The department of Tourism Kashmir Monday celebrated International Mountain Day in which various films of adventure sports were shown to the participants during the day-long event.The Day was celebrated in collaboration with J&K Mountaineering and Hiking Club (JKMHC) and Indian Mountaineering Federation (IMF) here at the auditorium of the department of Information Srinagar.The climbers, mountaineers, bikers, athletes and persons with various other adventure sports activities participated in the function.JKMHC presented its yearly activities which include Sunday Treks, major summit expedition by JKMHC members, mountain biking expedition, sanitation drives, promos of mountaineering and mountain biking, swimming camps, exploration of Durina-III which is the highest lake in Kashmir Valley.Director Tourism Kashmir Mahmood A Shah who was the chief guest on the occasion in his address complemented youth for achieving new heights in mountaineering and hiking.He said JKMHC is conducting regular trekking expedition round the year which has encouraged many youth to take part in mountaineering expeditions.He said many workshops and training camps were also conducted in mountain rescue, river rescue operations which will benefit the society largely.
Director Tourism Kashmir hoped that the increasing number of youth participating in the mountaineering has given hope that local boys will summit highest peaks like Mount Everest sooner.He said the department would also introduce mountaineering and hiking among the students from schools, colleges and universities for greater participation of the youth.He also announced that ice-climbing event will also be held at Pahalgam on December 31 besides regular activities like skiing, snowboarding, ice-hockey at ski-resort Gulmarg.Director IMF Film Festival Maninder Kohli who was the guest of honor on the occasion said he was surprised to see large number of youth from Valley participating in the mountaineering expeditions.“The youth here have turned very vibrant and are scaling new heights. They need to film these expeditions professionally so that these films can be showcased world over to project Kashmir as adventure destination,” said Kohli.
Certificate and prize distribution ceremony was also held on the occasion. Hamid Aziz who ran 110 kilometers in 10 hours from Srinagar to Baltal in Sonamarg, Junaid Beigh who crossed great lakes solo on mountain bike, besides the members who undertook Trans-Himalayan Expedition 2017 from Panikhar to Pahalgam, Riayz Wani for promoting swimming and mountain biking, mountaineers who scaled sunset peak were honored on the occasion. Annual Prof Hamid Award of Excellence award was also given to FayazBala.A Souvenir was also released on the occasion which contained extensive articles on mountaineering, hiking and unexplored destinations of the state. Two minute silence was also maintained in the memory of Late Javed Iqbal Khan who was the member of JKMHC and also the former employee of the J&K Tourism department.