Α ΗΟΜΕ IN THE HILLS

Skyview by Empyrean is a onestop destination for adventure and leisure in Jammu

- BY POOJA NAIK

The scent of pine trees mingle with fresh soil and the plummeting temperature is directly proportional to the fading sun. I'm in the Skyview Gondola-supposedly India's highest at 65 metres of ground clearance-from where I watch tops of fir trees, people the size of sparrows, corn and barley fields, narrow hiking trails, village homes, and school grounds flicker past over a distance of 2.8 kilometres in the next 10 minutes. Thick forests surround formidable mountains straight ahead, while a glance at Patnitop-the cable car's destination terminal at an altitude of 1,343 metres in the opposite direction-reveals a cluster of hillside boutique properties. It is easy to mistake the landscape for a European countryside if not for the looming Himalayas in the distance.

A two-hour drive from Jammu Airport brings me to Skyview by Empyrean-a leisure accommodation-cum-adventure station in Jammu's Sanget Valley. It is my maiden encounter with India's northernmost Union Territory. What started out as a recreational initiative in 2019, eventually expanded to include 10 rooms over the years, drawing pilgrims attending the Vaishno Devi yatra from Katra, and locals on day-trips from nearby towns and even Delhi. The project, spread across 22 acres, had officially been granted permission to fell 25 trees, but the management prides itself on having executed the task without incurring any damage to nature, a company official informs me.