Snow in the Solang Valley!!!

I arrived in Manali and the beautiful snow covered mountains of North West India freezing cold but so very excited at the scenery around me. I promptly sorted out my freezing situation with the purchase of some wonderfully warm snowboard trousers and jacket, along with a scarf and some ski gloves, and then I headed into the snow...

I traveled up to the Solang Valley where I'd heard it was possible to do some skiing and boarding. This has to be the craziest place I ever have and probably ever will ski and board. It was also a place where there there is no end of fun, yet at the same time there are also seemingly hundreds of different ways you can die.

The slopes aren't flattened at all and hardly anyone skis. So the snow, which when I arrived was perhaps at least three or four foot deep, captures you when you fall and does not let you escape without quite some struggle - each time you try to push yourself up, you just sink further down. At least though it is not at all painful when you go down. My problem with this basically completely off piste type skiing/boarding is this - I can ski fine but I cannot ski off piste, I can board off piste but I'm not very confident or all that good and so falls were frequent, especially in the steep areas that you could not avoid. I did however improve by the end of the week, perhaps partly due to me having flattened the snow a little which made things easier, and instead of falling over a million times and regularly loosing my skis, I could now make it all the way down the mountain without a fall.... if I was very lucky.

Now, ways to die:
Well, there are the obvious possibilities of doing so simply by falling over or falling off the mountain whilst on your way down. Then there are other perhaps less obvious possibilities which I shall try and explain.
At the bottom of the slopes are hundreds if not thousands of Indian tourists all dressed up in 80's full body ski suites and fury boots. They do not ski or board and if they go to the top of the mountain then it's just for the view and they then return to the bottom in the gondola again. So, one obstacle is avoiding them when you get to the bottom.
Then there is the possibility of being hit by one of the many quad bikes racing around and looking not fully in control on the snow. They also zoom across the ski lift whilst it's in use, as do very fast ski sled things and if you don't move then it's likely you will get hit. I tried not moving and they came so close that we touched.
Next there are the inner tubes of tractor tires that people slide at top speed in down the slopes hitting anyone in their way. The same goes for zorbs - huge inflatable balls you can go inside and roll down the slopes in.
There are also dogs, horses, yaks, and rabbits all running around which you have to do your best to avoid.
There are the power cuts, which if lasted long enough whilst your stuck in the gondola would I'm sure mean you froze to death.
In between sunshine and snow there were also amazing thunder and lightning storms, which could also lead to your doom.
And then there is the very real risk of being killed by paragliders even if you are not a passenger. They take off from the ski slope and then land amongst all the people at the bottom. When they come down, all beneath them have to run and scatter to get out of their way. They land on the ski slopes whether you are where they need to land or not and then spread out their parachutes right across the slope, which proves quite some obstacle to avoid. I also witnessed one smash into the lift right behind me and another smash into the lift building. Fortunately no one was hurt. I did question the amount of control they had, but apparently they were in full control at all times.

Despite all these dangers myself and everyone else there appeared to be having such fun. The atmosphere was so lively and joyful and I didn't see one miserable face. Whilst I was there it was Holi - the Hindu festival celebrating the start of Spring. People celebrate with powder paints and water and they helped us to do the same.