Resorts where I flew

Khoshakoo

First resort I visited in Iran… Khoshakoo is super tiny but I had fun and shared good vibes with the locals.

Fereydunshahr

A great day! Runs are shorts but the terrain is really cool.

Une publication partagée par Ski of Persia (@skiofpersia) le 4 Mars 2017 à 1h47 PST

Shemshak

A few flights there.
Runs are shorts and the lifts are quite slow… But the terrain is nice, the staff super chill and the wind mostly blowing to the right direction!

Darbandsar

After 2 NINJA flights and further talks, I finally had an authorization to fly… about 10 runs.
Darbandsar is the best resort in Iran for Speed-Riding: 900m vertical drop, steep, several lines and a Star Wars mode landing area. Main issue is the West exposure with down wind (in March).

Legend:

• Black line: Done
• Dotted line: To try
• Red dotted line: Steep line
• Yellow line: High voltage line
• Grey line: Ski lifts

Une publication partagée par Ski of Persia (@skiofpersia) le 10 Avril 2017 à 6h19 PDT

Spots I wish I had flown

Tochal

I negotiated hours… Tochal is located right above Tehran and rules are stricts : No UFOs!

I wish I had flown this south exposure line facing Tehran. With more time and less laziness, I could have got an authorization to ride the North face with a 2000m vertical drop.

Top of Tochal seems like a nice soaring spot.

Anywhere else

Kiting, soaring, riding virgin powder fields… the potential is quite huge all over Iran. Only with ski touring equipment.

Tips before Speed Riding in Iran

→ Full Guide : Skiing in Iran

Before flying, try to ask permission. Unless you are in the middle of nowhere, be sure that people understand what you are doing…
Ski resorts are likely to refuse access for responsibility reasons. They don’t want you to get injured and don’t want to be sued.

Here are 3 Iranian speed-riders:

• Reza Saharkhiz
• Mohamad Mojalal
• Sam Fatehi

 Thanks to Franck Coupat for his advices – Speed Riding School.

Cet article Speed Riding in Iran – Season 2017 est apparu en premier sur Ski of Persia.

I ended up with a bookmark full of links. Here is my selection of the best videos I’ve found. Enjoy!

Iran: A skier’s journey

Salam Azizam

One Day in Tehran

Snowmads: Fresh Tracks in Iran

Snowmads: Camping and Skiing in Iranian Solitude

Iran Ski Trip 2014 – Sun Valley

Freeriding in Dizin

Skiing in Iran by Warren Miller

Ski en Iran – Sweetsop #28

Ski trip Iran 2016

You have a video and want to be featured in here? Contact me: skiofpersia(at)gmail.com

Cet article Skiing in Iran: 11 videos worth seeing! est apparu en premier sur Ski of Persia.

I think it gives a good overview of what you can expect to see in the mountains. From what I have heard, 2017 wasn’t a good year…

If you have any shots you want to share, I will be happy to complete this thread – skiofpersia(at)gmail.com

Road from Dizin Upper-Parking to Shemshak

Destroyed road sign on the road going down from the upper-parking in Dizin to Shemshak…

Road from Varangeh Rud to Dizin

Varangeh Rud is a tiny village secluded in the mountain.

Tarik-Dareh ski resort

The ski resort of Tarik-Dareh is located right above the city of Hamedan. The region is cold and windy resulting in snow accumulation such as those photos below:

Mountain road near Chelgerd

Chelgerd is a small village in the Zagros mountain range – Base camp for numerous ski touring routes.

Road to Sahand Ski Resort

Road going to Sahand Ski Resort, near the city of Tabriz.

If you want to share your photo – skiofpersia(at)gmail.com

See you next year!

Cet article Iranian snow walls 2017 est apparu en premier sur Ski of Persia.

The region is wonderful, the snow is usually falling abundantly (not this year…) and the people avec extremely kind and warm.

For the record, in 2011, Turkish government invested to develop tourism and host the winter Universiade in Erzurum.

For this occasion, the 2 ski resorts of this area have been developed and the city has been equipped with all the facilities required to host those games : Ice ring, curling arena, ski jump, Nordic ski area…

Government saw big, and I guess, for the greatest joy of skiing equipment retailers :

• New chairlifts
• Snow makers
• Water storage
• Magnetic ski pass
• New snow groomers
• Security equipments
• …

Jackpot ! I am still asking myself why they didn’t try to sell a half-pipe snow groomer…

The 2 ski resorts (Palandöken and Konakli) are now operated together under a common name : Ejder3200! They are respectively located 3 and 25km away from Erzurum.

Palandöken ski resort

To resume this first day skiing of my entire journey:

• Military Checkpoint on the road to the resort
• Body search before entering the slopes
• Daily ski pass for only 10 euros
• Only few people on the slopes
• I drank a lot of tea while listening to Turkish Techno music
• Lots of great meetings and memories

The ski area is quite big and really fun. Slopes mostly for beginners and intermediates skiers but you can still find some steeper ones. With good snow conditions, you will find some nice freeride runs.

Speed-riding in Palandöken is not the best, however I couldn’t refrain myself to fly… For the record, the slopes manager gave me authorization to fly after proving my “professionnal” skills and promising to share my videos.

