When we read the Bible, we think that Israel is this desert place,
yellow sand, rocks, the Dead Sea, maybe the Mediterranean ocean,
and that's all true.
But what a few of us know is that Israel is no stranger to snowstorms,
especially, if you live up north on Mount Hermon,
and this is what we're going to explore today.
(laughter)
♪ (upbeat music) ♪
(Rhoda)
Yes, here in Israel!
So we are heading to the most north point of the country
to experience our first snowstorm in Israel's only ski resort,
the ski resort of Mount Hermon.
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(Sergio)
and we hiked to its peak.
If you haven't seen this video,
we highly recommend it
as it paints a good picture of how this place looks like.
The majority of the year without snow.
However, today, we heard that there is going to be a snowstorm,
so we decided to use this awesome opportunity to film it.
And as a bonus,
we're joined by my dad and mom,
who have been living in Israel for almost 30 years,
but had never been to Mount Hermon before.
♪ (upbeat music) ♪
The Mount of Hermon is actually much larger
than what we're gonna see today
because it extends all the way to Syria,
and Israel owns just a very small part of it.
And the part it owns is actually controlled by the military
because it's right at the border with Syria,
so it has some high tension,
and there's only one road to get to the snow.
One road to get to the ski resort,
and that road has a gate at the very beginning of it.
And the latest entry is 3 p.m.,
so if we don't make it before 3 p.m.,
you can't enter, you can't see the snow,
even if you've driven all the way from Bet She'an for four hours,
which happened to us before.
(Sergio) There it is, there's the gate.
That's it, as you see,
It's a big giant gate that just closes at 3 p.m.
All right, perfect.
It's 1:00 p.m., we made it before closing time of this big yellow gate,
which is the military area, but also a ski resort.
Probably the only country in the world with the two of them combined.
Oh, there is the snow, snow!
I'm looking at the thermometer in the car,
and it keeps dropping,
it went from 19°C to seven now,
and it keeps dropping a degree every few hundred feet.
It just keeps dropping.
All right, so here we are.
We're at the entrance to this ski park or the resort,
and we actually going to pay.
It's about ten dollars, 30-something shekels.
(speaking in Hebrew)
All right, so we're through, and it costs $12
but if you are in-pension, you get a five-shekel discount
(Rhoda) Hold on, I think he wants us to park right there.
(Sergio) Yeah, there's a spot. We are here.
(Rhoda) We are here.
♪ (relaxed music) ♪
♪ (upbeat song) ♪
So good!
Wonderful!
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(Sergio) Let's go.
♪ (upbeat music) ♪
(Rhoda laughing)
(Sergio) When was the last time you've been here?
I don't know-- with a school trip, and maybe, middle school.
Wow, that's like 20 years ago.
Yeah, I don't remember much about it...
I remember snow, that's it,
and using the sled down.
- Wow! Wow! - Like, that's it.
It's been a while, it's been a while.
(Sergio) We're getting into the (speaking in Hebrew).
- (Rhoda) Yeah! - (Sergio) What is that?
- It's the... fog. - Fog.
Getting into the fog.
(Rhoda) And it's getting really, really cold and chilly on the seat.
Yeah, yeah.
Oh, my!
- Gosh! - Good.
(laughter)
People just say that, right?
So, anybody traveling-- the [inaudible] needs to do trading,
and the Romans that are traveling that road
would have seen the peaks of Mount Hermon,
if they would go in the winter, the snowy white peaks.
(Rhoda) Yeah.
(Sergio) What's interesting is that Tel Dan is not too far from here,
and we filmed about it and there's a Canaanite Gate.
It goes all the way to the times of Abraham.
Abraham going there, Tel Dan, that is right here,
he would have seen the peaks of this mountain.
If it was winter, he would have seen the snow.
Yeah, yeah.
It's getting colder.
it's getting freezing.
It's so windy, it's not even funny here.
What is the temperature out here?
(wind howling)
(laughing)
♪ (relaxed music) ♪
(chatting in Hebrew)
♪ (relaxed music) ♪
(Rhoda) We can't see anything in front of us.
Wow, you just see white a little bit.
(crowd noise)
There's a military guy out there.
♪ (relaxed music) ♪
(Sergio)
and yet, it is mentioned in the Bible by King David, Solomon,
prophet Jeremiah, and even God himself
when he spoke through the prophet Isaiah
and told his children, Israel, to turn back from their disobedient ways.
And despite their sinful state being at its deepest,
God still promised them that,
"even though your sins are as red scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow."
This symbolism was not too difficult to understand
for the people living here two and a half thousand years ago,
as they could look up to this mountain
and see the blankets of snow covering its peaks.
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(Rhoda) I don't feel my toes, I don't feel my fingers.
I don't feel my knees, I don't feel my nose--
Whoooa!
(giggle)
(Sergio)
This ski resort has a total of 45 kilometers
or 28 miles of trails,
with the longest run of three and a half kilometers.
That is a two-mile long skiing experience.
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(Sergio)
it's not the Peak Blanc of France, with a ten-mile run,
or Mount Aspen in Colorado, with a three-and-a-half-mile slope.
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However, Hermon is located in the Middle East,
so the two-mile slope is very impressive,
and on par with most of the world ski resorts.
In fact, two of the trails of Mount Hermon are recognized
by the International Ski Federation for Olympic level races.
(Rhoda) Whoa!
♪ (upbeat music) ♪
(Sergio)
However, if you wish for us to come back here again
and review the slopes as we hold on to our dear lives,
please let us know in the comment section below.
♪ (upbeat music) ♪
Well, we hope you enjoyed this episode.
If you thought snow doesn't exist in Israel, there you go.
It's humid, it's windy, it's freezing.
(Sergio) Oh, you know who we should bring in here next time? Fifi!
There won't be a next time.
(laughter)
Here we are, we're in Mount Hermon,
the northernmost point of Israel.
We're going to start here
and try to attempt to make it all the way to the Dead Sea within five hours,
and drive through five different ecosystems.
We're going to put a timer, I'm going to set it on five hours
and see if we can actually make it within five hours.
Seeing all the scenery, making stops, food, and everything.
If you're up for this challenge,
keep watching this video.
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(clicking sound)