Solang Valley or Solang Nala, 13 km north of Manali town on Manali-Atal Tunnel highway, is a popular tourist destination of Manali. The valley is often referred to as adventure valley due to availability of almost all the adventure sports like skiing, paragliding, zorbing, horseriding, ATV (all-terrain-vehicles), snow scooter, mini-bunjee, grass skiing, river crossing, trekking, wall climbing etc. Solang is one of the most visited tourist destinations of Himachal Pradesh. Tourists visiting Rohtang pass also visit Solang after taking a left diversion from Palchan village bifurcation point. It is just 3km from Palchan. Solang nullah (nala) flows next to the main Solang ground. Solang village is on the other side of Solang river and is accessible after 20 minutes of steep trekking. Solang valley has a ropeway and ski-centre as well. The ropeway (gondola) takes tourists from main ground to Fatru, about 1km above, from where a panoramic view of the entire valley can be seen. A short trek to Anjani Mahadev Temple, where ice lingam is formed naturally during winter months, starts from Solang valley. Atal tunnel is just 10km north of the Solang. Lahaul valley is just 19km. A trek/hike to Patalsu peak also starts from Solang via Solang village. This trek is quite popular among the tourists. History of Solang Valley Solang used to be a popular grazing land for the local residents who used to bring their cattle and sheep here. The area was amazingly lush green pasture with an abundance of a variety of flora. Later many Bollywood shooting units captured the valley in their camera. It started attracting local visitors and soon it became a famous picnic spot. Some local youths started doing paragliding here which attracted adventure enthusiasts to the valley. Skiers also started developing the natural slopes. To encourage skiing, a bar
Solang Valley or Solang Nala, 13 km north of Manali town on Manali-Atal Tunnel highway, is a popular tourist destination of Manali. The valley is often referred to as adventure valley due to availability of almost all the adventure sports like skiing, paragliding, zorbing, horseriding, ATV (all-terrain-vehicles), snow scooter, mini-bunjee, grass skiing, river crossing, trekking,
A day after tourist resorts of Shimla and Manali received season’s first snow, tourists from neighbouring states have made a beeline for Himachal to enjoy the snow. Tourists thronged Solang, Kufri and other tourist places which received a good amount of snow on Monday. After three days of inclement weather, it was sunny day on Tuesday. Tourist places were witnessing crowd from the early morning till late evening. Most of the tourists are from Delhi, UP, Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh. A tourist from Delhi Jatin Ahuja said, “We headed to Manali after hearing about snowfall on Monday morning. I and my wife wanted to see snowfall but we were a little late. However, we enjoyed in snow near Manali. Covid-19 being the main hurdle, we preferred driving our own car. The weather on Tuesday was amazing and we spent almost half day at Solang. We wanted to visit Atal tunnel but the road was blocked,” he said. Tourists were not being allowed to go to the higher regions as most of the roads have become slippery. Many tourists attempted to go towards Atal tunnel but could not reach due to icing of the road surface. Buses plying on Manali-Keylong route had to return back from south portal of the tunnel where road was extremely slippery. The highway even saw traffic jam for some time. Shimla also saw good number of tourists coming from Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh on Tuesday. Tourists headed to the upper Shimla to see snow. Dalhousie and Dharamshala are also expecting little rise in footfall in the next few days. Suffering huge losses since March due to Covid-19, hoteliers are expecting little surge in tourist inflow following the snowfall. “This year has been a black year for all businesses but tourism industry is worse affected. Tourists are
A day after tourist resorts of Shimla and Manali received season’s first snow, tourists from neighbouring states have made a beeline for Himachal to enjoy the snow. Tourists thronged Solang, Kufri and other tourist places which received a good amount of snow on Monday. After three days of inclement weather, it was sunny day on
Himachal can now host international skiing and snowboarding championships as Solang slopes near Manali are being developed to meet all the requirements of international standards. The length of the existing slope is being increased by over 130m. The surface of the slope will be leveled and groomed. A team of technical committee led by Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports (ABVIMAS) director carried out a final survey of the spot on Thursday. Taking advantage of the lockdown when Solang valley is missing the tourist crowd, the work will start in a few days. ABVIMAS director Col Neeraj Rana said the work on slope will begin in 2-3 days. “Slope is being developed keeping in view the international standards. Work will continue day and night and will finish within two weeks. The ground survey was conducted in presence of technical team on Thursday. The existing slope is about 340m long which will now become 470m-long. Come winter season and the snow-laden slope will be in a new look,” he said. At present Himachal has two skiing slopes – one at Solang and other at Narkanda. Both slopes are in dilapidated condition in absence of basic infrastructure. The natural slopes are short in length and not work hosting international races. Local ski clubs with help of government have hosted many state and national level tournaments on the slopes but failed to get approval to host international events. Rana said Solang can now host international tournaments from this year onward. “Solang slopes get very heavy snowfall. Slopes are well connected by road and ABVIMAS has its hostel at Solang. The area has many hotels. All conditions are favourable for world-class skiing. The short slope was the main hurdle. Some other technical issues of the slopes will be improved one by
