Challenges for development of Ski/Snowboard tourism in Nepal

Nepal the Himalayan kingdom lies in one of the unique locations of the earth. It's unique especially because of its diversity in geography and culture. Himalayas cover 16% of total land area of Nepal where as 65% is covered by Hills. Among 10 highest mountains in the world Nepal has 8 of them. Himalaya is also known as third pole of the world after North Pole and South Pole because of lot of snowcapped mountains and glacier which is also home for many endangered species and a source of drinking water for billions of people.

Nepal is hub of adventure for many international tourist and locals especially in Mountain area. Different activities like Rafting, kayaking, Trekking, Climbing, Paragliding, bungee jumping, mountain biking, rock climbing, cannoning and many others. But Skiing and Snowboarding are not in the list if we talk about the global world. Somehow few companies have started selling ski tours and ski mountaineering in Nepal since few years. There are very few people who want to ski in Nepal but it doesn't mean that there won't be any people in future too. If we do correct planning and make a good policy then Nepal could be one of the best destinations for ski Mountaineering in the world.

There are various challenges to turn Nepal into one of the great ski mountaineering/touring destinations.

Lack of proper infrastructure like roads and accommodation facility in rural mountain area where there is good slopes and condition for skiing like Humla, Manang, Mustang, Dolakha and many other places. As people love to do ski touring in Himalayas but they have less time. They don't want to spend a month for ski touring in Nepal. In order to make short ski tour time, we need to construct road accessible to the mountains which are good for skiing and mountaineering. This will save time and money where construction of road leads to development of hotels and lodges in rural area. If only we could make good transportation facility to different mountains and destination of Nepal, we could expect growth of tourism to increase by 80 to 100%.

Global warming and Short winter in Nepal are another problem for the people who want to ski in Nepal below 4500m. Extreme Nepali winter is during the end of December to mid of March where there is good snow condition from 3500 meter but the snow might not last longer on that region because of global warming. This is not only the problem of only Nepal but the whole world. But still we can have time of 2 months for skiing and winter sports during this period which might not look long season if we look at other countries but still it's enough for Nepalese to get their feet on skis. But if we talk about mountains then yes Nepal has big possibilities to attract ski mountaineers and free riders who want to ski on mountains and glacier above 5000m which is extreme and adventurous. Even if we take these in numbers there are millions of them who would like to ski in these kinds of mountains and environment. I would like to say ski mountaineering is future of adventure tourism in Nepal.

Government policy and lack of public awareness is another main problem in Nepal for the development of winter sports and adventure tourism. There are some emerging NGO's and Companies who are willing to promote ski/snowboard and offering ski trips in Nepal. But some complicated strategy and laws of Nepal is pushing development of skiing backward. Laws like expensive ski permits and fees of liaison officer of government even after paying climbing permit, garbage fees and mountaineering liaison officer is making complication for agency and tourist to promote ski at the beginning of winter sports tourism in Nepal. Agency are getting complains about government policy which makes ski trips to Nepal very expensive for useless things. Government policy is also decided by the level of awareness by people about winter sports. If skiing was already common in Nepal then government would have thought about its legal stuff and other necessary rules.

If we all understand the importance of skiing and winter sports then we can bring millions of tourists in Nepal every year for skiing/split boarding. These tourists will not only spend a decent amount of money in Nepal for adventure but will help in expansion of possibilities of new destination, culture, sports and tourism. It will also provide job for many mountain guides, ski guides and other tourism stakeholder during the off-tourist season of Nepal. Development of winter sports and winter tourism will help Nepal to fulfill the gap during the off season which will give us positive impact in tourism development.

Utsav Pathak

Ski and Snowboarding Foundation Nepal