A complete trekking along "Zard-Kouh" ridge by Araki mountaineers

A group of four mountaineers from "Arak" city succeeded to climb "Zard-Kouh" ridge, a long layer of Zagros Range in south west side of Iran.
"We started from "Cheri" Cole on July 15^th. It took us five days to reach "Haft-Tanan" summit through more than 40 peaks around 4000 meters. This is a long trekking in Zagros, SW of Iran. In some places we should descend as much as 700 meters and then took the way up on the opposite side. The highest point was "Kolounchi" peak, which was about 4221 meters," told one of the members, Mohammad Jalali.
"Zard-Kouh and several mountainous regions like that have passed over by Iranian mountaineers due to their increasing appetite for Himalaya, Karakoram and Pamir in recent years. It is the origin of "Karoon" and "Zayandeh-Roud", two large rivers in Iran. There are large glaciers, some with approximately 200 meters depth," Mohammad added.
Mohammad was accompanied by Ali-Reza Moradi, Mostafa Abbasi and Mehdi Mozafari in this 5-day trip. The only record of this trekking goes back to 1992 by Ebrahim Babaei and his decedent fiends Fereydoun Esmaeil-Zadeh, Jalal Raboki, Majid Bani-Hashemi and Ali Mohammad-Pour.

IMZ News Department
July 29, 2010

Tehran expeditions reached the bottom of Mt. Nun

Male and female expeditions of Tehran’s Mountaineering and Sport Climbing Council reached the bottom of Mt. Nun (7135 m) on Monday, July 26^th.
"There are two Indian and Spanish expeditions other than Tehran expeditions in base camp at 4600 meter," council’s official website reported.

IMZ News Department
July 27, 2010

Successful rescue efforts on Mt. Damavand

A 53-year old mountaineer rescued on Saturday, July 24^th 51 hours after his fall at 4800m on west side of Mt. Damavand.
The event occurred on July 22^nd, when Gholam-Husain Shah-Mir was getting back from Damavand summit (5671) on his 53^rd birthday. He had fallen down for less than 10 meters on a rocky slope. More than 50 mountaineers were on the west route but just a few of them went up for rescue. They just could put him in a sleeping bag and a safe place for future efforts. Besides, Air rescue was impossible in that altitude due to lack of well-equipped choppers.
However, a team of 3 alpinists reached the place at 7:30 a.m. on July 24^th. Thankfully to god, he was still alive. After first aid operations, Ghola-Husain was carried down by a group of approximately 20 mountaineers to west route’s BC around 3500 m at 6:30 p.m., where a helicopter evacuated him to hospital.

IMZ News Department
July 25, 2010

Tehran mountaineers getting nearer to Mt. Nun

Five days after leaving Iran, Tehran’s male and female expeditions hope to reach "Kargil", north side of India on July 22^nd.
"Arriving in New Delhi, Tehran mountaineers have visited Indian mountaineering federation before flying to "Leh". They had planned today to reach "Kargil", the last city to visit. Trekking toward the BC of Mt. Nun (7135m) will start in a day or two," told MSCCT’s head, Kaveh Kashefi.
Led by Mohammad-Reza Kafash, Tehran’s female and male expeditions include 4 women and 5 men picked up after an 8-round selection process. Expedition’s leader is assisted by two instructors, a doctor and a logistic supporter.

IMZ News Department
July 22, 2010

Mahmoud Hasan-Zadeh won veterans lead competition

Mamoud Hasan-Zadeh won the male veterans lead competition that was hold in memorial of Farshad Khalili on July 15^th at Taheri climbing gym of Tehran.
There were 11 climbers aged more than 35 from Tehran and Arak cities competing on qualifying route with 5.10bc grade, where 8 men managed a top and entered the second round. The second round has been assumed as the final but 3 climbers completely climbed a 5.11bc route and got neck and neck on points. Therefore Fatak Mousavi set a harder route as difficult as 5.12ab, where Abbas Mohammadi from Arak and Goudarz Nategh from Tehran respectively followed Mahmoud without any top out.
This competition had been organized by Mountaineering and Sport Climbing Council of Tehran (MSCCT).

