( CNN ) -- Iran is to send a female skier to the Winter Olympics for the first time at next year 's Games in Vancouver , Canada , the head of the Islamic Republic 's ski federation told state media Monday . Fatemeh Kiadarbandsari , competing at last month 's World Ski Championships , in France . The chosen competitor will ski in `` full Islamic dress , '' Iran 's National News Agency reported . Three women Fatemeh Kiadarbandsari , Mitra Kalhor and Marjan Kalhor are vying for the place on the national team alongside three male skiers , said Iranian Ski Federation head Isa Saveh-Shemshaki . Trials for the team will be held in December , two months ahead of the event . Iran has sent male athletes to every Winter Games since 1956 . Skiing is hugely popular in Iran with some of the region 's best slopes in the Zagros Mountains just a two-hour drive from the country 's capital Tehran . At weekends during the seven-month ski season it is common to see long queues of traffic on routes to resorts . With a growing ski tourism industry , the price of the sport has steadily increased . But with fewer social restrictions on the pistes than in other areas of Iranian life , the sport remains a popular pursuit for the country 's youth . Until recently , many slopes were strictly segregated with men and women skiing on different sides of the mountain . But while it is still illegal to travel in the same chair lift or gondola , the country 's strict religious laws are visibly more lax at 3,000 meters . Iran took just three women among 53 athletes to last year 's Beijing Olympics but the choice of 19-year-old female rower Homa Hosseini to carry the flag during the opening ceremony infuriated strict Islamists . Current president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad , who faces an election this year , was forced to back down from an initiative ealry in his current term to encourage female participation in sport because of criticism from the country 's religious leaders . One mullah reportedly said that women should not ski because the movement of their knees looked `` more like dancing than sport . ''
Iran set to send female athlete to next year 's Winter Olympics for the first time . One female skier , three male skiers will be selected for Iranian Olympic team . Skiing is hugely popular in Iran with resorts just a two-hour drive from Tehran . Male , female skiers allowed to share slopes though not chair lifts , gondolas .