Darjeeling, Dec. 28: The day broke cold, gloomy and gray. But with the steaming bed tea came the sizzling news — it had snowed overnight on Tiger Hill.

Hordes of snow-chasers strapped up and set off immediately to catch the icing on the slopes. By 11 am, when the road to the hill was closed, about a hundred cars had gathered at the peak. A hundred-rupee hike in the taxi rates deterred few.

“I have seen snowfall earlier, but there was no way I expected a snowfall here in Darjeeling,” said Kanwaljit Pal Singh, a judicial magistrate who has come from Patiala with his family.

Tourists who had headed out early to view the sunrise from the 2585m peak were caught by surprise by the six inches of snow. The snowfall had started around 2 am and by the time it stopped briefly around nine, Batasia (of the Loop fame) and Ghum had been painted white.

All this time, Darjeeling town was untouched. It shivered in its homes till noon, when the flakes started coming down. Soon, the heavy snowing had covered the town in a four-inch white blanket.

The last time it had snowed so extensively in Darjeeling was six years ago, on January 20, 1997. Though it had snowed on January 1 this year on Tiger Hill, the town had missed it.

The magic of snow dragged hundreds of revellers out of their homes. Hundreds thronged the Mall which wore a carnival-look with children throwing snowballs at each other, snowmen jostling for space and the tourists queuing up outside Glenarys and Keventer’s.

But it wasn’t a party for all. Power was disrupted in the town from four in the evening. Rows of vehicles were stranded along NH 55 for over 3 km from Ghum station to Dali monastery as traffic came to a standstill amid continuous snowfall.

The toy train from New Jalpaiguri was terminated at Ghum. Though the traffic showed no signs of clearing till evening, some were brave enough to trek to Darjeeling.

Amit Mehta and his seven-year-old son from Udaipur started from Ghum with heavy luggage. The distance — 10 km — was bothering them, but could not deter them. “I don’t think we will mind this trek. We are seeing snowfall for the first time in our lives,” Amit said.