Pakistan’s first training school for skiers off to a flying start

MALAM JABBA/SWAT: To cater to a growing demand for skiing in the region, authorities in northwestern Pakistan decided to launch the Malam Jabba Ski School for amateurs two years ago.

On Tuesday they told Arab News that there’s no looking back.

Ever since it’s inception in December 2018, the training institute, which is located in the snowcapped Malam Jabba Ski Resort, has seen an impressive increase in enrollments, with more and more locals joining in. 

“Last year, we had 42 students but, today, we have 70 students including 12 female trainee skiers,” Pir Waris Shah, General Manager Malam Jabba Ski Resort, told Arab News, adding that they had excellent trainers as part of the faculty.
“In the next two years, you will see our players take part in a world skiing competition because we train our students at the world’s best and rarest skiing slope,” Shah said.
To facilitate the initiative, a three-day Winter Sports Festival was held at the resort last week to determine male and female athletes under the age of 10, 15 and 18 and hone their talent.
In 2007, during the Taliban’s brief reign of the Swat Valley, the militants had banned skiing before setting the entire sports complex – along with the adjoining 52-room hotel and recreational chairlift facility – on fire.

However, a 2009 crackdown by Pakistan’s military helped reclaim the scenic Swat region from the insurgent group and revived tourism, amateur skiing, and other sports in the area.

Nisar Muhammad, spokesman Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Tourism Corporation, told Arab News that tourism-related activities were in full swing in the province, prompting the provincial government to set up five more ski resorts elsewhere in the KP province and the newly-merged tribal districts.

“Five chair-lifts will be built as well as we move toward adventure tourism. Similarly, surveys are being conducted to ascertain [whether there is a demand for] water sports and other games in order to multiply tourism which has a huge potential,” he added.

Additionally, arrangements are also in the final stages to hold a two-day skiing competition for foreigners on February 4-5.

Drawing attention to the students who are learning to ski at the resort, Shah said they train for five hours every day during school vacations. “The school is equipped with all sports-related facilities and ski uniforms, while the students are served milk and lunch and provided with uniforms and ski kits at no additional costs,” he said.
He added that at the end of a 20-day training session, they are allowed to demonstrate their newly-acquired skills and perform on the ground.

It sets the ground for young talent in the area.

Zubaida Khan, a seven-year-old skier from the Malam Jabba valley, is one such example.

She told Arab News that she was training to ski across the 9,000-feet-high Malam Jabba slope after three weeks of training. Thus far, she has participated in two competitions in Pakistan.