Things have been fairly lazy here – and apparently that includes keeping up with some posts. We’ve been whiling away the (mostly) sunny days in Solang, watching the snow melt.

There was still some snow for the ski competition 2 weeks ago – a group of local guys put on quite an event, with 70+ kids participating. Trevor and I volunteered to help out, and had a very good time. I was the start-flag girl (the timer was at the bottom) and tried to do my best Grease impersonation, even without the Capri pants. The under-10 and under-15 skiers went on the gradual slope next to the lift, and definitely were going slower as the day went on the and sun softened the snow. When it came time for the all-ages snowboard competition, it was decided that the course should be moved to the top of a very steep little knoll before rejoining the rest of the course. Result: snowboard carnage. If a competitor made if off the knoll at any speed at all, the gates were extremely hard to make on a snowboard. Very entertaining. Our friend Chala walked away with the title. At the end of the day, Trevor, Joe, Kelly and I each got a Kullu cap for helping out.

We did a camping/skiing trip up to Beas Kund and Lower Friendship (see Trevor’s post below), which was fantastic. I don’t think I’ve been anywhere with more spectacular mountain views – literally 360 degrees of enormous mountains. Shortly after, our Canadian friend Kelly took off for home. We were convinced that it would pound snow as soon as he left, but this has proven not to be the case.

Joe and I headed down to Manali for the kickoff of the Manali Winter Festival (pictures). We went up to the Hadimba Temple, where we were told a “procession” would be starting eventually (no one seemed to know much about the schedule). In an open area nearby, we found a number of groups in matching costumes, standing inside small numbered squares painted on the ground. Some concrete steps on either side were filling up with spectators, so we sat down to see what was happening. Several groups had banners announcing who they were (though some were only in Hindi) and were treated to examples of Punjabi, Jammu, and local dance. All at once. There wasn’t really much of an organized program going on. There seemed to be some commotion over by the road, so we eventually got up to check it out and found a full-scale parade starting up. Dozens of different groups were marching on foot or riding on floats pulled by tractors. Almost all of the participants were women, and the majority were showing bits of local custom or livelihood. Agricultural themes were common, with marchers carrying plants and apples, and cultivation tools. The weavers were extremely well represented, with one float even showing the entire process, from a live sheep being (slowly) sheared through to the weaving loom. There were some floats with religious themes – a young man dressed as Vishnu (or maybe Rama) rode on top of a float designed to look like a mountain, and group of people on another float were creating a little taste of the Holi festival, where colored powder is thrown around and smeared on everyone. Some were making political statements, like the “Save the Wildlife” float (we think that’s about what it said in Hindi) and another group that we think was campaigning against alcohol. We decided to walk down with the parade (all the dancers from near the temple had joined and were performing their way down the hill), and so we experienced the whole parade again as we were walking faster than the parade. We got to downtown just ahead of it, and ducked into the big amphitheater to get seats for the programming we were told would follow. After an hour of speeches in Hindi, we got desperate and bailed from the program. Our really great seats were unfortunately a long way from an easy exit in (by then) packed amphitheater, so we did the best we could to get out while stepping on a minimum number of people. Some lunch, some errands, and we caught the 4 o’clock bus home to Solang.

The Himalayan Ski Village has been sponsoring week-long ski courses for local young people, starting with folks from the Hampta Valley, where the resort is planned. Week 2 of lessons included 19 girls (all of whom stayed at the Iceland, where we are staying) and 21 boys (staying at the Friendship). Most of the students had never been on skis before (!) and we had a great time volunteering as ski instructors. The girls LOVED to sing and dance, and we had several rocking nights of dance party at the Iceland (pictures to follow). In appreciation for my ski teaching, some of the girls tried to help me dance Indian-style. It was fun, but I think they did better as ski students than I did as a dance student.

Beau finally made an appearance in Solang, after finishing up his program in Delhi and Pakistan. After a couple of days of dancing with the girls and adjusting to the altitude, we all toured up the hill for the HP state ski championship, being held quite a ways up on the ski slope. Luder (the owner of the Iceland’s brother) won the slalom and our friend Dev finished second in the GS. Both will continue on to the nationals in Gulmarg, and on to New Zealand if they win there. Beau’s ski-touring debut wasn’t exactly super-smooth, but he eventually got most of his new touring gear to function correctly, and only managed to lose a small chunk of one ski to the rocks on the descent. The next day Joe, Trevor and I took a hike to scope out the access to another big overnight ski adventure, and Beau went back up the slope for some more turns. Yesterday all three of the guys left the Iceland at 4 am for a run at Patalsu. They got to the ridgeline, and were very happy with a ski from there. I opted to take a hike in the same direction (with a much more civilized start time). I had a leisurely breakfast and finished my book before a lovely afternoon of tromping around and bird watching.

Tomorrow we’re supposedly due for more precip, but the temps don’t look good for snow down here at Solang. We’ll be watching the Olympics (a local Kullu Valley skier competes tomorrow) and playing cards. We’re still thinking about moving into the Hampta Valley sometime next week – we have a place to stay in a village called Sethan, which is a little higher up, and on a north aspect, so probably has more snow, and definitely better access.

Think snow-filled thoughts in our direction!

Labels: India, Kullu Valley, Solang