Just returned from Gulmarg after spending 17 days there. To sum up, it was probably the wildest, most frustrating, most liberating skiing I’ve ever had. Timed the snow perfectly – I often heard that the first week we were there was the best of the season so far. After a very poor start to the season, 3 metres fell in the week before arrival; the result was an avalanche that thundered down one of the bowls, killing 17 soldiers stationed nearby. The gondola, of course, was closed throughout the storm, but jeep-assisted runs to the nearby villages of Baba Reshi and Drung, as well as skinning up Monkey Hill, offered plenty of good turns until the gondola opened. When it did, the pow stayed good for more than a week before crapping out.

But while the snow was great and first tracks easy to score, Gulmarg definitely was at times exasperating. The lift ticket system was utterly ridiculous and time-consuming, the ATM rarely worked (and when it did it ate my card), and the upper gondola was frequently closed (meanwhile the lower gondola offered no reasonable skiing). Worst of all, the terrain was not particularly steep (something especially apparent now I’m back and have checked out a few piccies of recently posted Euro TRs). Here’s the thing though: most of these annoyances were kind of like gatekeepers; a slew of frustrations to keep uncommitted skiers away from the pow that awaited. Doubtless there’ll be plenty of skiers coming away from Gulmarg this season saying the place is crap—these frustrations become pretty hard to deal with if there hasn’t been any fresh snow for more than a week—but for those willing to roll with it, the place offers an experience like no other. And the Kashmiris are incredibly friendly, except perhaps when they’re throwing rocks at cops in Srinagar – the city got shut down several times while we were there (Gulmarg though felt utterly safe and removed from any disturbances)

A group of 350 armymen were setting up a winter warfare camp at Khilanmarg near Gulmarg, when the snow avalanche struck the region. 70 of them were rescued, while some others could be still trapped there.

The officer, who was killed, was identified as Lt. Prateek. The army personnel were from an advance camp of the Army’s prestigious High Altitude Warfare School (HAWS). Some of those seriously injured are in a critical condition in a hospital in Gulmarg.

An Indian soldier makes his way by truck towards the site of an avalanche which engulfed a military school in Kashmir, killing at least 17 people Photograph: Tauseef Mustafa/AFP/Getty Images

Indian ski guides, who normally are hired by the burgeoning numbers of foreign skiers, worked into the evening to help with rescue efforts, according to local ski outfitter Yasin Khan. No tourists were hurt.

A combined rescue team composed of military personnel, police and tourism officials, working in fog and snowfall more than two meters deep, took several hours to recover the bodies of those killed.

Officials said there was little chance of any tourist being trapped as the avalanche was triggered at an altitude higher than the popular skiing slopes. About 400 tourists skiing in the area were safe.

Heavy snow blocked Kashmir’s main highway, the only road link to the rest of the country, for the third day Monday.

Over the weekend, skiers in Gulmarg had expressed concerns that days of intense snow were creating risky avalanche conditions.
The website gulmargsnowsafety.com warned Friday of “HIGH potential for climax avalanches,” adding: “when strong winds on Sunday and Monday create slab conditions, expect widespread natural avalanches from this weak interface throughout the alpine region.”

Authorities say an avalanche warning had been issued after several days of heavy snowfall.

It’s not clear yet what precautions, if any, the military took in the face of the warnings. The avalanche was triggered when 70 troops were taking a skiing test.

A vehicle carrying Indian Army rescue team is on its way to Gulmarg, via Tangmarg, northwest of Srinagar, 08 Feb 2010 (AP)

The Army produces skilled alpinists who occasionally trade potshots with the Pakistanis in the nearby Siachen glacier region, dubbed “the world’s highest battlefield.”

They also are sending India’s only two Olympic skiers to Vancouver.

The High Altitude Warfare School is the Indian Army’s primary institute for such training and was set up more than 60 years ago initially to teach skiing to front-line infantry troops.

In April last year, another avalanche hit an Indian army post close to the de facto border, killing seven soldiers and injuring at least eight others.

About 400 people, including 30 civilian workers, were at the training centre, but the avalanche hit only one part of the facility.

In his travel article published in The Observer, Sunday 31 January 2010, “The call of Kashmir”  Tom Robbins talks about how this troubled corner of the Himalayas has gone from war zone to ultimate ski destination. To his dismay, this year, as he chose to go all the way to India, to ski in the Himalayas, he found out that for the first time in 15 years, there’s no snow.  Well almost none.  But then as he begins to head back, it does start to snow…

He goes to Gulmarg, and can’t miss reminiscing about the “Raj” – the period of British rule in India. He’s given an interesting read on all that he is comes across. Read here his account of the journey to the new so called powder paradise…

More information: The Indian Institute of Skiing and Mountaineering (01954-214037)

IISM Gulmarg Application Form

Enrollment

Interested participants wishing to join any course have to send the application form along with the full fees in the shape of bank DD drawn in favour of “Pay & Accounts Officer Department of Tourism New Delhi” payable at Punjab National Bank, New Delhi, (the fees is non transferable and non refundable). The application form should be written in block letters and mailed to:

Principal

Indian Institute of Skiing & Mountaineering, Indiatourism

Gulmarg, Kashmir.

