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Bhutan's
Tourism: Festivals |
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Bhutan Information |
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| Skiing
in Bhutan |
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The
village is north of Punakha. The headquarters of Jigme Dorje National park
ist just north of the village.
The
Trashi Thongmoen Dzong is now the adminsitrative center of the Dzongkhag.
Laya
is a large, isolated region in the north-west of the Gasa district. Spread
out over a hillside near the Tibetan border, Laya is one of the highest
villages in Bhutan at 3,700 m.
Laya
is Bhutan's primary yak breeding area.
The
Laya-Gasa and the Snowmen treks pass trhough Laya.
The
high Lunana Valley, sprinkled with little villages peopled by folks
as hardy and contented as will be found anywhere. Their warmth and
hospitality will be as intense as their surprise at Lunana offers a dramatic
mountain scenery, stunning snow-capped peaks and the high, wild valleys
at their feet, and a hospitality of the valley's people. |
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| American skiers at the bottom of a glacier near the Tsendegang peak
An
American tourist group of professional skiers who took a 'gamble'
by coming to Bhutan to ski, actually skied for a few hours at the bottom
of a glacier near the Tsendegang peak that lies between Laya and Lunana. |
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The group of five women took a modified version of the Laya-Lunana trek.
On the fifth day they reached what looked like a good spot.
From
a base camp they hiked for about six hours, a very difficult hike, up what
they called the ridge of insanity, and skied for about two hours at 15500
ft.. The group said that they spotted a number of 'good spots' to
ski but skied only on that day because the weather was perfect. There was
another spot the skiers were hoping to get to, near the Gangla Karchung
peak, but their horses and yaks could not make the climb up the narrow
valley.
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tour leader said that skiing in Bhutan could be promoted in two ways. One
as a adventure sport where enthusiasts could trek for a couple of days,
like the group did, to a location and ski. The other could be heli-skiing
where chopper services could take skiers to the designated location. |
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But
first a lot of exploration needs to be done to locate good spots, weather
studies need to be conducted and there must be trained and certified mountain
guides, the skiers said. "If skiing is possible we could add it to
our list of products," said department of tourism director. "As it is we
are looking into diversifying products in the Ninth Plan.
It
could perhaps be promoted during the winter which is a lean tourist season.
But first a thorough study is called for. Manali in India which introduced
heli-skiing several years ago is a big tourist draw as one of the few destinations
for skiing in the Himalayas. Demand from India as well and more farmers
could benefit from it than they did now.
| Contributed
by Kuensel, Bhutan's National Newspaper, 2003 |
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| Information on Bhutan |
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