Skier photographs rare snow leopard on Indian mountainside

An Australian skier says he captured on camera the "amazing" moment an endangered snow leopard leapt across his path on a mountainside in India.

Owen Lansbury said he was following skiing guide Dave Marchi down a slope at a resort in the popular skiing town of Gulmarg in India's north, when the animal suddenly bounded in front of them in deep snow.

Mr Lansbury, who was wearing a camera on his helmet at the time, posted footage of the encounter on his Facebook page, and described how the ski guide "almost ran over the leopard".

It was almost impossible to see the snow leopard as it sat huddled in the snow. Photo: Facebook: Owen Lansbury

"I stopped just as it huddled in the snow, where it stayed for about a minute checking us out," Mr Lansbury wrote.

"It then let out a solid roar and bounded away down the slope towards Dave, but scooted off into the forest, where we think it probably had a kill stashed. Pretty amazing experience!"

The World Wide Fund for Nature lists the snow leopard as an endangered species, with an estimated wild population of up to 6500.

After staring at the skiers for a short time, the snow leopard took off down the mountain. Photo: Facebook: Owen Lansbury

Mr Marchi told India Today he was guiding about eight skiers, including Mr Lansbury, down the slope when he encountered the snow leopard.

"I was guiding people down and was skiing along when I saw something that was not covered in snow and then skied by it.

"I stopped and asked my guests above to stop. That is when they got the footage," Mr Marchi said.

"We were excited and kind of nervous. You don't see that very often."

Indian tourism director Mehmood Ahmad Shah told India Today it was "rare" to see a snow leopard on the slopes.

"You rarely see a snow leopard. It is endangered. If it was found in Gulmarg as stated by the skiers, its sight will be [an] added attraction to foreigners apart from skiing."

He added: "I have [a] number of times seen a leopard while skiing in Gulmarg. But I have not come across any snow leopard."