India’s Kashmir ski industry melts as temperatures rise

Guides lead visitors past ski slopes usually covered in snow but now bare, a stark example of the impacts of the extreme weather caused by the rapidly heating planet – Copyright AFP TAUSEEF MUSTAFA

Parvaiz BUKHARI

Winter in the Himalayas should mean blanketing snow, and for Gulmarg in Indian-administered Kashmir, one of the highest ski resorts in the world, that usually means thousands of tourists.

This year, the deep powder once taken for granted is gone. The slopes are brown and bare, a stark example of the impact of the extreme weather caused by the rapidly heating planet, experts say.

The lack of snow is not only hammering the ski industry but has a worrying impact on agriculture, the mainstay of Kashmir’s economy.

“Seeing this snowless Gulmarg, I feel like crying every day,” said adventure tour operator Mubashir Khan, who has put wedding plans on hold with his business teetering near collapse.

“In the 20 years of my working here, this is the first time I see n