In India’s skiing hubs, low snowfall is leading to national sports contests being cancelled

The national ski and snowboard championship due to be held in Uttarakhand’s Auli skiing hub from March 16-19 has been postponed again as a result of insufficient snowfall in the area.

The event had previously been slotted for January 29 and February 2 but had been rescheduled because of a lack of snow.

“This is the sixth time since 2014 that the championship has been cancelled or postponed in Auli,” said Santosh Kunwar, the founder of Auli Skiing School, a training institute that coaches beginners and advanced-level skiers. “If it continues like this, winter sports in India will become extinct.”

He noted that the likelihood of the event being held now was low, since rains had begun. “Now there is barely any chance of good snowfall,” he said.

The ski season in Auli this year has been restricted to the few days that followed three spurts of snowfall between January and early March, when skiers enjoyed stable snow on the gentle slopes. Though there was some snow on other days, “the bigger problem is that this snow is not stable, and it melts very quickly, which makes it impossible for skiing”, said Kunwar.

Auli is not the only place where winter sports have been disrupted because of a lack of snow.

Gulmarg in Kashmir was to host the second leg of the Khelo India Winter Games 2025 at the end of February, after the first leg in Leh, Ladakh. More than 19 teams from various states and union territories were to compete in sports like alpine skiing, ski mountaineering and Nordic skiing in the two locations. But the event in Gulmarg had to be shifted to March because there was insufficient snow in the area.

Concerns about the impact of climate change on sports have also been raised internationally. On March 14, in an unprecedented move, more than 300 Olympic athletes, many of them alpine and freestyle skiers and snowboarders, wrote to the president of the International Olympic Committee, urging that the mitigation of climate change be prioritised since “rising temperatures and extreme weather are already disrupting competition schedules, putting iconic venues at risk and affecting the health of athletes and fans”.

The athletes added, “Extreme heat is raising real concerns about whether Summer Games can be held safely in future years, and Winter Games are becoming harder to organise with reliable snow and ice conditions diminishing annually.”

Where is the snow?

Skiing and other winter sports require a type of snow called “powder”, which is light and fluffy. “In the early 2000s, we used to see good powder from January till March, which is essential for skiing,” said Waseem Ahmed Wani, a ski instructor at the Indian Institute of Skiing and Mountaineering in Gulmarg. But now, he explained, much of the snow is mixed with rain, making it wet and unsuitable for sports.

Climate scientists have also noted the problem of higher levels of rain rather than snow during winter months. Ashwini Ranade, a cryosphere and climate change scientist at the National Institute of Hydrology in Roorkee, explained that this is a result of rising atmospheric temperatures.

This increase affects the intensity of western disturbances, which refers to storm systems that build in the Mediterranean region, and are responsible for bringing winter rain and snow to north-western parts of the Indian subcontinent, including to the Himalayas.

Ranade said that for rain to be convert into snow, atmospheric temperatures needed to be low. “A warmer atmosphere during these western disturbances does not bring the temperatures to the point that it can convert precipitation into snowfall,” she said.

Research studies in both Kashmir and Uttarakhand show that temperatures have indeed increased over the years. In the Kashmir valley, the average annual temperature has recorded an increase of 0.8 degrees Celsius over 37 years between 1980 and 2016, a 2019 study found. The ski site of Gulmarg recorded a steep increase of 1.04 degrees Celsius.

In Uttarakhand, a study showed that between 2000 and 2020, certain areas at higher elevations have seen an increase in temperatures of 0.12 degrees Celsius each decade.

On the ground, Wani said, it felt like the winter had “shifted”.

“What used to start in November, this year we received about two to four feet of snowfall only in March this year,” he said. “Without snow there is no way we can support these games.”

The level of snowfall received is also crucial in determining the kind of courses that can be conducted and the sports that can be conducted. “In half a foot of snow, we can train beginners and basic courses,” said Kunwar. But a large event with professional sportspeople needs at least four feet of snow, he explained.

This level of snow was once found regularly on higher slopes in Gulmarg, from where skiers and snowboarders made their way down – but now even these altitudes experience insufficient snow. “There used to be at least 10 feet of snow on the higher slopes,” Wani said. “Now without that, the slopes are just exposed with rocks.”

Losses to businesses

Businesses that are built around winter sports, like those of both Wani and Kunwar, have faced losses due to the declining snowfall. “Winter tourists and serious sportspeople are definitely declining in Auli,” said Kunwar.

While around 30 batches of ski enthusiasts had signed up with Kunwar’s Auli Skiing School for courses to begin from January, by mid-March he had been able to train only three of them. He had to refund payments to several customers.

He explained that many travellers cancel when they learn that there is a lack of snowfall and that even if there was a spurt of good snowfall after this, it was unlikely that they would return at the last minute.

“When there is no snow and our batches end up cancelling, we can face losses up to Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh,” he said. “It’s very hard to recover this money.” Kunwar added that it was not just businesses like his that suffered as a result of cancellations. Lodges that accommodate visitors also take a hit.

Wani noted that businesses in Gulmarg were also hurt by the poor snowfall. In 2024, Kashmir experienced no snowfall for most of Chillai Kalan, the coldest 40-day period of winter that begins around December 21. It was only towards the end of January that the Himalayas in Kashmir received snowfall.

“Many people plan their trips during the Christmas and New Year holidays,” he said. “But since it did not snow in December, at least 25%-30% have cancelled this year.”

Ranade explained that the problem was not merely limited to specific years. The lack of snowfall creates a “feedback loop”, which leads to the phenomenon continuing, she said.

“Global temperature rise, as well as changes in micro-climate like deforestation or land-use change, can keep temperatures high, which then reduces snowfall,” Ranade said. “Then, the less snowfall keeps the atmosphere warm, which then completes the loop of this process to continue.”

Indeed, Wani fears that the situation will only get worse. “I worry that in the upcoming years, we might not be able to see this low snowfall also,” he said. “These sports are under threat.”