Climbing Tochal

I wrote this entry, originally, on July 8, 2004.

Well, Thursday July 8, 2004, was my first day of vacation.

My wife, Liana, and my daughters, Negin (6) and Yasmine (10), went on a hike up mount Tochal, north of Tehran. The view from the peak was absolutely beautiful as Tochal is one of the highest peaks near Tehran. There are other peaks, much higher, but at some significant distance from the capital.

Negin did quite well although her mother and I had to carry her on our backs for part of the way. Yasmine climbed the whole distance by herself.

We did cheat quite a bit because we took the telecabin all the way to the 7th station, which was just about under 1000 meters below the peak.

The telecabin costs about $6 a person. It is quick way to the top if one is interested not in intense exercise but in height training.

The views and the height of the telecabin is also quite impressive. I've been on it four times in the last 12 years and this was the first time when I felt comfortable looking down into the valleys over which it rises.

I heard someone at the peak say it was 3960 meters high. "Only if they would build a 40 meter edifice here that I could climb," he said. "Then I could claim a 4000 meter summit climb."