IMZ News Department
July 21, 2010

Alpine Club of Iran holds 90^th monthly meeting

The 90^th monthly meeting of Alpine Club of Iran will start at 5:00 P.M. on July 21^st in "Shahryaran-e-Javan" culture hall.
According to ACI’s official website, the meeting will set by a presentation about a Farsi website that serves a room to everyone on internet to point out his opinions subjected to mountaineering. It is called "Wiki-Pakoob". Then this meeting goes on with a description about the International caving expedition in "Megalaya" region, NE of India, which was attended by erfan Fekri and Leila Esfandyari last February.

IMZ News Department
July 20, 2010

Iran’s 11^th National Climbing Championship: Elnaz Rekabi won Women’s bouldering

Iranian star climber, Elnaz Rekabi won women’s bouldering in 11^th national climbing championship, which is going on till July 23^rd at "Polour" climbing gym, southern side of Mt. Damavand.
"Women’s open bouldering competition started on July 19^th with almost 40 climbers from 13 provinces vying in qualification round and finished this evening, where 6 climbers were competing to achieve more tops on final routes. The finalists were Elnaz Rekabi and Farnaz Esmaeel-Zadeh both from Zanjan, Nasrin Abdol-Rahimi from Tehran, Sayeh Tajalizadeh and Fatemeh Jafari from Kerman and Negar Varshowchi from Hamedan," said comp’s spokeswoman, roya Fardi, "and it was Elnaz, who topped bouldering podium. She followed by Nasrin, the winner of 10^th championship and Sayeh."

IMZ News Department
July 20, 2010

Iran’s 11^th National Climbing Championship: Men"s speed on July 15^th

At the end of men’s speed competition in 11th national climbing championship that was held in four age groups on July 15^th, 6 climbers from Khorasan-Razavi province took half of distributed medals.
Speed was the last competition in men’s category where 17 climbers in Youth A, 10 climbers in Youth B, 19 juniors and 22 adults were competing to achieve national team’s membership and that made the competition so challenging. The final results are given in the table below.
Also Khorasan-Razavi, Kerman and Zanjan provinces respectively tiered higher than the other 20 teams in men’s category.

IMZ News Department
July 19, 2010

Esmaeel Motehayer-Pasand died of heart stroke

Iran’s big wall climbing veterans, Esmaeel Motehayer-Pasand died of heart attack on July 15^th, while trying to pass the entrance test for Level-2 rock climbing instructor’s course in Pol-e-Khab climbing resort.
Despite a bypass surgery he had undertaken a few years ago, but Esmaeel’s tendency to push his climbing limits was not seriously affected. Born in 1968, his fame in iran’s mountaineering society was due to a few outstanding experiences such as membership in Iran’s national expedition to Mt. Rakapushi (1997), membership in Azad university’s expedition to Mont Blanc (2001) and Kilimanjaro (2003), opening a new route on northern wall of Alam-Kouh in winter (2001), opening a new route on western wall of Alam-Kouh (2008), opening a new route on Bistoon Wall (2007/2008), opening a new route on "Ab-e-Ask" Wall (2007) and instructing several courses with the theme of "Search and Rescue".

IMZ News Department
July 16, 2010

Two position changes in Mountaineering and Sport Climbing Federation

Passing more than 1 month after Iqbal Aflaki’s resignation, Hadi Saberi was appointed by MSCFI’s head, Mahmoud Shoaei as federation’s interim secretary.
At the same time with Iqbal, Homayoun Bakhtiari had also resigned from MSCFI’s committee of foreign affairs, where an unknown person named "Mohammad Fahimi" has served as committee head since end of last June.
But contrary to Mohammad Fahimi, 36-year old Hadi Saberi is a well-known person in Iran’s mountaineering society. He was the technical authority of Haft-Khan mountaineering group in Karaj city during last few years and also had the membership of Iran’s national expedition to Dhaulagiri last spring. He is also a teacher recruited by ministry of education since 1996.

IMZ News Department
July 15, 2010

Iran’s 11^th National Climbing Championship: Men"s speed on July 15^th

Men’s speed competition in Iran’s 11^th National Climbing Championship will be held tomorrow, July 15^th in four age groups at "Davoudi" climbing gym of Tehran.
According to competition’s manager, Mohammad Tabibi, qualification round is supposed to start at 9:00 A.M., July 15^th with 68 climbers from 12 provinces vying on the new mounted speed climbing wall in "Davoudi" gym.
Also it is worth noting that just male spectators are allowed to take part.

