Mountains, beaches, good food and friendly people – that is Lebanon.

We arrived to Lebanon at 3 AM. Our normal flight landed at 21.35, but we weren't onboard in that one. No, no, we missed our connecting flight in Doha, Qatar, due to a way too short time to change from one plane to another. There was only 40 minutes between the landing of the first and the departure of the next flight. We had the slowest possible airport bus driver in the world, and the transfer desk lines were tens of meters long. Even with our good cutting-into-the-line skills we didn't manage to get to our transfer gate in time. So, waiting it was. The nice lady on the transfer desk luckily gave us some vouchers for free food and beverages, because we ended up having a nice 5 hours to spend at the airport before the next flight.

So, we finally got ourselves to Beirut airport and our driver was waiting for us at the arrivals lobby with my name on a big sign, pretty V.I.P. Well it felt V.I.P. until I saw our transportation. It was an old Toyota Hiace, the minivan edition. And the driver (don't know his real name) got quickly named Vatanen after an old rally driver from Finland, because of his driving habits. The guy charged every corner probably two times too fast and it really felt that some times we were on two wheels. Well, if you think that there is 60-70 kilometers from the airport to Mzaar, the ski resort that we were heading to, and the guy drove it in an hour with 1500 meters vertical. I believe you get the point how fast he was driving. 

He even drove us to a wrong hotel at first, but that might have been my fault, because I told him to do so, hehe. I thought that we are going to a hotel that our guide Ron mentioned to me in our mail exchange, but apparently not. The only thing that we found from the first place was some drunken guy sleeping in the hotel lobby and otherwise the hotel was totally empty. Ron had actually reserved a nice chalet for us next to the lifts, so it was better that way in the end. It felt so good once again to lie down after almost 24 hours of travelling. 

We woke up at around seven o'clock the next morning, all super ready to go skiing. The feeling is just amazing, when you're standing next to a lift, putting your skis on and you know that it is going to be a great day. As the weather forecast had promised two days of good weather, we decided to go check out some lines on the first day and then go film them the next day. We cruised around the resort, which is actually really big, and looked for some nice spots to film. We focused on finding more the lookers than the nut crackers and accidentally ended up finding both in the same spot. We found the lines standing next to a window in this one café on the top and Ape suddenly said to me “Wow, this slope down from here looks kind of steep”. So we skied it down from the side and went to have a look from under it. It looked perfect. The lines were maybe 45 degrees steep from the top, then a drop or two into a huge face. We took some guiding photos and headed back home. On the way back we found one fun run with spring snow that we filmed with the head cams and took some snapshots from small cliffs close to it. 

The evening went chatting on Facebook and drinking coffee. The one and only bad thing in our chalet was that the grocery store was way down in the lower village. So, we had to walk for maybe a kilometer to get there and another one back uphill for some food and water, nice. Well, we are three sporty guys so it wasn't that bad, hehe. 

The next morning I woke up well before my alarm clock. It was filming day. I had gone through the line so many times when I went to bed that I can't even count the times. I was so stoked on the chair lift on our way up and even more stoked when we realized that the best light comes to my line and we are going to film it first. So, I went up on the lift once again and took one more photo to guide me to the right spot. From the top station I had to ski and walk for a few hundred meters to get to the starting spot. Ape guided me from the bottom with hand signals and with a little help from the photo I found the right place. I put my skis and helmet on, set my gear and I was ready to hit it. I signaled the guys that I am ready, and once I got the ok signal back, I was on my way. Everything went just the way I had pictured it in my mind. First three turns, then a sliding stopper and then charge it over the cliff. It felt so good when I was riding down the face and I knew that I got it. I have to say that that is one of the best feelings in the world. 

Next it was Blumi's turn. He chose a run with two cliffs on the other side of the mountain. One long turn, a drop, then a long stopper and another drop down to the face and skiing away. It was a nice solid run with two nice cliffs in it. 

Then it was Ape's turn. Ape's run was maybe the most difficult of the three with two drops and less snow than the first two. Ape's head is perfect for skiing the big lines and once again he went big and in total control at all the time and killed his line. The line skiing is all about knowing your own skills and keeping your head cool. You should start from the smaller and easy lines and move your way slowly up to the bigger ones over time. 

Later on in the afternoon we just skied some fun stuff for the head cams, and watched and filmed some locals doing crazy stuff on the slopes. It really is fun to watch the families having fun on the slopes and not just staying at home watching TV. 

One funny thing too is that you can buy so called super food from the parking lot after a hard day on the slopes. There are all kinds of nuts and dried fruits for sale in an old car's trunk and trust me they are tasty. If you think that Parrot's nuts are good, then these will blow your mind away.  

Later on in the evening when it was dinner time, we decided to eat out, because none of us was up for the grocery store walk again, hehe. Really, it's at least 150 meters of vertical and two kilometers there and back, no way after a filming day. There was a nice small café/restaurant on the ground floor of our building that also manages the chalets that we were living in. They served really nice sajj, which is a tortilla styled pancake with cheese and ham in it, and it is really good. The owners make and bake them on a half ball shaped pan outside the place, and everything they put on them is really fresh. They also serve alcohol and play music really loud, which seems to be normal in every sort of bar and café in Lebanon. People live for music in Lebanon.

The next morning was planned to be our last filming day, but when we opened the curtains in the morning the plans suddenly changed. It was pouring rain hard and the whole mountain was in the clouds, so it was a no go for us. We called our friend Ron from the SkiLeb and asked him to re-organize our trip a little bit. He contacted us after an hour and we were on our way to check out Beirut. 

See you there.