The winter hits Iran, and the snowy peaks surrounding Tehran attract thousands of local residents winding their way to Dizin, one of the Islamic Republic's most popular ski resorts. For several hours, everyone will have fun in the snow, forgetting for a while the economic hardships, the looming presidential elections and even the hollow daily threats from the Zionist entity.

"We offer a longer skiing season than most European countries," the local advertising banners announce to the tourists and residents, "and that, only 80 kilometers from Tehran." Where else in the Middle East can one find a ski resort whose ski lifts can take you 3,600 meters above sea level "and compete with the best resorts in the Rocky Mountains and in Europe?"

Winter in Iran offers endless snowy slopes, lifts carrying dozens of skiers, and quite a few races, presenting the best skiers of the Islamic Republic in almost 20 ski resorts throughout the country. In Middle Eastern terms, Iran is a skiing superpower.

Together with Lebanon and Turkey, Iranians are the only Middle Eastern country to regularly hold ski events, and since the 1950s, Iran has almost always sent athletes to the winter Olympics.

One Iran skiing website boasts that "our mountains are popular among skiers beyond the Middle East, thanks to the elevation of the resorts. The weather conditions and the elevation contribute to the quality of our snow".

Dizin is undoubtedly the king of the Iranian ski resorts. The luxurious resort, established in the mid-1960s, lies at the heart of the Alborz Mountains, only a 90-minute drive from Tehran. The base of the resort is 2,650 meters high – 350 meters above Europe's highest resort. "The snow is perfect, the view is breathtaking, and I had to pinch myself in order to remember that I'm in Iran," wrote July Dome, a British journalist who explored the ski resorts in Iran. Dizin was also the preferred resort of the royal couple, Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi and his wife.

"When they talk about Iran, people usually find it hard to imagine 4,000-meter-high slopes, covered with sparkling white snow and picturesque shacks," says Marjan Tehrani, an American film director of Iranian descent, who in the recent year worked at trying to raise $125,000 for a project meant to bring together U.S. and Iranian snowboard enthusiasts. "Due to the manner Iran is depicted in the U.S. media, people tend to think of Iran in the context of political tensions or some conflict or other," she adds.

But visitors are in for surprises. "The more you venture into the mountains, the less you feel the grip of the Islamic state," Dome wrote after visiting Iran in 2008. "You hardly see any photos of Ayatollah Khomeini, and even women with burkas are a rare sight."

Dome said that while it was deserted during the week, the Dizin resort became a colorful festival on the weekend, with thousands of well-to-do, Western-looking Iranians arriving in luxurious cars. One could hardly spot any of the long Muslim beards that characterize Tehran. "Our Mullahs simply don't ski," explained the Iranian instructor.

Permissiveness is the name of the game in Iran's larger ski resorts. In recent years, apart from the wonderful snow and low prices – daily admission costs between 2 Euro and 8 Euro – the only way resort operators could successfully lure tourists and calm their fears was to partially ignore the regime's strict moral demands. Despite the rigid separation between men and women on the ski lifts, and often on the courses themselves, visitors revealed that on the mountain slopes, in the hotels and inns, one could drink alcohol, hear female singles and mingle freely until all hours of the night. "Just like many other things in Iran, everyone simply turned a blind eye," Dome explained. As a result, the resorts are an ideal love nest for many Iranian couples.

"The mountains are the unofficial autonomous region of the upper-class young Iranians," says journalist and photographer Travis Bird. "Only there can you find slickly dressed Iranian woman allowing their beautiful hair to hang loose."

Bird's photos at the ski resorts leave no doubt: Despite the Islamic warning signs at the entrance, rich women who have had nose jobs come to Dizin to show off their newest acquisitions, young girls in fashionable sunglasses listen to music on their iPods, expensive snowboards can be seen all over the place, and the best ski fashion gear that money can buy is worn as races swoosh down the mountain slopes. The Islamic leaders cast an empty stare over the kissing couples from their huge posters.

Last winter something changed. For a moment it seemed that someone in Tehran decided to put an end to the forbidden party. A new law determined that Iranian women could not ski without the supervision of their "husband, father or brother."

Overnight, the amazing success of Marjan Kalhor – the first woman to represent Iran in the Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver – was forgotten. Surprisingly, when asked about the law several months ago during an interview with CNN's Pierce Morgan, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad flatly denied it. "This is the first time I've heard about this law," he told Morgan.

Iranians aren't willing to give up their relative freedom without a fight. This ski season, many reports on the Web paint an optimistic picture. The Basiji – the volunteer groups responsible for enforcing morality laws in Iran – have been unsuccessful at enforcing the new decree at the ski resorts. Despite numerous new banners of Khamenei, skier and producer of ski films Warren Miller says that "there's no dramatic change at the mountain tops. It's not so easy to catch young Iranians skiing in the snow."

Open gallery view Dizin is undoubtedly the king of the Iranian ski resorts. Credit: Wikimedia