 Poster: A snowHead
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Gulmarg is a small summer resort built around a golf course at 2650m in the foothills of the Kashmir Himalayas. In 2005 a 2 stage gondola, which had been donated by the French government as part of an arms deal was completed giving access to Mount Apharwat at 4000m. More recently a chairlift has been added which goes about half way up phase two as the second stage is known. This can be used when it it is too windy to operate the top section. There is only one run from the mid station to the bottom and only a small part of the mountain is patrolled. The rest of this Mountain is wild back country and there in lies it's attraction. Gulmarg is the antidote to modern ski resorts which provide an experience more akin to a theme park than a mountain adventure.
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IMG_0086 by foilflyer2, on Flickr[/img]
Getting to Gulmarg is relatively straight forward. I flew BA direct to Delhi rather than trying to save a few quid going via Dubai or Qatar. BA allow you to take a ski bag as part of your baggage allowance, they are airbag friendly and Terminal 5 is the nearest international departure point for me. My ski boots went in my cabin bag to keep within the 23kg allowance.
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IMG_0054 by foilflyer2, on Flickr[/img][/img]
Most of the internal flights to Srinagar are around midday. It is easier to chose one departing from Terminal 3, International arrivals, than terminal 1, which is 40 minutes away. Air India fly from T3. It was a good idea putting the airbag in my ski bag as you take the outsize baggage to the security screen and are able to talk with the baggage security people direct and after a bit of inspecting my "life jacket" and waving bits of paper about, accepted my bag. A friend who put his airbag in a normal suitcase missed his flight as a result of the security kerfuffle.
An hour or so from Delhi you arrive at Srinagar Airport. Where a young Kashmiri asked if I was with Ski Himalaya, picked up my bag and took me out to the car park to a waiting Jeep and demands money for his service - welcome to India!
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IMG_0374 by foilflyer2, on Flickr[/img]
The drive to Gulmarg was every bit as exciting/terrifying as I was expecting. The snow arrived at the same time and the mountain road was blocked for an hour and a half by 2 army trucks and the inability of anyone to come up with and execute a simple plan to resolve the problem.
IMG_0058 by foilflyer2, on Flickr
I should explain that Kashmir is a military state in that there are about 300,000 Indian troops there to secure the disputed border with Pakistan, the boarder with China and try to contain a separatist insurgency which has been going for about 20 years and has decimated a once flourishing tourist industry. Most Kashmiris I spoke to were scathing about India and supported independence for Kashmir. To reinforce this sentiment the Indian government decided to hang a young Kashmiri doctor who they claimed was part of the insurgents half way through my trip resulting in some civil unrest including throwing stones at tourist jeeps going to the airport.
Travel insurance in Kashmir will cover you for skiing accidents , but not if you are injured in a riot.
It snowed hard for 48 hours resulting in about 4 foot of fresh snow. As a result no ski lifts ran on our first day. There were two options; one is to skin up Monkey Hill which is about 30 minutes up and 2 minutes down or to ski down to Tangmarg in the valley which is about 3 km and get a jeep ride back up again. We opted for the Tangmarg run. The snow was deep and quite heavy but it was a great introduction to Gulmarg skiing with cups of Kahwah tea and more madness on the road. We managed three runs while the snow dumped all day.
The following morning Phase One of the gondola opened and this would be a good moment to describe the lift ticket system - no, better you work it out for yourself here:-
http://www.gulmarggondola.com/index.php
Suffice to say that the lift office is 300m from the lift and siki (ski) run and you buy individual tickets.
I should also explain at this point that my stay was arranged by Ski Himalaya http://www.skihimalaya.com/index.php and that they provided Kashmiri guides. This is Shabir and he was my guide for most of my stay.
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IMG_0217 by foilflyer2, on Flickr[/img]
Shabir was one of the original group of 12 Kashmiris trained as guides in 2005. Whilst he might not have all the technical skill of a European guide he more than made up for it with local knowledge.
So the second day we skied Phase One in the trees in a snow storm. The top half is great in deep snow but the slope from half way down is not quite steep enough to get you going and you tend to follow the trail or other tracks for the bottom half.
And then the sun came out!
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IMG_0081 by foilflyer2, on Flickr[/img]
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IMG_0089 by foilflyer2, on Flickr[/img]
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IMG_0092 by foilflyer2, on Flickr[/img]
We made some tracks through the trees and arrived at the mid station as the ski patrol were heading down from the chair so we jumped into the line at the chairlift ticket kiosk and joined the queue for the lift.
