Gulmarg Skiing Video

Adam has just finished putting together a new video using my footage from Gulmarg 2010

This should get you all fired up for the coming winter. There aren't many places where you can order a curry on the slopes every day! I spent over 3 weeks out there last winter and loved every minute (appart from Matt's snoring)!

Patience and a horizontal attitude helps to smooth Kashmiri relations. If you want genuine adventure skiing look no further.

See you there this season,

Olly

MPORA Action Sports >>

Gulmarg Legend Lives On

"India...the One land that all men desire to see, and having seen once, by even a glimpse, would not give that glimpse for all the shows of all the rest of the globe combined” Mark Twain

I looked forward to the Gulmarg trip for a long time. Gulmarg has become a legend for the adventurous skier and I was keen to get out there and see what it was all about. The 2010 season did not disappoint, and this trip will stay in my memory for a long time.

The Gulmarg adventure is not just about skiing; it's also about the voyage to Kashmir and the Himalayas, this is a fascinating part of the world from many different perspectives. Geographically the area is vast and stunning, flooded rice paddies dominate the lowlands, evergreen forests cover the mid-altitudes and finally the snows and high peaks dominate the high altitudes above. From a high place on a clear day, Nanga Parbat (8126m), the world’s ninth highest mountain, is clearly visible.

At the beginning of the trip we fly to Delhi, and then take an internal flight over the Himalayan foothills, to Srinagar the capital of Kashmir. This is a fascinating and colourful region steeped in history and tradition; the well publicised religious and political differences add further spice to the experience. From Srinagar, it’s a relatively short transfer by jeep up to Gulmarg itself.

Once settled into the excellent Highland Park Hotel in Gulmarg I was immediately impressed with the terrain. The principal peak is called Apharwat (4150m) and takes the form of a large dome. The top is fairly flat, but the sides are steep and convoluted, giving endless opportunity to ski wide couloirs and ridges. A typical ski day involves taking the gondola to the top, then walking / skinning across the summit to make different descents back down to base.

The mountains surrounding Gulmarg are made for skiing. Very few cliffs and impasses mean that you can ski virtually anywhere on the mountain. The vast majority of slopes are between 25 and 40 degrees, also ideal. There is a wide choice of descents, all which feel adventurous, long and varied. Most of the slopes are north facing however the convoluted terrain means that slopes of all aspect exist.

Ski guiding is all about selecting the right route for the day. Weather and snow conditions vary enormously, and couple that with differing expectations and abilities within the group, getting the decision right about which slopes to ski on the day is the key. When I arrived it hadn't snowed in a while so ski touring the wider area was a good option. I partnered up with Nick Parks and we did several very interesting journeys several miles away from the lift area. These days were rewarding for all, ski touring in a remote landscape, barely travelled before, a good alternative when the snow in the main area was less than perfect.

During three weeks in Gulmarg I experienced many different snow types. On arrival the snow was sugary which skied well in the forests and on northerly slopes, but was crusty on other aspects. However this soon changed as the snow came. At first new snow came in a little at a time, giving good fresh 'boot deep powder' every day.

After this period came a big dump, which at first lead to a high avalanche risk, with a meter of new snow sitting on an extensive weak layer of crystals. During this time careful route choice was imperative, and we used the terrain with utmost respect. The snow consolidated pretty quickly and after 2 days the whole area became open for skiing. These were the glory days. New snow, blue skies and the best terrain imaginable. Fantastic fresh track skiing was had by all. A top to bottom in Gulmarg is around 1500m and quite a trip in fresh powder.

All the people I skied with were tremendous fun and there was a real ‘buzz’ at the Highland park Hotel. This ski trip is certainly different from the norm and is a ‘must do’ for the adventurous skier.

Final verdict: A unique and unforgettable experience.

Why not join us in Gulmarg in 2011 and delight in the 'Curry Powder Experience'?
For full details visit www.ski-gulmarg.co.uk

Curry Powder Skiing Gulmarg...2011 dates published

Gulmarg is currently one of the hottest ski tickets around - the combination of fantastic powder skiing and the unique culture of India is a winning formula!

Our 2010 weeks are now almost fully subscribed and with the main hotels in the resort fully booked through January and February anyone still hoping to get out there this winter may be disappointed.

With that in mind we're pleased to announce that 2011 is now on sale! We've just published our dates for January and February and to find out more click on www.ski-gulmarg.co.uk or email Chris

If you can't wait until 2011 then do call Chris on 020 8123 2978 for the last few places this winter.

