A group of five from Calcutta started from Manali for Kullu, around 40km away, at 11am on Saturday.
By 8pm, they had crawled just 3km and were stranded on a snaking mountain road with no way to turn back.
The heavy snowfall was spectacular, but it turned holidays into nightmares for many tourists.
In Manali, scores of vehicles sat buried in knee-deep snow, some almost entirely covered in white, blocking roads. Even vehicles equipped to plough through snow couldn’t move. Hotels had no power or heating.
Heavy snowfall across north India brought misery to thousands of tourists and forced many more to cancel their trips. Srinagar airport closed on Friday.
Calcutta airport officials said IndiGo’s direct Calcutta-Srinagar flight was cancelled on Friday. It resumed on Saturday after weather conditions improved.
Himachal Pradesh bore the brunt of the snowfall. On Saturday, more than 680 roads were blocked, including two national highways, officials said.
Of the 685 blocked roads, 292 were in Lahaul and Spiti district, 132 in Chamba, 126 in Mandi, 79 in Kullu, 29 in Shimla, 20 in Kinnaur, nine in Sirmaur, four in Kangra, two in Una and one in Solan.
Nearly 6,000 transformers were affected, leaving thousands of households and hotels without electricity.
“We couldn’t sleep because of the cold,” Calcutta resident Joy Chakraborty, 42, said. He had travelled to Manali on January 21 with his wife, 15-year-old son, and two friends.
“It started snowing on Friday morning and continued through the day and night till Saturday morning,” said Chakraborty, a senior official at a central government research institute.
At first, they enjoyed it — clicking pictures, walking, even trekking to the Beas river amid the snowfall. “It was a beautiful experience. The river was partially frozen. On our way back, we saw several vehicles stranded,” he said on Saturday. It took them an hour to reach their hotel in Manali.
“We had seen snowfall in Kashmir and Sikkim before, but those weren’t as intense or prolonged,” he said.
But what looked good in pictures meant torment in reality.
At the hotel, there was no power. The room heater didn’t work. The geyser didn’t work. The water was freezing cold.
“In the evening, we went to the Mall, where a winter
festival was happening. But the stage had collapsed on Friday evening because of the snow. Most shops and restaurants were closed,” Chakraborty said. “We returned to the hotel but couldn’t sleep through the night because of the cold.”
₹10,000 for a ₹4,000 ride
On Saturday, they were scheduled to drive to Chandigarh, then on to New Delhi on Sunday.
“But the tour operator said his vehicles weren’t equipped to drive through such deep snow,” Chakraborty said.
The group booked a private vehicle to Kullu, about 40km away.
“Drivers usually charge ₹3,500 to ₹4,000, but given the conditions, he’s charging ₹10,000.”
The vehicle couldn’t reach their hotel because stranded cars blocked the road. People tried pushing them aside but couldn’t. “We walked through knee-deep snow for 30 minutes, carrying our luggage, to reach the vehicle,” he said.
They left Manali at 11am and by 8pm had reached Rangri —barely 3km away.
“There’s a long queue of vehicles ahead. We have no food and we can’t go back,” he said on Saturday evening.
“I panicked & cancelled”
Many people cancelled their north India trips on Saturday, fearing similar ordeals.
Soma Chakraborty, who works in Calcutta’s healthcare industry, had planned an eight-day trip to Vaishno Devi shrine and Srinagar with friends, departing Saturday.
“Last night I saw news about the heavy snowfall in Kashmir —no electricity, the airport closed. I panicked and cancelled the trip. I’m planning to go in March instead,” she said.