Having co-operation of "Davoud Mohammadi Far", Iran Mountain Zone is going to publish short paragraphs from history of mountaineering in Iran in a weekly base. These paragraphs will be extracted from notes and following books of Mohammadi Far :
1. History of mountaineering in Iran - M.A. Ebrahimi & D. Mohammadi Far , 2003
2. A chronological history of Iran’s mountaineering and caving - D. Mohammadi Far , 2005
3. Mountain’s lady - D. Mohammadi Far , to be published
4. Directory of mountaineering and caving in Iran - D. Mohammadi Far , to be published
5. Calendar of mountaineering history in Iran - D. Mohammadi Far , to be published
References are in hand and are listed in mentioned books.

Website Manager ­ November 2006

Aban (eighth month in solar calendar, October 23 - November 21)

Aban 12^th, 1378 (November 3, 1999)
The 16^th International congress of Mountain Search and Rescue was held in 1999 from November 3^rd to 10^th in Innsbruck, the capital city of federal state of Tyrol in western Austria.
Dr. Jalal-e-Din Shahbazi was representative of Iran’s Mountaineering Federation during that congress which was held by International Commission for Alpine Rescue (CISA-IKAR).

Aban 19^th, 1374 (November 10, 1995)
In collaboration of Amiri family and Mountaineering Federation of Iran, Amiri Shelter was built in the trail from Shirpala to the peak of Mt Tochal. The shelter was inaugurated on November 10, 1995. Ali Amiri had passed away around the same place last December.

Aban 23^rd, 1364 (November 14, 1985)
It was on Thursday, 14^th of November in 1985 that Abbas Jafari led a team of 4 alpinists from "Azadegan" Mountaineering Group of Mashhad for an attempt on eastern side of Mt. Binalood in Khorasan province.
That side of Mt. Binalood is composed of three nail-like pyramids. Eastern side of nearest pyramid to the summit is in the form of a rocky wall with approximately 250m height.
During that attempt, Mohammad Zarkhah, Asghar Khosrow-Pour and Amir Hajar Zarrin beside Abbas opened a new route on that 250m nail-like wall in 5 hours. Meanwhile, another alpinist mentioned Majid Mazhabi succeeded to ascent adjacent flank and they all met each other on the summit.

Aban 1^st, 1348 (October 23, 1969)
On Tuesday, October 23^rd in 1969 a small metallic hut was set up on Tochal summit (3962 m), north side of Tehran.
Husain R. Afshar, those days president of MFI and his vice president, Abol-Qasem Norouzi proposed to construct that hut in 1967. It was named "Ardalan" to honor its constructor.

Aban 4^th, 1347 (October 26, 1968)
On 26^th day of September, 1968, Colonel Musa Rahimi Larijani, was selected as head of Iran’s Mountaineering Federation.
He was the 11^th head of federation, whose colleagues were Abolghasem Nrouzi, Naser Rostami, Jamshid Feyzi, Kiyoumars Keshvari, Mohammad-Ali Ebrahimi, Hussain Adili and Farrokh Rahmdel during his 26-month presidency.

Aban 24^th, 1342 (November 15, 1963)
An interesting climbing program was successfully preformed by few young climbers in "Band-e-Yakhchal" in Mt Tochal north of Tehran on Friday November 15, 1963.
Among these young climbers, Zakarian, Fotohi and Najah bolted the famous overhang of Shekaaf crag, which is 18 to 20 meters high and considered as a difficult route in the resort.

Aban 23^th, 1342 (November 14, 1963)
"Imam-Pahnak (3659 m)" and "Siah-Chal (3400 m)" at SW side of Mt. Damavand were topped for the first time on Thursday, November 14, 1963.
Mehdi Mokri, Mahmoud Pish-Bin, Rasoul Pich-Bin and Nasrollah Qajar from Bistoon club of Tehran were the summiteers.

Aban 6^th, 1334 (October 28, 1955)
On this date, the fourth president of Iran Mountaineering Federation, Colonel Mohammad Khakbiz was appointed to the job. As the head of the federation, he was among the best. His term lasted until May 24, 1958. He was trained on severe mountaineering courses in France.
During presidential period of Mohammad Khakbiz, technical training of climbing developed and first Iranian mountaineering symposium was held. He organized the Himalaya Foundation and leaded the first Iranian expedition to an 8000er. That expedition ascended the 8163m Manaslu Summit, in a joint expedition with Japanese. After the ascent, Mohammad Jafar Asadi was given the title of the top Iranian 8000m climber.
Also, under the leadership of Mohammad Khakbiz, an Iranian expedition joined with a Chinese expedition, attempted to ascend Mt Everest from its north face. They ascended up to 7500m, where they left the climb and decided to turn back for another try later on. But it never happened, as it was overshadowed by the Iranian revolution events in 1979.

Aban 11^th, 1328 (November 2, 1949)
On Wednesday, 2^nd of November in 1949, the first documented ascent of Mt. Karkas with the height of 3895m was done.
Izatollah Shahida, Samadi, Kavousian, Ali-Abadi, Norouzi and Azadmanesh were members of that expedition.
Located 100 km north of Isfahan near Natanz city, Karkas is a beautiful mountain in SW boarder of central desert.

Aban, 1327 (October, 1948)
In October 1968, Chengiz Sheikhli, a highly effective person in Iran’s caving and speleology history and his friends surveyed "Azad-Khan" cave, west of Mahalat in Markazi province.
He wrote:
«Two human figures are inscribed on cave entrance; belong to a Qajar prince and a Qajar’s zealot from Mahalat. After a short entrance passage, we found ourselves at a large hall, whose area is about 6156 square meter.
Pieces of ancient human skeletons were accumulated inside the hall. They pertain to Mahallat’s inhabitants who took shelter inside the cave, when afghan campaign, Azad-Khan attacked Iran during Zand Dynasty. Unfortunately those refugees got stranded in that cave forever because the afghan corps had blocked the cave entrance. Since then, that cave has been called "Azad-Khan" cave.»

Aban 20^th, 1319 (November 11, 1940)
Iranian genius alpinist, Fereydoun Esmaeel-Zadeh was born in Hamedan on Monday, 11^th of November in 1940.
Fereydoun together with his companions were the first expedition penetrated into "Ali-Sadr" water cave, 75 NW of Hamedan in 1963.
His fame in Iran’s mountaineering society is mainly due to numerous first winter ascents, chain ascents and rock climbing experiences he had done more than 40 years over the country.
In November 2005, when Fereydoun was still keeping on climbing and technical mountaineering with 65 years old, he suddenly attacked by a virulent leukemia and died on Monday, November 7^th.