The Ladies Perspective

In the last post, we heard a couple of well-seasoned shredders opinions on their trip to Gulmarg. Now it's time for the ladies. Kate (K) and Laura (L) both came out with their boyfriends for the 2015 season. Kate had done a bit of snowboarding before coming out to Gulmarg but this was her first real taste of big mountain powder. Laura was a newbie and had mastered the very basics, over four days, on dry and indoor slopes back in Scotland. But what would a solid month of adventure snowboarding in the Himalaya mean to someone relatively uninitiated to the world of winter sports, in a place known for it's extremes?

Kate and Laura stoked to be shredding the Himalaya.

Why did you decide to come to Gulmarg?

K: Having been a shred widow over the past four Kashmiri snow seasons. My partner loves riding in the Himalaya, It inspired me to come and see what it was all about.

L: It was the year I was determined to learn a new sport, snowboarding was my choice and the fact my boyfriend has been going there I was curious to what made Gulmarg special to him.

The girls boards

Did you have any hesitations about coming out here?

K: My first few google searches on Kashmir left me with questions about safety on and off the mountain. Another concern for me was that the mountain may be beyond my skill set. For the latter reason, I decided it would be better to give myself ample time to settle into Gulmarg.

L: Personally; no. I think that knowing someone who regularly visits the place eases any worries or nerves you might have.

What sort of reaction did you get when you told people where you were going?

K: Reactions really varied. Some people had no idea where on the globe Kashmir was. Others responded with puzzled eyes and surprise about the idea of snow and India.

L: They thought I was nuts! Warning me of the dangers in that part of the world and the border.

Can you give me your first impressions on the place?

K: A mix of wonder and apprehension met me at the airport, I was feeling a long way from home. However, I was like a kid in a toy shop waking to the mountain view and falling snow the next morning.

L: Driving up that hill of never ending twists and turns made my tummy ache with butterflies. It is just breathtaking. I was speechless. The excitement of being surrounded in stunning views, whiter than white snow, I knew this trip was going to be magical for me.

Kate getting her first taste of deep snow.

As the trip progressed did your impressions change?

K: My apprehension softened over time, as my experiences opened me to seeing more of the layers and complexity of Kashmir.

L: It changed alright...My impressions got better and bigger and so did my smile.

Be honest; any downsides?

K: Learning how to ride powder was an initial struggle (literally, wriggling about in a couple of feet of snow). Having less fringe comforts and conveniences took some adjusting, but also became part of the adventure.

L: I have nothing to compare this place to, so I find it hard to think of downsides. I soaked up everything there and accepted the place for all it had to offer, bucket showers included! (Sandy - Not all the accommodation in Gulmarg has bucket showers. But they get the job done.)

Always important; how was the riding? 

K: This was certainly the most amazing snow conditions I had seen. There was also a heap of friendly crew who were open to exploring together and created a fun vibe on the mountains. I was surprised to find that Gulmarg has something for a range of abilities.

L: HAHA..to begin with awful. I was daft enough to learn in Gulmarg. But as the season went on I became more confident and within 2 months, I was shredding at the top of the mountain with everyone else and riding down Monkey Hill. I grew a lot as a rider and a person there.

How's the Gulmarg set-up differ to other resorts you've visited in the world?

K: How is it the same? I felt more onus on myself to riding cautiously and take responsibility for personal safety. Schedules and customer service expectations about how and when the resort should run are different. Decisions like this are made by people with responsibility for safety of the resort and their decision-making process did not always seem to be readily conveyed

L: Me no know! Like I said before; I was a snow virgin before Gulmarg.

Sometimes you have to hike, Laura embraces the shred life.

Off the slopes, how'd you find the food and culture? 

K: This is not just a snowboarding holiday, it is an experience. To spend time with locals and learn about the beauty and perils of their daily lives and histories was really special. I left feeling enlightened and motivated to share what I had experienced of Kashmir with others. As for the food- it was AMAZING! There were lots of vegetarian options and a range of food choices for different tastes and budgets available in Gulmarg.

L: You cannae fault the Culture. The sledge whalas, the shopkeepers, egg man, quadbike taxi man and of course all the jeeps; these all played a factor in making my experience the best it could ever be. Don’t know what I'm talking about? Go see and find out for yourself! I was never a fan of curry to begin with but grew to love it, I have to say there is a lot of variety within Gulmarg.

How'd you find the local people?

