Unknown World

Persian Powder — A History of Iranian Skiing

Yep! They ski in Iran too!

You might be thinking that this is a joke. A feeble satire about how amazing the skiing is in Iran when of course there’s no such thing. Too busy building bombs, whipping up Jihadism, or suppressing their women.

But you’d be wrong.

Iran has loads of mountains and loads of skiing, with over 100 peaks over 4000 metres. It doesn’t have the number of resorts that Europe offers, but it has over 25 resorts with many over 3000 metres. Including the Tochāl Ski Resort above the capital Tehran.

There’s even a Gondola from the capital to the ski centre, the highest station of which is located at 3740 m. That’s almost as high as the highest ski lift in Europe in Zermatt, Switzerland.

So Are You Surprised?

I was. But why?

Is it because I’m European and so assume we invented everything, and so find it odd to see ‘such luxuries’ in other countries. Especially something as Western as skiing.

But that’s stupid: No one invented skiing. Just like no one invented cheese. They both evolved simultaneously in different parts of the world as a means to move on ice and to preserve milk. Indeed, there’s evidence that people were skiing on wooden boards in Iran over 4000 years ago. That’s four millennia before Europeans were sitting in their chalets sipping on champagne.

And yet, when we see so-called European innovations in so-called less developed countries, we are somehow surprised.

Perhaps even shocked.

Even Europeans travelling to other European countries are sometimes surprised by how advanced other countries are. When a friend from the north of England visited me in France a few years back, he couldn’t believe how good the roads were.

He had never been to France, and from the negative British media during Brexit, had assumed France was a backward, inward looking country with a crumbling economy and crumbling roads.

Not so.

Likewise, when I travelled to Australia in the early 90s, I was surprised how sophisticated Sydney and Melbourne were. From all the stuff I’d read and seen about Australia in the media as a kid, I expected these cities to be full of Paul Hogan lookalikes all getting drunk on Castlemaine XXXX lager.

It’s amazing how much we don’t know, especially when we’re younger (or even older). And I’m beginning to understand how dangerous and manipulative the media can be. Even in this multilayered world, the basic facts are hard to find.

I only discovered you could ski in Iran because I was listening to a radio program about early agriculture in the Euphrates/Tigris valley in Mesopotamia, which is now modern day Iraq/Syria/Turkey/Iran.

On the map they produced on their website, I noticed how mountainous Iran was.

I then started wondering if they skied in Iran. I mean, why not? Why wouldn’t they? Just like why wouldn’t they ski in Morocco (8 resorts), India (11 resorts), Armenia (4 resorts) Mongolia (1 resort), even North Korea (2 resorts)!

So next time you think you know everything, think again. Chances are, you know nothing.

Thanks for reading, for more thought, check out