 Poster: A snowHead
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With a bumper 11 feet of snow so far this season, Gulmarg looks set for a great launch of their new Cable car, the highest in the world, planned for 2-3 weeks' time. At £3 for a day ticket, it seems quite a bargain...
However, the incredible ongoing effort to complete the lift, even at this time of year and in these conditions, may indicate more serious motives underpinning the project.
So, who will get the most use out of it, the tourists or the Indian Army?
"In Gulmarg, the residents ski in traditional long, grey, woollen ponchos, clutching pots of burning embers underneath to keep warm." - Bit inconvenient on the moguls?
Interesting place.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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admin, Fascinating. Definitely on the list now!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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VOA Radio also carried that avalanche story early this morning. 20 year record snows in Kashmir. 15 year records in parts of Afghanistan. 50 year records in parts of northern Iran. Weather is widely variable.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Update - death toll now 154 with 200 missing and at least 1000 homes damaged. CBS News
Quite how the house boat pictured there came to be in trouble is not clear but 15 feet of snowfall in 3 days obviously has had most serious effects in many areas of Kashmir.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Sounds like some really extreme conditions. And let's not forget we've actually got a snowHead out there at the moment! (Sherpa).
Hope he's ok - the last time he reported in was back at the end of January from Gulmarg... 
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News of missing foreigners in Gulmarg from the Indian Express - but the small group does not include snowHead sherpa who comes from London. Something rather odd about this. They were going off on a 6 day trip from Feb 26th and told the authorities not to look for them yet before the 6 days is up they are being reported as missing. And the search is being hampered by more bad weather according to this related article in the new kerala news which says they have been missing since 25th.
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Good news - if you can call it news. The 'missing' trio reported to a Border Patrol Camp and it rather seems as though they were never in any trouble. They are now however - -- having been handed over to the Police. 
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| Three foreign skiers who had gone missing in Jammu and Kashmir five days ago came back safe to a paramilitary camp on the higher reaches of Gulmarg resort Thursday. |
Full story from netindia123
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Excuse me moving off topic, but can someone please explain something to A Bear Of Little Brain?
Srinagar lies on similar latitude to North Africa but has snow.
Whistler is on similar latitude to Norway, but has rain.
Don't make sense to me.
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Jonpim, Srinagar is more than 1,000m higher than Whistler (1730m vs 640m) and much further inland (away from the warming influence of the sea in winter). In other words, the same reasons that the Alps get more snow and less winter rain than the more northerly Grampians!
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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laundryman, spot on. Central continental climates are much more extreme (warmer in summer and colder in winter) than maritime regions. One oft quoted example being Edinburgh being on virtually the same latitude as Moscow. Precipitation is another thing and we'd need the help of Skanky and the Weathermen to get deeper into that. But I'd guess Kashmir is affected by the monsoons.
Jonpim - nice to see you on here again. A minor thread diversion still gets 5 links. You've not lost your touch.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| Quote: |
| Whistler is on similar latitude to Norway |
Jonpim, it doesn't really change the question or the answer, but Whistler is at 50 deg N - about the same as Lands End. The southern tip of Norway is at about 58 deg N - roughly level with John o' Groats!
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Ah but laundryman, in American geographic terms that's practically the next village 
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You know it makes sense.
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D G Orf,
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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The record snowfalls have delayed completion of the new lift but it is now hoped it will be inaugurated on 30th March. See this article in the Tapei Times
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Poster: A snowHead
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laundryman, I was trying to find a latitude thingy, but no amount of googling did me any good - how did you get your latitudes?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Jonpim, old-fashioned atlas. So old-fashioned, I won it as a school prize in 1970! Names may have changed, but not much continental drift since then!
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Good Lord, laundryman, you're not referring to a book, are you? I haven't seen one of those for years. They were very common when I was a lad, but that was a long time ago. I thought they had all been burnt by the PC Police. Well done in keeping one, but I think you are very brave mentioning it here - I don't trust anyone.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Jonpim,
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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aloha from Hindustan, well another crazy winter in Gulmarg that's for sure, one big mamma of a storm came and dumped itself big time... snowed everyday from the 21st Jan for a month. we lost electricity in our humble dwelling soon after and did not get it back for 3 weeks! what to do? well not much snowboarding, the locals weren't too up for opening the existing gondola for a few bums like us, and as for the completition of the new gondola... the government has consistently dangled the carrot throughout the winter so i'll beleive it when i see it. Winter there is over for the seasonaires afer a prolonged rainy spell, but i have been told by reliable sources that it has gone a bit colder and some decent snow is falling.
about the ski tourers who went missing, well the locals went berserk. They told everyone where they were going, a mount by the name of Sunset peak, and said they'd be back in 3-6 days which they were. in the meantime the army, the press, the government went ape telling everybody they were in danger. the helicopters were out (over the wrong mountain) and even dropped a box of chocolate on some friends climbing to a different peak, saying "dear foreigners, please return to your hotel, love the Army".
Still, it was a great winter, full crazy, still great pow pow, a lot of good times and many sights you'd never see anywhere else in the world. guess i''ll be back next year for the gondola...again .. in sha allah..
..xxx sherpah.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Good to hear from you. In view of some of the reports from out there, we were rather concerned! 100 deaths from avalanches - was that accurate?
