MANALI: Tourists can now not just see snow but even snowfall everyday for five months in winters as the snow-making machine (snow gun) imported from Europe by four youths of Manali has started making snow. The trial has been successful and the machine made 30cm of snow early morning on Friday. It took nearly two weeks in installation of the machine on private land in Solang valley. The machine was started in the night time and nearly 30cm of powder snow accumulated on the ground in few hours. The snow park was opened for all tourists for free where they did skiing and other activities. Youths, who expect self employment from this, are planning to charge some entry fee from visitors in coming days. The machine has cost them nearly Rs 40 lakh before it started making snow. What promoters say Expressing his happiness, one of the youths Sunil Thakur, told Discover Kullu Manali: “The experiment has been successful. The machine is very expensive. We were earlier worried if machine will work properly or not. This is new thing for tourists and all. The machine is making perfect snow. Not depending on weather for natural snowfall, tourists can now see snow here from November till March when temperature dips below freezing point. The best thing is the whole technology is 100 per cent eco friendly.” Hira Lal, Gokul Thakur and Mohan, other three partners were explaining to others that how powerful fans of the machine breaks water into superfine droplets which start floating in air and cool climate turns them into ice which eventually falls on ground in form of natural snow. The technology is not new in Europe and many developed nations where snow guns are used to make snow in ski resorts, but technology has never been tried
MANALI: Tourists can now not just see snow but even snowfall everyday for five months in winters as the snow-making machine (snow gun) imported from Europe by four youths of Manali has started making snow. The trial has been successful and the machine made 30cm of snow early morning on Friday. It took nearly two
MANALI: Be it Kufri, Narkanda, Solang or any skiing slope of Himachal, none of them have snow-making machine like ski slopes of developed nations. Despite high demand from skiers, government has failed to buy a single such machine to ensure availability of snow on slopes whenever needed. But, four youth from Manali villages have imported a snow-making machine from Europe which will start making snow in next few days. Sunil Thakur, Hira Lal, Mohan and Gokul Thakur, all from villages near Manali, spent more than Rs 30 lakh to bring this machine to Solang village of Manali. What motivated them to introduce this machine to Manali was the uncertainty of snowfall on Himalayas even during winter months and thousands of tourists thronging hill stations only to see snow. They are installing the machine on a private land, not on the skiing slope. “Our basic idea is to make a snow park in Manali where tourist can see snow throughout winter season. The installation is on final stage. We have a small glitch with water hose coupling. The machine has coupling with European standards and ours is of Indian standards. We are fixing the problem. Hopefully we shall start making snow with seven quintal machine in 3-4 days,” Sunil said. The ski slopes of Solang are on government land and majority of its part is leased out to a private company where individuals cannot do such experiment. So, the youth chose the private land near the slope. Hira Lal, who has participated in Winter Olympics and World Skiing Championships, had seen such machines abroad and wanted to bring one to India. He partnered with three others and turned the dream into reality. Roshan Lal Thakur, former secretary general of Witner Games Fedration of India, also helped them in bringing machine to
MANALI: Be it Kufri, Narkanda, Solang or any skiing slope of Himachal, none of them have snow-making machine like ski slopes of developed nations. Despite high demand from skiers, government has failed to buy a single such machine to ensure availability of snow on slopes whenever needed. But, four youth from Manali villages have imported