RSO

On Sunday February 6th, the RSO organized with O Club a snow-trekking trip to Laqlouq. The trip had been postponed from the week prior due to weather constraints…luckily on Sunday morning the weather was
beautiful. We headed north around 8:30 am stopping on the way a few times to pick up some residents whose houses were on the way. We had a quick breakfast at Wooden Bakery and then headed to Ehmej where we got our high-tech snow-shoes and where one could rent other equipment such as gloves and waterproof ski pants and boots. We then drove as high as we could in Laqlouq all the while passing by people having fun in the snow. We kept driving until we could no longer move forward due to the snow and commenced our hike. First we put on the snow shoes…which sounds easier than it actually was…but after an initial phase of constant shoe slippage we were finally off. Everywhere we looked it was beautiful…a white winter wonderland full of majestic peaks and crystal ponds. We finally reached a small depression where we the O Club survival experts began a practical lesson on igloo building…which are circular shelter made out of snow. We were divided into two groups… “The Best”…and “El-Wo7oosh” and a competition began who could build their igloo first. The process involves creating hard snow blocks of varying size and stacking them precisely into a dome structure and then digging a door underneath....very hard work but the
teams’ competitive spirit lead them to finish the structures in record time…”the Best” finishing only a few moments before the “Wo7oosh”. To everyone’s surprise when we entered the igloos …even thought they
were made from ice we found them very warm!! After returning to the bus we the drove to Tannourine, a picturesque village in the north and visited the forest reserve which is the largest remaining cedar forest in Lebanon. We were welcomed by the deputy mayor of Tannourine and other reserve volunteers at a guest house “Bayt Diyafeh”. We were also lucky in that one of our participating residents, Dr Sanaa Chalhoub is a native of Tannourine! The occasion also marked the celebration of an agreement between the Forest reserve and O club to promote outdoor activities in the forest . Then we had lunch, which consisted of some of the best tabbouleh ever, hommos, mutabbal batenjab, wood stove baked potatoes, and a tasty rice and chicken. We then made a quick visit to the forest but had to cut our visit short as it was getting dark and we were concerned that the roads may frost over. It was truly an exhilarating experience and everyone got home with the feeling of happy tiredness that one has after spending a day enjoying the great outdoors.