It was 9:30 am in the morning and it was snowing in the Solang valley. I had taken a gondola ride up to Mt Phatru to have breakfast at a height of over 3, 500 metres, where I had found the very aptly named Cafê Vertical Limit, the highest restaurant in Himachal. The piping hot pizza arrived soon - the kind that can melt snowflakes - with generous toppings of chicken, jalapenos, olives, mushrooms and cheese. It turned out to be exceptionally good. On a good day, Solang is a decent imitation of the Alps, with a gigantic alpine terrain that makes for spectacular views. Just 13 km south is the resort town of Manali, while in the North lies the shrunken Solang glacier, the perennial source for the Beas river. Even the village of Solang lies on an extinct glacial lake with excessive moraine covering the lower slopes.