Just wanted to check in and say hey and that I’ve made it in.

Arrived in Kashmir, and the place is nuts. Thought I was dead about 20 times on the drive here from the port and the power just went out for the 27th time. Meanwhile, monstrous peaks abound. Everyone’s super friendly though many of them are carrying AK-47’s. I even have my own personal servant that brings meals and pickle-smoochings to my room. Ultimately, the local Kashmiris are so grateful for what we are trying to do for them, which is bring tourism to their mountains through establishing a local, self-sufficient ski patrol, without which they’d suffer heavy casualties. While we do arm them with first aid and evac skills, we (Brian, Gulmarg snowsafety director/friend and I) are here to teach them to manage avalanches. With terrain this consequential (4600ft of vertical, mostly above treeline), avalanche control demands the use of explosives, the recent acquisition of which was no easy task considering this is an historically troubled, military hot zone (both India and Pakistan claim Kashmir).

Arriving in Kashmir

Kashmir, the northern-most tip of India, is a deep, sweeping valley, rimmed by major mountains acting as the border with Pakistan to the west and north, and Tibet further to the east. Securing/riddling these borders/snowy ridgelines are army bases for as far as you can see. Towering above the valley and always demanding attention, 8000+ meter Nanga Parbat forms the girth of the western Himalaya.

Gulmarg, our mountain and town at its base, lies in the Pir Panjal Mountains –a splinter of western Himalaya on the northwestern edge of the valley. The resort is run by the Government, specifically the Office of Tourism. It’s much busier here in the summer when Indians come up from below to ride the gondola - the highest on earth at over 13,000ft - and catch a view and whiff of fresh from high up above the mung. It was installed for that reason, but then, in 2005, skiing became permitted from the top. The explosives weren’t procured until 2008, so there were a few years in there that control was limited to closing the mountain and granting it time to shed its snow naturally, or adjust to the weight of the newly fallen snow. The other way was to use ski-cutting and human weight to trigger the slides, a very risky practice (one basically unacceptable under certain, not uncommon conditions).

Gulmarg

Brian has really made the difference here. It is his third season in the valley (check it out). It was he who lobbied for and gained access to the bombs and you should see him bring every Bashear, Mehraj and Hamil into his bosom. They revere him and it’s pretty entertaining to see. He runs a weekly avalanche awareness talk at our hotel and has also put up a basic website with an avalanche advisory and weather forecast (click here). He just doled out new avalanche transceivers to all the local patrollers and has installed two beacon burial practice sites for them and the general public to hone their skills. New, large and colorful avi-advisory boards have just been hung at the lift terminals. His latest priority is to obtain the data that is being logged by numerous weather stations on and flanking Mt. Apherwat (the local highpoint) so that we can enjoy real time feed, and thus, forecast with more confidence.

This task may sound straightforward and you might expect it to come easy, but it is not and won’t. The weather stations are maintained by the military, and by whom, precisely, has been of some question. There are so many bodies employed by the government that false-leads and dead-ends can feel standard. Just today he has descended into the filmy inversion to Srinagar (the hub of Indian Kashmir) in search of contacts and hope. Once he finds the right person, he has then to prompt the office of tourism to appeal to this man and his branch of the army for access to this info. In other words, we can’t just depend on the office of tourism to find the right individual and make this happen. Instead, it takes someone from outside that can navigate their own bureaucratic channels better than they. Inefficiency, rank politics and the lack of infrastructure reign. I recently skied past a local floundering down the mountain in a patrol coat and later learned it was his first time skiing! How’d you like to see that roll up on your crumpled carcass? A random example of the blatant partiality endemic to these reaches. But that’s ok; most everyone is at ease here. To that regard the place is simple and happy. Patience is Muhammad. There’s no worrying over liability, mountain managers breathing down your crack, pressing you to clear the mountain to public, or first tracks before we open to pub. Get it, gut it, as much as you like and you’ll never hear the slightest gripe.

Fresh tracks at Gulmarg

While this region is renowned for its extraordinary amounts of snowfall, there strangely has hardly been any this year. In fact, before Sunday’s 20cm drop of fresh, these reaches hadn’t seen snow since early November! Needless to say, I appreciated the warm welcome gesture and went up for my debut exposure. The lowlands are generally socked in with smoggy filth (makes the Salt Lake Depression look like Aruba), but we are just above it, and this was a sunny day. Sure enough, the rumors materialized, and there, high above the congestion, were the open faces and endless fall lines, untracked. Because the snowpack is so thin, however, rocks are lurking everywhere and so I quickly learned to pull back the throttle. This slender cover is also cause for a bit of angst, as for when the snow really does arrive, we’ll be looking at a very unstable base layer. Hopefully, we’ll just get hammered with such a large load that all that new weight atop this weak snow will cause it to fail and clear off the mountain, allowing us to start anew. Shooting the moon. Once it does come, my responsibility is Army Ridge, the northern flank of the inbounds terrain. Peppered with rock reefs and military litter, this control route has plenty of suspect faces, chutes and pockets that should make for some decent results and an interesting time. With nothing but sun in the forecast, I frown to think I may not see action anytime soon. At least I have more time to study the route and condition myself. The terrain here is so massive, I’m guessing I’ll be a machine before long, though certainly not before I suffer for it. The chair has assured me of this…

Take all this high altitude exertion and combine it with a wicked spicy and tasty cuisine and I’m in an aggressive feeding pattern. Unexpectedly, my GI tract is still intact (knock on it). The tea is divine and overabundant (I’m already way beyond my annual quota), and you have to watch your chicken intake. The other day I had chicken for breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner.

On top of all this excitement, I enjoy occasional wifi (the only wave in town) in my room, but only at the expense of peace and quiet. I’m the closest of anybody (in town) to the router, but also with that comes the restaurant and lounge where music is blasted. All in all, I still feel connected to the world, with ample time to keep in touch and tend the biz.

There are so many other aspects, Kashmiri customs and nuances to be explored. In truth, you need to be here to understand the richness of the experience. Thanks for suffering my attempt to bring it to you. Clearly, I believe this unusual and stimulating setting needs to be spoken of…

Cheers!

TD