Tourism authorities in Narkanda organise skiing lessons for tourists

Tourism authorities in Narkanda, Himachal Pradesh have started special skiing training courses for for tourists and youth, nearly 65 kilometers from Shimla to promote winter sports and tourism in the region.

The Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) has designed leisure and professional format courses.

Between Tuesday and Saturday a group of 21 students were trained.

"Narkanda located at an altitude of over 9000 feet above sea level is an important snow skiing destination. The HPTDC has designed different courses for skiing to draw both tourists and training professionals. This course starts from three day training to professional basic courses of fourteen days. We have many groups coming this year. We are getting a good response," said organiser and trainer Jasmpa Negi.

Young skiers said they were happy to join the skiing camp.

"I would like to thank my school and organizers for giving us skiing lessons during our holidays. I am happy that our trainers have trained us in a way that we are doing a 14 day course in seven days," said student Akshit Jain.

Another participant, Harshdeep Singh, said, "I belong to Punjab and have come for first time to do skiing and snow sports. I am happy that I got this chance and I would recommend others to get this experience once in their lives. In days to come I would learn many more things of skiing and adventure snow competitions."

"It's amazing and also cold here. We have to work hard and have to carry all our stuff with us and we are being trained for this. It's a wonderful experience one should experience it," said another student, Mukta Malik.