Unfortunately Gulmarg, which is located unnervingly close to one of the world's most violently contested frontiers and experiences the occasional stray missile, also sounds like most people's idea of hell.

Nevertheless, having experienced its first significant snowfall in four years, the Himalayan resort is beginning to tempt skiers back onto the piste as determined downhillers enjoy a rare break from Kashmir's escalating tensions.

"This resort is alive again after four years," Farooq Ahmed, managing director of the Cable Car Corp., which operates the run-down facilities, told AFP.

Gulmarg, which first witnessed skiing under British colonial rule, was opened as a resort in 1973, attracting adventurous skiers in search of some of the world's highest runs.

An enduring popularity, which has weathered decades of political turbulence, led to a major tourism drive in the 1990s when investment in a French-built gondola cable car looked set to guarantee Gulmarg's position on the international ski map.

But a resurgence of militant activity in the region, which is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both, soon put paid to these plans, with most skiers preferring less perilous pistes.

Gulmarg is around 25 kilometres (15 miles) from the Line of Control (LoC), the highly militarised de facto border dividing the state.

The LoC has recently become the focus of heightened tensions following an attack last December on the Indian parliament, which New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-backed Kashmiri militants.

An increase in military exchanges across the LoC were reported in the wake of the attack as the leaders of both nuclear-armed countries traded an increasingly hostile war of words.

Although exchanges are not common on the section of the frontier near Gulmarg, which is also home to the Indian army's high altitude warfare school, several shells fired from Pakistan last year were reported to have landed within the resort.

GoSki.com, an online guide to the world's best slopes, somewhat laconically sums up Gulmarg's attractions and downfalls.

"The resort maintains the standards, naturally friendly service and ludicrously cheap prices for which India is famed. The only real drawback is the possibility of being kidnapped and executed by Kashmiri separatists."

Now, however, transformed into a peaceful winter wonderland by the fresh snowfall, Gulmarg currently seems a far cry from a potential danger zone.

After years of lying dormant, the new cable car has cranked back into life as on the slopes below, groups of Indian schoolchildren learn to schuss, snowplough and slalom through the glistening powder.

What remains to be seen is if Gulmarg, which also boasts one of the world's highest grass golf courses, can pull in skiers from further afield.

As Mohammad Ashraf, head of the Kashmir Tourism Department says, the offer is very tempting.

"At 500 rupees (10.6 dollars) per day, a skier is provided with everything from equipment to food and accommodation."

All rights reserved. � 2002 Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.

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