'Curry Powder' Skiing 2010

If you have spent any time recently around Nick or Olly you'll no doubt have heard their tales of epic powder skiing combined with the wonderful sights and sounds of India on our skiing trips to Gulmarg in Kashmir.

Well, now's the time to get on board for 2010. Until July 1 our Gulmarg trips next year are on sale for a whopping £125 off the standard price. That's £1,400 for flights from Delhi to Srinagar, all transfers, 7 days powder skiing with UIAGM Mountain Guides, lift passes, 7 nights half-board accommodation in the Hotel Highlands Park in Gulmarg (twin-room), 1 night on a floating houseboat in Srinagar (twin room).

With round trip flights from London to Delhi with BA currently on sale for about £440 through www.expedia.co.uk, you can get the holiday-of-a-lifetime for under £2,000 all in...what are you waiting for!?

Find out more by visiting our dedicated Gulmarg website at www.ski-gulmarg.co.uk or call our office on 020 8123 2978.

But hurry...this offer expires on 30th June!

A very short video on our ski adventures in Gulmarg!

Click here for our first promotional video for our fantastic "Curry Powder" ski trips to Gulmarg in Kashmir...a fusion of incredible powder skiing and enchanting Kashmiri culture!



Find out more about our 2010 trips by clicking on www.ski-gulmarg.co.uk

Kashmir vs Hokkaido no contest...

I've always thought "poles apart" to be a rather odd expression, of course it's a long way between the Antarctic and the Arctic and one has Polar Bears and the other Penguins but face it that's where the differences end... Japan and Kashmir however now we're talking, find me two more contrasting places on this planet, poles apart more like light years I'd say! 

If culturally my senses are being swamped, then thank goodness for one consistency... powder snow. I knew skiing in Kashmir was good, but as I'd had some of my best skiing ever there last January my expectations were high. However, I'm delighted to report that despite overall warmer temperatures Aperwhat Mountain yielded some outstanding skiing to without doubt re-confirm, in my humble opinion, its position in the 'White Planet' premier league.

My concerns about skiing in Kashmir, the few I have, centre not on the security situation but on the popularity of Gulmarg outstripping the Jammu and Kashmir government's ability to develop the resort. Not surprisingly, with the effects of the credit crunch kicking in and the tragic events of Mumbai, visitor numbers this winter are lower but this is artificial and before long curry powder hunters will exceed the gondola's capability to move them up the mountain. There's talk of development plans afoot; a new chair onto Mary's shoulder and a Kiwi heli-ski operation out to the beautiful Sunshine Peak range. I watch this space though with trepidation as more lifts and helicopters, whilst bringing greater opportunity, will of course change the flavour of Gulmarg. A dilemma I'll just have to deal with if and when it happens.

For Mountain Tracks considerable operational improvements have taken place since last year. Most notably at the Highlands Park Hotel where its dynamic owner is making great strides to deliver top quality comfort and amenities to his guests, whilst retaining the hotels fantastic 'Raj' character and position as the resorts leading hotel. So an end to hot water problems with fully functioning en suite bathrooms complete with Italian baths! No fruit shortages and excellent Indian wines at the bar. Yes, alas, wireless technology has arrived though I'm not convinced it isn't hand powered such was the connection speed?! The hot tub arrives next year!

On the mountain, improvements are harder to spot, though to be fair the gondola was working reasonably well most of the time. It wouldn't be Kashmir if issuing the tickets wasn't a highly complex game of guesswork every day! Without doubt the success of getting the mountain (and the lift) open is down to the tireless and often thankless work of the Chief Snow Safety officer Brian Newman - this year ably supported by Jamie Owen - keeping up the pressure to see that the other parties: the Army (for explosives), the ski patrol and the lift company all deliver their part. Thanks Brian I hope you can be persuaded to stay on next year?

Fascinating as Gulmarg is, culturally it is still a cotton wool Kashmiri experience for us tourists, so its great to try the fully immersed version that hits you in Srinigar. This bustling city of five million souls cluttered around the clear expanses of Dal Lake is Dickens' London on curry if it weren't for the motor car and their horns! Away from the chaotic streets, paddling around the lakes in a 'shikara' bartering with the floating jewelers, flourists and papermache merchants and indulging in the faded oppulence of the house boats is a 'must do' part of your holiday. 

If there's one thing that I dread about India its the endless game of tipping, so the first most refreshening thing I learnt about Japan, as I waited to board my flight from Delhi to Tokyo, is that you don't tip in Japan... phew!  I like the place already! I think I'm one of those people who like to be tidy and organised, full of good intentions, but when it comes to it I never quite fulfill the wish. So coming to Japan is scary and oh so good for me. I could fill this blog quite easily with endless examples of how clean, organised, efficient, polite, disciplined etc this country is. Quite frankly I'm impressed, after Kashmir (love the place as I do), its a wonderful breath of fresh air.

