A new attraction at Gulmarg, which is currently covered with heavy snow, is the world's largest igloo, with chairs and tables carved out of frozen blocks, covered with sheepskin rugs, and visitors served with hot kehwa.
Out of curiosity, tourists touch these chairs to ensure they are “safe and real” before sitting on them. The vapours emanating from the hot beverages and food served inside the igloo looks unreal to many tourists.
“I have never seen such a thing before. Having hot beverages and food inside the igloo is an out of a world experience. It looks like you are in an icy world,” says a tourist at Gulmarg.
The creator of the Igloo, hotelier Syed Wasim Shah is himself a snow artist and for years on he has been making snow sculptures. Last year he made Asia’s largest igloo café. This year, Shah says, he has come up the world’s largest igloo café in Gulmarg and those visiting it are vouching for it.
“Imagine having snow outside and you sitting inside a snow café having hot coffee. It is a different experience. I walked from my hotel to enjoy this lifetime happening,” says a tourist from Karnataka.
Soft-spoken Shah, who is the creator of the igloo outside his hotel in Gulmarg, says it took him 64 days and 1700 man-days to complete the project. The thickness of the café is around 5ft and it will sustain up to March 15. For tourists who haven’t even seen snow, they are surprised to see the igloo and they are being recommended by locals and others through social media to visit it. In the first three days around 4000 people had visited the igloo restaurant.
The igloo café is named 'Snowglu'. The igloo has is going to be the biggest and the highest igloo in the world has a diameter of 44.50 ft and a height of 37.50 ft, says Shah. While as the Guinness World Records holder snow igloo is 33.80 ft high and 42.49 ft diameter.
“When we plan a place for the igloo construction, we have to make sure that the ground is even and the place should be receiving the least sunlight,” he adds.
Shah experimenting with an igloo for the past few years and every year he is coming up with a bigger and more expansive igloo at Gulmarg.
Shah has been with the hotel business for a long. But his passion is travelling around the world. In 2017, he says, he saw an Igloo Café in Zermatt, Switzerland. “It is in Guinness Book of World Records. It is 42 ft wide. There are igloos having even sleeping facilities,” he adds.
From here he got an inspiration to establish something on such a scale in Gulmarg.
He says the concept of snow cafes is very new to India although it has been tested successfully in Finland, Canada, Switzerland, Norway, and other European countries.
“I have a passion for doing something unique and great to promote tourism of Kashmir and to bring it at par with international standards,” says Shah.
Shah’s igloo can accommodate 40 people at a time with 10 tables. Last year’s igloo had four tables and it would accommodate 16 people at a time.
The present igloo has been made in two levels with the upper level having the tables and benches made of snow and ice for having food and the lower level for snow sculpture. It is at lower level people take selfies and pictures. The food served at the restaurant includes traditional Kashmiri khewa, chicken tikka or vegetarian courses.
“To make the seating comfortable, we used sheep hides to make a person sitting on snow feel warm,” Shah says.
As Kashmir Valley has seen a large scale rush of tourists in the past few months, Kashmiris and tourists visiting Gulmarg are making it point to visit the ice restaurant.
“We have already applied for to the Guinness book people and hopefully would break the record,” he added.
