Old Lebanon’s final frontier

  Just shy of the ides of March, the Lebanese army is to host (snow permitting) the second Raid des Cedres, in which teams of three race through Mount Lebanon on skis and snow shoes. The teams begin in the pre-dawn dark from the entrance of the Tannourine cedars, before a long climb up Wadi Bayda to the southern crest of the mountainous amphitheater that half encircles the Cedars of Bsharre, at Al Arz. One of my most memorable moments of more than 15 years in Lebanon was pausing toward the top of Wadi Bayda, and seeing behind me in the darkness what looked like an army of glow worms, as the competitors slowly ascended the valley using headlamps to light their way. Then, the dawn sun gradually rose above the mountain peaks to the east, suffusing the snow with soft pinks, while the icy wind whipped up a knee-high