Iranian lady, Leila Esfandyari fell to her death, while attempting to return back from GII’s summit this noon, July 22^nd.
According to reports, Leila was on summit push with a group of Iranian climbers this morning. A few of them reached the top along with Leila, but in the way back to C3 in a place a bit lower than the summit, she fell.
Iranian climbers are all resting in C3 now. More details are expected for tomorrow.

IMZ News Department
July 22, 2011

Iranian climber, Davoud Rekabi qualified for semifinal round in men’s lead competition at IFSC Championship.
According to IFSC’s official website, Mmen’ lead qualification took place on July 21^st, where 130 climbers competed in two separate groups to enter the second stage. Finally, twenty six climbers from fifteen countries passed with Iranian Davoud Rekabi as 17^th climber. There were also four other Iranian leaders, who placed 69^th, 77^th, 101^st and 109^th. Semifinal round will be executed tomorrow, July 23^rd.

IMZ News Department
July 22, 2011

Arash Mountaineers are approaching C2 on SW face of Mt. Broad-Peak since this morning, July 19.
"They entered C1 last night with heavy loads including mostly technical gears. They left the tents this morning to reach 6500 m, where C2 will set up. The portion of the route between C1 and C2 is a bit dangerous and needs fixing ropes," Kiyoumars Babazadeh reportedly told.
Arash Mountaineers are remotely checked by Kazak star, Denis Urubko in this expedition. Amid preparatory camps, they underwent an eight-day stage in Kazakhstan instructed by Denis last March.

IMZ News Department
July 19, 2011

Iran Exchange Climbers Return!

Southern Appalachian Section Chair David Thoenen just emailed us his complete trip report from the Iran leg of the 2010 – 2011 American Alpine Club / Alpine Club of Iran Climber Exchange. We’ve been posting updates as the AAC team in Iran was able to contact us, but the full report follows (Scroll to the bottom for the Photo Gallery):

Be sure to tune in on Thursday, July 7 for an National Public Radio interview with David Thoenen. He’ll be on NPR’s The Story which you can listen to on your radio or later via podcast (AAC portion starts at 30:30).

Husain Bahmanyar and Mehdi Amidi topped Mt. Lhotse, the fourth highest mountain in the world respectively on May 19^th and 21^st.
These two were members of an international expedition comprised of climbers from Spain, Australia, USA, Britain and Mexico. They reached summit in two parties on last Thursday and Saturday.

IMZ News Department
May 21, 2011

Iran’s mountaineering star Azim Qeychisaz reached summit on Kanchenjunga yesterday, May 20th and put record as the first Iranian to achieve this goal.
"Summit push started from C4 on Thursday at night. He was on Kanchenjunga’s main summit at 6:00 A.m. local time on friday and came back to BC this noon," MSFI reported.
By the way, Azim was climbing together with Mingma Sherpa, who succeeded to finish all fourteen 8000ers and got the title as the first Nepalese. These two climbers were on Nanga-Parbat’s summit last summer too.
Born in 1981 in Tabriz, NW of Iran Azim has already topped Everest (2005), BroadPeak (2008), Dhaulagiri (2010) and Nanga-Parbat (2010).

News Source;
IMZ News Department
May 21, 2011

More than one month after reaching Kanch’s bottom, Azim Qeychi-Saz is now in C4 at 7700 m hoping for summit in coming few days.
"Climbers attempting on Kanchenjunga this season have been settled in C3 and C4. Summits are hoped over May 19th -21nd," Azim told on his call to MSFI.
Despite summits on other 8000ers in Nepal, no summit has been reported this season on Kanchenjunga, the 3rd highest peak in the world.

News Source:
IMZ News Department
May 19, 2011

Iran’s mountaineering star Azim Qeychisaz reached summit on Kanchenjunga yesterday, May 20th and put record as the first Iranian to achieve this goal.
"Summit push started from C4 on Thursday at night. He was on Kanchenjunga’s main summit at 6:00 A.m. local time on friday and came back to BC this noon," MSFI reported.
By the way, Azim was climbing together with Mingma Sherpa, who succeeded to finish all fourteen 8000ers and got the title as the first Nepalese. These two climbers were on Nanga-Parbat’s summit last summer too.
Born in 1981 in Tabriz, NW of Iran Azim has already topped Everest (2005), BroadPeak (2008), Dhaulagiri (2010) and Nanga-Parbat (2010).

News Source:
IMZ News Department
May 21, 2011

The world's first mountaineering club, The Alpine Club of Britain, has made the past 40 years (1969-2008) of its Alpine Journals available online.

According to the Alpine Club, they can be searched by AJ Volume or by Area/Peak. Journals previous to 1969 can be viewed as PDFs. Follow this link.

Since it was founded in 1857 the members of the Alpine Club have been at the leading edge of worldwide mountaineering development and exploration.