The story was reported here.

Young players participated in a snow baseball championship in Indian Kashmir.

The town of Gulmarg gets heavy snowfall during the winter and is covered in white for about six months. The town offers an excellent playground for winter sports.

[Fida Hussain, Organizer]:
“We consider ourselves as the frontrunners of playing this game on snowfields. We want some development in this game as Gulmarg is the perfect spot for national and international championships.”

The sport requires a lot of courage and determination from participants.

[Asif Farooq, Baseball Player]:
“We are happy that we participated in this baseball championship. Now we will be able to play baseball on the snowfields. This is the first time that baseball has been played on snow and our experience has been very satisfying.”

Gulmarg is considered the country’s premier ski resort with its natural slopes and inclines.

Gulmarg Dec 25: (courtesy Rising Kashmir)
Snow Rugby, Snow Cycling and Snow Baseball attracted the tourists at one of the world’s best ski-destination Gulmarg as the Tourism Department organized 3rd Snow Festival to kick start the winter sports here on Sunday.
Minister for Tourism and Culture, Nawang Rigzing Jora, inaugurated the festival in which these summer games were the star attractions.
Twenty-five cyclists participated in the 7 km mass-start snow cycling event, while as the school teams participated in the snow ruby and snow baseball events.

Gulmarg wore the festive look as all the games were played on Sunday.
Chairman JK Rugby Association, Mohammad Iqbal was declared as the pioneer of the snow ruby in the sub-continent.
“I feel proud to be the pioneer as many countries have taken cue from us. They are excited and willing to take part in the event. The snow rugby has turned craze in the sub-continent since its introduction here in Gulmarg,” said Iqbal, adding, “The teams from USA, New Zealand, Fiji, Kazakhstan are expected to take part in a rugby championship in February next year.”

The snow rugby fever has turned girls also to the game.
“This is a treat to play the game on snow. The game is played on playfield which may be dangerous for girls. However, on snow, we feel safe and there is also added excitement,” said one of the players in the event, Dhuha Qazi.
In the girls snow ruby matches, Presentation Convent bagged first place, while as Green Valley and Minto Circle teams bagged second and third place respectively. In boy’s event, Linton Hall, Burn Hall and Green Valley bagged first three places respectively.

Besides, snow rugby the visitors were surprised by the snow cycling event also.
Many mountain bikers participated in the 7km mass start event. They rode up and down the slopes at Gulmarg captivating the attention of the visitors.
NIS qualified coach, Ghulam Rasool Kawa, bagged first place in the event while as Anzil Mukhtar and Mudassir Ahmad bagged second and third place respectively.
JK Baseball Association also had teams to exhibit baseball on the white carpet.

The Indian qualifiers are luge specialist Shiva Keshavan, who won Silver at the recent Asian Championship in Japan, Tashi Lundup, and Jamyang Namgyal, who are employed by the Indian Army and stationed at Gulmarg, which is the tiny-but-serving winter sports capital of India.

While this is Keshavan’s fourth Olympics, it’s the first where he has corporate sponsors (Swissair, Limca Book of records, and Reebok) and a full-time coach. There is no such support for the two Army men.

WHAT A SHAME – Update Feb 24, 2010: Overheard (from BBC actually):
Vancouver’s Indo-Canadian community has rallied to provide funding and uniforms for India’s three-man Winter Olympics team… The owner of a sports shop donated track suits for the opening ceremonies, saying the rush was on to get the Indian flag embroidered onto the gear. And a local Punjabi radio station is raising funds for the team – made up of a luger and two skiers.

The luge used by captain Shiva Keshavan is also donated – by lawyers in India. Five lawyers chipped in 450,000 rupees ($9,700; £6,200) after Keshavan’s old luge – held together by duct tape and screws – broke during training in November.

Alpine skier Jamyang Namgial and cross-country skier Tashi Lundup round out the team.

The High Altitude Research Laboratory was established at Gulmarg, Kashmir in 1963, on the initiative of Dr. H. J. Bhabha, to provide the scientific community of the country a self contained high altitude / high latitude laboratory for scientific research. Over the years a range of scientific investigations in the field of ionospheric studies, cosmic ray astrophysics, radio astronomy, geomagnetism, atmospheric neutron monitoring, high altitude flora and fauna etc. have been conducted from this laboratory.

The Bhabha Atomic Research Center’s Astrophysical Sciences Division operates three outstation facilities at Mt. Abu, Srinagar and Gulmarg. The activities at the Mumbai and Mt. Abu laboratories are centred around high-energy Gamma Ray Astronomy, Theoretical Astrophysics and Instrumentation Development, while a low energy Neutron Monitor is operated at the High Altitude Research Laboratory, Gulmarg. Locally relevant Radiation Application studies and Instrumentation Development activities are being pursued in the Srinagar laboratory.

Amongst the work that has been undertaken at Gulmarg HARL is:

Gamma-ray astronomy activities -> SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)