Gulmarg, Indian-administered Kashmir – A dismayed Javad Ahmad gazes up at the clear blue skies, and at the barren and crimson ski slopes in Gulmarg, a popular tourist destination in Indian-administered Kashmir’s Baramulla district.
Sitting outside his closed ski shop, he is hoping for snowfall as an unusually dry winter disrupts tourism and threatens livelihoods in the Himalayan region.
Sitting outside his closed ski shop, he is hoping for snowfall as an unusually dry winter disrupts tourism and threatens livelihoods in the Himalayan region.
A ski trainer by profession, Ahmad is usually booked nearly every day between December and February as millions of Indians visit the picturesque valley, skiing on its white slopes and sightseeing around the snow-capped mountains and dales.
But he is out of work this year, along with hundreds of other trainers and mountain guides.
All the ski slots booked until early February have been cancelled. On average, he says, the mountains used to have 30 to 40 feet [9-12 metres] of snow at higher altitudes. Now, that’s down to three feet of snow.
The famous Gulmarg ski resort, located close to the Line of Control that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan, now wears a deserted look.
Source from www.aljazeera.com