In the few days of the year when Israel enjoys true winter, and other parents get to play in the snow with their children, the IDF's Alpinists are called up to reserve duty. The Alpinists are reservists, mostly from elite units Egoz and the Golani Reconnaissance Battalion, who were specially trained for fighting in snow-covered terrain. The training includes sleeping in extremely cold conditions, survival with little food for days and firing a weapon while skiing. The unit is usually secretive but it met the press this week for a special reason, IDF reporter Sivan Peleg reported on the IDF website.
For the past four years, the Alpinists have been 'adopting' disabled IDF veterans. Using special equipment and a lot of ingenuity, they ski down the Hermon together with the disabled vets. For one day, the vets – who lost limbs, or their eyesight – go back to their lives before their injury, and ski down the slope almost like healthy people.
The project is a cooperative effort of the Disabled IDF Veterans' Organization, the Hermon site and the Alpinists. 400 disabled vets have taken part in the project to date, and 40 of them are "hooked" and come back for more every year.
The goal: have fun
"The awareness is slowly rising and more people are hearing about it,” said Staff Sergeant Eyal Yarimi, an reservist who is the commander of an Alpinist ski instruction squad, and who volunteers his time in the project. “The project has no name or logo, and we do not want them. Our only goal is to take care of the IDF's disabled vets and make them feel as good as possible. We just come here and ski.”
Andrei Pek was a Border Policeman. In 2001, during a routine arrest in Shechem, he was shot in the back and lost the use of his legs. “Ever since I was young I have been an athlete, and even when I was in the hospital it was clear to me that I would not give up this part of me,” he said. He continues to enjoy sports, and during the Hermon outing, skiing was his sport of the day. He sat down on a special chair prepared just for him, that was connected to a ski, and sped down the white mountain with two Alpinists in tow. “The skiing gave me a good feeling and it is a little bit like going back to the old days,” he said with a wide grin.