Word: skis
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...life of a Middle East correspondent isn't all conflict and crisis. In fact - though I may regret letting my editors in on the secret - when there isn't a war, the living in Lebanon is pretty darn easy. Ski season opened here properly a few days ago with the first sunny weekend at Faraya Mazaar, Lebanon's most developed ski resort. And, as the saying goes, TIME was there...
...Skiing is possible in Lebanon because the swift rise of the coastal mountain range, coming after the broad expanse of the open Mediterranean, creates updrafts that keep the high country cold even when it might be 60 or 70 degrees at the shore. While the old tourism industry cliché that in Lebanon you can go alpine skiing in the morning and water skiing in the afternoon might be technically true, I don't know anyone who's tried. Even in late March (which is about as long as the ski season lasts) the sea is too cold for much...
...crisis between the Lebanese government and the Hizballah-led opposition that has turned the capital into a semi-permanent protest zone has also scared off foreign tourists, a crucial part of the economy. Bookings are down by as much as 60 percent from last year at Skileb, an online ski package operator that deals mostly with foreigners. Although skiing represents only about 10% of Lebanon's tourism market, Lebanon's economy is under such duress after the past summer's war with Israel that the country needs every ski bunny...
...Mountains are a testament to nature's power, and to the human instinct to defy it. The very tunnel that provides such easy access to the slopes is an impressive victory for the mortals. But this winter, the mountain gods are reminding mankind just who's in charge. The ski season in Europe began as one of the barest on record, and even when the snow has fallen misfortune has frequently followed. High temperatures have caused a series of pro races to be canceled and contributed to avalanches that have claimed at least eight skiers' lives in the past...
...execution.? Failure to do so would only open the door to years of conspiracy theories about how Hussein somehow slipped away and remained alive.? By midday, screens across Iraq carried Hussein's last moments.? There was Hussein atop the gallows, surrounded by men in leather jackets and black ski masks nudging him toward a door in the floor.? Fear was plainly all over the former dictator's face as the noose went around his neck in the last of the footage the government initially released...