Cedars of God - Col Ainata - French room

This was the 4th annual Winter Expedition designed by @33northleb / Gilbert Mukhaiber.

Such a new experience, we have camped for 4 days in The Cedars of God, totally out of comfort zone!

The first day, we moved from the starting point exploring for the most ideal camp site, we have been experiencing earthquakes the past month, therefore Gilbert wanted an area that will not be affected by avalanche, in case it happened, at the same time not to be far away from our vehicles in case there was a serious earthquake!

Once we found the area fits the criteria, we spent the first day setting our tents, digging to protect our tenta from winds, afterward, as one team, we worked to set the main tent, for our gathering and cooking!

The second day, we started our hike up, we had at first a moderate ascent, using our snowshoes, the snow was in some areas icy and others powder. On our way we came across the beit L Bei’ah “the environment house” took a short break, and from there on up, the hike was really difficult and challenging, especially, the the ground was not helpful at all, as one; two, the fog started to approach. We had to mark our way through, in case we faced a challenging visibility!

We have finally reached our destination, the french room, it is called this due to the French presence in Lebanon, where they have used those rooms for surveillance. This area is known for the strong wind, so we have decided to start our descent to a safer ground to take our long waited for break!

This hike was almost a 9km length, considered a difficult one.

3rd day, was more like a technical day where we havé gotten our training on how to use the ice ax in case we slipped from a snowy mountain, how to dig a cave in case we were a mid a storm, and how to assist someone to go down or climb up.

Finally, the forth day, we packed all our tents and headed back to our cars.

Enjoy the camp/trail, stay safe, and please keep our Lebanon clean!