K: The locals were a pleasure, especially when taking the time to get to know people and story swap. Kashmiri people were very hospitable and keen to make sure that we had a good stay. Although it can be frustrating to encounter cultural difference at times, I was usually able to relax into this by asking myself to think about why this person might be behaving like this.

L: I cannot express enough love for them, they truly are kind, friendly and not likely to forget your name. I was honoured enough to be invited to a home cooked meal 3 times on my trip, never have I felt like I was part of the family so quickly after being introduced to them. Beautiful people inside and out.

Laura turning Kashmiri, during a homestay in Nambalnar. 

What sort of person do you think would like to come here?

K: I think Kashmir is best encountered in the spirit of adventure and openness. The adventure is more than riding the biggest most beautiful mountains your likely to ever encounter in your life, it is also navigating getting about the village, ordering dinner and sharing stories with locals and other tourists.

L: Gulmarg can appeal to anyone. I came here as a total beginner but by the end I was stoked knowing I'm good enough to return and explore more terrain. If you're a go-getter, who loves powder and is looking for something different then Gulmarg us the place for you.

Kate getting ready for her first ever powder turns!

That is that! Reckon you can convince your girlfriend to come along now then check out www.di5adventures.net. We've had our girls out there and they survived so surely we must be doing it well! Next time a blog with more pictures and less words.

The 2nd Annual Himalayan Banked Slalom Part 2: The Event

Generally at this point in the proceedings Andy and I lose control and Omar takes over. He's got way more experience when it comes to getting things done, Kashmiri style and excels on the organisational side of things. That's just as well because by the time we get to this point the fatigue from three days hard grafting has set in and we sit quietly as the competitors arrive. Registration is a breeze and by the end we have hit  over 20 sign ups; plenty of locals representing alongside folks from Australia, Czech Republic, Japan, Scotland and South Africa. We had people competing in all categories and late registration on the morning of the event bumped the numbers up closer to 30. Considering we were hosting the event almost two weeks late and the vast majority of the Westerners had peeled out of town, we were satisfied by the turnout. The Banked Slalom is more about giving the local snowboarders an event for them to compete in and call their own, so we were really stoked that over half of the total competitors were Kashmiri.

The crew at the starting mound. stoked! pic: Omar

As I mentioned in the last blog post, an ideal HBS would see a bit of snow on the course overnight and then bluebird the next day. We got one out of two. Overnight we got a couple of inches that made the course look pretty in the morning. Or so we would have seen if it hadn't been snowing and cloudy. We had to set the course and  laid out bamboo posts fro the flags and set the nets on the difficult corners. Mercifully the cloud was lifting and you could see from top to bottom. While the snow kept falling and falling we  continued to make ready and the competitors arrived. Due to the cold temperatures and abundance of snow we were unable to use the timing equipment as the batteries don't last long enough. Not to fear though we had the next best thing: a Swiss resident with a stopwatch!

Men's Champ 2015: Mudasir pic: Andy

As we had a shorter course and more time we decided to change the format to three runs per person.thier legs and work out the fastest line down the course. Even with our insistence that these runs should be taken slowly and used as a way to familiarise yourself with the turns; several people took it upon themselves to go hell for leather and we were patching up berms and resetting safety nets even during practice! As the day continued so did the snow fall which made for an experience akin to riding a powder covered rollercoaster. This meant for a much slower course however going by the enthusiasm of some riders it was probably a good thing for the injury count, which is still zero. A raucous atmosphere was present, with spectators and competitors cheering and hollering, as the first of the competitors dropped in.  The high spirits continued throughout the day, as did the snow!
The best two times combined would give us a winner. We even had time for practice runs to let everyone get





Everybody took three runs then we fuelled them with Kawha and lunch prepared by our hotel sponsor. The Pisten Bully did make a reappearance and was used to ferry people from finish to start. The level of riding was varied. We saw some people getting low, pushing through the berms and reading the course well. Others were not so experienced and had difficulty on the course. Overall most people made it down competently and those that were new to this type of competition always have next year to redeem themselves. Having only ever had the opportunity to ride this sort of course once before, in last year's HBS, it was great to see the local boys giving it their all. There have to be winners at these sorts of competitions and this year was no exception. We kept the results huddled under our snow soaked jackets and told everyone to come to the award ceremony.

