Bad News for Skiers: Dizin Resort Snowless

Only one day is left before the beginning of winter in the Persian calendar (December 22) and yet there is no sign of snow on the Dizin ski slopes.

Located in the Alborz Mountain range, 123km north of Tehran (from Chalous Road), the piste is one of the main ski resorts in the Middle East. It attracts ski lovers from across the country, namely Alborz, Tehran and Mazandaran provinces as well as foreign tourists. Several competitions are also organized during the annual ski season.

Dizin usually opens to skiers in the Persian month of Aban (October23-November 21) and if times are bad (no snow) it is postponed to the last month of fall, Azar (November 22-December 21). But this season the site has not yet opened.

According to Varzesh3.com, Iran Ski Federation and Iran Sports Federation for the Disabled had accepted to host two international tournaments at Dizin. Now with the unusually dry season and no snow around, the competitions are in doubt.

  Hosting Might Be Cancelled

The Iran Ski Federation is scheduled to host the Asian Junior Ski Championships in February and Iran Sports Federation for Disabled is the host of the Para Asian Junior Ski Championships.

Holding of the two events depends on the snowfall at the resort. If the current weather prevails, the competitions will have to be cancelled. But there could be a solution.

Experts claim the only way out is using modern technology like snow cannons to produce the snow. They, however, add that there is no such technology in Iran and the possibility of making it available for the present cold season is remote.

“No ski resort in Iran is open now - as there has been no (or very little) snow in the country - and Dizin is no exception”, Ali Omran-Solaqani, head of Alborz Ski Federation said. “The only solution is to import snow cannons. We should use modern technology as the Europeans do. Declining precipitation has become a universal problem and is not limited to Iran.”

Solaqani believes the only way out is to buy snow cannons. Each of the snow guns, aka snow cannons, costs 20 billion Rials ($480.000). The device covers a surface of 300 square meters with artificial snow and then the surface is fixated by using snow-groomer machines.

Dizin is the first ski resort in Iran which is certified by the World Ski Federation for upholding enough standards to host international events. Altitude of the piste is 3,600 meters above sea level and 2,650 meters at the lowest point.