From: UIAA site

The Eco Everest Expedition 2011, under the leadership of Dawa Steven Sherpa, is once again undertaking efforts to clean and collect garbage, debris and waste left by past expedition groups. The following report was provided by Dawa Steven's father, Ang Tshering Sherpa, of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, and Asian Trekking:

Having succeeded in the Eco Everest Expedition 2008, 2009 and 2010, the Eco Everest Expedition 2011 is heading on 6th April towards Mt. Everest Base Camp from Kathmandu under the leadership of Dawa Steven Sherpa , the Managing Director of Asian Trekking, Nepal and Apa Sherpa, World Record holder of 20 ascents of Mt. Everest, as a Climbing Leader of the Expedition.

Dawa Steven Sherpa, organizer of Eco Everest Expedition talked about this year’s Eco Everest Expedition. “This Expedition is focused on climbing in an Eco-sensitive manner to keep Everest clean and collect garbage, debris and waste left by past expedition groups. The collected garbage will be brought down to the Base Camp by members of the clean up team for proper disposal. The Eco Expedition would again be using the alternative energy solutions like the parabolic solar cookers, solar lightings and the ultraviolet light pens for water purification,” he said.

Since 2008, the Eco Everest Expeditions have collected and brought off the mountain nearly 12,000 kgs of garbage. Also four died bodies recovered and brought down from the mountain for a dignified burial.

The 96th monthly meeting of Alpine Club of Iran will be on Wednesday, February 16th at Shahriyaran-e-Javan hall in Tehran downtown.
This meeting will start at 5:00 P.M. with mountaineering world news, which will be given by Abbas Sabetian, the president of ACI.
Afterwards, Farnoush Reisi is going to give a detailed reportage about the 4th Ice Climbing Festival of Iran that occurred two weeks ago in Roudbar-e-Qasran region.
The end part of 96th meeting is dedicated to a presentation by Abdol-Azim Berahmani about his attempt on Manaslu during last September and October. He touched C4 at 7400 m on the normal route and returned back home.
Cathy O'dowd, the firse lady who summited Mount Everest from both South and North faces will be the special guest of this meeting, she will be talking about the South Africa's mountain.

Safe Mountaineering Commission will hold backcountry avalanche skills course for climbers and skiers over February 23rd-25th.
"We focus on developing the skills, knowledge and techniques for backcountry users to help them prepare for safe travel in avalanche prone terrain. This course includes theoretical and practical trainings," said commission secretary, Abdollah Ashtari.
Safe Mountaineering Commission established last November under the authority of Mountaineering & Sport Climbing Council of Tehran province.This is the first training course on the theme of Mountain Hazards that SMC holds.

News Source
IMZ News Department
February 10, 2011

The 4th Ice Climbing Festival of Iran kicked off at Roudbar-e-Qasran region in central part of Alborz range on Wednesday, February 2nd.
Held by Alpine Club of Iran annually since 2008, this event is a good opportunity for people interested in climbing icefalls and particularly for those wanting to enter the world of this sport.
"With temperature at minus 15, I think this is the time for ice climbing. At least 40 attendees from all over the country are here at Hamaloun valley attempting to climb icefalls with wide difficulty range. They have been divided into 4 groups with Hasan Javaherpour, Afshin Yousefi, Mohammad Sabouri and Masoud Hamidi as their guides. Moreover, with the lighting system set up against ice falls, climbing is possible even at nights," told Farnoosh Reisi, the secretary of festival.
This event will go on till Friday, February 4, 2011.

Men’s lead competition at Fajr Ice Climbing Championship finished on January 28, when Mohammad Sabouri took first place among 30 climbers from 5 provinces.
Thirty men entered the contest from Alborz, East Azerbaijan, Hamedan, Isfahan and Tehran. Qualification round kicked off on a long ice route at Hamaloun ice climbing school, where Masoud Zeynali from Tehran managed a top. Afterwards, the second round started with 18 competitors. This time no one managed a top outs and top eight climbers validated for the final round.
The final round held on Friday on a difficult mixed route, where climbers should begin using dry tooling techniques that had been isolated from the ice portion with a hanged out trunk. Eventually after a breathtaking attempt, Mohammad Sabouri placed 1st because of his superior performance, while second and third places went to Masoud Zeynali and Omid Amohammadi.

IMZ News Department
January 29, 2011

Mountaineering & Sport Climbing Federation of Iran called women and men over the country to summit Mt. Binalud and Mt. Shahvar in east part of Alborz Range in commemoration of "Decade of Fajr".
During past years, MSCFI used to organize mountaineering programs to honor the anniversary of Islamic Revolution and calls mountaineers from every side of the country to attend. This year’s program will be over February 16th -18th , while women participants will set off toward Mt. Shahvar (3920 m) in NW side of Shahrud and men put their efforts to summit Mt. Binalud (3300 m) in north side of Neyshabur city.

IMZ News Department
January 27, 2011