The best uphill lift available, Pisten Bully Power! pic: Omar

Prize giving was hosted at the same hotel, which prepared our lunches, Khaleel Palace. We all rolled in there suitably late but it's Kashmiri time so we were still early. Beers appeared and we got in the mood for another strange award ceremony. Ferried into the room we were then made to wait, for an extra 20 minutes, for our guest of honour. Lots of pics were getting snapped and the whole thing reminded me of school prize giving from my younger days. All in all, it's actually a lot of fun as it's a very alien ceremony compared to what you'd imagine it to be. For example, you'd probably expect such a party to go late into the night, with some wildness familiar to ski town apres. Not in Kashmir. Here it's all about speeches and certificates. But hey "This my dear is Kashmir" so you just got to roll with the punches.

2nd in Mens open, Richard looking solid.  pic: Andy

The overall Open mens result went down to the wire.  A dead heat between local speedster Mudasir therefore took top honours. The open womens was light on entrants and saw a battle between Scotland and the Czech Republic. The Czech women was victorious and took home the trophy. The junior mens saw the second win by Mehraj Khan, unfortunately he moves into open mens category next season and the threepeat is out of reach. Watchout guys, this kid is fast.
and Australian import Richard required the third run to be counted. Mudasir had the best three runs on the day and
For those that are interested here are the results;


So that's a 2nd Annual Himalayan Banked Slalom in the bag. Proving we're here to stay and that this event should start getting a bit more recognition. While both years have thrown up varying challenges we've had such a fantastic support network that we always managed to overcome. To everyone that helped or competed in any capacity our great thanks. We hope to see you all again next year, snow permitting, we'll be back in the Banked Slalom gully!

That's a wrap for 2015, see you in 2016. pic: Andy

The 2nd Annual Himalayan Banked Slalom Part 1: The Build

Broken but proud is the best way to describe how you feel after the building of the 2nd Annual Himalayan Banked Slalom. I suppose the test of any good event is whether or not it makes past it's inaugural year. Well Andy and I came back to Gulmarg and had every intention of making that happen. However, mother nature had other ideas! When we wanted snow it didn't come, when we didn't need any more it wouldn't stop! As a man that loves the snow, I am aware I shouldn't complain about 'too much snow'. However, as an organiser of a snowboard event, which requires you to build a course, one would like to see snow up to the start of the build then a week of sunny digging, a little fresh the night before and then a bluebird event day. Wishful thinking! Before any of this 'too much snow' nonsense came along we still had the tough decision of where to build the course.

Kahla, Sandy and the sledge

Last year we identified and claimed first gully (Here on in and forever more known as Banked Slalom Gully.) on phase 1 as the prime location for our HBS. We had a decent base last year and got what we needed done. This year when we went up to scope the gully we were sitting far lower than the previous year. We knew we wouldn't be able to bank up the steepest part but we could push the start further up the mountain and still have the race up there. Unfortunately, the weather was not playing the game. The week we had to build was due to puke with the likely result of limited access to the course, resulting in all our hard work getting buried under fresh snow. A tough decision was made and we went to scope out some alternative locales.

the course is set, lets DIG

With the storm approaching and the location changing, we postponed the dates and figured out the new spot. Our options were limited to two areas on the smaller slopes of the golf course. Our first choice was shut down due to it's close proximity to the beginners slope. So we moved it onto the Harmukh lift, which is not being used this season. We stomped up there and took a few different lines before we had a good contender for this year. Now all we had to do was get our hands dirty and dig. So on a very snowy Monday morning we had everything in place to get started, all we had to do was get there.







Three of us went out; Andy, myself and Khala, one of our good local friends, who had the toughest job that day. While Andy and I broke trail for him, Khala dragged a Kashmiri sled through our chop with 20 poles and three shovels tied on board. The going was slow and tough. The snow was falling heavily and we were in a complete white out. Unable to determine the undulations of the snow, we were stumbling into snow banks, making the whole walk that much harder. Once up top we had to re-run our route and set up the poles for definition. We built a couple of rollers for speed and banked up the first turn. We ran the line and boot-packed back up each time. Once our legs were spent we called it a day. Safe in the knowledge we had the Pisten Bully, to do the hard pushing, in the morning.

We are still working at a grass roots level for the banked slalom, though we are getting support from the J&K Tourism department. One such way is the use of there Pisten Bully. This is a bit of a double edged sword; it's amazing to have the ability to move around so much snow, so easily, but there is a significant language barrier between ourselves and the driver. On top of which they haven't had much opportunity to use their machines beyond a piste-ing capacity. So when you're trying to describe to them and then direct them, a lot can get lost in translation and be open to interpretation. We didn't face this problem immediately, this year, as when we went to get the cat it had broken down.

