I am 25 years old and I live in North Tehran. I have experienced a variety of sports in my lifetime such as, tennis, swimming, scuba diving, rowing, cycling, skiing and mountain climbing. But if I were to choose the most exciting one amongst them, I would opt for skiing. In my opinion skiing is the only sport which pays you back several times for the energy you inject into it. A slightly steeper slope, a tighter turn, a little bit of extra speed are all rewarded with a lot more pleasure.

I have been skiing for 13 years now, my first time I went to the ‘Dizin’ ski pist and I still have good memories from that day.Dizin is the largest ski pist in the Middle East and is situated in the Alborz mountain range, near the peak of Damavand. This resort is situated near Tehran. When I setoff from Tehran at 7:00 in the morning, around 2 and a half hours later I am sitting in the Telecabin (ski lift) with my ski gear on and going up for my first run down the slopes. Although it’s also possible to get there in 1 hour depending on which route you take.

Usually I go skiing with friends and there are quite a number of us. We have breakfast on the way in a small but cozy and clean restaurant. Boys and girls are not in theory allowed to board the telecabin together and this is the only time we get separated as a group. Sometimes though males and females do manage to board together. Anyway it’s a small dent in the day, as we then go skiing together and also see each other over a hot meal or drink.

The good thing about Dizin is its size. It has several varied pists and you can ski in many different styles during the same day. It has more difficult patches with moguls and little hills for jumping. It also has a pist with a straight steep slope which we call the ‘Autoban’, i.e. the ‘Freeway’. There is also a beginner’s pist where you can watch interesting acrobatic skills from newcomers to the sport. With the purchase of a ski pass one can make use of all the pists, telecabins, telesieges and other facilities for 1 day, and the purchase of the ski pass apparently also provides insurance for you.

Resting outside the cabin at the Dizin half-way point

A female skier on the peak at Dizin

If you don’t have ski gear there are stalls next to the pists which rent out ski equipment. You can obtain all types of ski equipment and skiwear in these stalls, Alpine skis Snowboards, Monoboards, Cross Country Skis and all the accessories which go with it. Usually after a bit of expert bargaining you can get a very good price for a full set of gear. Always try to determine price and make payment after you have skied for the day, that way your bargaining position is much stronger. Also take good care to make sure that you hire good equipment so that your enjoyment for the day is not spoilt. Don’t let a small problem in your ski boots or your ski bindings ruin your day.

If you are a beginner or you require some training in either Alpine skiing or Snowboarding, you can work with a coach from the ‘Ski School’ which is located next to the pist. You can either get a coach on an hourly basis or you can get one for the whole day. The rates are quite reasonable but try to determine them beforehand. Also next to the ski school is where you may end up going if you are unlucky enough to have an accident. The emergency medical facility is where you should go if you feel you have a strain, fracture or other injury. Of course if you get badly injured, you will be carried off the pist on a stretcher by a ski rescue team. But let’s now dwell on that!

The ski coaches and experts in the Dizin Resort are mostly residents of the village of Rudbarak, which is located 10km from Dizin. They start to ski shortly after they have learnt to walk and if while you are skiing you suddenly notice a child, whose height doesn’t even reach up to your waist, hurtling past you, don’t feel too depressed, because that kid despite his or her young age has probably skied much more than you have.

These young kids ski on the same pist in the summer, ‘Ski rooye Chaman’ we call it, ‘Skiing on grass’ literally. They are also pretty good at that as well.Although skiing is a specialized sport, Dizin can get very busy during the weekend and it’s good to avoid it on Thursdays and Fridays (Iranian weekend) if possible, otherwise you may end up spending more of your time in queues for telecabins than skiing on the pist.

On Saturdays, embassy staff and many non-Iranian residents in Tehran turn up at the pists and it’s a good day to go skiing if you want to practice your English, French, German etc. Many of them stay the night at hotels, chalets and villas nearby.

Women also like the ski slopes as the restrictions on dress code are much more relaxed on the pists. The usual headscarf can be replaced by headwear of various kinds and generally as Tehranis say on the pists “Kamtar gir midand” i.e. ‘They harass you less’.I usually prefer to have lunch at Dizin Hotel, it’s of course more expensive than restaurants of a similar quality in Tehran, but for a nice warm meal after a day’s hard skiing it’s well worth it. In the middle of the pist there is also a restaurant known as ‘Nim Gholeh’ meaning ‘Halfway to the peak’ which is a place where young boys and girls usually meet up. You will see a lot of young people just hanging around this restaurant, or chilling out on the deckchairs outside. Many of them don’t even ski during the day, some don’t even know how to ski. They just come to make friends in a relaxed and uninhibited way.

Variety of hair gear can be seen on the fashionable Dizin pist!

Some of the crowd have chalets near the resort and come and spend the night or a few days at their ‘winter home’. They are usually warm people and can speak a bit of English and enjoy meeting foreign tourists; if you also act in a friendly way who knows you may just get an invitation to a party in the evening.

There are a total of 16 pists in Iran (in theory, depending on the conditions), of which 5 of the best are located near Tehran. The ‘Shemshak’ resort is around a 45 minute drive from Tehran and is host to the hardest and steepest ski slopes in Iran. You will find Iran’s best skiers in Shemshak, which is no place for the timid. The closest pist to Tehran is ‘Tochal’ which is just a 30 minute drive. Tochal has good ski facilities, and when skiing there you will be witness to a striking view of the capital and its surroundings.

Enjoying the skiing at Dizin

Among all the pists in Iran, Dizin is the highest at an altitude of 3550 meters (almost 14,000 feet), and when standing on its peak the beautiful peak of Damavand, which is the highest mountain in Iran, is clearly visible. ‘Darbandsar’ and ‘Aab-Ali’ are two other pists near Tehran, about a 1 hour drive from the capital. They are both small and easy in nature, suitable for beginners. But in my opinion the best ski resort in Iran in terms of the quality of the pists, the ski lifts, hotels and restaurants is Dizin. After Dizin I would say Shemshak is the best resort, which allows you to ski at nighttime as well under floodlight. The weather is usually sunny in both Shemshak and Dizin, but given the fact that it’s difficult to forecast mountainous weather, it is always advisable to bring warmer attire with you just in case the clouds set in. Sometimes near the end of the skiing season, it’s been so warm that after around 11:00 am I have skied in a T-shirt and I haven’t felt the cold at all. This year the snow was plentiful and the pists opened 2 weeks earlier than usual.

Skiing in Iran, as elsewhere in the world, is considered as an expensive hobby and although the prices may be cheap for foreigners, given the cost of the equipment it is an expensive sport for an ordinary Iranian to take up. The locals of course have skiing in their blood and they are probably the only ‘non-middle class’ crowd on the slopes and they are also the most fun crowd you will meet, and they are usually there to ski, unlike some of the urban dwellers who turn up for the social aspects. After a good day’s skiing, there is usually a get-together somewhere nearby.

A few days of skiing gives me renewed energy for my normal working life. It’s really great to be able to ski from December to April and who knows I may just bump into you on the slopes.