JOIN US“Oh God! Please let it snow heavily tonight,” said John Kennedy, an Australian skier. He and his fellow skiers have been camping in the western Himalayas awaiting a big snowfall.
But organisers of skiing in Solang, 13 km from the tourist hill station of Manali, said after two bumper seasons, the slopes are totally bereft of snow cover this year.
“This year, the Solang slopes are devoid of snow. We had to postpone skiing courses and events slated from January 11,” Randhir Singh Salhuria, director of the state-run Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports here, said.
He said there was mild snowfall on January 12 in Solang, the first spell in this year, but it thawed within a few hours.
“The slopes require at least two feet of snow for perfect skiing,” he added.
Officials of the mountaineering institute said in the past two years, the slopes had more than three feet of snow by this time of the year.
The institute is conducting skiing courses in Solang. The courses that begin in January continue till February-end.
Salhuria said a large number of skiers have been camping here and hoping for a sudden onset of snowfall to start the skiing season. Skiers said sometimes, snowfall tends to start a little bit later but lasts longer.
In 2010, the Winter Games Federation of India organised the National Senior Alpine Skiing Championship in Solang during February 7-11. “That time, the slopes had negligible snowfall. But a few days before the event, the slopes got plenty of snow,” said Roshan Lal Thakur, secretary general of the Winter Games Federation of India.