Lebanon's Biggest Ski Resort Opens

Although the country lies on the east coast of the Mediterranean between Syria and Israel, its high mountains still get snow, and where there's snow, there can be skiing!

The first lifts were imported to the area from Switzerland in the 1960's and have attracted a fair share of dedicated skiers. Now, 20 lifts serve 40 kilometers of skiing, conditions permitting. The mountain also has a variety of cross country trails open.

Tap or click below to watch NPR's Emily Feng report from one of Lebanon's ski resorts.

NPR correspondents went to go check out the Lebanese ski scene and found it alive and well. Despite a tumultuous Middle Eastern political climate, locals are still happy to enjoy the slopes. One local resident even reported skiing at Mzaar during a war last year between Hezbollah and Israel, and that the mountain always proved to be a calm oasis. 

The novelty of skiing in the Middle East alone is pretty wild, but based on these videos, we might question their definition of 'powder.' The chatter of ski edges on refrozen crust doesn't scream 'amazing skiing,' in my mind, but hey, there's certainly still value to skiing in low tide conditions!