On January 8 2011 the snow covered the maaser el shouf Cedar forest starting at an altitude of 1200 m . The forest accounts for a quarter of the remaining cedar forest in Lebanon.

The cedar forest enjoy the unique distinction as the oldest documented forest in history. The cedars were important enough in the history of man to be traceable to the very earliest written records, that of the Sumerians in the third millennium BC. In the ancient Sumerian story, The Epic of Gilgamesh, one of the oldest pieces of literature in the world, the Cedars feature prominently [wikipedia].