"It's the only proper skiing in Turkey" they would say.
"They've got modern lifts that don't run on Kebap grease," they would whisper.
"They're hosting some kind of College Olympics," they would speak, in awe.
"You might actually get tired," they would wonder.
I'd had enough. It was time to confirm the whispers. We booked our flights, yes, flights, it's a huge country, and Palandoken is an hour and a half flight from Ankara. Luckily, plane prices were about $100 USD round trip. We recruited our newly trained skiers, James "Simon" Bond, and the Pakistani Princess, Khadijah. And, always game to dial in her perfect turn a bit more, Carrie "Tele" Simpson. We made our reservations, again, a combined hotel+ski passes+meals+booze affair (75 USD per person), and we were off.
It's super conservative out East. Essentially, a different country from the "Western" cities of Ankara and Istanbul. Erzurum is the town we flew into, but, we bypassed the town of no-beer and black hijab-clad women, to head straight to the ski resort.
It's only about 15 minutes out of town before you dive into the ski hills. Sadly, they were pretty bare. Apparently, the rumors of meters upon meters of snow are lingering only in the memories of locals before climate change. But, there was still plenty of snow, and the rumors of modern lifts and modern grooming were quickly confirmed. A fleet of Pit-Bull snow cats sat outside the hotel, and two, brand new Poma-high speed Quads could be seen on the mountain. (Another was placed on the backside).
Saturday morning we woke up to a surreal sight. The mountains were devoid of any vegetation. It was like looking out upon a white desert. It's exactly what you might think of when you think of Middle Eastern Skiing in Afghanistan, Iran, or Iraq. But, who cares about trees? The mountains were huge, and draped in snow. The pistes were wide and groomed, the lift lines were nill, and our hotel was parked in front of it all. Sweet.
Let's talk numbers. 3,530. That's an impressive one, especially when it's attached to the vertical descent of a ski resort. Only 12 ski resorts in North America have more descent. Bigger than Crested Butte, Vail, or even Breckenridge. Yeah, no shit! To be fair, 500 of those feet are down a long flat green, but I measured 2,230 feet of descent down one blue-black run, with only a short cat-track interrupting the consistent descent.
The rumors were true, this was "real" skiing. And my new tele boots, skis, and bindings were leaving me gasping for air at the ends of the runs. Ripping down one run on the backside, with what seemed to be the whole mountain to myself, I skidded to a stop at the end of the run and fell over laughing with happiness and utter exhaustion.
I'll let the photos tell the rest of the story. Palandoken. Eastern Turkey. Who knew!?!??!
This shot is from the very bottom of the resort, you can't see the backside behind the obvious mountain in front, but you can make out the tallest point, with the tower crowning it on the left. A nice, steep run, goes from the tower all the way down to our slopeside chalet.
The view out our hotel room window wasn't inspiring, but the high speed lifts, and the Alp-like views off the backside of the mountain lifted ours spirits.
Our first day it was pretty cloudy, but on Sunday the sun came out a couple of times for some nice shots.
I can't say for sure, but I think Erin thinks she is in Egypt.
What kind of shots do they serve here?
That's okay, the beer's free.
And, how conservative could a country really be when the ski instructors are sponsored by Miller?!?!
Simon and Khadijah are both getting the hang of this skiing thang'
Khadijah made it down from the top of the gondola.
And Simon braved the 7KM long backside piste with me...
Though he was a bit nervous about the Gondola. (So was I, given it's age)
But the best part, like in any ski vacation. Is bellying up the bar for a cold beer at the end of a great day.
I LOVE this place!
dig it.
ReplyDelete