The climb up Mt. Hermon – the highest point in Israel!
– 61 miles, 8,058 feet vertical (shortened ride)
Today is the day we all feared – the climb from sea level to the top of Mt. Hermon, the highest point in Israel and home to the country’s only ski area. No kidding! This was my seventh time climbing Mt. Hermon and I tell you, it gets steeper and harder each time. Why is that? The fact is, I didn’t sleep well last night because I was dwelling on the ride and the much increased tempo. I can picture each segment of the climb – where it gets hard and where it gets even harder. And I did that while tossing and turning until 2am. This really didn’t bode well for our 7:15am start! Yeesh.
The other challenge this year was the added miles and added climbs before we even got the the Hermon. So right out of the hotel, we had a couple of miles with steep sections of 12-14% grade. Just what I needed – NOT! Anyway, we did about 40 miles or so before we even started the 18-mile climb.
I will admit, I bonked early on and got on the bus for two miles on the lower slopes. At Newe Ativ, I felt refreshed and got back on the bike and continued the climb. I almost quit at least five times, but each time, I forced myself to continue a little longer. Knowing that Joanne was waiting for me at the top gave me the final motivational push that I needed.
At the top, there were high fives and “Kol Hakavod”s. We had a well-deserved lunch and took a lot of pictures with the classic Hermon Snowman.
Once again, the ride leaders made a decision that it was too late (and too cold) to continue, so we loaded up the bikes and all got on the bus for the ride down and final 20 miles to our hotel for the night. It strikes me as such a waste of all that stored kinetic energy to not be able to fly down, but such is life.
Tomorrow is a century ride (100 miles) and we’ll have time to fly all the way down to the Sea of Galilee at about 700 below sea level. Should be a barn burner!
Please enjoy these pictures from our third day in the Golan Heights and our historic climb up Mt. Hermon. [If you missed the photos from Day 2, they have been added to the post below.]
And, if you want to support my ride, please visit alynactive.org/participant/jeff-blye. To all those who have already donated – THANK YOU so very much. I am deeply grateful for your support.
Journey with Jeff 
Congratulations Jeff… Mount Harmon is sacred grounds and i am so glad you made it up to the top this time, they did not stop you because of the weather. From the look of the pictures, you guys had a marvelous climb.. I hope you thought about our last attempt on the way up.. plenty of time to do so..
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