Cool stuff! Styling!

First time skiing?” Perisher Instructor John asked 12-yearold Ashim Tandon, who nodded somewhat nervously.

“Actually, first time we’ve even seen the snow!” his mum Priya revealed.

The Sydney family, spending a few days of the winter school holidays in the Snowy Mountains, had signed up for ski lessons.

“Don’t worry,” John said to Ashim. “Two hours from now, I’ll have you turning on those skis!”

Parents Priya and Sandeep kitted up too and gave it a go.

The Indian community in Australia is taking up skiing like never before. While only the very privileged can get to ski in the few resorts that India has, migrant families are thrilled to discover how easy it is to try this new activity in their adopted home. The Snowy Mountains trip is now becoming a regular in the July school holidays for many Sydney-based Indianorigin families.

Ashim, like many other desi kids of his age, heard about ski trips his friends went on regularly, and brought up the idea at home.

Skiing is somewhat of an alien concept to Indians.

Winter to us has always meant handknitted jumpers, eating pinnis and gajak and fresh moolis, doing a bit of dhoop sekna, and perhaps the onset of the wedding season… but not driving to the mountaintops where it’s freezing, to come sliding down treacherous slopes strapped to long strips of metal!

But Ashim’s family could not find any fault with his logic: “You take me surfing in the summer, which we never did in India, why can’t we try skiing?”

And that’s how the three of them landed up at Perisher.

Actually, it was quite simple. They decided to make a long weekend of it and left Sydney at 4 pm on Thursday afternoon. Five hours later they took a night stop at Cooma, about an hour away from Jindabyne, the base of the Snowy Mountains.

An early morning start had them at Jindabyne by 10 am where they planned to stay for the rest of the weekend.

Sandeep did have a choice of finding accommodation up at the Perisher ski resort, but decided to keep the family budget under control. For less that $200 a night, the family stayed at The Station, a property in Jindabyne owned by the Persiher ski resort, with over 1600 rooms. The rooms were comfortable and centrally heated, and a variety of dining options were available.

Next morning they drove to the Perisher Valley Ski Tube Terminal to take the Skitube up to the snow fields. But first stop was to hire out the gear - thermal clothes, boots, skis, poles, gloves and helmets.

Knowing that skiing can be intimidating when you’ve never tried it, they enrolled for lessons and met John, one of the nearly 500 instructors that work there. John had quick and easy tricks to teach them the basics such as how to stop (snow plough), do turns, ride a chairlift etc. “Don’t worry if you’re not loving it at first,” John told the Tandons, calming their nerves. “Falling on your backside

(or face!) every five minutes isn’t really an activity we’re all eager to follow. But, give it time and persevere – once you get a few basics down, you will enjoy it”.

Later that night, Ashim tucked heartily into his favourite butter-chicken at The Station, while mum and dad opened a bottle of wine to ease their aching limbs.

Next day they were back on the slopes but later in the afternoon wanted to try more of the activities at Perisher. They discovered Tube Town and realized that snow-sports are not limited to skiing or snowboarding! Located on Mt Piper, Tube Town had specially groomed lanes allowing all ages to enjoy a high-speed slide down the slopes and a ride back to the top, on purpose built lifts. This provided hours of entertainment for Ashim and older kids-atheart (Sandeep and Priya).

More advanced players can try crosscountry skiing, while snow-shoeing among the region’s beautiful snowgums is another popular activity.

Perisher is Australia’s most popular snow holiday destination. Located in the picturesque Kosciuszko National Park in