The Military Says It Is Off-Limits, but Israelis Still Frolic in Snow on Mt. Hermon

Drivers ignore the sign: “Closed Military Area.” Hundreds of cars loaded with ski equipment climb the winding road each weekend to the only snow-capped mountain available.

Mt. Hermon borders on Syria and Lebanon and affords the Israeli army with a strategic look into enemy territory. But that has not prevented the mountain from becoming a popular ski resort for Israelis, most of whom rarely see snow and are more accustomed to sun-drenched Mediterranean beaches.

As skiers whizzed down Israel’s side of Mt. Hermon one recent weekend, soldiers with submachine guns gingerly stepped around toddlers on sleds, brought to the resort by parents who might have driven four or five hours just so the youngsters could get their first taste of fun in the snow.

“It’s not much, but it’s all we’ve got,” said veteran skier Aryeh Morris.

Morris said he first learned to ski in 1968, a year after the Golan Heights were captured by the Israelis from Syria. There were no cable cars then and no ski resort, but there was an army base and a shack at the top of the 6,000-foot mountain.

Ride With Troops

“I used to hitch a ride up in a command car with troops, and then I skied down. That’s how I learned how to ski,” he said.

Since then he has joined the Israel Ski Club and has taken annual trips to European resorts.

Crowding takes some of the pleasure out of skiing at Mt. Hermon. One complaint is the snow blanket has been worn thin by too many skiers, but there also is grousing about short trails, high prices and an irregular policy on opening.

A day of skiing costs the equivalent of about $80, a price one Israeli characterized as “an arm and a leg.” Israel’s average monthly wage is $800.

When there’s a heavy snowstorm the resort is usually closed for the day because the owners can’t clear access roads. Other times the army closes the mountain without warning for security reasons.

Rudeness on Slopes

Skiers also complain that their compatriots are rude on the slopes. Indeed, there seems to be no Hebrew equivalent for “Passing on the right!” or “Coming by on your left”--only an occasional grunt, which usually comes too late.

“They’re wild animals, I wanted to clobber one kid,” said Shmuel Shene, a 52-year-old Israeli businessman, who prefers skiing in Chamonix, France. “They’re just like they are on the roads, trying to show off.”

The army usually doesn’t enforce the “Closed Military Area” warning, but security is tight. Soldiers man the cable car stations, using the mountain tops as lookout points to scan the area.

“We live inside the army,” said Eli Sagron, who manages the resort. “They need us and we need them.”

Mt. Hermon is popularly known in Israel as “the eyes of the nation,” a name that stuck after it was captured in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and an army officer used the phrase to stress the mountain’s strategic importance.

Israel annexed the Golan Heights in 1981, though Syria still claims the territory. The ski-lift is just two miles from the border with both Syria, Israel’s most hard line foe, and Lebanon, where guerrilla attacks often originate.

Parachutist Spotted

On the recent weekend, troops spotted a man parachuting onto the slopes and were about to open fire when they were told he was a soldier who had permission to make the jump. The soldiers thought he was a guerrilla using a new method to infiltrate.

Last year, just about 10 miles southeast of Mt. Hermon, a Palestinian guerrilla hang-glided into Israeli from inside Lebanon and attacked an army base, killing six soldiers. Nearby Mt. Dov has been the site of numerous Arab infiltration attempts from Lebanon.

But with all the troops on Mt. Hermon, said one soldier, “This is probably the safest place in Israel.”

At least 300,000 visitors flock to the mountain each year during the December-April season, according to Sagron.

“Ninety-five percent of them don’t ski,” Sagron said. “They come to play in the snow, sled on the little plastic sleds and go up the cable car to see the view.”