Gulmarg, India – A department of the Jammu and Kashmir state government has announced that it will provide snowmaking equipment to Gulmarg to help raise the Indian resort’s status as the premier ski destination in central Asia.

Ghulam Ahmad Mir, Minister for Tourism, told local press that he hopes to have the snowmaking equipment in place “by the end of this year” to enable snowmaking to begin by the 2014-15 season.

Mir did not elaborate on which facilities at Gulmarg would receive snowmaking coverage, but said that the installation would include both fixed and mobile guns. Earthworks to prepare slopes for snowmaking are also set to take place next summer.

The ski season normally opens at Gulmarg in January, but Mir indicated that the snowmaking facilities will enable the resort to open in mid-November each year as his department prefers.

Mir also said that his department is seeking a suitable location in the nearby Pahalgam Valley to construct additional skiing facilities in India.