are standing between the way toward the peak and waiting.

Now we are on the peak.damavand can be seen in distance and it seems like a dreaming picture. My camera is still working but I'm afraid of chilblain of my fingers.it's not worth loosing the fingers for getting picture.

We are on the way back and I remember that it is the second time that koloon bastak stings me. First time was in tir 1377(july 1998) that I experienced the power of lightning and the terrible danger of thunderbolt on the peak of koloon bastak and this time I managed to survive from the killing coldness. I should take care of the third time. Koloon bastak is a mountain that has taught me a lot.it's a very tough mountain with an unstable weather condition that has sting me twice.i should take care more than this.

But for me koloon bastak is still a beautiful mountain.

Members:arezoo asadian-mohammad hajabolfath-hosein zanbagh-mohammad saboori Time of the program:19 & 20 of day 82(jan. 2004) "this program report is presented to all our friends that in midnight of 19 day 1382 in a time distance less than 12 hours reached the zone to help us."