Two mountain systems
The Alborz in the north holds Damavand and the Takht-e Soleyman massif. The Zagros, running through the west and south, holds Zard Kuh and Dena. They are not variations of one landscape.
Iran · Alborz and Zagros
Discover Ski Mountaineering in Iran
Explore Iran's mountains through exceptional ski touring, alpine adventures, and high-altitude winter expeditions.
South side of Mount Damavand in winter. Photograph by Safa Daneshvar, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Iran, for people who travel on skis
Iran is not a ski resort with a different flag. It is a country with two major mountain systems, the Alborz in the north and the Zagros through the west and south, and with winters that put snow on summits above 4,000 metres. Damavand, the volcanic high point of the Alborz, is the mountain most visitors can already name. Alam Kuh, Zard Kuh, and the Dena crest are different kinds of ground: a technical massif, a long Zagros ridge, and another long ridge whose maps do not even agree on the height.
Ski mountaineering here means unsecured terrain, road approaches that close, and days organised around weather rather than a lift clock. The same mountains are also places people hike in summer. A summer path is not a winter ski line, and this site does not pretend that it is.
What you can do here is read the four destination pages, see which photographs are winter and which are not, and send an inquiry if a journey is worth planning. Prices, guides, and dates are not invented to fill the gaps. Where a fact is disputed, the page says so.
Destinations
Four ranges. Four different kinds of mountain.
These are the objectives this site is built around. Each page keeps to what can be checked, and says so when the maps disagree.
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01Mount Damavand
Iran's highest widely cited summit, a volcanic cone above the Haraz corridor, skied when snow cover and weather allow.
Destination page -
02Alam Kuh
A steep Alborz peak above Kelardasht, with a documented glacier basin and published heights that do not agree.
Destination page -
03Zard Kuh
The high crest of the central Zagros above Kuhrang and the Bazoft, with winter snow and a summit figure of 4,221 metres in the sources that agree.
Destination page -
04Dena Mountains
The highest massif of the Zagros, a long crest near Yasuj, with a summit height that published sources do not agree on.
Destination page
Ways to travel
Ski mountaineering, named plainly
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Ski Mountaineering Expeditions
A journey in which the ascent and the ski descent are the same project, usually over several days, in terrain that is not a resort.
Read the page -
Ski Touring
Travel on skins, for a day or several, on snow that is not prepared and not controlled.
Read the page -
High-Altitude Ski Ascents
Objectives on which height itself is the planning problem. Damavand is the reference on this site.
Read the page -
Backcountry Skiing
Skiing unsecured slopes. The decision is about snow and consequence, not about a marked run.
Read the page -
Technical Alpine Winter Adventures
Winter travel in which rock, ice, or complicated ground can be part of the route. Alam Kuh is the reference.
Read the page
Why Iran
What is actually distinctive
Height that has to be planned for
Iranian government sources give Damavand as 5,610 metres. The other three objectives have summits published above 4,200 metres. Where surveys disagree, the destination page says so.
Snow as a season, not a product
These ranges carry winter and spring snow. A line that is skiable in one year can be rock or unstable snow in another. This site does not publish a snow report.
The country between the trailheads
A ski journey here also moves through Iranian cities, roads, food, and languages. That is part of the travel. It is not a story we invent to decorate a trip.
Photographs
The ranges, as they have been photographed
These are licensed photographs of Iranian mountains. Where a frame is not winter, or not a ski line, the caption says so. Action photographs of ski descents in Iran are still needed. Photograph credits
Before you travel
Practical matters, kept separate from the mountains
Preparation
Passport, a visa answer you have checked yourself, and insurance that states ski mountaineering in writing.
Access
Road corridors into the Alborz and the Zagros. Winter closures are a planning fact.
Equipment
Touring skis and an avalanche rescue kit you have already practiced with.
Season
Winter and spring are the snow seasons. The useful window is judged that year.
Safety
Weather, avalanche terrain, altitude, and distance from help. No live conditions are posted here.
Logistics
Where the party sleeps, how it moves, and who can call off a summit day.
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