The meaning of the word ‘snow’ depends on where you are when it’s falling! If you’re a traveller, you worry that the roads will be closed. If you’re in a mountain town or village, you’re a captive of the fierce white cold and its swords of ice. But if you’re a city dweller eagerly awaiting a long holiday break, you may already have your ski gear ready at the door. And if you decide on Ilgaz as your destination, you’re going to rendezvous with a princess sporting a crystal tiara! Having long since begun its reign in the Ilgaz Mountains, winter is waiting to host you, the shining star of snow tourism.
Mount Ilgaz is cut in half like a cake by the border between two provinces. The town of Ilgaz and the south side of the mountain are in Çankýrý, while the area with the ski resorts lies in Kastamonu. A steep road, 8-km long, winds from the town up the mountain. Even when snow clearing teams work round the clock, it’s not easy to keep the ground free of ice in this season. You have a chance to buy chains from the ‘chain merchants’ at the roadside, but don’t set out without chains because you can’t always count on finding them. Getting from the main road to the hotels is easier. If you get stuck here, the hotels will send out a team to assist you.
SNOW APARTMENTS
But borders lose all significance when you’re watching the sunset next to the television relay station at the top of the mountain. Dissolving from orange into red, red to purple, purple to grey and grey to black, light reflected from the horizon scatters its vivid rays over the crystallized snow. When darkness descends, the skiers begin their passage amidst the giant bonfires they have lit. The savory aroma of roasting meat wafts up from hotel kitchen windows and the strains of the lute enliven the night. After midnight the mountain surrenders to wild animals hunting for prey. When you wake up in the morning, you’ll see dogs frolicking in snow more than a meter deep and children romping with them. After breakfast you can take a stroll among the great firs whose tiers of branches are like ‘snow apartments’. The branches of these towering trees, which touch the ground like long slender fingers in spring, now extend cotton candy of snow to passersby. After lunch, if the fog has lifted, those who venture as far as the road will see the snow-capped peaks known as Büyük Hacettepe (2587 m) and Küçük Hacettepe (2546 m). The wild natural landscapes created by the snow-covered forests in the gorges below will take your breath away. On the slopes opposite, smoke rising from the chimneys of the wooden houses is the only sign of life in villages whose roads have been cut off by the snow. The Ilgaz Mountains, a 1088-hectare portion of whose forests has been declared a national park, possess a welter of wild life including both flora and fauna. With its beech, oak, willow, quaking aspen, elm, Scotch pine and towering firs up to 40 meters tall, Ilgaz lies deep in sleep now, dreaming perhaps of the pungent-smelling mountain flowers that the bees will turn into poisonous ‘crazy honey’ come spring.
The ski center on the mountain is 460 km from Istanbul, 210 from Ankara. Kastamonu to Mount Ilgaz is 59 km. After the Ilgaz exit, drivers must exercise special caution on the Çerkes-Atkaracalar-Kurþunlu segment of the Gerede-Ilgaz road, where hidden patches of ice can be treacherous. On days when snowfall is especially heavy, travellers from Istanbul to Ilgaz should opt for the Karabük-Safranbolu route, which is altogether safer.
MAJESTIC SILENCE
The ski resort is a skiers’ paradise from the beginning of December to the end of April. There are three natural ski runs. The main slope is 950 m long, the other two 750 m and 1500 m each. A 693-m long ski lift takes skiers up to the slopes. The Ilgaz resort is tailor-made for novices. Of course, a novice quickly acquires proficiency after a few hours of lessons from a ski instructor, but still... I have travelled frequently in Anatolia in winter. I have lit bonfires on mountaintops where the moonlight scattered its beams on frozen waterfalls. I have knocked on numerous doors where I’ve been taken in for the night
by unfamiliar households. But the most magnificent thing I have ever witnessed on any of these trips was the majestic silence
of the forests through which I passed in the falling snow.
A person feels as if all sound has retreated from the world as tens of thousands of trees vanish under a layer of white. I have always thought that it was worth going to the Ilgaz Mountains just to experience that feeling. To tread softly, like a fox,
in the forest on the slopes of Karakeçilik one morning before the skiers are even awake. To stretch out on my back on the freshly
fallen snow as billions of tiny snowflakes drift down from the sky, and gaze up at the firs as my heart fills with the joy of being alive...
I started out by saying that the meaning of the word ‘snow’ depends on where you are when it is falling. And choosing where you are is up to you. I have a couple of things to say to those who watch the scene from the window of a warm room as the snow comes down:
Who is going to build the snowmen if you just sit there in your room?
Who is going to hurl the snowballs?
Who is going to produce the laughter? Throw yourself into the snow!
Even if your nose becomes red as a beet, even if your gloves don’t keep the tips of your fingers from freezing, you will see that winter will applaud you for bringing man back into nature.