Dear ECS,
Well honey, as I write this you and mom are on the the other end of the African continent, in South Africa for a week with some dear friends. The pictures and videos thus far from your trip have been great and it is wonderful for you and mom to have such a long vacation together. There is a decided correlation between when you and your mom traveling and my ability to find time to write a new post. In other words, more solo time for me around the house.
I used your trip to sneak in my last ski trip of the year for the weekend, with a good friend from Ethiopia. We were able to converge in a place where I would have never imagined skiing - Lebanon. My conception of the country had been more based on the news and its delicious food.
Traveling, both yours and mine and all loved ones, during this heightened/scary period of concern over the Corona virus is an added layer of stress. But we took the necessary precautions, like masks, being vigilant about washing hands and sanitizers. Nothing is foolproof, but the simple precautions are the most important.
Back to Lebanon....
I half expected the skiing to be terrible, since the resort - called Mzaar in Faraya (http://mzaarskiresort.com/) - is roughly 30 kilometers from the Mediterranean. What would the snow be like? What about the terrain? How does the warmth of the Med translate to skiing in such close proximity? In our San Francisco years, we would drive 3 full hours to get from the city up to the snow. And we felt lucky to be so close! How could it be possible for there to be legit skiing a scant hour from the big city of Beirut and half that from the warm, tropical Med. The sea you have swam in already in your young life.
I half expected the skiing to be terrible, since the resort - called Mzaar in Faraya (http://mzaarskiresort.com/) - is roughly 30 kilometers from the Mediterranean. What would the snow be like? What about the terrain? How does the warmth of the Med translate to skiing in such close proximity? In our San Francisco years, we would drive 3 full hours to get from the city up to the snow. And we felt lucky to be so close! How could it be possible for there to be legit skiing a scant hour from the big city of Beirut and half that from the warm, tropical Med. The sea you have swam in already in your young life.
So about the skiing - it was a weekend that shows the range of weather that is possible in just two days. When I was younger, days that were less than ideal on the mountain were frustrating, a missed opportunity for another perfect day in the mountains. Now, the days that are less than ideal reinforce the specialness of the days when things do all come together. Our trip was split between a perfect day and one of those less than ideal ones, due to some weather that came in pretty strong overnight.
Day one
We woke up to pretty sunny skies and a bit of a np in the air. I thought that was a good sign, but then being out on the snow showed that the mountain was in a bit of a refreeze cycle, which means it is cold enough over night to have the snow freeze up a bit and warm enough during the day for it to sit melting. Melting is great for spring skiing, which I love, but it takes some time for the sun to do its thermal magic. So the first couple of hours of skiing were about sussing out the terrain and also taking in the majestic views.
And the views are crazy, from the top of the mountain you can see the city of Beirut and the Med, and not in some way that you have to squint and imagine to see the view. Nope, the city looks like a glimmering city on the ocean and the the expansive of the sea takes a little while to get used to, given it is so grand.
The terrain reminds me of a couple of high mountains, above tree skiing in Colorado. Probably the closest comparison is Loveland, but with a more terrain. I didn’t find too much steep stuff, but the big open bowls and the nice 35-40 degree steeps were super enjoyable. Once the snow turned to corn, it was dream skiing with by buddy as we lapped the big open bowls. The chairs are kind of adorable, old school and some might go back to the 60’s and 70’s, when the resort was started.
We skied to the end of the day, getting in an amazing last run into a big open area lookers left of the last chair to the west of the resort. The Med was in a bit of afternoon haze and we rode down happy and so surprised by a great ski day in an unexpected part of the world.
Day two
Our appetites whetted, we chilled at the hotel, ate some good Lebanese food and had a bit of wine. Day two we woke to the overcast grey weather that foretold the incoming weather. It started spitting snow intermittently at about 8 am, with the wind coming in pretty hard and consistently. We got geared up and then realized that most of the mountain was closed for a) wind or b) low visibility, or both. The contrast to the previous day of great corn skiing and some suntanning was stark, things can happen fast in the mountains.
We still rode for a half day in the spitting precipitation and for me, any day on skis is a great day. Especially with a good buddy. Can’t wait to bring you to this part of the world and ski here together with you and mom.
Enjoy the rest of your trip honey. Love you!
dad
