Nov 07 2003
Shirpala to 5th station
Last Wednesday I met Aghaghiya and her husband James. I had heard that they are hikers - I knew they are very good travellers - and so I invited them to go hiking with me on Friday. They accepted happily and I picked them up today morning at 04:45 and set out for Shirpala via the Darband route.
I had not met Aghaghiya since the time she had left Iran in 1982. It’s quite amazing. We are the same age and we were friends as we were little. She left Iran in 1982, I left in 1984 and now we meet again in Iran and go hiking together and share love and interest for India. I really liked James too.
So we went to Shirpala which took us a bit more than two hours, because James and me both are dealing with knee problems. But my knees did actually quite well. We took a bigger rest in Shirpala, had breakfast and met with Bahram. And then, since we all felt good about it, we decided to go to Tochal’s fifth station and come down with the tele-cabin. That went well too. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the hike and our company very much. If all is well with James’s knees too, we will continue this program.
I made up with Bahram that I continue to hike with them over the next weeks to prepare for the winter ascend of Damavand.