The recent killer avalanche in Gulmarg reminded me of the ten winters (1976-86) I had spent there organising winter sports from the State Government side. Those days we used to have heavier and frequent snowfalls. Sometimes the snow depth in Gulmarg itself exceeded 10 feet! We did have avalanches but nothing so gruesome. It is for the first time since its establishment that the High Altitude Warfare School popularly known as HAWS had such a disaster. In fact, we used to depend upon HAWS for rescue as they were always ready to send out rescue patrols to rescue civilian tourists. This time it is the civilians that have been helping them in rescue operations. Something seems to have gone wrong somewhere. Hopefully a court of inquiry will establish the problem area so as to enable future preventive action. Fortunately, the civilian side has not suffered any problems during the recent unprecedented snowfall. Javed Bakshi, the CEO of the Development Authority had asked the concerned to take preventive measures in view of the SASE warning which had been issued to all concerned well in time. The warning is reported to have been broadcast on Radio and TV also. In fact, the Met Office has also been regularly issuing very precise forecasts about possibility of heavy snowfall. G.M.Dar, the Tourist Officer, who is a trained ski instructor with advance training from the French National Ski School in Chamonix, had issued a stern warning to all foreign tourists staying in Gulmarg not to venture out on higher slopes. He is heading the Ski Patrol set up by the Tourism Department in Gulmarg. In fact, the operation of Gondola lift had also been suspended. In the past, Gulmarg had witnessed a number of foreign casualties because of these tourists not heeding avalanche warnings and going off the piste. It is reported that the snow avalanche management from the civilian side which has been supervised by an American Brian Newman for last few years has shown better results. He has been hired by the State Tourism as Snow Safety Officer. It is reported that he not only monitors but also triggers possible avalanches.

No doubt there was very heavy snowfall recently but one would not like to call it unprecedented. Gulmarg has had more severe snow blizzards in the past. Somehow the recent dry winters especially for last few years, have made people overlook the possibility of these blizzards occurring without any warning. I remember in mid seventies in the same month of February we had 5 feet of snow in just one night. The total snow fall in a couple of days exceeded 10 feet. It took us almost one week to open Tangmarg-Gulmarg road with German snow cutters. In Gulmarg itself most of the huts were buried under snow. We were awake whole night trying to shovel snow from the roof tops as the huts were creaking. One had to dig down one’s way into a hut! Many skiers just skied over the huts. After the snowfall stopped, it took me 4 hours to wriggle my way from my hut (181-A) to Club, a distance of just 1 kilometre! These heavy snowfalls were always accompanied by massive avalanches. The depth of snow higher up was more than 20 feet. We used to hear the thunder of avalanches in the night. However, no one would venture on higher slopes till most of the areas stabilised. Even in those days, the Snow and Avalanche Study Establishment (SASE) used to issue avalanche warnings well in time and most of the people would adhere to their instructions, which were always broadcast on Radio and TV. It has been stated by some that the concerned area has had no such avalanche in last 60 years or so. The worst avalanche in Gulmarg area occurred in the last century in thirties when an airborne avalanche completely blew away the Ski Club of India hut in Khilanmarg near the present spot. An airborne avalanche is a powder snow avalanche which is preceded by an air blast. In the present case, it has been a wet and heavy snow avalanche. Any mountain slope above 30 degrees is subject to avalanche depending upon the depth and type of snow. The Apharwat top in Gulmarg has most of the ridges and gulleys descending on to Khilanmarg and Kongdori above 60 degrees. These are all subject to avalanche danger. However, the only casualties in the past have been of soldiers and porters ferrying supplies to pickets high above. Mostly these have been due to slab avalanches. These are triggered due to layers of different type of snow becoming unstable and a chunk on a ridge breaks away and slides down. Avalanches are a common occurrence in mountain areas getting heavy snowfalls in winter throughout the world. Even in Alps there have been disastrous avalanches sometimes wiping out complete villages. We had one in Botengo some years back. However, in Europe especially in Ski Resorts, there is a fool proof system of monitoring and triggering avalanches to make skiing safe for the ski enthusiasts. All the ski resorts have their own avalanche and rescue patrols. In addition, the Gendarmes too have special units for this purpose. Safety of skiers is given prime importance. Brian and Dar may be doing a commendable service in the present situation but keeping in view the reputation of the resort and its projection worldwide as one of the best ski areas, there is urgent need to upgrade the system to international standards on a permanent basis. Government should make available all the resources in equipment, manpower, and machines. Any avalanche involving fatalities in any ski area gives it bad publicity but this can be negated by the availability of world class facilities in the relevant areas. The worldwide marketing of the resort apart from giving details of slopes and infrastructure should project the safety aspect to assure the prospective visitors.

There has been excellent co-ordination between the civilian and defence authorities regarding ski rescue. However, there is no single authority whose instructions regarding snow safety could be mandatory. Gulmarg has always been plagued by multiplicity of authorities. In the past, we used to have a Winter Sports Co-ordination Committee headed by Dr.Sheikh Mustafa Kamal which had representatives from all agencies. In fact, to get the defence authorities on board Dr Mustafa had travelled to Delhi to meet Shivraj Patil, the then defence minister. Something similar needs to be instituted now. In addition to Gulmarg, the heavy snowfall has caused many other problems in different parts of the state. Again it appears we are doing more of the “Post Disaster” Management and are a bit weak on the “Pre Disaster” Management. Taking advance steps on a preventive basis to forestall disasters is better than being fully prepared to handle destruction after the disaster. No doubt “Post Disaster” Management is essential and one has to be fully geared to face all eventualities but equal alertness and attention needs to be paid to prevent disasters from occurring. In the present IT Age it is possible to predict disasters to a great extent especially those connected with the vagaries of weather. The continuous feeds from geo-stationary satellites with processing of data by super-computers, it is possible to predict not only daily but hourly behaviour of weather. In fact, some of our agencies have been continuously providing the data online. However, the data provided needs to be acted upon fast if the disasters are to be avoided.