Kahla takes a break from the dig.

After hanging out for a couple of hours, waiting to see what was going to happen, we were told someone was coming to fix it and they would come over in the afternoon. We took this as a sign we had better get digging just in case they couldn't get it running. The three of us headed back to the course, Khala had decided that floundering around in the snow with us two, was more fun than his normal daily grind. We had one corner that we knew had to be hand dug, as there was no way we could get a cat into the area, so we took it back to last year and dug our first berm. It was warm that day and we grafted getting that first berm dug. We also started to think of the immense task at hand of physically digging the rest of the course.

As we had been promised a cat we may have left it a bit tight to achieve the impossible and build all the other turns in just 2 days. But we are stubborn and thick skinned so could deal with the aches and pains, which we would have to endure, to get the course finished. Thankfully, we got the call that the cat was on the way and we should organise lunch. One challenge after another for us. After it arrived and we had fed the drivers, we could get down to business. We pushed up our start ramp with no issues. On to the first berm. This is where things started to get tricky. With a couple of radios and some hand signals we sort of managed to get the snow in the right place. The next berm was at the point of awesomeness right until the driver went half a metre too far and collapsed the thing. Four more piles of snow later and we had to ask them to stop. We needed to shape these berms so that we could figure out where we would build the final turns.

The Pisten Bully arrives and we get serious

The end of a good day shapeing...

Our figuring was that as we only got a couple of hours with the Pisten Bully, rather than the full day we were promised, a couple of hours the next day wouldn't be an issue. The following day, we three, got up early and went about shaping the hunks of snow left by yesterdays machine massacre. Khala, who doesn't snowboard, was very deft in his ability to wield a shovel and took to the task with ease. We shaped a few and then started running the lines to iron out any bumps. A good solid morning of work and we had been informed that our cat would be back after lunch. We continued to shape the last couple of berms and we had a super fun and interesting first 6 turns, which we built a small jump on the end and into the next section. We gave up waiting for the cat and decided that with the challenging weather, snow pack and relocation we had to run a much shorter course than the previous year.





Next up was registration and the main event but that will follow shortly........

What's that coming over the hill? Is it winter?

A little over a week ago I found myself in Aviemore. Not many of you will be familiar with this place. It is what can be best described as Scotland's quintessential ski town. It's not massive, but it has that outdoor vibe and a view of the mountains. While I was there I woke to a rather cloudy sky, which obscured the peaks. I went outside to go to work and I could feel a distinct nip in the air. Not long into the morning, I got a text telling me that the first snowfall of the season had fallen that night. Over the day, as the clouds broke up, I got glimpses of a few snowy topped mountains, bringing me the giddy feeling that winter is taking hold. Low and behold, four days later, the Kashmir valley sees its first snowfall for the 2015 season. Is it fate that the two places I call home, get Ullr's first touch within a week of each other? I don't know and I'm not one to spend too much time pondering the interconnectedness of the situation. All I know is it has started. While the southern Hemisphere winter is winding down, we in the North are just starting to don some extra layers.

Soon Mt Affarwat will be dressed in white! ^^click to enlarge^^

This season will be the 5th year the Di5 Adventures crew will have had a presence in Gulmarg. Half a decade of shredding the Himalayas. Not bad! I'll have spent more time as a snowboarder in Gulmarg than I will have anywhere else in the world, which I am certainly not going to complain about. As we approach this coming season we do so with heavier hearts than normal. The reason being the recent flooding that has decimated much of Kashmir. Mother nature has no time for borders and the storms of September flooded both the Indian and Pakistan sides of Kashmir. The capital city of Srinagar, on the Indian side, which when visiting Gulmarg you have to pass through, saw buildings collapse and entire families lose their homes. Out in the countryside, the farming industry has been literally washed away. With this being the staple of many a Kashmiri income and little work available to them in winter, our thoughts have been with them. (we have been trying to identify the best path for people wishing to donate and help ease the situation for those most affected)

The Di5 Team: Omar Hajam, Director of Mountain Operations. Andy Turland, Managing Director Sandy Norval, European Correspondent.

