Finally on Sunday we managed to get up to the ski slope at Erendağ. This project was planned and talked about for so long that when it actually opened I think we hardly believed it. On Sunday it was raining stair rods in Fethiye and, hoping that we might see snow, we set off with a couple of friends.
The site is about 80km from Fethiye, in the mountains above Kemer and Saklıkent gorge. The road is good as far as Seki and the last 9km, though dirt road, is wide and not too steep, though we did manage to miss a sign and nearly ended up in someone’s garden. At the turn off the tarmac road there was no snow but gradually as we climbed up there were patches beside the road. The rain turned to sleet and then snow and suddenly we arrived at the restaurant and ski slope of Eren Mountain.
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| view from the restaurnat at Eren Mountain |
The boys and I got fitted with boots and skis straight away – amazingly they had a pair of ski boots to fit Emre’s size 48 feet! Kaan had never been on a drag lift before and it was a pretty bumpy ride up. He fell off once on the way up, but managed it well the second time – even negotiating the numerous other people who had fallen off and were littering the way!
At the top of the slope it was a case of find a way down, the new snow having covered everything. Emre, being kamikaze, headed down the steepest place he could find; Kaan and I were a bit more wary and took some time (and a few tumbles) to find our ‘ski feet’. It’s three years since we last skied and that was on the beautifully snow-ploughed slopes of Sarıkamuş (in the northeast of Turkey).
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| ready to go! |
In the end, we all made it down and the kids skied a bit more while we went for a hot drink by the fire. The overall verdict is there is still quite a lot that needs doing up there, but it’s great to be able to pop up for an afternoon on the ‘piste’ and I really enjoyed just being in the snow again.
The journey home – not so much though! We were, as usual, the last to leave. It was dark, snowing and the car was so full of wet bodies that the windows were completely steamed up. Suffice it to say that I was quite relieved to be back in rainy Fethiye. And it’s still raining now.
