Galiyat snow fest draws crowds

People enjoy skiing, snowboarding and other funfilled activities

AYUBIA:

The Galiyat Snow Festival attracted scores of people, who drove long distances in challenging road conditions to enjoy day-out in snow with funfilled activities.

The Galiyat Development Authority (GDA) on Saturday organised the second day of snow festival in Ayubia, where families and groups of friends from different regions of the country showed up in numbers to enjoy skiing, snowboarding, and other activities like tug-of-war, snowman, and snow race.

Like any other festival, the GDA’s snow fest was also incomplete without local cuisine. People enjoyed local food after whetting their appetites on the snowy slopes.

The snow festival organised by the GDA was inaugurated by the provincial Minister for Information Kamran Bangash and kicked on in the famous tourist place Nathiagali.

On the second day the events and activities were shifted to Ayubia till its end on the third day on Sunday (today). K-P Assembly Speaker Mushtaq Ahmed Ghani will conclude the festival.

On the second day of the festival snow games competitions and other activities were held for the amusement of the tourists. The tourists participated in festival activities and also enjoyed the snow festival in spite of the harsh weather condition and snowfall in Galiyat.

GDA organized snowballing, skiing, tagging and snow football competitions at Ayubia Chairlift to provide entertainment to the tourists. On the second day of the snow festival athletes and other sports men performed their game on the snowfall.

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The tourists who came on the second day of the snow festival continued to walk in the chairlift despite the snowfall and enjoyed the feast and other traditional dishes. When the snowfall stopped, the tourists kept on playing music and dancing on the snow. The event was attended by provincial ministers and dignitaries and Galyat Development Authority Director General Raza Ali Habib and tourists from different parts of the country.

Tourists including Omar Khan, Mohammad Shuja, Rauf Abbasi, Rashid Afridi, Madihiya Khan and others said that organizing a snow festival by GDA is no less than great good news for the people who are suffering from the virus.

In addition to the opportunity to enjoy the beautiful scenery, the people of the snow-affected streets have also been provided employment opportunities.

To entertain the tourist, music night was also organized wherein renowned singers and artists participated. The valleys echoed with the melodious local songs known as pahari geet and contemporary popo music.

The three-day long festival was held at different venues of Galyat including Nathiagali, Ayubia, Donga Gali, Khanaspur and Mushkpuri top to introduce the beauty and adventures of the area to the tourists and they enjoy the serene attraction of Galyat.

Due to the better planning and facilities during the current snowfall season, the number of tourists has been increased as compared to the previous years. During the last year, GDA and Tourism Development Corporation of KPK jointly organized the snow festival where a record number of tourists across the country enjoyed the three-day festival.

Murree overcrowded

Meanwhile, in the most commercialised hill station of the country, Murree, people continued to pour in to enjoy the snowfall.

According to Murree police at least 25,000 cars had entered the hill station and more were coming.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 24^th, 2021.