So it would be unfair for me to harp on about the awesomeness of winter and what epic adventures we can expect this season, without recognising it's going to be very tough for many families. We understand that our business makes us part of families in Kashmir and creates an opportunity for us to help those less fortunate. As the season grows closer, the snow depths increase and the devastation gets blanketed white, we must not forget to offer help where we can. This season will see the Di5 family grow too. We've got new faces coming out to experience the joys of a Gulmarg winter. Please don't think that our stoke levels aren't up there and this season will somehow be less of a party than before. Remember; it's our 5 year anniversary!

We're going on adventures, we'll be bringing you all the hype, the Himalayan Banked Slalom is growing and going to be back. We have hundreds of lines to go and explore and you're coming on the journey with us. We are pumped, life is good, the snow is falling and tickets are booked. All that being said we'll be doing our best to spread the love throughout the valley and seeing what we can do to help. Let's come together as shredders of the world and be the best dysfunctional family we can. Let us not bicker in the lift line, like petulant siblings, let us put differences aside and have fun together, let us support each other in bringing out the best of our winter, wherever it may be!

Remember, it's never too late to come out and celebrate the 2015 season in Gulmarg. Just head to our website www.di5adventures.net and get in touch. We've got packages to suit all budgets and as a company we are actively involved in investing directly back into Kashmir.

THE one and only HIMALAYAN BANKED SLALOM; The Main Course

Seems that writing a blog about building and hosting a Himalayan Banked Slalom takes longer than actually putting the event on! I was busy cooking up the perfect recipe for said event and was just about to jump into the meat of the dish. I reckon I’ve let the whole thing to cure for long enough now and should get back to it. Day one of the big dig was a sunny affair and Andy and I headed into our lovely roped off area to start work on turn one. We had a rough plan of where the course was going to go and there was nothing to it but to start digging. Having absolutely nae idea of how to dig a berm the first one took some time. We excavated way more snow than we needed to but the final result definitely looked like what we were trying to do. Part way through I started to calculate the time it was going to take to build the rest and by god it was going to be tight to get it all done in 5 days! Ever determined we moved onto the next one.

the start of first Gully and the start of the HBS course.

This was the south facing side of the course and the snow was part frozen blocks, part slushy mess. Not the ideal building conditions but we persevered, trying a different tact with the construction of this one. Like a good cook will experiment with different levels of flavour to enhance depth in a dish, we slapped snow here and there, scratched our heads and mused at our work. The second berm finished we were both feeling the burn from man handling the snow. But we had worked out it was much easier to try and shape the berm out of the bank, rather than digging a big pile of snow and shaping that. Ah the ‘eureka’ moment, which we hoped would make the whole process a bit easier. Totally beat after the mornings work, to our relief our great friend, Tariq, brought us lunch and more importantly a fresh pair of arms.

After our food we set back to it. Turn 3 was a great sweeper that dropped steeply away and I called it ‘YEE-HA’, due to the hollering it could potentially induce. Our slow-cooked first berm techniques were being honed into a more efficient methodology, not quite fast food standards but then who’d want to race something so uniform? We knew this year was going to be a bit rough and ready, possibly hard to digest in places, yet this didn’t dampen our spirits. We chapped on and got 3 all done. Back into the sunshine for turn 4 and our day was done. Tired and chuffed we’d got something resembling the beginnings of a banked slalom course. In absolutely no illusion did we think that it was going to get easier but we sure as hell enjoyed the first day’s celebratory beer.

Turn 7 at the end of day 2.

Day two brought more of the same; digging and shaping turns 5, 6 and 7. Our between the tree hole-shot of turn five is the perfect banner sponsorship spot and an epic one for pics. A sunny souther, turn six was a calm one before turn 7. Andy loved turn seven due to its natural high wall up-down cruisiness. I loved turn 7 because we hardly had to do anything to it to make it work! Again we could see the course coming along nicely and were constantly allowing ourselves little smiles of satisfaction. However, we knew the first half of the course was the easy part and we were now into the hardest section of the build. We’d cooked up a fine starter with plenty to get people’s attention. Problem was we had only a few days left and a really steep and somewhat dangerous section to try and turn into something palatable. The support we thought was coming didn’t and Andy had to give a talk that night promoting the event to everyone in town.