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sherpa, nice to have you posting again. I see your location is now slightly less exotic than Gulmarg but still interesting... 
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i think the death toll came to over 300 hundred i'm afraid. There is only one road into kashmir from Jammu and Delhi. It is a busy 'two' lane highway that clings to cliffs for a good hundred kilometres of the journey, and this is where many cars and trucks were swept away by avalanches while running the gauntlet. I took the road out of kashmir about 8-10 days ago, well after the heavy snowfall had stopped but there were still landslides and shooting stones from heavy rain, the trip took 16hrs. I saw some trucks totally upended with their noses buried in snow, but it seemed most had been somehow recovered. Will get some photos up on my website when i get back to the tree, quick tour of south india first
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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I'm impressed. Some snowHeads have trouble logging on to the forum from such far flung locations as Val d'Isère, yet you manage it from Gulmarg, Hindustan, Tamil Nadu...
300 avalanche deaths? Certainly puts events in the Alps into perspective... Here we have a whole thread dedicated to the two Parisians forgotten overnight on the last lift of the day at Les Arcs, and who lived to tell the tale...
Look forward to seeing the photos and a trip report.
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| Quote: |
and as for the completition of the new gondola... the government has consistently dangled the carrot throughout the winter so i'll beleive it when i see it
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This week according to this longish article in Times Online which touches on the use of this lift for military special forces training and also has an up dated list of the world's 10 highest lifts.
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Afarwat soars above the village of Gulmarg, an hour’s drive from Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir.
Farooq Ahmed Shah, chief executive of the Gulmarg Development Authority, said that already bookings were being taken for next season. “We’ve got great hopes that we’ll get at least 1,000 foreign skiers next winter. We’ve already had a tremendous response, because there really is nothing in the world to compete with the quality of Gulmarg’s skiing,” he said. |
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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(didn't see this post til now.grr where was my prompt?) I love that Times article. I've read so many like it in the Indian press and I've heard the beaurocrats go on about Gulmarg like this at plenty of ceremonies, events and meetings, that to see an online paper like this get sucked in is rather amusing.
Firstly his map is wrong. It is a controlled area. There is no reliable information when it comes to things like that. 3 miles / 16 kms, depends who you talk to and what sort of mood they are in.
for example...
Mr Farooq Ahmed Shah, who is always in the mood for talking complete rubbish
I love Gulmarg, it is unique, beautiful, inspiring, and i am sure Mr Shah is really hoping for 1000 foreigners. It depends which 1000 though. I know there are 1000s of people out there who would love the place, as it was last winter, and 10000s who will like it with the new gondola, but there are still drawbacks
The gondola could - still - be - a - problem next year. My Kashmiri friends it has to be said can be a little economical with the Truth. (note capital T)
I spoke to the Tourism Minister and the executive of the gondola corporation (he's in charge day to day), they have both expressed serious concerns about the safety of skiing from the top. Serious enough to flatly rule out allowing it without adequate controls being put in place. ie patrol and barriers.
Wether or not the government will address this problem remains to be seen...
wether or not they will allow people up anyway is dubious, but possible,
wether or not anyone will listen to these two men is unknown,
there are so many people involved and no one is really answerable, that i imagine it will be decided by the chief minister. and i dont think he knows much about skiing tho i may be wrong. I am praying we can use it.
you may also find this interesting: a local kashmiri article on tourism from this week.
http://www.greaterkashmir.com/Full_Story.asp?Cat=11&ItemID=3989
but dont worry, if worst comes to the worst. i will be sending porters up with skis and boards and distributing them from the top!
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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i know this is an ancient thread but i'm abusing the fact that you'll have got an email through that tells you there is a new post! at least i hope so. anyways simply writing to say i have redesigned my site yaawwn, and put up a short video with some groovy music, with obviously loads of new photos from last season. not as many photos as there should have been - unfortunately the camera batteries didnt get recharged as much as they should have done coz of electrical supply probs. bloody himalaya.
www.himalayanpowderdreams.com
wurgle. site is for everyone's info. but we are gunning for some guiding duties - we know the place better than anyone else ( a few locals excluded who we also use anyway) so if anyone would like us to guide them around, it would be our deeelight.
Thiik hai, -the new gondola is finished. but it is yet to be confimed that we skiers & boarders can use it in the winter. I think one more season without the gondola could be a dream come true, just to think... still deserted.... a nice thought, but the dream is still that it will be running and really gulmarg can accomodate a lot of adventure so either way it should be another crazy winter.
assalaam alaikum sab ji xxx sherp.
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All that fascinating info about far-flung slopes, what a great read. I can think of a few European resorts that wouldn't have complained about non-stop snow through January!
The video takes a while to load but the quality and content make it well worth the wait. Fantastic scenes.
Thanks sherpa, keep them coming!
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You know it makes sense.
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PG, thanks for your kind words! i did try and go out there to make a vid but only really came back with enough footage for those few minutes! again it had something to do with battery charging and weather conditions... .. and possibly not being able to do inverted 3 zillion degreee Mcsuperflips...
(oh and if anyone reading is interested in doing a proper film for tv they should get in touch,.... ah its worth a try eh!)
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