Ski Israel

Whether Israel’s one ski area is actually in Israel or in neighbouring Syria is a matter of some debate.

Newe Ativ ski resort was established on Mount Hermon in 1969, but that’s land that Israel took illegally from Syria two years earlier in the 1967 war, according to the UN who want them to give it back and over the past decade the area has been mentioned as a possible area to be returned on the long procrastinated ‘land for peace’ deal, yet to materialise.

For the foreseeable future however you can ski Israel with the slopes only 200 metres from the Syrian border, heavily armed lift attendants and the odd report of shells landing in the area and off piste mine fields.

A more day-to-day problem for skiers and boarders on Israel’s ski slopes however can be fluctuating snow conditions and crowds when the snow is good. The centre can go most of the winter – in a bad year – with little snow, but when the snow is abundant the slopes can be choked by thousands of enthusiastic skiers and boarders.

Originally locals used mules to ascend the slopes but there are now a dozen lifts, half of them chairs, to make it much easier. read more...

Snow: next 3 days

Ski resorts of Israel, alphabetically