Winter Sports in India

With Christmas & New Year just around the corner, a lot of people would be ready to head to the hills and enjoy the pristine beauty of the snow-capped mountains. While some like me would like to belief that upper Himalayas are buried under snow & hence no activities possible, but many others would be likely to indulge in the winter sports at some exciting locations.

Whether you’re looking for a thrilling trekking expedition through the snow-covered mountains or irresistible skiing or snow boarding or ice climbing – India has it all.

Snowfall is no longer a luring attraction today. Rather, tourists are looking for something new and rejoicing in the winter sports as the spine thrilling adventures make it once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Although winter sports in India hold huge appeal among travellers, adventure lovers but the availability of information to a fresher is limited to an extent. Here are some of the adventure activities which you indulge in this winter:

- Mountaineering – this is a perfect adventure for the climber enthusiast. But for beginners it might take a lot of energy & stamina to reach the desired point. Jammu & Kashmir, Ladakh, Manali, Sikkim & Uttaranchal offer mountaineering opportunities in the vast Himalayan ranges. The ranges of Lahaul, Spiti, Kinnaur, Garhwal, Kumaon, Assam, Meghalaya have much mountaineering scope. There is plethora of websites offering Mountaineering Trips like himalayavisit.com, indiaadventureportal.com, India-adventure-travel.com etc.

- Skiing – In the summer, Auli is inviting but in winters it becomes irresistible for skiers with the snow-white slopes and skiing facilities. It provides an excellent panoramic view of the giant mountain peaks like Nanda Devi, Kamet and Dunagiri. A 500m ski-lift system, the longest cable car in Asia, connects Joshimath with Gorson, above Auli. From Gorson, Auli's only chair lift travels to the base lodge, that marks the starting point of all the ski runs.

For beginners, the Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) offers 7-day non-certificate and 14-day certificate courses. For more information you can visit http://www.oktatabyebye.com/travel-ideas/weekend-getaways/auli.aspx

- Snow boarding –

This is a relatively new winter sport wherein one rides a fibreglass board, with the feet strapped on it, and sliding down a ski slope or a particularly designed pipe. It’s a grownup version of skateboarding & surfing. Snowboarding is fast developing into foremost adventure sports among the die-hard snow enthusiasts. Mainly 3 leading styles of competition exist in snowboarding - Alpine, Freestyle and Boarder cross. Some of the places with snow boarding facilities in India are Garhwal Himalayas, in the Chamoli district, Auli, Gulmarg.

- Trekking –

This is one of those adventure activities which you can participate in almost in all season and at almost all hill stations. Some of the famous treks are Chadar(Frozen River) Trek in Ladakh, Valley of Flower Trek, Sikkim & Kanchenjunga Trek, Nanda Devi Trek, Har ki Dun Trek etc.

For more information you can check http://www.mountainkingdoms.com/ and http://www.trekkinginindia.com. Read trekking experiences of avid travellers at OkTataByebye.