Snow disappears from Uttarakhand's Om Parvat for first time ever, experts raise alarm

Pithoragarh: Snow disappeared completely for the first time ever from Uttarkahand's Om Parvat last week, leaving visitors wondering what was wrong.

Experts attributed the phenomenon to scanty rain and scattered snowfall in the upper Himalayan region over the past five years, rise in vehicular pollution, and global warming.

An official had said the tourism in the region could get impacted if the hill remained snowless for a longer period. However, snowfall on Monday night brought back snow to Om Parvat.

Om Parvat, a popular tourist spot in Vyas valley, is located at an altitude of around 14,000 feet. The snow atop the hill naturally forms a pattern resembling the Hindi word "Om", which is how the spot derived its name.

"It was really disappointing to see Om Parvat which has a reputation of being eternally clad in snow, utterly devoid of it when I went there on August 16," a visitor said.

Showing snowless photos of the Om Parvat clicked by her, Urmila Sanwal, a resident of Gunji village here, said, "There was no snow on the 'Om' shaped hill. The spot was barely recognisable without snow." Dhan Singh Bisht, who is in charge of the base camp of Adi Kailash yatra in Dharchula, said, "It is for the first time in my 22 years of service in Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam that I saw a completely snowless Om Parvat." The annual snow melting rate at Om Parvat used to be 95-99 per cent earlier, but this year it melted completely, the KMVN official said.

However, after snowfall on Monday night, snow has returned to Om Parvat, Bisht said.

Bisht, who has a 20-year experience of organising the Kailash-Mansarowar and Adi Kailash yatras, said the district administration officials in Pithoragarh who were taken aback to see viral photos of a snowless Om Parvat have had a sigh of relief with snow returning to the popular tourist spot.

Scanty rain and scattered snowfall in the upper Himalayan region over the past five years may have been the reason behind total disappearance of snow this year from Om Parvat, he said.

Sunil Nautiyal, Director of GB Pant National Institute of Himalayan Environment, Almora, attributed the disappearance of snow to the rising temperature in the eco sensitive zones of the Himalayan region due to increased number of fuel-driven vehicles, besides the general phenomenon of global warming.

"To check this, we will have to determine the bearing capacity of all sensitive places of the high Himalayan region as well as rampant forest fires as carbon generated by forest fires is also damaging the sensitive spots in the Himalayan region," Nautiyal said.

A manifold increase in tourist footfall in the region following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Jolingkong in October last year is also seen as a factor behind the phenomenon.

"Tourist footfall has gone up 10 times since Modi's visit to Jolingkong for a darshan of the Adi Kailash peak," said Krishna Garbiyal, a resident of Garbiyang village of Vyas valley.