Top Ten Reasons For Skiing In Gulmarg, Kashmir, India.

Everyone has their own image of India (mythical, magical etc.) but it's a place that really confronts who you are as a person. Patient? Understanding? Empathetic? It really draws out every emotion within a person's arsenal. That's what makes it magical. It forces you to confront just about every emotion. If you're high maintenance, you'll really discover it in India. If you're really not that patient, then you'll be tested to the limit. India really is a voyage of self-discovery. You'll really find out your outer limits (and go past them). Given the constant testing, the only way to survive (after you've had your first freak-out) is to somehow find your inner peace (give up your outer control, and find the control within).

It’s for this reason, that when my friend called me up and suggested we go skiing in India(http://www.sevendescents.com.au/trips/india/gulmarg.php), I was hesitant. I’d already been on my "Indian" voyage of discovery and with only a few days off (ten days) in February I just didn’t want the hassle. I suggested: �wouldn’t it make much more sense to simply go to somewhere like St. Anton’s, Chamonix or Val D’Isere, get some good snow and we can party with the Eurocrowd at night.�

�NO, we’ve done that� he responded, and he was right. We have done that, many times in fact. We wanted adventure. Somewhere off the beaten track. We priced it up and surprisingly it came to roughly the same cost as the same amount of time in the Alps (if you factor in all the expensive meals and stupid jagger-bombs you’d be doing at the bar).

So, with mixed expectations we took the trip and WOW are we glad we did. It was the best ski trip of our lives (don’t tell our other Uni friends). We flew into Delhi and then spent 9 days up in Gulmarg Kashmir.

What made it an 11 out of 10? Tough Call:

1) Our Guide was amazing. After having lived in ski-towns I find that so many ski guides and/or ski-patrollers consider themselves so self-important: �I deal with death every day so I’m not going to laugh at your stupid jokes�. Olly on the other hand was a consummate professional (he was a stunt-man in the movie �Touching the Void�) and had lots of stories, was the fastest to laugh, and was the most safety conscious guide I’ve ever had. All-in-all, he was the best (see below on tour-companies).

2) OUR HOTEL was fantastic. Having lived in India before, I had very low expectations of the hotel, food and service, but our tour company had done their research and found the best hotel in the area. Every morning we were gently woken up by our private room-attendant bringing in Kashmiri tea and stoking the fire in our private rooms!

3) THE FOOD: I would rather starve than eat more Dhal (that curried lentil crap), and I was worried that the hotel would serve it as a staple. Instead, for breakfasts there was a wide variety of choices and dinners were better than my favourite curry house down the road. I was in heaven.

4) THE POWDER: I know that the die-hard skiers on the trip would put this at #1 but having grown up in Vancouver (near Whistler) and spending lots of time in Fernie (also in BC), I’m not easily impressed at big powder. But here I was, in India, and it was �PUKING POW� like a MOFO for three days straight!!! It brings a smile to my face just thinking about this one run we did called �Monkey Hill�, I was bombing down to the bottom and took a turn and almost choked on all the powder spilling up into my face!!! It just flew up into my face!! I actually choked some down!!! It was amazing! Eating snow only happens when I bail, not when I’m going Mach 1 down the mountain. It was amazing. I feel giddy right now thinking about it.

5) MORE POWDER!!! I mentioned above that it was puking powder for three days, but what I didn’t mention was that it didn’t snow in the first five days. I know what your thinking. How many times have you arrived at a place to find all the snow skied out? Probably lots, but it DOESN’T happen here. Firstly, you’re above 3,200 meters (it’s the highest gondola in the world, and secondly) and the powder remains �fresh� for a very long time, and the terrain is so vast, that with a guide and a good pair of skins we had fresh tracks every single day! Don't believe me, our tour company made a you-tube clip. Search on Seven Descents Gulmarg. Feast your eyes on the POWDER!!!

6) NO PEOPLE!!!!! Here we were in a country of over 1 billion people and we hardly saw anyone!!!!! On the busiest day, I maybe saw about 100 waiting to get on the gondola. On the slopes, less than TWENTY!!!!! Think about that! It was incredible that in a population of 1 billion there was this goddess of a mountain that no-one was enjoying (the tragedy of Mother India).

7) NO HASSLE: The Hassle Factor (or lack thereof): As mentioned above, India is the most difficult country in the world to travel in but (this is a big secret!), if you go with a reputable tour company who do everything for you the hassle factor is NIL! All I had to do was get a visa and get myself (and my gear) to Delhi. They did everything else.

8) THE PEOPLE: You’d think that if you weren’t earning a lot of money you wouldn’t be smiling. Everyone knows money can’t buy you happiness and India is the proof (if you equate smiling people with happiness). Everyone was smiling all the time. So often in western resort, there are so many people frowning (these new boots are killing me). That doesn’t happen here. If you’ve been to India, you know what I’m talking about. Everyone was smiling!

9) My FRIENDS: This is one of the big trips of a lifetime, and therefore, try and grab as many friends as you can. Convince them, do what you have to do. If you price it out, you’ll see that’s it’s about the same as two weeks in a �western� resort. Looking back sitting on your rocking chair, you’ll know it to be true.

10) NEW FRIENDS: Tours like this attract like-minded people. When your beeps are on and you’re all depending on each other to dig you out if something bad happens, you quickly learn to respect and enjoy each other’s company. At night, we had the biggest laughs I’ve had in a long while at the dinner table. Going to bed smiling. Waking up smiling. Booting down the mountain smiling. Is there anything else you need?

I hope I’ve convinced you. I could go on-and-on about our trip. There’s not a lot of press on Ski Gulmarg(http://www.sevendescents.com.au/trips/india/gulmarg.php) which is a bit of a blessing in disguise (it keeps people at bay), but hopefully I’ve convinced you. You can thank me by buying a beer for a friend and saying this one’s for Sean, he wants you to enjoy it.