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

Ordibehesht (second month in solar calendar, April 21 - May 21)

Ordibehesht 31^st, 1379 (May 20, 2000)

On Sunday, 20^th of May in 2000, the well-known Iranian alpinist, Ghadir Yazdani got to the summit of Mt. Logan after a 7-day attempt. Located on the border between Canada and Alaska, Mt. Logan is the highest peak in Canada and the second highest in North America with 6050 m altitude. Ghadir, who was a member of Arash Mountaineers Club of Tehran, died of leukemia in 2001.

Ordibehesht 30^th, 1379 (May 19, 2000)

Climbing competitions in speed category was held on Friday, May 19^th in 2000 for the first time in Iran’s indoor climbing history.
Forty two men attended this event in Karaj city, 30 km west of Tehran, where Mehdi Parsafar speed up faster than all and took the first place. Following him, Majid Alvandi, Mohammad Ramezan-Pour and Abbas Mohammadi respectively sorted up to 4^th.

Ordibehesht 24^th, 1378 (May 14, 1999)

On May 14, 1999, Iraj Safa-Doust climbed "Deux Piere" route that was the most difficult climbing route in Iran at the time and became the 2^nd climber to put this record.
The 18-meter "Deux Piere" route opened in 1996, while two French instructors were in the country for a course about route setting. The French climbers along with members of "Babak" climbing club of Hamedan bolted the route in "Khorzaneh" climbing resort, 5km east of Hamedan city. Neither of them managed a topped out even after several attempts and rated "Deux Piere" above 5.13.
In 1998, Hamedan’s star climber Amir Pir-Viesi, who was member of Iran’s national team at the same time, climbed the route in Red-Point style. He did the first free climb on "Deux Piere" and estimated its difficulty grade around 5.13c.

Ordibehesht 30^th, 1377 (May 20, 1998)

On Wednesday May 20^th, 1998, Iranian mountaineers ascent Mt. Everest from the South-East route, for the first time in Iran’s mountaineering history.
After seventy days of serious attempt, Hamid Olanj, Mohammad Oraz, Jalal Cheshme-Ghasabaani and Hasan Najarian along with two Sherpa succeeded to reach Everest summit at 12:00 a.m. local time. The expedition was composed of twelve expert mountaineers, who were picked among 89 alpinists through several selection camps.
Azizollah Khalaj, Mohsen Nouri, Hasan Javaherpour and Samad Jabbari were the instructors during the preparation period.

Ordibehesht, 1374 (April, 1995)

Iranian Reza Hajebi Tabrizi topped "El Capitan" Big wall in Yosemite Valley, north of California State in late April, 1995.
Taking turns, Reza and his rope-mate "Brian" climbed 27 pitches with the difficulty grade of 5.9 and A4 to grasp top hold of the "Early Morning Light" route.
At the time of this achievement, Reza was a resident student in USA.

Ordibehesht 16^th, 1372 (May 6, 1993)

Three rock climbers from "Arash" and "Tarh-e-Kad" clubs of Shiraz did the first attempt on "Shadab" wall, a virgin limestone wall 80 kilometers NW of Shiraz over May 6^th-7^th.
Nader Karami (leader), Babak Shamshiri and Mohammad Zekavat opened a 250-meter route rated 5.9 and named it "Pazouhesh", which means "exploration".
This wall is located at north side of Mt. Shahrak around Marv-Dasht city that is 45 km far from Shiraz. Shahrak is surrounded by several unclimbed walls.

Ordibehesht 3^rd, 1344 (April 23, 1965)

A group of four men comprised of Behrouz Shabestari, Akbar Bashardoust, Mohsen Mofidi and Ali-Asqar Aminnia left Iran on April 23^rd in 1695 for a reconnaissance Annapurna IV.
They did the job with the help of one Sherpa and twelve porters during a 2 month period. At the end of this trip, they summited Mt. Norsan (6200 m) while Monson arriving Annapurna region.

Ordibehesht 8^th, 1331 (April 28, 1952)

On Monday, April 28^th in 1952, 18 alpinists from all over the country arrived in Shiraz aiming to participate in Iran’s 1^st mountaineering festival.
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, shah of Iran and his second wife queen suraya had also participated in the opening ceremony, on April 29^th. The festival lasted for 15 days, while various training courses were held in Naghsh-e-Rostam zone and a few caves were surveyed around Shiraz.
Attendees were: Emil Markarian, abolfazl Mahdioun, Reza Ghadiri, Rasoul Ghadiri, Mohammad Azami, Khalil Abbasi, Ebrahim Sadri, Kazemi, Fatollah Zandi, Abdollah Rashtian, Isa Omidvar, Eskandar Jahandari, Ali-Asghar Ordou-Khani, Morteza Parvinshi, Husain Gholam-Shahi, Gegham Minasian and Karim Bakhtiar (camera-man).

Ordibehesht, 1325 (May, 1946)

Mrs.Tarbiat, the principal of Noorbakhsh school along with Mrs. Nokiani founded the Noorbakhsh Mountaineering Council for students. This council was the frist of its kind in Iran, which organized many plans for girl students.

Ordibehesht, 1284 (May, 1905)

The first book subjected to mountaineering in Iran was written in May, 1905 by "Talbof Tabrizi", who was one of the well-known authors and campaigned for the freedom in the beginning of the Constitutional Revolution.
Printed in Qahira and entitled as "Masalek-ol-Mohsenin", which means "Benefactors’ Doctrine", this book is a fiction story about climbing "Yakhar" glacier on NE side of Mt. Damavand, but actually it is a background for a gentle review about social issues in Iran during that era. It looks that he himself was a mountaineer.

Solar Year 1226 (Christian year 1847)

The first use of piton in Iran’s mountaineering and technical climbing history goes back to 1847, when a Kurdish boy helped the British archeologist going on his studies in "Bistoon" historical yard.
The British young officer "Henry Rawlinson", who has done the primary scientific studies regarding the inscriptions of "Bistoon" historical yard describes:
«A few skillful local men helped me looking for inscriptions on every side of Mt. "Bistoon". After all they talked about an inscription in Babylonian dialect, which had been engraved on a rocky face of the mountain that seemed inaccessible. Hence a Kurdish energetic boy voluntarily accepted to go after the mission. He put a few wooden pitons into cracks and fixed a rope in between them. Then he took advantage of a few aid climbing techniques and ascent about 20ft to reach the right place. Then he made a harness for himself and got attached to the fixed line to take a picture of Babylonian text under my supervision. It seems as a miracle in that situation.«
This event occurred 27 years prior to the birth of alpine club of France in 1874.
"Bistoon" historical yard is located a few ten kilometers east of Kermanshah province, western Iran and also is one of the most attractive spots for rock climbing over the country due to the same named 1200m limestone wall.