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Published: February 22nd 2009
Dear all
apologies for not writing for such a long time, but communications, electricity and water supplies are not necessarily reliable up here in the wilds of Gulmarg.
we moved out of our cold damp hotel with the potentially dangerous gas heater, into a lovely warm hotel - POSHWAN,thats right, because we're so upper class. the room has a wood burner, a good hot shower, and also, get this, HBO. i'm not sure that we've ever watched so many films,getting proper cultured like.
our forays out onto the mountain have also improved. we met a couple of welsh lads who took us out and showed us the ropes, increased our confidence on the mountain and took us on some amazing runs. the set up here is that the gondola takes you up to 13500ft, from there is one run,or 'bowl' that is patrolled and has avalanche control, the rest of the mountain is 'backcountry'. this means hiking away from the gondola, up towards the summit, and then choosing which 'bowl' to drop into, then make your way down the mountain, trying to avoid the lines cut out by people before you. the risk of avalanches here is very real, in our first week two guys were caught in one, we saw one occur on the mountain 2 days ago when we were waiting for the gondola, we were told that one happened in a bowl about an hour after we skied it, and we have also crossed the path of natural avalanches that have occurred after heavy snowfall. you really have to pay attention to the snow you are on, as often it can start to crack away underneath you, make sure that you are not underneath cornices for any longer than is absolutely necessary, and keep an eye on who is skiing around you,above and below you. skiing in groups and having the right avalanche safety gear- probes, transcievers and shovels, are absolutely necessary. this ain't no european resort.
to counter all that, the snow is absolutely amazing, boarding down it feels like floating, completely different to being on piste, also the falls are so much easier..... i must admit i've done my fair share. one i was particularly proud of involved a fast run across a semi-flat powder field. you need to keep up the speed to make sure you reach the edge without stopping, however this means about 10mins of leaning back hard on your back leg to keep the board on top of the powder.i faltered,the front of the board dug in, and i cartwheeled about 3 times. the landing was soft, but i could see the three places i'd landed with about a meter gap in-between where i'd cartwheeled. thankfully i was wearing a helmet so i dont think i've lost too many braincells......
the travelling community here is very friendly, we've met some great people.at the moment we've been hanging out with a group of lovely poms. a couple from london, one of which used to come to boars hill parties, two lads from glastonbury and a few others from around the uk. there's also a smattering of kiwis and aussies thrown into the mix for comedy value. the two kasmiri guys we hang out with have been nothing short of lovely and have been a real pleasure to meet, Raheem and Manzel (who looks like Stuart Maxwell) have cooked us dinner, got us cheap taxis, even taught tim to say 'i don't want a sledgeride' in urdu and there has never been any hidden agenda. propper nice peeps. Gulmarg is abit of astrange place, completely based around tourism. in the winter foreigners come to ski/snowboard, in the summer LOADS of domestic tourists come to see the meadow of flowers.this means that no-one is actually from gulmarg, but they come here to work, consequently there are no Kashmiri women here,only men who run the shops etc. this is without doubt, one of the friendliest places we have ever been. lots of people know my name (not Tim's), i think i'm a bit of an anomoly with my strange hair. the local tailor keeps calling me a good muslim girl, and people in the market place shout 'hello sarah', however,there was an 'incident' a few days ago that really reminded us that we are in an potentially volatile area.......
we were returning from a day on the mountain when we stopped in the market place to talk to a local guy, all the shops were closed which was unusual. we were told to leave the market as there had been a problem with a foreign tourist and foreigners should probably go back to their hotels.apparently a israeli/australian/swedish (the nationality changed with each person who told the story) had put stickers with quotes from the Qu'ran on his skis and boots. this had caused offence to local muslims as his skis and boots would be on the floor- disrespectful to the Qu'ran. Apparently he was arrested and carted off by the army, we don't know if this was for his own safety (a few locals were NOT happy about it, a bit of lynching might have been on the cards) or whether he was going to be arrested and deported, as some people claimed. this was a bit of a nerve wracking few days. we got to the gondola on the day after and were told it was shut, but it had been open 10mins before, a lot of pursuasion, and confusion ensued. we weren't allowed to go up, then we were, then we weren't. eventually 6 of us made it up....Kashmiri style organisation. apparently they were supposed to be on strike because of the troubles, nothing that a bit of baksheesh/bribes couldn't get around though. everything calmed down after a day, and we're all back to normal, you'll be pleased to know. i dont think we were in any real danger,Gulmarg is a tourist town, people come here to work from nearby villages and towns, it wouldn't be in any of the locals interests to scare off the foreign tourists, we think it was a few 'village idiots' stirring up trouble. the locals we made friends with all reassured us that everything was fine, a bit of a storm in a teacup methinks.....
we've also realised that our travel insurance doesn't cover us up here. apparently, if the home office advises against travel to an area, then travel insurance doesn't cover you, thankfully we've not had any broken legs...touch wood, and we're leaving Kashmir on thursday, so if we can just hang on til then.....
in other news, the snow is falling heavily right now. the weather pattern seems to be 3-4 fine days when everyone goes up the mountains, then 3-4 days of heavy snow. last week we had about 3ft in 2 days. we've also been interviewed by Kashmiri tv, asked to comment on the infrastructure in Gulmarg...
we've also done a few runs down monkey hill - involves a half hour walk and a run through the trees in extremley deep snow, we ended up on a plain last time, waistdeep in snow. down days when there is too much snow to go to the mountain we've been building little kicker jumps on the nearby golf-course- and doing some classic wipe-outs, but also increasing our confidence for attempting jumps on the slopes....
to summarise,our month spent in the himalaya snowboarding has been nothing short of spectacular. we have had a real insight into 'backcountry' snowboarding and have had the privalage of riding on some of the most pristine powder that most snowboard junkies can only dream of. there is a great sense of community here in gulmarg, everone is made to feel so welcome and the local people are so friendly.
we went down to srinagar on wednesday to stay on a house boat for a night, then we flew back to delhi for further travels....first stop varanasi.....then nepal.....maybe a bit of anapurna trekking and white water rafting? who can say? its a tough life....
We hope you're all well, thinking of you all. apart from colds and coughs (probably from the altitude), and stiff knees, hips and ankles we're keeping well. we enjoy reading your comments, so keep 'em coming.
for more photos, click on
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=76501&id=587436874&l=17fd5
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Prince of Arabia
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Powder of a different sort
Hello you snow eating, bus riding cheese hoarders of India. Love reading your blogthang and also the video, Tim is basically Indian. I am surrounded by powder too but it is not snow, oh no, sand. Sand everywhere, sand in my shoes, eyes and up my nose, sand all over my house and in my car. Sand. Love it. I am gonna go sand boarding in a couple of weeks. So I will be as cool as you soon. Over and out. xx