Gulmarg Diary

The Plan for Holi

Not the one to have ever missed the festival of Holi, the decision to skip the festival this year was an inspired one. Bags were packed, warm clothing was assembled and flight was taken for Srinagar on Holi morning. Accompanying me were my son Kartik, my friend Linus and his son Amaan. Destination was not Srinagar but further up at a height of 8700 feet the quaint town of Gulmarg. We had hoped to find snow there so one could play ‘white holi’ with snow-balls. The question was- will we find snow there ?

Indigo flight got us to Srinagar much before the scheduled time. A pre-paid taxi from the airport got us to the town of Tangmarg in an hours time. Srinagar’s trees looked dry and barren as a bitter winter had taken away all the greenery from the trees. Tangmarg’s fame lies in it being the base for the climb to Gulmarg. Tangmarg was chaotic. The narrow road was full of cars, taxis, buses and people. Due to heavy rush, the shops hiring out jackets and snow boots were doing brisk business. Only those vehicles having snow chains were being allowed to go beyond Tangmarg. In all this chaos, it was difficult getting a taxi for Gulmarg as cabs were only interested in taking the day tourists. They were not interested in dropping those who were staying on in Gulmarg as it would have cut down on their revenue. A taxi was found, incentive was offered and a deal stuck. We were on our way to Gulmarg which was just 11 km’s away.

Climb to the hills

Just after a few km’s the landscape changed. The snow appeared on the berms. Soon ,the snow was everywhere. The trees looked beautiful as they were covered with fresh snow. FRESH  SNOW!!! The flakes came down thick and fast - it was snowing !!!!

It is snowing !

The 40 minute journey became a 2 hour one. The vehicles were skidding and snow had covered much of the road. The driver of our Sumo taxi was quite a cat. He was skilled (thankfully) and confident. His social networking was good as he made sure that he spoke to each driver who went by. Perhaps one day he would be on facebook with a thousand friends ! Often we had to stop for a long time at a stretch. Kids would take advantage of it and get off the car to fulfill their desire of playing with the snow. Well, we may not be kids anymore but there wasn’t too much of a difference between the kids and us at that point of time.

Fresh snow tastes good as Linus checked out

Gulmarg is known for its greenery and meadows. It is known for a very fine Golf Course. On reaching Gulmarg, all we could see was snow. Soft snow. Fresh snow. Miles and miles of snow. Nothing but the snow. It covered trees, houses, shops and vehicles.The view looked spectacular. It was really beautiful.

We didn’t waste too much time. Soon, we were sliding down the slopes. Kids were sledging. Holi was being played with snow balls. The body was cold and the hands were freezing. The kids couldn’t believe that just a few hours after leaving the house in Delhi , they  were actually doing what they had only dreamt about for many years.

Sliding down the slopes is great fun


Nedous Hotel

There are two popular hotels in Gulmarg. The Highland Park and Nedous. Highland park is newer and more high profile. Nedous is an old hotel. For some reason we had chosen Nedous even though there was not too much difference in the room tariff. We couldn’t get the Lavender Cottage which we had decided upon and had to settle with 2 executive suites. The rooms were fairly large with an attached bath and a sitting room. The sitting room had a bukhari which would be lighted up at around 5 PM each day and was constantly fed by dry wood by the trained staff. This kept the rooms nice and warm even though the temperature was -12 deg C outside at night. Most of the staff looked as old as the hotel itself. But they were nice, considerate and caring. The place had a nice feel to it. Linus and I enjoyed sipping single malt sitting next to bukhari and watching the snowfilled landscapes. The kids would be busy with IPADS. J&K tourism had organised some kind of winter festival and musicians had set up the stage on the snow at the Golf Club. Rather than brave the cold and snow in the evenings, we enjoyed the sufi music in the comfort of our rooms.

 Heli Skiing

Nedous had full occupancy. Amongst the guests were a few foreigners who had come for Heli-sking. Heli Sking had been started in 1988 but had to be suspended soon due to insurgency in the valley. It has now been revived as a joint venture between M/s Himalaya Sports and a New Zealand Company. The high slopes of Kashmir, not accessible otherwise, are accessed by expert skiers  through helicopters. The group in our hotel who had come here for heli skiing had been deprived of their fun due to bad weather for a couple of days as helicopter could not take off. In the dining hall they were talking about other places in the world where they had recently skied. They had their fingers crossed regarding the weather the next day. We were woken up by the sound of rotors the next morning and from the windows could see the helicopter heading towards the highest peak with a bright sun shining. Our friends were a happy lot when we met them in the evening. 

Heli skiing

The Skiing Experts

No problem in falling down

We couldn’t heli-ski but we certainly wanted to ski. We had observed carefully the training being given to many youngsters by the coaches of Indian institute of mountaineering located there. These kids were attending a 15 day coaching camp and had come from all over India. The institute had very good equipment which they hire out willingly. At Rs 350 per person we got a boot of our size along with ski which would fit into those boots. All imported stuff. The staff organized a training coach for us called Fayaz. Fayaz was patient and a good trainer. It was tough to acclimatize to wearing these heavy boots and walking in the snow. Even tougher was carrying the skis up the slopes. We all fell down many times and it’s  a task getting up in soft snow wearing the skis. But in just a few hours by following Fayaz’s directions we were skiing down the slopes – not just in straight line but making an ‘S’ shape. Fayaz said that if we were to do 3 days of training, he was confident that he could take us up the high slopes. I don’t know about the high slopes but coming down the beginners slope with ski cutting the soft snow and cold wind hitting the face, it was perhaps the most exhilarating feeling for all of us. It was certainly the highlight of this trip and an unforgettable experience. At less than $50 a day not only had we managed to hire equipment for 4 people but had a private coach and a help.

Kartik in action

Sking camp in progress

I would certainly like to go back for skiing to Gulmarg and stay for atleast 3-4 days. Kartik and I had bought some good shoes with grip from woodland. It was a good buy as the shoe-grip prevented us from slipping on snow. They were basically hunter boots and will now be useful for us in National Park of Kruger in South Africa.I will certainly buy a couple of water-proof trousers and a nice pair of glove before my next visit. I am already looking forward to it.

Unparalleled beauty !