Persian Skiing Adventure (Part 1)― First Encounter with Tehran
Day One, Shanghai, Sunny.
The weather gets warmer by the day, but my heart grows colder. For skiers, the end of the ski season is the hardest time. Fortunately,participatingin IranMahan Air’s Iranian Ski Carnival event marked the end of my ski season. Our club—myself, Lao Yan, Lao Yu, and Lao Zhao—four of us in total—answered the call. What we have in common: similar ages, all born in the 1960s; similar habits, neither smokers nor heavy drinkers; and a strong sense of punctuality—we’re ready to go at a moment’s notice. Though a small group, we’re disciplined, united, willing to take on responsibility, and good in tough situations. You could call us an elite squad. Being the youngest, I naturally took on more tasks: collecting money, buying tickets, booking meals, contacting guides, and serving everyone else without complaint. The three seniors fully trusted me. By the end of the trip, the four of us worked together seamlessly.
When you hear the word “Iran,” certain negative adjectives might immediately come to mind: war-torn, dictatorial, in possession of and allegedly misusing nuclear weapons, anti-American, frequently hosting demonstrations and violent clashes, a supporter of terrorism, an Arab country, with the occasional positive term being “oil.” Indeed, in Western media portrayals, Iran is almost synonymous with rogue states and terrorism. This is the image of Iran we get from limited information. And that’s exactly why, when I mentioned going to Iran, both family and friends were very surprised, thinking it wasn’t worth visiting and was a dangerous, evil place. But you’ve all forgotten—it also has a beautiful name: Persia.As the ancient land of Persia, Iran is one of the cradles of human civilization. The Code of Hammurabi, unearthed in Iran, is the world’s first complete written legal code and the ancestor of modern Western laws. Many traditional Chinese musical instruments such as the suona, pipa, erhu, guanzi, sanxian, and daruan all originated from ancient Persia. In addition, agricultural products such as grapes, walnuts, onions, pomegranates, spinach, carrots, fava beans, cilantro, figs, sesame, pepper, Job’s tears, lettuce, cucumbers, and celery were all introduced to China from Persia via the Silk Road... But what truly captivates is the stunning scenery and the incredible powder snow. Can’t wait for those moments of pure powder skiing.
For this event, Iran Mahan Air offered our club a great discount—a round-trip Shanghai itinerary for just 6,000 RMB (each of us only paid for one day’s lift ticket, two lunches, and one dinner). Their goal was to attract Chinese skiers to experience the world’s second-highest ski resort in Iran and enjoy the fun of skiing, thereby boosting passenger traffic on the route. Established in 1991, Mahan Air is an Iranian private airline and, aside from the state-owned Iran Air, it is Iran’s largest airline, even surpassing Iran Air in international operations. Having launched direct flights from Shanghai to Tehran less than two years ago, they quickly set their sights on the domestic skiing community. According to Mr. Tang Xin, General Manager of Mahan Air’s Shanghai office, they aim to combine the airline’s abundant air resources, Iran’s top-tier skiing resources, and the club’s experienced skiing personnel, creating a shared benefit model. This direct collaboration between the club and the airline also serves as a valuable exploration for more skiers to visit Iran in the future.
The four of us took a group photo before departure at Harbin Taiping International Airport
Back to the main story—we had originally planned to depart on March 9, leaving Shanghai that evening on a Mahan Air flight. However, due to a weather forecast predicting heavy snow in Harbin lasting until 8 PM, we had no choice but to reschedule our flight and head to Shanghai a day early to avoid disrupting our itinerary. At 9 PM on March 9, the two of us from Shanghai and two other snowboarders arrived at Pudong Airport right on time as agreed. Our Mahan Air team leader, Xiao Sun, was already waiting there. The young man was efficient—upon arrival, he handled boarding passes and luggage check-in, and informed us that Mahan Air had specially arranged for us to have seats in the first row of economy class. At 11:15 PM, Mahan Air’s Airbus 310 departed Pudong Airport on time, flying us to Tehran.After boarding, we noticed that all women were required to cover their heads with scarves. The Mahan Air flight attendants, of course, were the perfect examples.
Mahan Air flight attendant during service
On the not-so-small Airbus 310, out of 200 passengers, only 12 had East Asian features
After nearly ten hours of travel, we arrived at Tehran’s Imam Khomeini International Airport at 5:30 AM local time and cleared customs smoothly. Although it was early morning, there was quite a bit of traffic on the road. Most vehicles were in poor condition—mostly French Peugeots and domestically produced Iranian cars—with few high-end brands like Mercedes, BMW, or Audi in sight. Thirty minutes later, we left the city and headed toward the mountain road leading to the ski resort.Our local guide, Mr. Ren, a friendly Iranian, warmly welcomed us at the airport exit. We loaded our luggage onto a 19-seat Iveco and headed straight for the Dizin Ski Resort, located 120 kilometers from the city.
Group photo at Tehran Airport
Toll booths looked pretty much the same as back home, just with different writing