Mega snow festival at Gulmarg in February

Srinagar, Oct 20: The Jammu and Kashmir government will organise a mega snow festival, first of its kind, at the world famous tourist resort of Gulmarg in the first week of February next year to promote winter sports in the state in a big way.

Night skiing, ice skiing and ice skating besides regular traditional cultural programmes for recreation of the domestic and foreign tourists will be the highlights of the festival.

This was informed at a high-level meeting chaired by Tourism Minister Mohammad Dilawar Mir here to review arrangements for winter sports at Gulmarg.

It was decided that Gulmarg Ski Cup and Gulmarg Gandola Cup will be organised to promote winter tourism in the state. In addition, the Winter Games Federation of India has also assured to host an international event at Gulmarg.

The Youth Services and Sports Department, the Indian Institute of Skiing and Mountaineering, the Kashmir University, the Jawahar Institute of Mountaineering, the Tyndale Biscoe School and the Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Development Corporation would conduct crash courses in skiing this winter.

UNI