Almost As Good As Alaska

I was sure I’d have to go a whole year without hittin’ the slopes. There is actually one mountain in Israel, but really, skiing? In the Middle East? I didn’t even think it got that cold here (It does. It gets really really cold!) let alone that I would take a ski trip. But my arm was twisted when my friends suggested renting a car rather than figuring out all the transportation. We all piled in and headed way up to the top of the country – Mt. Hermon.

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Hermon had surprisingly nice slopes. There were three lifts on the front side and one on the back and a lot of different runs all over the mountain. Both of my friends were fairly inexperienced and hung out on the bunny hill for most of the day. But it turned out that inexperience was not such a big deal on this mountain. Israelis really are not the greatest skiers. In Alaska and Canada, and everywhere else I have skied, my abilities are about average (I could even keep up with Josh Schorr for a few runs during the ski weekends). But I am used to people just FLYING down the mountain. At Hermon, at any given time, at least 50% of the people were splattered all over the slopes. Random skis and poles littered the run. I picked up and delivered three different hats and a pair of sunglasses to thankful owners throughout the day. On the lift one time, I saw an empty snowboard go straight down from the very top, no rider in sight. So when my friends attempted the mountain and (ohh the poor guys) fell the whole way down, they kinda fit right in! It was quite a funny sight. The best part was that I was a pro here! I was the one flying down the mountain this time. It was great!

The weather was perfect awesome sunny spring skiing. For some of the day I was even just in a t-shirt. It was really some of the best skiing I have done in a long time. I wish I had a ski buddy, but the ipod worked almost as well. If you have the means, I highly recommend checking out skiing in the Middle East.