Tag: christmas snowfall himachal

Tourists dancing on the rhythm of fresh snowfall on the famous Ridge of Shimla and The Mall Road of Manali, hoteliers attending unprecedented inquiry phone calls from tourists, traffic moving with snail’s pace on several highways and farmers thanking almighty, this is how Himachal celebrated its first snowfall of the season in lower regions on Tuesday. Snowfall in Shimla that started at 8.15am lasted only for 15 minutes, but tourists enjoyed first snowfall of Manali town all the day. Earlier in the morning hundreds of tourists thronged Solang valley to see snowfall. Later at 12pm when it started snowing in Manali town, tourists returned back to their hotel rooms. They enjoyed snowfall right from their room’s window while some excited enthusiasts were spotted making snowmen, snowballs and trying to eat the snowflakes. Surjit and Pratibha, newlywed couple from Chandigarh, said: “We celebrated Christmas in advance. We are feeling like being in Antarctica.” According to the couple, they had an idea from weather forecast that Manali may witness snowfall this week and their decision of being here proved blessing for them. Another tourist from Chennai, Rajan Sivakumar, said he had never imagined that he would say goodbye to 2012 with such beautiful memories. “We have no time to have our lunch. It is the miracle of beauty of snowfall that we are feeling no cold. Beautiful snowflakes have filled our body with warmth. I wish if I could stay here for some more days.” According to hoteliers, snowfall has rejuvenated the tourism industry of the state. “We were desperately waiting for this moment. Finally snow has descended down the mountains and touched the towns. Inquiries are pouring in from across the country. More snowfall would definitely make our Christmas and New Year memorable,” said Vivek Kapoor, an hotelier. Dhauladhar mountain ranges