The next day was a struggle. The constant digging of two days and the ever increasing reality of what was left to do was fraying at my nerves. Andy, the ever outwardly calm one, was pleasant to me as I bitched and moaned and stressed. We had a really complicated section to prepare and the thought of it just being built with our four arms was daunting. We decided to shape up the top half of the course and make it good to go and allow us to rest. Even though we’d roped off the area we’d had a few people duck it and ride through. So on turn 4 when we saw some bodies come over the ridge we thought god-damn-balls-shit don’t ride over our berms! Then a few more heads appeared and we started to recognize some friendly faces. These weren’t yahoos trying to get some pow-pow, this was help! They say too many cooks spoil the broth; but when you apply that to digging huge quantities of snow, it’s the opposite. Turn 8 became an international affair. I think we had 9 different nationalities help build that corner and we’re truly indebted to them for coming to our aid.

Shaping turn 4 after HELP arrived, thanks to all who lent some muscle.

What had started out as a bleak undertaking became a fun venture with many hands and experience getting the linchpin turn in. With over ten people digging and shaping, it still took the best part of the day to get it finished. Had Andy and I been left alone that day, it’s doubtful to say just how that corner would’ve come out. Burnt, crispy and inedible is one way! So two days left and one more complex turn then it is bish-bash-bosh and the course should be finished. Turn 8 was going to be burly. Like sitting down to a giant ice cream and fighting through the cold pain headache to finish it in one go. Thankful for the help the day before we knew that this corner was probably best left to just the two of us.

 

The complications of trying to balance the following issues; not hurting anyone, making the turn suitable for most skill levels and still super fun, were massive. And we also have to factor in the near vertical section we’re trying to build it on. An hour or so of watching the snow roll down the hill we decided that starting at the bottom was probably a better idea! We managed to get it connected and round the tree in a way that was a little less than sketchy. I mentioned to Andy that most people are going to shit themselves, coming through this one and a little while later the ‘Super-Pooper’ was named. Some more friends came down that afternoon and helped us sure up the turn and make it a little safer. This one was definitely getting a safety fence. One more day of digging left and we had a few more corners to go. We finally had the use of the pisten bully to build the start ramp and help conclude course construction.

Friday was a big day. We had to finish the course and hold registration. Let’s call it desert and menu setting. But we have a big machine to help so hey it should be easy. Hmmmmm……how to put it? The cat certainly can move snow. Lots of it, in vast quantities, which sets like stone and becomes a really doozy to shape with our little shovels! Knowing that time was no longer on our side we had to cut the course a few turns shorter than we’d hoped. On the one hand we had no choice. On the other, if the competition is a success, we already know we can make it longer in 2015! So having not even run the course from top to bottom, we were off to register all the crazy people that wanted to be a part of the first ever Himalayan Banked Slalom. Again, thanks to the support and help of some more wonderful people, while Andy and I had been building the registration was all set up and we just had to show our faces and help out if required.

It’s a little daunting, having put so much time and effort into the preparation that perhaps, just perhaps nobody will give a monkeys and even bother to register. There was no need to doubt as we knew we’d at least have some locals enter the competition. It was the main reason behind this whole event. Give the local snowboarders a competition all of their own. No more racing a skier set course on a snowboard. A real opportunity to show the big wigs of Gulmarg that snowboarding is as big a sport as skiing. So when we closed registration and had 45 competitors, with almost 50% of them Kashmiris, we knew all the hard work was worth it. All we had to do now was host the event. So proof of the pudding is always in the eating and that’s what we had to do now. But I think I’ll leave you to stew a little longer for that one (definitely not as long as last time, I promise).

a Big week....

"All aboard the good ship pow-pow!" Shouts the captain in my head. I'm staring down a near pitch perfect powder field, it's been snowing heavily for a good 24 hours and everything is primed. I drop into my line, two epic turns and the amount of sluff is now enough to take me for a short ride. All expected on this angle, with the amount of snow we've had, so my line had no major obstacles to hazard me. Gotta love the core work-out when you wiggle and wiggle, to shake off all that snow, trying to get going again.

Sandy is quite the tall scotsman.

 Normal cruising speeds resume. Until all of a sudden your board starts to sink, then your knees go under, your thighs disappear and then the rest. From a bystanders point of view, I imagine, I look some what like a submarine diving to the deep. In some respects I am.These last few days, I've been forcing my board further into the unknown depths. Trying to avoid shredding my hull on any hidden rock bombs. I never found the bottom and I avoided all those nasty, jaggy buggers! My final likening to the maritime form, sticks with the submarine class.

