In the Lap of Himalayas, Luxury Ski Resorts Are a Distant Dream

By NEHA THIRANI

Manali, a hill station in the Kullu Valley of Himachal Pradesh state, has long been seen as a potential hub for skiing in India. Witnessed the efforts of a group of foreign investors who have been trying to build the Himalayan Ski Village there for nearly a decade.

For many residents of the valley, like Shiva Keshavan, an Olympian who won the Asia Cup gold medal in luge last year, the area's potential remains largely untapped. He recalls skiing the hard way when he was growing up. Because there were no ski lifts or ropeways in the valley, he and his friends would trek up hills with their skis hoisted on their shoulders.

“You would get two to three runs a day,” he said at his family's Italian restaurant just north of Manali. “It took one and a half hours to walk up and 10 minutes to come down.”

Because they didn't have snow beaters, machines used by ski resorts to clean and smooth runs, the group would do i t by jumping up and down on the snow. “We did it with our own feet,” said Mr. Keshavan, who is now preparing for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.

Many Indian ski enthusiasts have similar tales of perseverance and grit. Mahavir Thakur, who is deputy director of the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports in Manali, also grew up skiing the hard way.

“When I joined the institute in 1978, it was very primitive,” said Mr. Thakur, a native of Himachal Pradesh. “We used wooden skis, and there was no ski lift.”

India now has several skiing destinations - Gulmarg and Pahalgam in Kashmir; Manali, Kufri and Chambra in Himachal Pradesh; and Auli in Uttarakhand â€" but it still lacks world-class skiing facilities and resorts.

Though a handful of resorts now have ropeways, cleared slopes and professional medical facilities, they remain exceptions and serve just a tiny niche, said Sudeep J ain, executive vice president of Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels India.

Skiing in India suffers from a classic chicken-and-egg problem: The country doesn't have many places to ski so most Indians haven't tried it. And because they are not exposed to the sport, there hasn't been much demand for it.

That India has access to ski-worthy mountain slopes is beyond question. But analysts say it remains difficult to develop the slopes for skiing because policy makers have largely given it short shrift and, in some cases, stood in the way of resort development.

“Private efforts can only go so far in promoting an activity like skiing,” said Shushmul Maheshwari, the chief executive at the market research firm RNCOS.

There has, however, been a little progress. In early 2011, a Manali company started operating a gondola in Solang, about four kilometers, or 2.5 miles, north of the city, that rises to a height of 500 meters, or 1,640 feet. A ride up and down the gondo la costs 500 rupees ($9).

“The equipment and technique has improved; there are snow beaters to prepare the slopes,” Mr. Thakur said.

Mr. Thakur says that financing for skiing and other winter sports has been increasing each year, attracting more tourism to Manali, with hotels opening to cater to skiers. His institute trains 1,000 skiers each season.

“When people think of India, they think it is a hot country and could never imagine that there is a snowbound area where skiing is possible,” he said. “But that is changing.”

Skiing in India was first introduced in the British colonial era, when two officers of the British Army first established the Ski Club of India in Gulmarg, Kashmir, in 1927. Gulmarg has some of the highest ski areas in the world, and the Gulmarg Gondola, which started operations in 1998, is one of the highest and largest ropeways in Asia.

However, Gulmarg remains an underdeveloped destination because of the strife in Kashmir. “People were scared to come here,” said Colonel J.S. Dhillon, the director of the Indian Institute of Skiing and Mountaineering in Gulmarg. “But now peace has returned and the fear is going and the number of tourists is increasing.”

Kashmir had 1.1 million visitors in 2011, the most the state has had in 25 years. Colonel Dhillon said 2,000 skiers visit Gulmarg every year, and the numbers are on the rise, though challenges remain.

“Unfortunately in India, people have not been able to understand the potential of adventure sports to promote tourism and yet be environmentally safe,” he said.

What Gulmarg lacks in luxury ski resorts and state-of-the-art equipment, it makes up in beauty, according to visitors like Nitesh Thattasery, 36, an executive at the advertising firm Leo Burnett in Mumbai, who skied in Gulmarg earlier this year and plans to return again next year.

Auli, in the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand state, is the most rece ntly developed skiing destination in India. In January 2011 it hosted the first South Asian Winter Games. Auli has a cable car covering a distance of four kilometers, two international-standard ski lifts, a chair lift and several slopes.

“Hosting the winter games helped vastly to improve the facilities in Auli as the government allocated funds to host the event,” said Brigadier S.S. Patwal, president of the Winter Games Federation of India.

Still, Mr. Patwal said the government has not committed funds to his federation, and he has to apply for grants for each event or every time he wants to send Indian athletes to international competitions. “Most people in the government don't understand winter games,” he said. “This makes it quite difficult to plan ahead.”

Currently about 50 Indians participate in international skiing competitions every year. “Skiing is an expensive sport â€" a good pair of skis can cost up to 80,000 rupees â€" and we are n ot exactly a winter game country,” said Mr. Patwal. “But popularity is increasing. A lot of the youth from the Himachal area are becoming interested in the sport.”

Because there are few ski lifts in the Indian Himalayas, some well-heeled Indian and foreign tourists use helicopters to access snow-laden slopes in Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.

Murlidhar Negi, a skier who runs an adventure sports company in the Manali area, said the sport is unaffordable to all but a few. A weeklong package can cost about $10,000 and includes airport transfers and accommodations, he said. “It's for the millionaires,” Mr. Negi said.

The latest ski-related activity attracting followers in India is grass skiing, in which athletes zoom down slopes in the summer using special skis fitted with wheels. The Vajpayee Institute in Manali has set up a 120-meter-long grass skiing slope in Solang Valley that is open from June to October.

“The activity is already quite popu lar in Europe as it allows athletes to train themselves over the summer, keep in shape and improve their technique,” Mr. Thakur said. “Also it generates a lot of excitement as it's a new experience for tourists visiting Manali.”

Vikas Bajaj contributed reporting.