So Japan works but what of the skiing 'cus thats why I'm here? Well you can believe the hype, it's official...the snow is everything you may have heard, deep and light, best powder ever, period! Fortunately the powder makes up for its one downfall; the runs are considerably shorter than we are used to in Europe (and Kashmir) and a lot of the terrain is quite flat. It's so deep that anywhere else if the snow wasn't 100 times lighter than cotton wool, you wouldn't be able to move! The bottom line is you with snow this light you can forgive all shortcomings. In every other way it matches up superbly; beautiful views, paper trees par excellence and a lift system bordering on Huxley's new world.

The Mountain Tracks inaugural trip to Japan is based in Furano on Japan's northern island of Hokkaido, in my next installment I'll go into more detail of where we've been and what we've been up to in the meantime enjoy the pictures...  Nick

Gulmarg Day 6 (22-January 2009)

Just another day in Gulmarg...

Doug Bray learns the art of skiing with limited visibility!

Gulmarg 2009 - 18 January 2009

Here are the first pictures from Nick in Gulmarg.

Check back for more photos and a detailed trip report shortly!

Curry Powder Weeks, Gulmarg India

I’m writing this from the splendour (albeit slightly faded) of the Royal Palace houseboat on Dal Lake near Srinagar. True not at its best in winter, it’s a sea of colour in summer when the lilies are in bloom. Outside heavy snow is falling and news has just arrived that all flights in and out of the city have been cancelled. Time then for me to relax, with no distractions, and reflect on the past three weeks in India. A ski trip yes, but not quite as I know them.

India, I love it and I hate it. Nowhere do you see so many extremes, the beauty and colour of this country is immeasurable, the friendliness, helpfulness and kindness of the people knows no bounds and yet the poverty, filth and red tape constantly saddens, annoys and frustrates. Fortunately I mostly love it and when you mix the exotic with one of the best lift-accessed ski hills on the white planet then you have all the ingredients for an unforgettable holiday.



Getting to Gulmarg is straightforward enough. Delhi is the hub for international flights, some 10 hours from London, from there connections to Srinigar leave in the morning. We flew with Kingfisher Airlines who I must say in common with the beer of the same name were refreshingly first rate. The first thing that strikes you on arrival in Kashmir is the huge military presence. Figures vary but it appears India has ¾ million armed personnel here. I can’t work out if I’m relieved or just saddened (both I guess). Young soldiers shivering from the cold, many from Southern India have probably never seen snow, line the 40kms of bustling road from the airport to Tanmarg, the village at the base of the ski hill ‘Aphewat’. That first taxi journey is when you begin to absorb a little of the real essence of Kashmir, the chaotic bustle of life in the villages, the incessant beeping of car horns, cows wondering across the road, men standing around everywhere, veiled women scurrying between dilapidated shops, children playing cricket on waste ground. Tanmarg is a taxi terminal; from here you need chains to continue the 15km of switchbacks to Gulmarg. Most Indian tourists blatantly ignore this advice and obliviously launch their Maruti Suzuki’s up into the snow, only to come unstuck and block the road. Fortunately this is accepted as part of the fun and good natured pushing of everyone’s cars is an inevitable feature of the drive up the hill, road rage seemingly hasn’t arrived here yet!



Most striking on the ride up the hill are the trees, huge and beautiful Himalayan Pines caked in snow everywhere and most pleasing to the skier’s eye is that they are perfectly spaced, lots of gaps to focus on! The tree skiing is without doubt one of the loveliest features of the skiing in Kashmir. For Europeans used to skiing above the tree line or occasionally in trees all too often too tight to relax in, the tree skiing is something very special. Most stunning are the stands of silver birch which we called paper trees these are found incredibly at an elevation of 3500m. For me some of my most memorable moments were weaving through the paper trees in knee deep powder.



