Yazd, Yazd, Iran.
When you hear the name Iran, what is the first word that pops to mind? Oil, desert, the nuclear programme, Persian gulf, Islam, Ayatollah? Whichever word you choose, it is rarely snow and skiing.
Surprisingly, it is not commonly known that Iran (the northern and central part) has four seasons and snow in winter. And that it also has ski resorts, 18 to be precise.
We decided to give one of them a try. As we were in Tehran, the obvious choice was Tochal – one of the four local resorts for Tehranis and the closest one for us. Although Tochal, a mountain in the Alborz range, lies on the outskirts of northern Tehran, it is not as easy to get there as one might hope. In other words, it takes time…as does everything in Iran.
From our host Ali’s place we had to take a 25 minute metro ride on a packed train uptown, then take a taxi to the parking lot of the ski resort and then take a short bus ride to the bottom station of the gondola.
We rented our equipment and paid 20 EUR each for the whole ski/snowboard set. Then we queued up for the gondola ride. It was Friday, which equals Sunday in Iranian terms, and the crowd of people waiting to get up the mountain was enormous. The gondola is obnoxiously slow. There is one cabin per minute (I timed it!) and it only takes in 6 people. We paid another 17 EUR for the ski pass and waited in line for well over 2 hours just to get up.
Surprisingly, the crowd disappears once you get to the slopes. Tochal is a small resort by European standards. It only has two chairlifts and two fairly flat tracks. Dizin, another “Tehranian” resort, is bigger. It has, as far as wee know, 3 gondolas and 12 chairlifts.
It seems that more people come up just to hike around and enjoy a breath of fresh air than to ski. The prices of ski passes are cheaper than in Europe but the sport is still considered expensive by local standards. Only the more better off can afford it.
From what we could tell, it is not so much about the sport itself. Skiing gives Iranians the opportunity to escape the rigid dress code of the everyday life. Although police is still present and keeps a watchful eye over the public moral, the skiers can afford to wear more colourful clothes, women can replace their head scarfs with hats and looking from distance, one can hardly tell you are still in Iran.
Although we left the apartment at 7 a.m. we did our first run at noon. The resorts in Iran open sooner than what we are used to and also close sooner. At 3 p.m. we were already queuing up to go back down. It was again a major effort. People do not obey order, walk over each other, some yell, some do not care and laugh and patiently wait. The whole situation looked like a perfect recipe for disaster to us. At 8 p.m. we were finally back down, safe and sound but exhausted. Not so much because of skiing at the altitude of almost 4000 meters, but from waiting in line for 6 hours.
Skiing in Iran is an experience worth having but unless you prefer backcountry skiing, we do not recommend taking a weeklong skiing holiday here.
We are not ruling out that other Iranian ski resorts or just other days of week might provide you with a more gratifying experience.
Check out the video from Tochal below!
