Manali

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Tourist attractions

Igloos

Suresh Sharma, January 17, 2020: The Times of India

The igloos, which started off as an ‘experiment’, come equipped with lights and bedding
From: Suresh Sharma, January 17, 2020: The Times of India

MANALI: Entirely built with snow, the igloos of Hamta valley near Manali have become a new tourist attraction as visitors have made a beeline to this snow village to experience a night in the private igloo.

Built on experimental basis four years back, the igloos at altitude of 9,000ft near Sethan village in Hamta, the first in the country, became famous in a very short time period as igloo stay is otherwise available in countries like Finland, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden and Canada. Tashi and Vikas, the two local youth, who had introduced igloos to Manali in the winter season of 2016-17, have built igloos for the fourth consecutive season. Tourists are booking their stay in advance and those who are unlucky to get chance to spend night in a snow house are visiting them in daytime.

“This season we have built five igloos. Tourists are crazy about spending a night inside an igloo like Eskimo. People from everywhere are visiting us – some to book their stay and others just to see the snow village. We had opened booking in December. As the region has witnessed good snowfall and temperature is too low, we expect to host tourists till mid March,” Vikas said. This surprises tourists that while temperature at Hamta is below freezing point, the temperature inside igloo is much higher. The igloos are decorated with lights and warm bedding. Tourists are served with variety of cuisines. They are offered bonfire in the evening and can try hand at skiing and snowboarding.

Vikas adds, “We took help from YouTube videos in making the igloos for the first time. We had to take extra safety measures to make structure stable and durable for tourists. We make blocks of snow and join them to give structure a shape of igloo. We want to promote winter tourism in Manali. The entire Hamta, which is mostly north facing and remains covered with snow for months, can be developed for this purpose by government. We also don’t want to see tourist crowd in the area as it will destroy its beauty, sanctity and its resources. The development should be in a controlled manner.”

Hamta area not just have one option to stay in igloo, more youth from Manali are adopting the business to woo tourists in winter season. Shainav and his friend from Manali have also built three igloos for tourists near Sethan village. Tourists who stay in igloo departs with a promise of returning back soon for this amazing experience, Shainav said.