You enter the white room, consequently clip something, eat it and become ensconced in snow. You lie there for a second or two, getting your gyro settled. Then it's 'up periscope' to see just how far you tumbled and who caught it on camera! Snorkeling around in the deep stuff can only mean one thing; we've had a classic Gulmarg storm.

The storm left 210cm of Himalayan white gold!

It rolled in last Sunday. The week previous to that was fairly relaxed. I took out my brand new stick, for this season, and rode the one groomer we have here. Finally, making it over the two flat spots without any issue. After a month of riding two, frankly, broken boards, in an attempt to preserve my new ones, beyond one season, which would be a four season first for me, was an absolute pleasure! She reminded me of playing with a six month old puppy. So full of spring and bounce, excited to explore new places, ever attentive to my instructions. Really just a load of innocent fun. Having spent a day becoming acquainted with her I spent
another with a pack of lads.

  As so few people ever really ride the groomer here, there isn't an abundance of side hits. We chose a lazy sunny lunchtime to head up. Roaming around, sniffing out possible spots to do our business. We laid our marks and charged around. Yelping when distressed, howling with happiness and just being a bit barking mad! Look what happens when an animal is forced out of it's natural habitat. Lucky for this animal, he can look at a weather forecast and could stave of becoming a totally feral, snow-starved, beast.

When the long-term forecast gives you a week of snow, you know it's going to be a great time here in Gulmarg. We were gifted with over 2m of lovely, lovely fresh white yumminess. Enough to feed the powder hounds here. We took bites out of the trees, the chairlift and eventually the upper reaches of the mountains. Being early Feb the wildest animal behaviour was in the queues! I could go off right now and describe the differing shred species that inhabit this zoo. Some with their slithering, slick, snaking shenanigans. Others with their down right pig headed attitudes. But that is a whole other blog.

I don't have time for that right now as digging begins on the first ever Himalayan Banked Slalom course soon. More on that to come very shortly.............................

The first transmissions of 2013

Our close friend and reliable back country partner Sandy Norval has been on the ground in Gulmarg for about a month. Sandy is great for calling it as he see's it and is not bad at stringing a sentence together, hence we were stoked when he offered to write a few blog updates for us. Read below for the first of his updates from Kashmir......

This is Sandy

This is the view from the lounge at New Mount View where Sandy wrote his Uodate

Sandy's Words:

It’s been almost a month now and I have a few stories to report. First day, first week, first gondola, first line, four turns in I EXPLODED in the powder, executing the perfect cartwheel to head then back to feet. Laughing to myself I charged on loving every second of being back on Mt Apherwat. The next week saw one snow shower but with so few people in Gulmarg there were a ridiculous amount of lines to be had. The cold temps and the sparse population of riders meant it was only the rocks that were causing any agro! A typical snowpack was shaping up to cause a few worries so we were hoping for a big storm.

When it came we weren’t disappointed. 36 hours of no power but in return we got a 1m of snow. Several outings were attempted during the storm, which was a lot more ‘swimming in powder’ than ‘carving fine lines’. There was a 2 hour wait and endless cups of tea, hanging around for the road to get opened, after we took a ride to Tangmarg. Closed due to the massive amount of snow, naturally avalanching, over the road back up to Gulmarg, helped along by the snow clearing team, which had managed to get one of their industrial snow blowers stuck! I was lucky enough to get to ride back up with the driver of said machine. He happily showed me pictures of his shabby driving on his cell phone and laughed away my polite inference that our being stuck in Tangmarg was directly his fault. Overall, another day where one run is more than enough to test more than just your riding abilities.

Once the ridiculous amount of snow had settled and there was still too much to do, to get the upper phase of the gondola going, it was time to take it to the trees. I’ve never seen enough snow in the middle of January to drop down to Babereshi but this early season bounty made everything possible. With a loaded sumo jeep, we got to the drop off and 8 very excited powder hounds advanced down the first pitch. The face shots and bearing of teeth, from smiling, made everyone look even more like salivating rabid animals. By the end of the second pitch, the panting beasts that we’d become, had time to recoup and take on our more normal appearance, as we waited for the taxi to run us back up However, we all had the boundless puppy dog energy to go chase that stick some more. Our second run was another peachy affair. Taken at a slightly less hedonistic pace we identified some fun little drops and log rides. With a whooping and a hollering we made ourselves ever present. All good practice for the gong-show that can be opening day of phase two after a storm.