Snowboarding to Iran (March 2008)

After few month snowboarding, i got the hang of it, getting used to it with all the stuff & equipment, & start think about own gear & stuff. Right on july 2007 i bought Burton Blunt Primo (152 cm), Custom Binding & 32 Boot with board bag aswell, that cost quite a lot but its worthed, started doing some freestyle tricks, rails, jumps & stuff, lil bit scary but good fun though, coz snowboard is not fun without freestyle.

When u see the slope, its like damn scary, but as we ride down and fall, u learn how to control it and enjoyed every moment of it! (Christian Indra Respati)

Snowboard is getting fun now, till we planing to do the snowboard trip for winter 2008 to Iran, its gonna be unforgetable moment in my life, coz i never seen snow ever in my life, eventhough ski dubai is fake snow but felt quite happy with all the situation, its gonna be awesome for my experience. With all the hard work & Passion, the day has come, all the preparations, from visa, accomodation, transportation, flight ticket & bla,,bla,,bla has done, so its time to go to Iran.

March 1, 2008..9 of us, 1 Emarati, 2 Filipinos, 1 syrian, & 5 Indonesian Mafia met each other in Sarjah International Airport. Air Arabia aircraft brought us to Imam Khomeini International Airport (Iran) during the day & we arrived around 1 o'clock Iran time at Imam Khomeini International airport. Our good friends Ali, his brother Muhamad & friend of them (forgot his name) were waiting for us in the airport. Finaly we met them & they took us to have a lunch in the capital city of Iran, Teheran.

Before we have a lunch together we were looking for all the stuff for our life in the mountain for about 8 days, so we going to one of the supermarket in the city & bought all the stuff that we think we need to get it, like a meat, bread, seasoning, herbs, oils & everything. After that we having a lunch together, was so nice coz we were eating out side on the side road during the winter, a bit sunny but quite cold.
Luch is done & we continue our trip to the mountain. I was impress coz that was the first time in my life see the real snow with my eye. Along the to the mountain we were enjoying the view of Teheran city, lil bit old but its ancient & interesting. However, city is pass by, so now we are on the mountain road, took about an hour to go up the mountain & we are planning to staying in the Villa (challet) in the mountain.

Sky is getting dark untill we reach our small challet, once we reach there, the weather & wind was so cold but we still need to move our stuff from the bus to the Chalet. All the stuff done & we need to take a rest to prepare our first ride on the snow tomorow morning.

Next day, early in the morning we woke up coz we were so excited, cannt wait anymore. First destination was Darbanzar, one of the Ski resort in Iran. Was a good place but its too small for us, coz we just folowing the way to go down. we were trying to go off piste & the result was, some of our friends got stuck on the deep powder, but that fun, & we enjoy our first day riding on the real mountain till late at the afternoon. When we arrive in our small challet we didint take a rest but went to the side of our challet, coz we were staying in the resort aswell so there is begginer area next to our challet & we build our own playground, small kicker just for fun & jibing till we got tired. back to the challet, dinner & DEAD to bed.

For the next 6 days we went to Dizzin, one of the biggest & most beautiful ski resort in Iran, the resort was quite huge with a lot different kind of terrain. we love dizzin, thats why we spent most of our time ride in Dizzin. Always had a luch in mid station of Dizzin, there was a cafe which always full with all the riders. W met some good friends in Dizzin Such a Hussein, Milad, Soheila (Hussein girlfriend) & so many freestyler from Iran. They were realy good coz they used to ride in Dizzin & we always followong them to find a good spot for freestyle in Dizzin. We love Dizzin so much....


Last day riding on the mountain, we choose Shemshak. Actually we staying in shemshak so we dont really need to spent our money for transport coz just walk to the ticket counter & go through the resort & enjoy the ride. Anyway, it was a bit slashy, coz the was strong sunny & winter season is almost done, maybe last night wasnt realy good raining snow, thats why the powder almost nothing & we just ride for dun there.
Luckyly we found the freestyle park over there & we met the owner of the resort. The owner said, "u can do whatever u want in the park & if u want to put some snow u are free to use the shuffle & make ur self fun & fells like home". We are so happy, found small halfpipe, double pipe rail, butter boz, side & standing wall, we just had a lot of good fun over there.

Ups, one story missing in Iran. One night some of us looking for a fresh air away from the challet, sudenly, we met one local guy & he gave us something, covered by newspaper, realy small but he said, we just need to open it when we arrived at home, we were a bit nervous & scared coz he might be a police officer or whatever, so we ran to the challet & make sure no one following us & we safe reach the challet. When we reach the challet, straightly we open the small little things, when we found it,,,it was "Weeds or Hasish" (or whatever, dont realy know how to write it properly, hehehehehe..). However, we found something to make us warm & fresh again, we burn that things together with a can of alcohol we try to enjoy the lovely night, & we had a good night finnaly after snowboarding, coz in Iran Night Club or Discotheic are stricly not Allowed.

Last day in Iran, we need to say good bye to Iran with all the beautifull mountain & with all a good friend & all the memories we had, its such a wonderfull time in Iran, snowboarding with a new friends & lovely wheater & also friendly people in Iran, coz before i left to Iran i asked permittion to my parent & the were so scared, coz they think Iran is a conflict & war area, but the were wrong, Iran was totaly safe & fun to visit. Ali, Mohammad & their sister Maryam, take us to the airport & they gave us some souvenir from Iran. I got decorations from the stone, but dont know where it is now, forgot. From my side i gave my red Columbia jacket to one of them as a souvenir, coz they are realy nice & friendy. Than Ali, Mohammad & Maryam, hopefuly i can see u again next time, may be when im going to Iran or when u guys visiting Dubai, ull be my guest. From Imam Khomeini international airport Air Arabia aircraft brought us back to sharjah & "Bang Ary" met us in sharjah & take us to our accomodation in Satwa, Dubai.

Such a wonderfull time we had together, & we need to plan our next snowboard trip, maybe europe, Turkey or states....
We'll see....