Konakli ski resort

An empty resort, blue sky, fresh snow, perfectly groomed slopes, new and fast chairlifts which starts when I arrive at the gate… This was a great day (see the video on top)!

Konakli ski area is really nice ! Slopes are long and fun despite the lack of steepness.

The top of the resort, where you can find the longest and steepest runs was unfortunately closed. It finally took me 2 hours walking to reach there and have a nice 20sec flight.

For 10 euros, it was definitely worth it.

Few advices

For tight budget:

• Don’t go to Hotels in Palandöken, everything is more expensive than in the city
• Hotel IPEK, cheapest one in town – 12,50€ / night – In city center + clean room
• Other good option : Check out AirB&B
• Eating in town : 5 € (2,5 € for vegetarian)
• Bus shuttle every hour going from the city center to the ski resorts for 1€. Don’t ask Taxi driver they will tell you there is no shuttle !

Conclusion

I am really happy, I had the chance to experience skiing in Turkey. Landscapes were amazing, snow was good and facilities were really nice. Also it was really cheap!

For speed-riding, even if I haven’t found the Turkish “Valfréjus”, I flew a few times and had fun.

Cet article Skiing in Turkey at Palandöken and Konakli est apparu en premier sur Ski of Persia.

You’d like to reach Iran by bus ? Here are all the details of my trip :

Summary of the trip

Start : Lyon, France – End : Bazargan, Iran

• Distance : 3963 km
• Number of buses : 8
• Hours sitting in bus : 63h00
• Days to reach the border : 7 days
• Total cost : 161,90 €

Details of this trip

Bus 1 + 2 : Lyon – Turin – Zagreb

• Company : Flixbus
• Price : 57,90 €
• Booking : Online (link) – 3 days before leaving
• Distance traveled : 1105 km
• Time : 16h45
• Start : 02.02.17 – 1h15
• End : 02.02.17 – 20h00
• Change of bus : 2h00 waiting in Torino

Bus 3 : Zagreb – Sofia

• Company : Florentia Bus
• Price : 36,00 €
• Booking : Online (link) – 3 days before leaving
• Distance traveled : 784 km
• Time : 13h00
• Start : 02.02.17 – 23h00
• End : 03.02.17 – 12h00

Bus 4 : Sofia – Istanbul

• Company : Metro Tourizm
• Price : 22,00 €
• Booking : Online (link) – During travel in bus 3
• Distance traveled : 552 km
• Time : 9h30
• Start : 03.02.17 – 12h30
• End : 03.02.17 – 22h00

—– 1x Night in Istanbul —–

Bus 5 : Istanbul – Erzincan

• Company : Metro Tourizm
• Prix : 25,00 €
• Booking : Online (link) – During travel in bus 3
• Distance traveled : 1020 km
• Time : 15h15
• Start : 04.02.17 – 18h45
• End : 05.02.17 – 10h00

Bus 6 : Erzincan – Erzurum

• Company : Esadas
• Price : 10,00 €
• Booking : None – At the desk
• Distance traveled : 187 km
• Time : 3h45
• Start : 05.02.17 – 10h15
• End : 05.02.17 – 14h00

—– 3 days in Erzurum : See here —–

Bus 7 : Erzurum – Doğubayazit

• Company : Agir Tur
• Price : 8,00 €
• Booking : None – At the desk
• Distance traveled : 277 km
• Time : 4h00
• Start : 08.02.17 – 11h00
• End : 08.02.17 – 15h00

Bus 8 : Doğubayazit – Iranian border of Bazargan

• Company : Minibus Turc
• Price : 3,00 €
• Booking : Aucune – In the street
• Distance traveled : 38 km
• Time : 45 minutes
• Start : 08.02.17 – 15h30
• End : 08.02.17 – 16h00

With some luck, you will get into an “Ibus” produced by the famous “Appel” brand !

Feedback

70 hours in a bus it is long, but we adapt…

Traveling by bus is a really good way to dive into your trip and reset your “space-time continuum“.

Book your buses in advance and specially if you travel during week-ends… From Istanbul to the East, most of buses were full on Friday !

For luggages, I was travelling with : a big ass backpack (+20kg) + another good size bag (+10kg) + my alpine skis. I never paid any additional fee for so much luggage !

Except from Flixbus company, no buses had electric plugs or Wifi !

General advices

Here are some tips for this kind of trip :

• Wether you book your tickets in advance, watch out for schedules – If your bus leaves in the early morning (1.00 am) don’t miss-select the day…
• Keep a safety margin between buses, specially if you are going through main cities (traffic jam, different bus station…)
• Most of booking websites don’t suggest connexions between different buses… Be clever !
• Take some books, musics, films, so you don’t get bored
• Plan well so you don’t have to pay a single night in a hotel

Avion VS Bus

Yes it hurts !

Besides, travelling by bus implies : you’ve already done your VISA – See this post + longer travel time + more food to buy + Maybe hotel to pay…

So why should we take the bus ?

• Be more flexible and take last minute decisions
• Meet and share things with people, you wouldn’t have otherwise
• Suffer a little bit, it creates good memories
• Take as much luggages as you want
• Stop considering “travelling” as a consumption product
• Reduce your carbon footprint ?

Ciao !

Cet article NO PLANE, NO GAIN ! France – Iran with bus est apparu en premier sur Ski of Persia.