Gulmarg, India

"Wow!" I "owe" my wife a trip to Asia since I got to go there (involuntarily I might add) twice some years ago and we do have a "seven continents" goal before we check out of this existence. Maybe she will be willing to let me ski while she eats Vindaloo and scorches her taste buds with various and sundry potent Indian spices.
 
just returned from 2 weeks in Gulmarg. Amazing terrain, once you make it up the mountain...a lot of patience is required with the lift personnel. Most days would start off sunny with perfect snow conditions, only to see the lifts open at mid day - by which time the clouds had moved in leaving us with zero visibility on the upper mountain.

also expect expert terrain, and very little avalanche control. You need to know your stuff here - avalanche awareness training, or back country experience etc is mandatory I'd say.

and stay away from Peter Robinson's Kashmir Powdercats (guides). The snowboarders are a joke and won't even be able to follow you down the mountain if you're fairly experienced. Snow and avalanche risk knowledge is very limited with all guides. Plus he has the guts to charge you 250US PP for a week of guiding, whereas some good local guides (check with the private ski shop in town) only charge you about 20US per day - and won't charge you when the gondola does not open
 
Thanks for the info.

BTW I'm sure a few of us who loved to have you share some pics if you have any? :wink:
 
I am even more convinced that Extremely Canadian is the way to ski Gulmarg. EC requires guests to carry rescue gear and runs a beacon drill the first day, similar to cat and heli operators.

I will inquire how this year's first trip with customers went.
 
flyover said:
It's too bad the photos have been lost.
Click to expand...
I learned that lesson almost 20 years ago. Never EVER post pix that are linked to a cloud-storage site like Photobucket. The German Alpinforum is riddled with dead photo links -- more than half of the TRs (many hundreds) look like that with placeholder rectangles and a variation of "this image is not available."
:eusa-wall:
 
jamesdeluxe said:
I've mentioned before having no desire to visit or ski in India; however, I'm happy to armchair travel there and this sprawling 2017 report on Epicski provides a nice overview.
Click to expand...
Later Adventure Project detail trip reports from Gulmarg in 2018 and 2019. As I said in the intro to my first Uzbek report:
I am not keen on that destination (Gulmarg) because reading his reports it seems rare that they get to ski the big lines due to avalanche exposure and minimal control work by the ski area.
Click to expand...
Gulmarg was the first of Matt Appleford's exotic guided destinations. He still offers it post-Covid but does not guide it personally. He personally guides in Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan in Jan/Feb and Chillan in August. In all of these (aside from Kyrgyzstan which is primarily cat skiing), expect to spend a significant amount of your time ski touring.
 
Last edited:
Tony Crocker said:
Nonetheless Gulmarg is one of the Extremely Canadian trips, possibly on my radar after I retire.
Click to expand...
I don't know if Extremely Canadian ever followed through on that. Gulmarg is not currently listed among their World Tours. Las Lenas is listed, and I know they stopped going there before my return solo visit in 2015, so I'm surprised if they have resumed.
 
I have two close sets of friends who went to Gulmarg in the late 2010s - who I only recently discussed their trips:
  1. Some of the UK Guys that I ski in Europe (Their post-university studies include winters in St. Anton, Val d'Isere, and Engelberg)
  2. My partner's cousin. He's a Jackson Hole-based finance guy - Dartmouth/Stanford MBA. Moved his business there in 2010.
People I don't need to 2nd guess their trips, and can give an accurate account.

All of them said, "It's not about the skiing, it's the experience." And that's what you will get.

In short, you ski about 70-80% of the days (in some form), and maybe 30-40% from the top, and 1-2? days out of the avalanche safety area. In short, you were skiing 2 out of 7 days from the top of the Himalayas.

God loves the people who created Gulmarg, but it's not a ski resort; it's a ski experience. Amazing, but not a ton of skiing.


ME: For now - No thanks. It's a pass.
  • I don't want to put the expense and effort in for minimal ski time.
  • I like to ski, sail, or scuba if I am going to travel - and I want to be efficient at it.
  • I don't enjoy India.

Although it does look impressive.

1753671691098.png
 
Last edited:
Tony Crocker said:
I don't know if Extremely Canadian ever followed through on that. Gulmarg is not currently listed among their World Tours. Las Lenas is listed, and I know they stopped going there before my return solo visit in 2015, so I'm surprised if they have resumed.
Click to expand...

I liked looking at how they scheduled their tours and selection:

Europe
  • Courmayeur - early Feb
  • Alagna - mid Feb
  • La Grave - late Feb to early March

Agree with Courmayeur and La Grave. Alagna? Who knows. None of these resorts will often report more than 100cm base, and they can be the best or worst. Assume they have on-the-ground reporting....but Alagna, there are no diversion ski areas
 
jamesdeluxe said:
I learned that lesson almost 20 years ago. Never EVER post pix that are linked to a cloud-storage site like Photobucket. The German Alpinforum is riddled with dead photo links -- more than half of the TRs (many hundreds) look like that with placeholder rectangles and a variation of "this image is not available."
:eusa-wall:
Click to expand...

Forum photo uploads used to suck. I know I used Photobucket, Imgur, etc, because it was easy. Oh well - maybe gone....
 
Nice pic of terrain by ChrisC. Maybe that Gondola Bowl is avy controlled now. Matt Appleford often mentioned those Apharwat Bowls, typically with ski tours of 40 minutes plus whatever it takes to get back from the bottom of them. The top of that gondola is 13,000 feet, so if you are ski touring you better know you can handle that. I had one experience like that, the Schwarztor in Zermatt.
Assume they have on-the-ground reporting....but Alagna, there are no diversion ski areas
Click to expand...
I was somewhat surprised to see that too. Extremely Canadian has been to Alagna before, but it's definitely not someplace they were going every year during the aughts when I was dealing with them.

It seems glaringly obvious to base in the middle Grosseney Valley of the Monterosa. Alagna's upper off piste is as easily accessible, but if conditions call for more piste skiing you can go the other way to Champuloc.
 
Last edited:
Tony Crocker said:
I was somewhat surprised to see that too. Extremely Canadian has been to Alagna before, but it's definitely not someplace they were going every year during the aughts when I was dealing with them.

It seems glaringly obvious to base in the middle Grosseney Valley of the Monterosa. Alagna's upper off piste is as easily accessible, but if conditions call for more piste skiing you can go the other way to Champuloc.
Click to expand...

Agree. Grosseny makes sense as the Monterosa base. The links can close, and you can get stuck in a valley. On my first visit, the links (upper lifts) were closed until mid-morning, so they recommended staying in your home valley.

I would keep their Courmayeur and La Grave selections.

However, I would likely swap Alagna for Andermatt (& Engelberg), and base in Andermatt. Same vibe, but much, much better/reliable snowfall, and you have Andermatt (Gemsstock/Sedrun/Disentis) and an easy road trip to Engelberg.

Maybe modify the order if they are moving people/guides around:
  1. Andermatt
  2. Courmayeur (easy to find some good skiing at Courmayeur/Skyway/Chamonix/Verbier/LaThuile).
  3. La Grave - Must be popular since it gets two tours/weeks. And a place where you need guidance. (alternatives Serre Che/Les2Alpes/Alpe d'Huez).
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top