Driving the wild Dizin Road
Dizin Road is a stunning paved road climbing up to Dizin ski resort, the largest ski area in Iran. The resort sits at an elevation of 2.695m (8,841ft) above the sea level in the Alborz mountain range.
The road to the top is asphalted. It’s called 425 and is 15km long from Shemshak ski resort, the second largest ski area in the country. The climb is simply terrible, with a notorius lack of oxygen that tests the organisms and a high degree of steepness. Some parts of the road lie over 3.200m above the sea level. The route is stunning, there are interesting towns to stop at on the way, and if you are hungry try out the amazing kebabs.
The resort came into operation in 1969. There are several hotels and restaurants. The road is steep and includes very narrow sections. It can be closed anytime due the weather. The highest ski lift reaches 3,600 m (11,800 ft), making it one of the 40 highest ski resorts in the world.
The last 5.9km of the road are simply unbelievable, including 17 hairpins. The road is extremely steep. Avalanches, heavy snowfalls and landslides can occur anytime and can sometimes block some sections of the road, being extremely dangerous due to frequent patches of ice. Because of the huge amount of snow there are a lot of avalanches, and Iranians just let them happen naturally. There is no dynamite bombing, therefore theres a risk that the road to Dizin might be blocked with snow.
Pic: Hamid Kash