Igloos at Sethan village near Manali draw tourists from across country

Abhinav Vashisht

Kullu, February 17

The igloos at Sethan village, around 13 km from Manali, are attracting tourists from across the country who visit the famous hill station to witness snowfall. Igloo means a house made of snow. One has read about igloos in books or seen these in TV documentaries.

We are enjoying our stay in an igloo. Earlier, I read about it in books. The temperature outside is freezing, but inside igloo it is bearable. Many facilities are available inside an igloo. Rohit, a tourist from Haryana

Two local youths Vikas and Tashi have built igloos which have become an attraction for visitors and local residents. The two youths have been building these igloos during winter for the past eight years.

Vikas said when he used to go to mountains for skiing, he spent nights in a tent. Extreme cold made it difficult to stay in a tent. One day an idea of building an igloo came to his mind. Vikas said at first, he used to make igloos as a hobby. Later, he decided to rent out igloos to tourists. Vikas said he provided various facilities in igloos and also served local food to visitors.

Manali’s tourism business depends on snowfall in the winter. This winter, December and January went almost dry. It snowed on January 30 in Manali. The number of tourists also started increasing after snowfall in the city. Many tourists are also going towards Hamta and enjoying the snowfall. They are also visiting Sethan, near Hamta, to enjoy staying in igloos.

The tourists said it was a different kind of experience for them. They said earlier, they had only heard about igloos. The experience of living in an igloo was beautiful, they said.

Rohit, a tourist from Haryana said, “We are enjoying our stay in an igloo. Earlier, I read about it in books. Today, I had an experience of staying in it.” He said the temperature outside was freezing, but inside igloo it was bearable. He said many facilities were available inside an igloo. He said his trip to Manali would be memorable.