IMZ News Department
July 14, 2010

Summit on Nanga-Parbat: Azim bagged his 4^th 8000ers

Having gone by just 14 days after arriving in BC, Azim Gheychi-Saz topped out Mt. Nanaga-Parbat (8125 m) on Saturday, July 10^th.
According to MSCFI’s official website, Azim has gotten to the summit along with Nepalese brothers, Mingma and Dava and also three Korean climbers at 14:00 (local time) and has dispatched his summit when back in C4.
Prior to Nanga-Parbat, 29-year old Azim Gheychi-Saz has summited Everest (2005), Broad-Peak (2008) and Dhaulagiri (2010).

IMZ News Department
July 11, 2010

Iran’s 11^th National Climbing Championship: End results of men’s lead

Ahmad-Reza Solgi, Khosrow Hashem-Zadeh and Davoud Rekabi took the first place of men’s lead respectively in Youth A, Junior and Adults groups in Iran’s 11^th National Climbing Championship.
"Thursday, July 8^th, in the evening the final round of lead competitions were held among respectively 10 and 13 entrants in Youth A and Junior group. The route was set as difficult as 5.13a, more challenging than qualifying routes and no one manage a top," Said competitions’ head judge, Babak Zia.
Adult’s semi-Final route was as same as Youth final with 27 climbers competing on. At the end 8 climbers entered the final round without just one top out. Therefore another 5.13a was set for the final to determine the winner and that was Davoud Rekabi, who gripped higher hold than the others and repeated his championship like in 2009.

The champions of each age group are listed in the following table.

Azim Gheychi-Saz in C4 on Nanga-Parbat, hopping for summit today

Spending last night in C4 on Kinshhofer route, Azim Gheychi-Saz will put his effort to summit Nanga-Parbat today if everything specially the weather condition goes right.
According to MSCFI’s official website, Azim has set up C3 and C4 during last two days with summit push in his mind for Saturday, July 10^th.

IMZ News Department
July 10, 2010

Iran’s 11^th National Climbing Championship: End of men’s lead comps in Youth B

Iran’s 11^th National Lead Climbing comps got finished in men’s Youth B group where 34 climbers had participated to take national team’s membership for 2010 Asian Youth Champ.
"In youth B final round, none of the 10 entrants managed a top on a route 5.12a route but Mohammad-Husain Dast-Ranj from Kermanshah, who fell on the same hold that the second champ fell, took the first position in final ranking due to his superb performance in qualification round that resulted in 2 top out on both qualifying routes. Following him, Mohammad Reza Big-Deli and Hamed bagheri both from Zanjan took the silver and bronze medals. At the same time, Adults’ qualification was held on a 5.12a route in Flash style, where 27 out of 46 entrants were admitted to compete in semi-final round," told MSCFI’s representative, Mohammad Tabibi.

IMZ News Department
July 8, 2010

Azim arrived in C2 on Nanga-Parbat

Kinshofer route’s second camp saw Azim Gheychi-Sazand along with Nepalese brothers, Mingma and Dava again on Wednesday, July 7^th.
"Azim and his friends could eventually exit BC after one week and directly went to C2. They were hoping to arrive at C3 today," MSCFI’s official website reported.

IMZ News Department
July 8, 2010

Iran’s 11^th National Climbing Championship: 173 climbers registered for men’s lead

Iran’s 11^th National Lead climbing champs in men’s category started this morning at "Polour" climbing gym with 173 attendees in four age groups.
"Just in a couple of hours, 173 climbers from 23 provinces registered for lead comps in youth A,B, Junior and Adults age groups. It is a shocking record since the beginning of Iran’s climbing competitions. Qualification has been started among 130 climbers belong to Youth A,B and Junior groups since this morning on two different routes with difficulty grades of 5.11ab and 5.12ab and the ranking will be set based on total point amassed from both qualifiers," Mohammad Tabibi told IMZ News.
Adults’ qualification has been postponed to Thursday, July 8^th.

