Misc

Iran Ski Trip

Hello to all

this is just a short trailer - we did produce a 20 min. movie about the iran skitrip.

it was one of the best experiences in my life. the iranian people are very nice and helpful. i love your country and the people and anyone who have the chance should go to iran!!! but the traffice is really funny in iran - there are no rules on the road :o)))

It was great!

greetz from austria

Snowboarding in Dizin

For information about accommodation, transport, snowboarding and skiing in Dizin check out DizinSnowboard.com.

I was two times to Dizin earlier this year and loved it. Want to go back soon! Fantastic snow.

Is That George Bush?!

The man at 1:46 time looks alot like George Bush.
If Iran's regime lifts the Hijab ban and allows girls to wear even bikinis at the beach about 2,000,000 more people will visit Iran, not to mention 1,000,000 more Iranians who will go back to Iran.

Thanks, Ajam...

I'm glad someone understands the sublimity of the situation!

OK, let's see, when we first start going regularly to Dizin it was about 1970, when I was in ninth grade. I loved it infinitely better than Shemshak. Shemshak was so small and claustrophobic in comparison -- I understand that has changed too! Every year there was talk that the two pistes were going to be connected with a tele siege but that never happened till years and years later. I do remember a lot of local guys but I've forgotten their names. They were not into enforcing rules and bossing people around those days! Maybe a lot of them were among the martyrs by your time. I have heard from friends that Mokhtar is still there, though.

Kalleh pacheh... wow! How would you ski with a ton of bricks in your stomach?! I do remember Pamchal.

You know, one of the tragedies of going to school in the US was that the only time we could go back to Iran was in the summer. No skiing. In fact, I have never since 1974 been able to go back to Iran in a season other than summer. My schedule for ever became an academic one! I'm dying to go some winter, though. I just watched the clip you linked (thanks, it made me salivate!) with my son and the snow and the mountains is just about the only thing that makes him awestruck about Iran.

Oh well, hope you come back and read this. Here's looking at you kid...!

Dizin...

Dear IR, I do not remember these incidents, but probably my brother and cousins would. I know of a general Khatami (Shah's brother in law) who lost his life in a hang-gliding accident which could just be a name-sake confusion.
However, back in those days I was not old enough to go offtrack or even to Gholleh (the summit) for that matter! I had my hands full with Chaman (which was an intermediate slope) and Darreh (a bit steeper). But I remember how much fun my brother and his palls had going all the way up in tee shrits and shorts!
The first time I went up there, was in 1979-80 by which time things had already changed. Soon after, they separated the slopes into Men's and Women's-only runs. I'm not sure if you remember, but there were small swarthy local men (relatives of martyrs from different families, e.g. Kalhore, Seid, Zeini...) who were hired as pistores (ski patrol) and were implementing strict rules. We had to sneak around the hills, under the fences to ski with our gielfriends, and skip back to the men's runs when the pistores showed up. There were times when we got scratches and bruises on the face in the process, yet the kick we got out of doing that made it all worthwhile for the young lads we were!

There was a Pamchal restaurant that we normally stopped over on the way back. Also, a local kalleh-pacheh-ei near Gachsar that I believe belonged to Aliollahi (or maybe ahl-e-hagh) people with big bushy mustaches who rang a cow-bell for every mustached man who entered except us, for we eiter did not have any or the ones we did were not bell-worthy! Nveretheless, we were treated with respect and got our protein fix for the entire energy-demanding day ahead of us!
A couple of years ago I went back and tried to locate my instructor (who was from the suloghaani family) but was told that he has moved to the city and become a highschool teacher. Although it was in early April, yet the snow was fantastic and powdery all the way from the top to the bottom! Brought back a lot of memories!

Here is a relatively recent clip on Dizin:
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=7StxblKFdyQ&feature...

Nothing beats Alborz snow!

Does anybody remember the early Dizin days (we called it Gajereh then) when they gave us army blankets to cover up on the chair lifts? Remember how sometimes we would ride through the clouds to emerge under the perfect blue sky up on top? Sometimes we stayed overnight in the village Velatrood (Velayatrood, really), ate nimroo and vaalak polo for dinner, and woke up in the morning to break the ice on the river to brush our teeth. I had a crush on a tall and sunburnt boy from the village named Mokhtar. The jigools stayed at Hotel Dizin and the "chalets"!

Ajam jaan, nobody stopped anybody going offtrack then! I remember the day some timsaar (was it Khatami?) went off on his own and got buried by an avalanche. One day Najaf Daryabandari (know him?) broke his leg and writhed in agony all the way to Tehran to go to the hospital. Sometimes we would stop at Hotel Gachsar for asrooneh or chelokabob at Agha Reza.

One glimpse of snow on the Alborz and I'm off to neverneverland.

Wow!

This must be Dizin... but I wonder how they were able to ski offtrack. I remember back in my teenage years pistores (ski patrol) were so adamant on not letting us go offtrack! Nevertheless, good for them, great powder!