A country of many faces: Lebanon

We also got to know a little bit -a very little bit- of the Arabic language, such as; شكرا (Shukraan) – Thank you, and طازج (Tazij) – Fresh. As we approached the resort we saw a ridge with three great looking lines, and later discovered this ridge stood right in front of our door so we aptly named these lines “Home Run”.

The next day we set about exploring the ski resort but not before we met Charbel (n° 1), who introduced us to a traditional Lebanese breakfast; a wrap filled with cheese, a mixture of spices and/or meat, which was a very welcome and very tasty breakfast to start off our day. The resort was way bigger than we initially thought, and divided into three sections. The lifts are old but still good and working well, and the lift tickets are a little different to what you see in Austria/ Europe, It’s literally a sticker that you stick onto a metal clip which is then clipped to your trousers.

We went up to ‘Mzaar Peak’ which is the highest point of the resort. From here you have an amazing view in almost every direction and it was so peaceful. And being so close to the Syrian and Israeli borders (which was still a strange feeling for us), you would never have known that there is a war 30 km away. We felt sheltered and safe in Mzaar (lucky for us, but so sad thinking about the people caught up in all the trouble not too far away.) The people in Lebanon and more specifically in Faraya (the town we stayed in) are super friendly, helpful and humble people.

Over the next two days, we did a lot of hiking, went down the “Home Run” faces, tackled the big 1000m face we had spotted toward the east, and explored the culture of Lebanon.

The terrain provides a lot of opportunity for freeriders and backcountry addicts, in the resort there are short lines and loads of wind lips to hit and outside of the resort there are a lot of big and long faces to ride!