Keeping It Cool: Summer Fun on Mount Hermon

“Once the snow goes, Mount Hermon changes its face to become Israel’s coolest summer attraction,” says resort spokesperson, Micki Inbar. “There’s hiking, extreme and less extreme sports, rare flowers, extraordinary birds, legions of butterflies, history, geology and spectacular views. And, because all this happens at around 2,000 meters above sea level, the mountain air is clear and fresh year-round, with the clammy humidity of summer left far below in Israel’s valleys and plains.”

Those who come with energy to burn are spoiled for choice. One option are the Alpine coasters — mountain sleds that run on Mount Hermon’s lower slopes at up to 45 km/hour. Controlled by the sledder (children must be at least three, and those shorter than 1.45 meters must be with an adult), it is a 950-meter sliding track, on which the faster you go, the more exhilarating its bends and drops.

A gentler choice is summer tubing on the surf slopes. Anyone aged five and older can sit themselves down on a hard-bottomed inflatable tire, line themselves up on the artificial slope and fling themselves forward and downward as fast as they can — getting a sensation similar to snow sledding.

If you prefer riding in a vehicle than on an inflatable tube (and you are older than 15), then Mount Hermon’s off-road mountain cart is for you. You climb into a non-motorized, three-wheeled self-drive car and guide it along a challenging 850-meter dirt-road track.

For a smoother trip, take the Sky Rider, Israel’s first and highest mountain levitation. If you’re older than six and taller than 120 cm, you can strap yourself into a two-seater chairlift suspended not from a wire, but from tall steel girders that snake their way down the mountain.

If exploring nature is more to your taste that hurtling around the mountain, there are fascinating free walking tours from May through August. The tours take place at specific dates, which are published on the Mt. Hermon website . Taken to the summit by cable car, you join an Israel Nature & Parks Authority guide to explore the unique flora and fauna of the mountain trails. Come in spring and you will find yourself in a butterfly haven. If yhou are a birder, bring your binoculars: Mount Hermon is home to the shy horned lark, which nests on the ground, to the soaring long-legged buzzard and to the sombre tit, among several others.

Because of the high winds that blow here and the weight of the winter snows, all Mount Hermon’s plants h lie close to the ground. You will learn that the mountain was once a kilometer higher than today, shrunken by heavy rains, which penetrate its limestone makeup and carve out underground spaces which collapse in on themselves.

The walk continues into an otherwise closed military zone, which demonstrates that the mountain’s epithet, “the eyes of Israel,” is well earned. From there, you will look out across the Galilee, the Hula Valley (a stopover for 500 million migratory birds each year) and the Golan Heights into Syria and Lebanon. Here is where your guide will recall the battles Israel fought for its survival during the Yom Kippur War of 1973, and show you where the two armies dug in, and where Israel’s soldiers fought their way up the Hermon ridge.

Mount Hermon has been open as a resort since 1971, its first chairlift built by residents of nearby Moshav Neve Ativ. Admission to the 1,235–acre Hermon Nature Reserve is free in summer every day from 8.00 am to 4.00 pm.

“Mount Hermon is a much loved year-round resort and entertainment tourist destination,” says Micki Inbar. “We get visitors who come back here time after time.”

Partnered with Mount Hermon