Word: skis
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...Faraya's slopes and parking lots, even on a glorious Sunday afternoon, aren't nearly as crowded as the should be. There's also a noticeable dearth of headscarves and Hummers. Most Lebanese who ski are either Christians (Faraya is deep in the Christian highlands) or Muslims who tend towards the stylish and secular. But the resort typically attracts many tourists from the Gulf and neighboring Arab countries, who have more traditional tastes: they like their cars big and their women covered...
...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...
...home village that you've been up in the mountains for the weekend. The fact that the snowmen often block windshield visibility doesn't seem to bother anyone. Indeed, a certain joie de vivre in the face of danger is as Lebanese as the cedar tree. As my Lebanese skiing buddy, Alex, said when an errant snowboarder went crashing through the plastic orange protective webbing separating skiers and the lunchtime crowd sunning themselves at a base lodge: "They ski like they drive...