The Shah's Mountain Legacy
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The Shah’s mountain legacy Our intrepid writer Andreas Hofer with a brilliant dispatch from Iran WITHIN MOMENTS of Lufthansa’s flight LH600 January. At minus 20°C, Iran feels more like Siberia than touching down at Tehran Imam Khomeini International a Gulf country. You’d better cover up, ladies - what a grim airport, a sudden change takes place in the crowded frost. Yet I rejoice. I have come to ski. ‘It is certainly cold aisles between Business Class and the tightly packed Unlike Siberia, there’s a ban on alcohol in the five-star enough to ski in this rows of Economy. Young women returning from shopping Laleh hotel, of course (if you’re not one of the Russian country of snow-covered trips to Europe tuck their fashionably highlighted manes tourists, that is, who have a habit of importing vodka in mosques, palm groves, and carefully blow-dried hairstyles swiftly under humble fruit-juice tetra packs). There’s also a universal smoking and minarets. But will it shawls. But there is a practical side to this. Tehran at ban, supported by heavy fines. be appropriate?’ 2:00am is veiled in smog, and the streets are carpeted It is certainly cold enough to ski in this country of with half a metre of snow. snow-covered mosques, palm groves, and minarets. But The smell of kerosene welcomes the tired traveller will it be appropriate? first in the neon-lit, vast arrival hall, and it follows them The streets of the capital are choked with gas-guzzling stubbornly all the way down town. Ovens and camping Paykans (Hillmans), home-made Peugeots, and the burners fight a desperate battle with the cold in mid- ubiquitous blue Nissan-like pick-up trucks, carrying an 74 | Ski+board | skiclub.co.uk Andreas Hofer An Iranian odyssey reminder of civilisation in this barren landscape. The owner of a roadside eatery, built on a platform overlooking a white foaming torrent of melt-water, grills us some fresh trout and complains about the lack of tourists like me and Anders Bergwall, the Swedish ‘In the mountains, the mountain guide who is my companion on this adventure. pulpit is powerless. The Alborz range, a wall of Dolomite-coloured cliffs Girls show off their to a large part completely void of vegetation, separates shapely figures in tight the country from the Caspian Sea. Mount Damavand, a ski suits. They exchange dormant volcano is - at 5,678 metres (18,629ft) - the the veil for stylish woollen highest peak of a massif comparable with the Alps. Here caps, and love their are the most fashionable ski resorts in Iran: Tochal (3,850 boyfriends defiantly. After metres), Shemshak (3,050 metres), and Dizin (3,600 dark in the chalet, Johnny metres), all within easy reach of the city by car, provided Walker may drop by for a the traffic is moving. brief visit - or even stay In Dizin, the Shah wanted to create a winter resort the night.’ as splendid as the ones he would visit every season in Switzerland. It was never finished. A few gondolas and cable cars were built (they are still in good condition), plus a handful of chairlifts, and a few Puma lifts. Concrete pillars for more lifts stand idle, as do lift stations which never opened, and hotels never finished, as well as the elegant three-storey chalet the Shah gave as a birthday present to his third wife. The main hotel is operated by the state, friendly yet empty. Skiers do come here from Tehran – but only at weekends. When the snow conditions are right, the skiable area is vast, and you’ll have it virtually average of 10 times the maximum load. To go to Dizin, all to yourself. The mountain restaurant sells kebabs, rice, the Shah’s favourite ski resort, north of Tehran, one has hot tea and fresh fruit juices as well as hamburgers, of to endure traffic jams of biblical dimensions. Since the course. Everybody is helpful, and proud to have foreign Shah and his dreaded secret police, SAVAK, were ousted guests. The skiers here are a wealthy crowd. You can tell in 1979, the city has grown without much planning from by the stylish and expensive ski dresses and the many roughly one million to almost 15 million inhabitants. And nose bandages which pretty girls show off like a badge each one of them seems to own at least a handful of of honour. Only the wealthy will spend good money on cars. No wonder petrol, which costs five pence a litre, has cosmetic surgery. A nose job is like a Gucci handbag here. to be rationed, and the black market in fuels is thriving. The skiing in Iran, of course, is nothing like Val d’Isère It feels like freedom when we finally get off the or Courchevel. Of