Auli to host Junior National Skiing championship from Feb 11

Dehradun: Uttarakhand is gearing up to host a three-day long National Junior Skiing Championship along with winter carnival in Chamoli’s Auli from February 11. A decision in this regard was taken during a meeting headed by Garhwal commissioner on Friday.
Over 150 skiers in the junior and sub-junior categories, mostly from hill states, will be participating in the competition to be held on the snow-laden slopes of Auli.Apart from ice skating, cultural events will also be organized from February 11 to February 13.
Mostly, skiers from Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and some private clubs in north India participate in the annual competition. Speaking to TOI, Shiv Prasad Chamoli, president of Uttarakhand winter games association said, “Uttarakhand will be hosting the national junior skiing championship at Auli in second week of February. Participants must not be over the age of 16.”
Skiers will be able to perform skiing disciplines like cross country, slalom, giant slalom and super giant slalom (or super-G). All the techniques involve skiing between sets of poles (gates) spaced at a varying distances.
The decision to organize the event was taken during a meeting headed by Garhwal Commissioner Vinod Sharma on Friday. Officials from Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN), Public Works Department (PWD) and Chamoli district attended the meeting.
Officials said that the execution of the event depends on the amount of snow available on the slopes of Auli at that time. Last year, the event had to be postponed a couple of times due to lack of snow at the site. “Alpine skiing is a sport which depends entirely on snowfall. Usually, Auli has enough snow in February for skiing, but thanks to changes in weather pattern, one cannot really predict anything,” said Chamoli.
“However, we are ensuring that the preparations are made in advance. It will be completed by February,” he said.