Mount Korek

Korek
Highest point
Elevation 2,127 m (6,978 ft)

Mount Korek (Kurdish: Çîyay Korek; چیای کۆڕەک‎) is a mountain in Iraqi Kurdistan, 50 kilometers from the Iranian border.

Observatory

In 1973 President Ahmed Hassan al-Bakr ordered the construction of the Erbil Observatory, an observatory with three telescopes.[1]

In the early 1980s about 400 people were working on behalf of Baresel, Epple, Krupp, Liebher and Zeiss to build 3 telescopes. In late 1983 they ran tests on the small telescope.[2] Although the building site was close to the war zone, people were safe from the Iran military. 400 people from about 10 countries were working here. Each time the crew flew home for winter holidays, the building-site needed to take safety precautions due to heavy snowfalls. Eventually, the war made it impossible to finish the building. The partly-built Observatories were destroyed by the Iranian rockets launched during the Iran–Iraq War.

Tourism

Korek Mountain Resort & Spa, The Teleferic

Mount Korek is a tourist attraction with Darin Group, an Iraqi company has built an approximately 4 kilometer long Doppelmayr Teleferic (cable car) from its Bekhal Bottom station to Mount Korek. The mountain is developed as an international destination. The company has developed 132 villas and several rides in this project which is called "The Korek Mountain Resort & Spa". There are also restaurants and cafes. The resort is a summer retreat providing cool environs when the whole region reels under high temperatures. During winters, it turns into a Ski Resort.

The Resort is one of the top 10 destinations to visit in the Kurdistan region of Iraq.

Weather

The mountain region has very volatile and extreme weather.

Temperature ranges from 2 - 33°C. The lowest temperature is -13°C.

Rainfall is recorded from 20 - 75 mm

It has between 60 - 100 days of snowfall in the mountains, between December and March.

Note: The data for charts above are taken from year 2000 to 2012

References

  1. ↑ Simmons, Mike (2007-01-01). "Seeing Stars in Iraq". Scientific American. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0107-23. Retrieved 2015-11-02.
  2. ↑ "Astronomy in Iraq". Adsabs.harvard.edu. 2006-08-22. Retrieved 2015-11-02.
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