Himachal can now host international skiing and snowboarding championships as Solang slopes near Manali are being developed to meet all the requirements of international standards. The length of the existing slope is being increased by over 130m. The surface of the slope will be leveled and groomed. A team of technical committee led by Atal
World’s highest bungee jumping site at an altitude of about 10,500ft will come up at steep but beautiful gorge near Marhi in Manali very soon. In an effort to attract more tourists to Manali, the government is developing different adventure activities which are either longest, tallest or are located at the highest altitude in the world. After making a 350m-long sky-cycling track at Gulaba, which is the highest such track of the world at an altitude of 9,300ft, the proposed bungee jumping site is at staggering 10,500ft from sea level. As the site has been finalized, the work on the project will start very soon. Manali based Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Mountaineering and Allied Sports (ABVIMAS) will supervise the construction work. ABVIMAS director Col Neeraj Rana said the jumping platform will be 182m (596ft) high from the ground which is highest in Asia. “No country in the world has bungee jumping site at this altitude. We shall fit four 32mm metal cables across the gorge and a motorized cage will take the jumper to the jumping site. The whole project is based on a latest technique which has been adopted recently by the New Zealand and the USA,” he said. He added that the purpose of setting up of longest or highest adventure activities at highest altitude in the world is to make them extreme and catchy. “We want to make Manali an adventure sports destination for the world. We are introducing all popular activities and are brining latest techniques. We are taking care of the safety and environment as well.” This will be the first and the only bungee jumping of Himachal while second in North India. While all other adventure activities are available in Kullu-Manali, the absence of bungee jumping was upsetting the adventure enthusiasts. The high
World’s highest bungee jumping site at an altitude of about 10,500ft will come up at steep but beautiful gorge near Marhi in Manali very soon. In an effort to attract more tourists to Manali, the government is developing different adventure activities which are either longest, tallest or are located at the highest altitude in the
The scientists will soon assess the tourism carrying capacity of hill stations of Himalayan regions of the country and will make a report on impact of tourism on local environment and livelihood. The scientists of GB Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment and Sustainable Development are doing a detailed study on carrying capacity of hill stations. A meeting was held at the regional centre of the institute at Kullu on Friday where scientists, officials from different departments and NGOs working in environment protection took part. Concerned for the balance between environment, development and growing tourism, the scientists and officials discussed on various environment related issues. “The burning issues like environmental balance and security of interests of local people are coming to light while developing tourism industry in the hill stations. It requires a large, long-term and holistic policy. This was the reason behind organizing this consultation meeting so that a practical policy could be framed with help from all the departments,” scientist from the institute RK Singh said. The hills stations of the country, especially in the hills stations, get crowded during summer season. The crowd not only leaves behind tonnes of trash but also put extra pressure on the available resources like water, roads and electricity. Increase in traffic leads to air and sound pollution. The vehicles leave the roads jammed for hours. No agency has so far studied the safe carrying capacity of hill stations. The scientists from the government institute will be studying it for the first time. Scientist Vaibhav Eknath Gosavi, Dr Lipika Sharma, Dr Abhay Sharma and Dr Shiv Pal described how environment related problems and conflicts between different sections are natural during growth of the tourism industry in mountainous regions. “The institute is studying deeply to prepare the guidelines for carrying capacity. Detailed discussion
The scientists will soon assess the tourism carrying capacity of hill stations of Himalayan regions of the country and will make a report on impact of tourism on local environment and livelihood. The scientists of GB Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment and Sustainable Development are doing a detailed study on carrying capacity of hill
