STATE TIMES NEWS
SRINAGAR: The Department of Tourism Kashmir in collaboration with Jawahar Institute of Mountaineering and Winter Sports organised day ice-climbing at Chandanwari in Pahalgam in which many trained mountaineers from Jammu and Kashmir Mountaineering and Hiking Club and Glacier Trekking, Mountaineering and Hiking Club participated.
Chief Executive Officer, Pahalgam Development Authority, Mushtaq Ahmad Simnani had flagged off the climbers on December 29, 2017.
Only regular climbers like Nawab Moazum Khan, Ghulam Mohammad Wani, Khursheed Beigh led by climbing instructor Juniad Beigh are making attempts to climb 60-feet ice-fall at Phrislan in Chandanwari to make it a popular activity in Kashmir. Director Tourism Kashmir Mahmood A Shah said that this extreme adventure sports activity has an international appeal which can attract adventure lovers from across the globe.
“We have 60-feet steep ice fall at Phrislan village in Chandanwari which is an ideal spot for ice-climbing. This is a very expensive sport and mostly foreigners attempt to climb such frozen icefalls around the globe. We are making our youth especially professional climbers trained in this sport so that they can participate in future ice-climbing events,” said Director Tourism Kashmir. “We will make this activity a regular feature in winter months.”
He said the department started ice-climbing activity at Chandanwari which is accessible to the beginners also.
“There are more ice formations in Kashmir which are not easily accessible which also need highly skillful climbers. We have started the activity from Chandanwari and later under the expert guidance we can attempt ice-climbing at other spots,” said Director Tourism Kashmir.
Director Tourism said the department has full-fledged Adventure Wing which houses all the necessary equipments for such activities. “We want to promote adventure sports in a big way as it will provide employment to the local youth and also attract high-spending travellers. We will be organising more such activities in future for youth,” he said.
