Gulmarg

Love powder? You'll love Gulmarg!  Using excellent Indian connections, Peak Leaders are offering a 2 week off piste ski and snowboard trip to the Himalayas followed by an optional 1 week adventure tour.  This is an exceptional trip and your experience of India will be enhanced by our choice of accommodation... the Highland Park Hotel in Gulmarg. You will quickly find yourself riding some of the best powder in the world.  If you have more than 2 weeks spare our 1 week adventure tour is the perfect way to see even more of NW India.... including some feisty rivers!

Who is this for?

• Suitable for fit, powder lovers and people who want a bit of adventure.
• Ideal for someone who has already done a Peak Leaders course
• What makes this course different?
• 2 week course- off piste Himalayas.
• Optional extra adventure week to whitewater raft and to check out some of India
• UK leader and helpful experienced, local guides
• Excellent hotel accommodation
• Small groups
• Trip to Srinagar 

Course Outline...

• Day 1 : Arrive Delhi (met by Peak Leaders representative) then fly onto Srinager. This is the capital of Kashmir – about an hour from Delhi by plane.  

• Day 2: Breakfast will be eaten on your houseboat then 2 hour bus trip to Gulmarg. There will be plenty opportunity to explore Gulmarg in the afternoon - have a walk round the local market as you get your bearings.  You will be staying in the Highland Park Hotel, where you will also have dinner.

• Day 3: First day of guided skiing/riding... with a packed lunch enroute. The quest is to ski/ride the legendary acres of fresh powder in Gulmarg, a mountain accessed by the worlds highest gondola reaching up to 4000m

• Days 4 - 11: Breakfast at the hotel then full days skiing with mountain guide

• Day 12: Travel to Srinagar. You will then Enjoy a 1.5 hour long Shikara ride on Dal Lake through the Venice of India. See floating vegetable gardens, floating shops and tiny villages on floating islands!  Look forward to another night spent on the houseboats

• Day 13: Enjoy Breakfast on houseboats.  Then visit Mughal Gardens along the lake, Nishad, & the Shalimar, followed by a visit the Shankacharya Temple. Dinner and overnight stay on Houseboat.  For a more detailed day by day itinerary click here

• Day 14: Fly from Srinagar - Dehli then on to the UK or stay on for another week of adventure - this time white water rafting! 

Course Description

Our aim will be to combine off piste mileage, with short touring stints to access more remote snow. The touring effort is likely to be progressively introduced, as we acclimatise. We will aim to have 11 active days. So although the trip is very much a festival of off piste, it is also our intention to bag some great views across to Nanga Parbat and hopefully K2. Touring will be needed to get to and from some of the classic runs and explore the area a little.

Your Leader

Paul Mattin will lead the Peak Leaders group in Gulmarg. Paul is an ex Royal Marines Mountain Leader Officer, qualified as an Instructor with BASI (Nordic), Norwegian Ski School (Level 2 Telemark) and the IKO (Kite-Ski Instructor).  His passion is telemark skiing and having lived and worked in Norway for some years, he enjoys the Norwegian wilderness challenge that lends itself perfectly to the free-heel! A keen expeditioner, Paul was part of the 4 man team who skied to and from the South Pole in 1997, incorporating a kite-ski return journey. He lives in Devon with his wife Nicky and their young family. Paul will be assisted by a local Indian guide.

Your Equipment

You can use Alpine skis, Telemark or a Board.  Fats will give us an easier time in the deep; and by reputation Gulmarg does deep! We also need touring kit to get around the more inaccessible places. However the area is not glacial so our packs can be light. Your gear will need to be taken from the UK (unless you want to hire some fat skis). Downhill ski gear can be rented locally but we will need our own touring kit.

Pre-requisites

This course is ideal for the confident and fit off-piste skiers/riders, used to carrying a daysac. We can teach you to skin if this is new to you. You should be happy cruising red/black pisted runs; ecstatic linking fresh tracks all day long in deep soft snow; and positively beside yourself at the thought of topping out on Mt.Apherwat and gazing at the Himalaya as it stretches away to infinity.

What will it cost?

The Gulmarg powder trip cost is £1700 for 13 nights excellent hotel, 9 days powder skiing/riding, Lake Dal houseboat and sight seeing trip, transfers to Gulmarg / Srinagar

The optional extra adventure and sight seeing India trip is £950 for 7 accommodation, 3 days white water rafting, train journey and sight seeing trip

Not included in the price:

• Flight UK to Srinagar
• Flight Delhi – Jaipur (for those staying on for the 3rd week)
• Indian entry Visa – About £30
• Insurance
• Fat ski hire – approx £6 per day
• Lift passes – approx £10 per trip to summit (4250m)
• The BBC Ski Sunday programme on 17 Feb 08, drew attention to the amazing ski and snowboard opportunities available in the Himalayas. See the clip here..

Safety - Peak Leaders observations:

Once you have got over the guns (many military police on patrol in whole of Kashmir) the atmosphere is very welcoming. The Kashmiris are very friendly – keen to talk and help.. There have not been any security incidents in Gulmarg and to our knowledge the resort has never been closed to tourists since its inception by the British in 1927. We have been told that Kashmiri people do not tolerate or fund the militants due to the increase in income that tourism has recently been bringing into the area and that Kashmir is the most peaceful it has been for 20 years.