Gulmarg was founded by the British in the days of the Raj as a hill station. In the summer scores of ex-pats would travel up to escape the heat and relax amongst the cool mountains. It became well known for its golf course around which its 20 or so hotels are positioned. There is no village centre as such, indeed there are no permanent residents of Gulmarg, only tourists or those working in the tourist business. Everyone else is supposed to be out of town by 6pm. For tourists après skis focuses on the hotels, in our case this was the historic Highlands Park Hotel. Although the furthest located from the Gondola the HPH is without doubt the hotel with the most character in Gulmarg. Stuffed with furniture from its Raj roots and uniformed staff from the 60’s, this warm and atmospheric lodge style hotel has everything, despite the inevitable power cut, you need to be comfortable after a days skiing. Sleeping accommodation is in 2-4 bedroom lodges, each room is heated by a wood burning stove known as a bukari (top tip bring some eucalyptus oil to help you sleep!) and an en-suite bathroom, where most of the time hot water flowed. The new owner has plans for wind power and hot tubs but assures me the character of the HPH will remain.

Skiing or ‘sikiing’ as the locals pronounce it first came to Gulmarg in the late 1970’s, a couple of ‘pomas’ turned the golf course into nursery slopes and introduced winter sports to the Indians. A few hardy Europeans turned up and got to know the runs down to Tanmarg well with the odd venture onto Aphewat by skin, but then in 1989 the troubles in Kashmir escalated and the tourists turned away. Meanwhile the Jammu and Kashmir government decided to put in a gondola lift on the mountain and in 2005 they completed the construction of the second phase to 3995m just short of the summit of Aphewat making it one of the highest lifts in the world. Giving ski descents of 1350m to Gulmarg or 2300m if you go on down to Tanmarg it wasn’t too long before the tourists were coming back!

So what exactly is the skiing like? Well in 20 consecutive days skiing I can only tell you what it was like for me bearing in mind that next year could be different - though talking to locals January 2008 was pretty typical. 20 days skiing, 20 days of untracked powder all day, best continuous skiing… period! When I say powder I mean powder the light fluffy stuff your skis love to float in, that is if you have wide skis. Please do yourself favours if you come here don’t bring skis less than 100mm wide under the foot, it’s the norm here. Depths varied from boot deep to close to waist and we had a seven day in the middle without new snowfall. Ok, mountains at 4000m are affected by wind and yes some of the turns at the top were wind affected but in the trees the snow was always sweet. When it snows in Kashmir it really does snow, storms typically last for 3-5 days and you can expect the top stage of the gondola to be closed during this time. Don’t worry that’s not an end to your skiing there are fabulous descents to be done down below Gulmarg. Plus it gives the higher mountain a chance to stabilise.

As a guide from a snow safety point of view I was very happy not only about the state of the snowpack but also the control work being undertaken. By and large the snowpack was very stable throughout leaving concerns with the upper layer due to wind or fresh snowfall, both of which were relatively easy to avoid. To enable skiers to use the top gondola an ‘in-bounds’ ski area has been created and this is controlled by a ski patrol team headed up by two snow safety experts from Treble Cone ski field in New Zealand. For the first time in 2008 they have been given permission to use explosives for their control work under the watchful eye of the Indian army. In addition they train the local ski patrol, post a daily advisory and hold weekly lectures for the local skiers on avalanche awareness. All in all Brian and James are providing a superb and valuable service.

Downsides?? Well everywhere has its faults and India certainly has its share. I’ll expand on a few problem areas in a moment but its important that no matter what is thrown at you, as the notice board in the gondola foyer says; Rule no.5 “This is Kashmir – Relax!” The lift is prone to power problems which affected me on two out of 20 days. But on both days they restored the power and we had great skiing. The ticketing system is laborious but works. Getting in and out of the cabins requires teamwork and care. These are minor things. Worthy of more attention is the queuing. In my first two weeks there were only 75-100 Europeans in the resort and no queues. In week three numbers doubled and coupled with the power problems we had lengthy waits. Overpopularity could become Gulmarg’s downfall. Undeniably as word gets out more tourists are going to come to Gulmarg and three factors will affect what happens: firstly whether the political situation improves, Western Governments advice not to visit Kashmir is currently keeping numbers down. Secondly, western tour operators need to operate responsibly keeping the size of their groups small and spreading them through the season. (One Russian tour operator brought 85 Russians in for the third week.) Thirdly if plans to put more lifts in actually come to fruition. A chair is ‘promised’ for next winter and will make a big difference.

The snow is still falling as I finish this, the lift might not be working but I bet the skiing is awesome. I’m sorry to be going but I’ll be coming back and in the meantime I must say I’m looking forward to a good bowl of pasta and glass of Pinot Grigio!

Nick Parks

To see the full selection of pictures from the 2007-20008 trips click on http://picasaweb.google.com/chrismtrx/CurryPowderSkiTripGulmarg2008

For details on our 2008-2009 trips click on http://www.mountaintracks.co.uk/winter/offpiste_adventure/curry_powder