Golan's Mt. Hermon Ski Resort Enjoying the Snow
21:13 Jan 21, '07 / 2 Shevat 5767
by Ezra HaLevi
Israel’s only ski resort, located on Mt. Hermon, atop the Golan Heights, is open for the season, following eight inches of snow over the Sabbath. The trails now have 2-3 feet of snow.
Eitan Kunda, who serves as legal council for the resort, recently spoke with Israel National Radio’s Yishai and Malkah Fleisher from the snow-covered slopes of Israel’s highest mountain.
“The Hermon is completely white and absolutely beautiful,” he said. “I myself have been snowboarding since the morning."
Kunda said that N'vei Ativ, the nearby Moshav that owns the resort, is packed with visitors, “who drive [just] two or three hours to get to Switzerland,” he said – referring to the Swiss-style cottages and ski lodges that fill the mountain village.
The Hermon, which is mentioned in the Psalms, was liberated from Syria during the Six Day War in 1967. It later was opened to skiers, and today sees thousands of snowboarders along its slopes as well.
Kunda urged beginners to feel welcome at the resort alongside expert skiers and snowboarders, but urged people to take a lesson or two before they try it for their first time. “Israelis have this attitude that ‘I am Israeli, things will work out,’ he lamented – and that doesn’t work on the slopes.”
The Hermon, which is known as the “eyes of Israel,” is home to surveillance stations and an entire special unit of the IDF known as the Alpinistim, elite soldiers on skis whose white snowsuits act as camouflage. From atop the three peaks of the range, one can clearly view both Lebanon and Syria.
Though the ski lodge is open only two to three months a year, it is the number two tourist site in Israel.
For more information visit Mt. Hermon’s web site.
Click here to view the Hermon live, via a web cam positioned facing the lower slope.
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