fikretdadas

  Erzurum, Turkey Skiing in Turkey?  A winter sports capital emerges in Anatolia. Turkey may not be the first place people think of for skiing, but it’s got mountains — big, snowy ones. Now the government is making a push to turn Erzurum, a city of 785,000 in eastern Anatolia, into a winter sports capital in time for this month’s 2011 Winter Universiade (sort of an Olympics for university students). Two and a half miles from town lies the ski resort of Palandoken, which the Iranian skiers who come here know has the most challenging skiing in Turkey. Three lifts have been added to the bald mountain that rises nearly 3,000 feet from its base to its summit at 10,498. The number of runs is a modest 18 — but the fun skiing is off-piste, between the runs, on Palandoken’s 2,200 acres. About 11 miles from Erzurum sits the new Konakli Ski Resort, which opened this winter with six chairlifts and 3,000 acres of skiing. A new five-star hotel is scheduled to open next season; until it...