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IMG_0093 by foilflyer2, on Flickr
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The tracks in the trees on the left were the ski patrol the rest is fresh snow!
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IMG_0097 by foilflyer2, on Flickr[/img]
I think we did 5 laps, each one pushing a little further to the right (looking up) 'till eventually we were skiing in the silver birches.
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IMG_0101 by foilflyer2, on Flickr
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IMG_0134 by foilflyer2, on Flickr[/img]
On the last run we looked up at what awaited us when the top gondola opened.
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IMG_0103 by foilflyer2, on Flickr[/img]
I haven't looked forward to a days skiing so much for years. The reality was all the more disappointing. Typically the lifts were slow to get going and by the time we got to the mid station the queue for the top was a hour long. I think it was past 11 before we got to the top and all the in bounds area had been tracked out in part due to the high number of snow boarders and banana ski types who don't have a concept of "harvesting" the snow. There were lots of people who had no idea of which were the wind loaded slopes and the guides were watching with dismay at the risks people were taking. It was hard to find a safe place to ski. In the end we managed 3 laps in what was a very frustrating day. Still at least it looked great!
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IMG_0114 by foilflyer2, on Flickr[/img]
The mountain in the distance is Nanga Parbat, 8125m
Most of the winter visitors to Gulmarg come individually or in small groups from all over the world and it is easy to strike up a conversation in the lifts or hotels. The exception are the Russians who arrive in large loud gangs. I'm sure individually they are very nice, but together they are rude, boorish and worst of all they are the majority of the snowboarders. They have little respect for lift lines or avalanche safety and are generally despised by everyone else. They all have walkie talkies which they use incessantly around the hotels to the irritation on everyone else.
The next day my expectations were lower. We started with a traverse to the right leading to gentle skiing in the silver birches in silky powder and then down through the trees to the far end of the golf course.
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IMG_0132 by foilflyer2, on Flickr
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A phone call and jeep ride later we were back in the gondola and this time we turned left down the wind swept ridge, past an army base on to what are known as the Drung Spurs ending up at a river near Drang village. We had skied for about an hour mostly untracked and without seeing anyone else.
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IMG_0154 by foilflyer2, on Flickr
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We started on the ridge on the skyline.
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IMG_0164 by foilflyer2, on Flickr[/img]
There was a short skin to the Jeep pick up then it was off to Tangmarg for tea and cakes on the way back.
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IMG_0184 by foilflyer2, on Flickr
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The next day there was a curfew after the Indians hung their "terrorist". There was concern that the lift might not open but it eventually did. This time we skinned up to the north towards Shark Peak.
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IMG_0200 by foilflyer2, on Flickr[/img]
We dropped off the ridge just before the peak.
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IMG_0254 by foilflyer2, on Flickr[/img]
Had a glorious run across open snow fields
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IMG_0252 by foilflyer2, on Flickr
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before a short skin up to a small peak.
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IMG_0209 by foilflyer2, on Flickr[/img]
This was followed by a decent to the tree line where I was instructed to stay close to Shabir as we were in black bear country and it was safer to be together!
[[img]url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/88030005@N02/8513982108/] [/url]
IMG_0266 by foilflyer2, on Flickr[/img]
The snow in the woods on the north facing slope was sublime and no photo does it justice. We had been miles and seen no one and no other tracks for hours!
At the bottom it was about an hour skin out to the jeep.
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IMG_0214 by foilflyer2, on Flickr[/img
That is the end of part 1.
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Fri 1-03-13 15:48; edited 23 times in total
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Any info/pics on the skiing rather than the plane and lodge 
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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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kitenski, Hope that's enough for you.
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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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First 'real' report of Gulmarg (i think) Looks like great skiing with a dose of reality. What setup did you take?
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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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Often thought of heading here so thanks for posting. India. A great way to ruin a skiing holiday!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Been on the list for a while, lookign forward to the rest.
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Brilliant. Can't wait for Part II
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Great TR (so far), really interesting. What a totally different experience, I had no idea the place even existed.
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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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| BertieG wrote: |
| kitenski, Hope that's enough for you. |
yup fantastic TR, thanks alot for sharing
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Fantastic trip, fantastic report, fantastic photos.
Looking forward to part deux...
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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FAQ
