Avalanche kills Kashmiri ski guide in Gulmarg

Gulmarg is a popular ski resort in the Valley.A 27-year-old Kashmiri ski guide was killed on Wednesday after an avalanche struck the higher reaches of the Valley's famous ski resort, Gulmarg, around 45 kilometres northwest of Srinagar.
The guide, Bashir Ahmad Bakshi, was a resident of Tangmarg area, around 12 kilometres from Gulmarg. Gulmarg Development Authority CEO Nazir Ahmad Mir said the skier was skiing in 'prohibited area' when he was struck by the avalanche. "He was the lone skier there. When we got the information about the avalanche, we immediately sent rescue parties. We have recovered Bakshi's body," he said, adding no other person has been injured or gone missing in the incident.
Mercury dips

 

 

Meanwhile, mild cold conditions continued in northern plains with the mercury dipping marginally on Wednesday even as the Valley reeled under temperatures below the freezing point. In Jammu and Kashmir, Kargil in the frontier region of Ladakh continued to be the coldest recorded place even though the minimum temperature there appreciated by over a degree. The night temperature in Kargil improved from the previous night's minus 18.4 degrees to settle at minus 17.0. In Leh, the minimum was minus 13.6 degrees. The minimum temperature recorded in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, was minus 1.0 degree Celsius.

Pahalgam, a hill resort in south, was the coldest recorded place in Kashmir with a minimum of minus 8.8 degrees Celsius.
Mercury also dropped by a few notches in several parts of Punjab and Haryana, with Amritsar reeling under the lowest temperature in the regionat 4.8 degrees Celsius, a notch below normal. In Haryana, Hisar, Karnal, Narnaul and Bhiwani recorded below normal minimums at 6.5, 5.6, 6.5, and 8.8 degrees Celsius, respectively.

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