Solang Valley, Jan 22: "What a knee-deep powder," remarked Japanese skier Kawai Hiroshi after experiencing the bountiful snow on the slopes in Himachal Pradesh's Solang Valley. He and his family have been skiing in the western Himalayas for the first time.
Having skied all over Japan, Hiroshi said: "Solang is one of the best backcountry resorts. Here pistes (skiing paths) are steep, of course, deep too. More important, it's uncrowded and ideal for family holidaying."
Ski organisers in Solang, 13 km from the tourist hill station of Manali, say after last week's bountiful snow the skiers have returned to the slopes.
"Now is the ideal time for the skiing. The slopes, which were almost devoid of snow this winter till Jan 16, now have more than four feet snow," Randhir Singh Salhuria, director of the state-run Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports here, told IANS.
