Leader of the Asha group of Zoroastrian mountain climbers in Kerman, Dr Fereshte Bakhtiari has been scaling peaks since 2012. After climbing the well-known Damavand mountain of Iran and the lesser known ones like Hazar, Lalehzaar, Bazargan, Taftan and Dena, in March 2015 she progressed to the Himalayan mountains and reached the first base camp of the Everest.
Although emails in circulation in April stated that she had conquered the Everest, in a subsequent interview with Ashkan Khosropour who spoke to her on behalf of Parsiana she revealed that her group of four members with Bakhtiari being the only Zarathushti climber......