Hermon
Last weekend we went skiing on Mt. Hermon in the Golan Heights. It was my first time being up there. The scenery is beautiful as you drive up the mountain and look down on the valley below. The next day while skiing the mountain itself was in the clouds, making for some interesting ski trails obscured by fog. There was a lot of snow and it was wet and thick, like the snow at Whistler in the Canadian Rockies rather than the dry and powdery snow of the American Rockies. This made the skiing more challenging but still quite fun. Because most Israelis don’t own snow clothing, the ski lodge itself, in addition to renting skis, boots, poles, and helmets; also rents snow-pants and even ski jackets if you don’t have one. There are two small shops where you can buy cheap gloves and neck warmers if you need. There was a small outdoor cafe halfway down the mountain with middle-eastern music blaring and people dancing outside. Its hard to describe how cool it was to be skiing down the mountain with all my kids, in Israel, listening to Arabic music. What a scene! There’s also a new gondola that non-skiers can ride up to the lodge at the top of the mountain to see the views and grab a bite to eat. The lift tickets have a chip inside the card. You just keep it inside your lefthand pocket and it’s scanned automatically, opening a gate which lets you board the chair lift. No lift attendant manually scanning each rider’s ticket hanging off their zipper, like in most other places I’ve been in the US.