the 30 or so resorts scattered over the Western highway en route to Quazin, and start our country, only a few run more than one or two lifts, and ascent into a snowy land of sheer rock and steep the hotels (although impeccably clean and hospitable) ravines. Giant steel pylons transporting electricity can’t compare with the luxurious comfort of Swiss hotel seemingly from nowhere to nowhere are the only palaces. What makes the experience worthwhile is the ❱❱❱ Ski+board | 75 'Sometimes we even skied in vineyards' Liberty on the slopes: Superb powder at Chergerd unusual altitude, the amount and quality of snow, and be used any more. Rug dealers with secret accounts ‘The skiers here are a the enthusiasm, skill, hospitality and pride of the native in Dubai and Qatar will find a way round this, but not wealthy crowd. You can skiers. And although the prices for skiing tickets double the state-owned hotels and airlines. You have to carry tell by the stylish and every year, Iran is still a cheap country for winter sports. rucksacks of cash with you, or US dollars, the unofficial expensive ski dresses A day pass in Dizin costs the equivalent of £7, a double lead currency. If you use the services of a travel agency, and the many nose room in the best hotel £20. Ski rentals are very cheap they will pay for most of your expenses by money transfer. bandages which pretty by European standards too - as long as you bargain well As Iranian money has a lot of zeros, people talk of ‘tumans’ girls show off like a - and the equipment offered is of better quality than in (1000 Rial), or ‘Khomeinis’ (10,000 Rial), also nicknamed badge of honour. Only many places in the Alps. ‘papers’. So when you bargain for a taxi ride or some the wealthy will spend In the city, many public buildings have gender-separated souvenirs from the bazaar, remember - a paper is a dollar, good money on cosmetic entrances, the women in the streets predominantly wear one Rial is nothing, and three Khomeinis will buy you a can surgery. A nose job is like black, and unmarried men can only dream of love while of (Russian) Baltika beer which is virtually non-alcoholic. a Gucci handbag here.’ keeping themselves desperately busy repairing their cars Iranians are seriously hurt by the backwardness of their (which they seem to do on every corner of the country). But government (as well as the embargo by the international here in the mountains, the pulpit is powerless. Girls show community) in their lifestyle, education, and their pride. off their shapely figures in tight ski suits, exchange the veil As it is difficult for them to fathom that the nuisance for stylish woollen caps, and love their boyfriends defiantly. and hardships are brought upon them by a bunch of old After dark in the chalet, Johnny Walker may drop by for a clerics with foggy eyeglasses, many suspect a world- brief visit, or even stay the night. wide conspiracy, which may not be far off the mark. The guardians of faith who molest everybody whose Petrodollars keep flowing and prop up the regime, inflation behaviour is anti-religious - girls who wear mini-skirts, and unemployment is rampant, and real-estate prices or are not veiled, boys who drink – rarely ski. They wield compete with London and Moscow (pre credit crisis). Life batons, not ski poles. This is one of the main reasons why is hard, and poverty not quite the road to enlightenment. there is so much liberty on the ski slopes. This irresistible Those who can, go abroad, those who can’t, quit their concept, where all skiers are equal and neither Satan future with a shrug. nor the ‘Axis of Evil’ will have any meaningful impact on One day the pistes will be completely empty, and neatly performed powder tracks is so powerful, that not the Revolutionary Guards will have it all to themselves. even Mullahs can defy its attraction: in Chergerd, a resort Provided someone teaches them how to ski. near Esfahan, I saw a Kaesbohrer ratrak carrying a solemn My skis and gear not only attract a lot of attention and group of black-robed clerics in large, white turbans smiles of disbelief - they also look quite out of place in the cruising up and down the slope. The ski-lift was shut, but richly decorated entrance hall of Esfahan’s Shah Abbasi they were obviously having a great time. They nodded with Hotel, a converted 18th century caravanserai. The pools, approval, even risking a smile. fountains and neatly trimmed trees in the courtyard are Decades of the ever-tightening embargo restrictions covered with snow, and so is the blue-tiled 18th century have had a growing impact on the country, particularly mosque behind my room.