IMZ News Department
July 7, 2010

Iran’s 11^th National Climbing Championship: End results of men’s bouldering

Iran’s 11^th National Climbing Championship started on Monday, July 5^th at Polour climbing gym, where Gholam-Ali Barat-Zadeh won men’s bouldering after a two-day contest.
"Thirty seven climbers from 18 provinces took part in bouldering’s qualification, where 20 of them were validated for semi-final round after attempting on 5 various routes. In the second round another 4 problems were set, where Gholam-Ali Barat-Zadeh, Hamid-Reza Touzand-e-Jani, Khosrow Hashem-Zadeh all from Khorasan Razavi, Sobhan Jafari from Kerman, Masoud Ghasemi from Tehran and Arash Doustdarian from Luristan entered final round," said MSCFI’s representative, Mohammad Tabibi.
This evening, July 6^th bouldering’s final comps were held on 4 new routes and Gholam-Ali, Hamid Reza and Sobhan respectively took first prizes.

IMZ News Department
July 6, 2010

Bad weather reported from Nanga-Parbat and K2

Iranian Leila Esfandyari and Azim Gheychi-Saz have sit out bad weather on K2 and Nanga-Parbat since last few days.
"Azim has left C2 downward on Wednesday, June 30^th due to bad weather coming. He is still in BC along with his Nepalese friends and hopes weather improvement in two or three days," MSCFI’s official website reported.
Same weather condition has reported from K2, where Leila Esfandyari and her two high altitude porters (HAP) are waiting for snow to stop.

IMZ News Department
July 4, 2010

Tehran’s expeditions will be led by Mohammad Reza Kaffash

A group of five people were picked by Mountaineering and Sport Climbing Council of Tehran (MSCCT) to accompany Tehran’s men and women expeditions during their attempt on Mt. Nun.
"Both teams will be led by Mohammad Reza Kaffash, who is assisted by Mohammad Naderian, Younes Reza-Khani, Masoud Hamidi (doctor) and Jafar Naseri (logistic support)," told head of MSCCT, Kaveh Kashefi.
Mohammad Reza Kaffash was the leader of Tehran’s women expedition on Spantik last summer, where all members got to the top via normal route.

IMZ News Department
July 3, 2010

The 5^th joint expedition of Iranian mountain bloggers

The 5^th joint expedition of Iranian mountain bloggers known as "pen" expedition will be held on Mt. Mehrchal (3192m) on July 22^nd and 23^rd .
"Born in 2006, Pen expedition is an independent movement by Iranian mountain bloggers, who like to meet each other in their beloved places. For the fifth time it has been planned to summit one of the 3000ers in middle Alborz range near Tehran, which is sponsored by "Haft Gohar" company and assisted by "Lavasan" mountaineering group," told expedition organizer, Erfan Fekri.

IMZ News Department
July 1, 2010

Leila setup C1 on K2, Azim thinking of C3 on Daimir face

Iranian climbers on Pakistani 8000ers took the way up the base camps in K2 and Nanga-Parbat early this week.
"Leila has set up C1 on Abbruzi spur along with a train of mountaineers on Sunday, June 27^th and descent back to BC the next day. She is still looking for proper weather window to resume," Iranianchallengers reported.
"The route smells very dangerous, fixed lines are very old and surely need repairing," Leila told on her call.
Also on Diamir side of Nanga-Pabat, it looks that joining with two Nepalese has revealed Azim’s abilities much more than before.
"Azim along with his Nepalese mates spent last night in C2 (6000m) just two days after arrival in BC and were planning to reach C3(7100m) in coming days." MFI reported.

IMZ News Department
June 30, 2010

"Bistoon" wall is going to host world’s big wall climbers

French GHM organization along with Mountaineering Federation and Alpine Club of Iran is going to hold an international big wall climbing festival on "Bistoon" gigantic wall from October 16^th to 22^nd.
"Suggested by GHM, this festival is a good opportunity for worldwide popularization of "Bistoon" limestone wall with 1200m height and 9km length located near Kermanshah, west of Iran. Till now 30 European and 2 American climbers have been invited. We like this festival to be cooperation between Iranian and foreign climbers to set new routes on the wall and also to check old routes from the sense of safety," said festival organizer, Ebrahim Notash.
He added: "climbers will be accommodated in an ancient inn at the foot of "Bistoon" wall, which had been abandoned for several years. It gets revived by Iran’s cultural heritage and tourism organization for the coming festival."

IMZ News Department
June 29, 2010

Leila Esfandyari set up her BC on K2

After a 7-day trek from Skardu, Iranian female climber Leila Esfandyari arrived in base camp on K2 yesterday, June 21^st.
"Tuesday will be my rest day and I will walk into ABC on Wednesady, June 23^rd," she said on a short call to Iranianchallengers.com.

IMZ News Department
June 22, 2010

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