Darjeeling revels in snowfall after three years; tourists have field day

REZA PRADHAN, SNS, DARJEELING, 29 DECEMBER 21: The hills of Darjeeling and Sikkim today received heavy snowfall, with the flakes falling in the Darjeeling town area after a period of over three years.

While the snow did not accumulate much in the town area, a blanket of white snow was seen at places in the town's upper reaches like Tiger Hill, Ghum, Simana and Phalut.

Tourists and locals rushed to Chowrasta, a popular promenade in the town, to get their fill of the flakes and were seen enjoying them and the rainfall that accompanied the snow at close intervals.

Those wanting to experience the snow flakes better rushed to nearby Tiger Hill around 12 km from the town and standing at a height of 2,560 metres. Around 2 inches of snow had accumulated there.

"As soon as I heard about snow falling at Tiger Hill, I rushed there with my family. I had never seen a snowfall before, even though I make it a point to come here every winter, hoping to experience it. This time I was lucky," said Abhishek Banerjee, a tourist from Kolkata.

A local, Binay Giri, said, " I got to see snowfall after a long time as l was working in Delhi earlier. Earlier, I had seen it many years back when the town had also become white with snow. Since Darjeeling town I got less snowfall, I rushed to Tiger Hill with my friends."

On the other hand, for the second time this month, Sandakphu, a popular tourist spot around 61 km front here and standing at a height of 3636 metres, experienced heavier snowfall since last night, with 8 inches of snow accumulating there.

Not only the upper reaches of Sandakhpu like Phalut saw heavy snowfall, but places below it like Tonglu also received a good amount of snow. Due to the road there being slippery, taxis there did not ply, while tourists were stranded.

The first snowfall of this season was seen at Sandakhpu on Christmas on 25 December this year. Tiger Hill had last experienced snowfall in February 2020, while Darjeeling town experienced snowfall for a brief period on January 29, 2019.