A Kashmir Fix
One of the great benefits of living overseas is the opportunity to travel to some amazing places. Unfortunately, with so many amazing options, we often never return to locations that we really enjoy. Chasing the next great place to visit becomes somewhat addictive and consuming. With this tendency in mind, I planned a return trip to Gulmarg, this time in the depth of winter to enjoy some of the pristine powder skiing conditions. I harnessed the experience of Ali, the local skier I met last year, to plan the trip. I also had some company in the form of Nicola and Ewan who live in South Mumbai and my nephew Jack who was working as an intern in the business I manage.
To maximize ski days and minimize leave days, an important consideration for corporate slaves like Nicola and myself, we flew one evening to Delhi where we stayed overnight before completing the flight to Srinagar the next morning. Arriving at Srinagar at 0845, we were met by Ali who whisked us out of the Air Force base, which doubles as a domestic terminal, and past the various Army check points and patrols to Gulmarg. We stopped briefly in Tangmarg to fit the snow chain, note the use of the singular as most vehicles only fit one snow chain. This led to a long lecture from Jack about the design of car differentials as we slid our way up the hill to Gulmarg.
After a not so brief stop to hire some very fat powder skis, we changed quickly at the Hilltop Hotel, the same establishment I watched burn down last year, and arrived at the bottom of the Gondola by around mid-day.
While the Ullr, the Scandinavian snow god, had been kind in terms of snow fall, there were some deep instabilities in the snow pack which had led to two major avalanches in the out-of-bounds areas at Gulmarg which involved five skiers. Fortunately, no-one was killed or seriously injured in what were major avalanche events. In addition to this, an Indian Army group clearing roads nearby had been hit by an avalanche and 7 soldiers were killed. The result of these events was that the upper mountain was closed while the ski patrol waited for explosives to be made available by the Army. Needless to say, given the recent militancy in Kashmir, the Army are keen to keep close control over explosives.
In the mean time, Ali led us around the lower mountain keeping a close eye on the avalanche risk and continuously finding fresh powder stashes for us to ski while we waited for the upper mountain to open. The numerous tree runs meant that Ewan had the opportunity to launch himself off every mound and kicker that he encountered. Even with the mountain partially open and the village “crowded” with 300 skiers, we rarely shared a slope. A far cry from our recent ski experience in Europe
In between skiing powder, Nicola, Ewan and I had become regulars at the Alpine Ridge whose bar seemed to be the only establishment in Gulmarg that served alcohol. That said, we are not sure if the beers were sold with the knowledge of the government of Jammu and Kashmir and, not wanting to spoil a good thing, we stuck to the “ask no questions – get told no lies” approach. The bar was managed by the “Russians” a group of Russian girls who have quickly established themselves as the local village deity. I am not sure what management function they performed, mostly they boarded during the day and ate butter chicken at night. This oasis in the desert was a savior for Ewan as he has some difficulties disassociating skiing and drinking beer. The walk to and from the Alpine Ridge was always interesting with alpine monkeys displaying their athleticism and a big and very starry sky to guide us back to the Hilltop Hotel after a few ales
By Saturday morning, the rumor was that the head of tourism in Jammu and Kashmir had protested to the Army about the delay in obtaining explosives for avalanche control. This was confirmed with the periodic thumps of explosions on the upper mountain. By lunch time most of the 300 foreign skiers were lined up impatiently waiting for the second stage of the Gondola to open with the reward for pushing and jostling being first tracks in 80 centimeters of fresh powder. The ride on the gondola revealed number craters surrounded by black smudges, looking somewhat like the result of a Pakistani fire mission. This was evidence of the avalanche control work and a somewhat stabilized snow pack. Our next three runs represented 4,500 vertical metres of some the best skiing of our lives. Perfect powder, great terrain and inspired surroundings with Nanga Parbat and the main Himalayan range in the back ground.
Sunday we were due to fly home and like all junkies, we wanted one more fix. After his excursion to Srinagar, Jack was feeling better and was keen for a taste so we all met Ali for one run before travelling to the airport. A gondola ride and a brief climb on foot to around 4,100 meters saw everyone breathing a little hard. Unfortunately for Jack, the gain in height resulted in some distinctly bloody sputum. Fortunately, the only way to resolve this was to descend! One more perfect run was our reward. By the time we hit the bottom of the second stage of the gondola I had tweaked my knee and Jack was feeling flat, that said his sputum had cleared. Amazing what descending 1000 vertical metres will do! Jack and I took the slackers way out and avoid the trees by catching the first stage of the gondola to the bottom. Nicola, Ewan and Ali skied the trees giving Ewan his last chance for “air time”. We met at the bottom for a quick change and car trip to Srinagar Airport.
