International (Europe/Japan/Southern Hemisphere) Gulmarg 2018 Trip Report

[Mattadvproject]

Greetings Pugski people,
Hope all is well. Time to start the winter trip reports, we'll kick off with Gulmarg. People who followed me on Epic will have seen a lot of reports from Gulmarg over the years, but this will be the first time posting about Gulmarg on Pugski, so hopefully some new people will also see these reports.

For those that haven't read my Gulmarg reports before, then Gulmarg is a ski area in northern India in the state of Jammu and Kashmir. It's in the Pir Panjals, one of six mountain ranges that make up the Himalayas and is noted for having one of the highest gondolas in the world which gives access to a massive mountain that receives a lot of snow (14m on average), minus any crowds. I first went to Gulmarg in 2008 and then have been going back every winter with groups since 2011. This will be my 9th winter in Gulmarg.

I look forward to going to Gulmarg each season and definitely enjoy the skiing (it's a pretty unique place given the amount of snow they get and how few people there are, but it's a serious mountain with big consequences that definitely has my respect). Anyway, the upcoming season is just around the corner and I thought I'd share some updates with you all before I leave for India on the 22nd February.

This season we've seen some changes. It's been confirmed that we have a new Snow Safety Officer in Gulmarg. Luke Smithwick (who did a great job for 3 years) has been replaced by Brian Newman. Brian had previously overseen the local patrol for 7 years and he's come back again. I know a lot of the locals missed Brian and are excited that he's coming back. We'll see what changes he will implement.

Gulmarg has received several early snowfalls already. Thankfully most of that early snow has melted (a good thing as early snowfalls that are then exposed to cold, clear nights can lead to the formation of a persistent weak layer in the base of the snowpack) and now we have just had a massive new storm and people are skiing already (not from the gondola yet though). Here's a few photos that were sent to me today of the current conditions in Gulmarg, from Altaf Rather, GM of the Hilltop Hotel where we stay.


Already grooming the golf course slopes.


Coverage looking good up high, one more storm and it should be game on!





Plenty of snow up at the Highlands Hotel.


Shepard's huts buried already!


Mid-mountain ticket office buried. Hope it doesn't get flattened.....

That's about it for now. Will add more updates as I have them in the lead up to the trip, then regular updates when I am out there.

- Matt

 

[Mattadvproject]

Here's some new photos from Gulmarg, probably the last batch I'll be putting up till February. I leave for Japan on Tuesday...... Looks like the snow is holding up well and there's still plenty of it. Still waiting on that next big dump! Thanks to my driver, Mushtaq Rather for sending me these pics last night.


The Mushtaq mobile. Mushtaq's Scorpio van.



Looking up to Mt. Apharwat.


The viewpoint restaurant/scenic spot on the last switchback up the mountain road to Gulmarg. To the right is a small military guard post. During a good season, the viewpoint will be pretty much buried.


Gulmarg Resort Hotel (left) and the Hotel Heevan Retreat, two of the more popular hotels in Gulmarg.


Looking down into the Drung valley and the little village of Drung, still plenty of snow down there too.

- Matt

 

[Mattadvproject]

And so it begins...... Japan was epic but after only 2 days back at home, it's time to hit the road again and head back to Gulmarg. My body is very confused and has given up knowing what timezone it's in. Time to confuse it again..... I fly from Denver to Newark (3.5 hours) and then have 5 hours layover there. Then it's 14 hours to get to Delhi. I arrive late on the 22nd (local time) so will be pretty tired and will be able to catch up on some sleep at a hotel near the airport. Then I will be up early and will be heading off to Srinagar and the quick 1 hour 15 minute flight to Srinagar. I will meet my guests there at the airport. I have Gavin who I have skied with in Japan and Chile, he's on the same flight as me from Delhi and then Mike and Claire (doctors from Scotland) will be arriving 45 minutes behind us. Then it's a 1 hour 30 minute drive up to Gulmarg. Will check back in then! Wish me luck!

- Matt

 

[dbostedo]

Good luck!

 

[albertanskigirl]

Hey @Mattadvproject - I hope this was no where near you!

http://unofficialnetworks.com/2018/03/07/skier-remotely-triggers-large-avalanche-in-gulmarg/

And that you’re having a great time!

 

[Mattadvproject]

Hey @Mattadvproject - I hope this was no where near you!

http://unofficialnetworks.com/2018/03/07/skier-remotely-triggers-large-avalanche-in-gulmarg/

And that you’re having a great time!

Cheers @albertanskigirl! Yes, still in Gulmarg, not gotten around to posting much yet (posted a few things on Facebook to let people know I am still alive....). The trip is over, now I am here with my wife for 2 days doing touristy stuff and then we leave tomorrow for the houseboats and then onto Delhi, Agra, Jaipur and Kerala for a holiday. I think when I get back to Denver on the 23rd March I'll start posting stuff......

All in all it's been another great trip. It has been a difficult trip due to the avalanche conditions. Gulmarg has had a very shallow and weak snowpack and there have been a lot of avalanches. That video (which has pretty much gone viral) was of a local heliski guide. Thankfully he was ok and skied away unharmed. It was a pretty traumatic experience for him though. It's tough to see all of the associated comments on the various websites who published this video as unsurprisingly, there has been a lot of armchair quaterbacking and uninformed comments from people who are making assumptions about the guide involved. He is a very experienced heli and mountain guide and definitely has an intimate knowledge of the conditions (given he's been guiding in it all season) and this is a good (yet very scary example) of how hard it is to predict deep slab instability reactivity and how easy it is for shallower weaker spots in the snowpack to transmit energy and cause remote releases which can then massively propagate upslope.

The issue with the snowpack this season was that Gulmarg received a big dump of snow in early December and then it stopped snowing and they experienced many cold and clear nights after that. These are perfect conditions for faceting to occur and the snowpack started to turn weak and rotten. This is not a new phenomena in Gulmarg unfortunately. What has been different this year was that we didn't get the big, regular snowfalls in January that after a while (typically around mid to late January) that would eventually cause the entire snowpack to fail and large natural avalanches to occur. This is normally a good thing as the natural slides (hopefully natural and not triggered by people) will then clear out that weak layer at the base of the snowpack and then the snowpack can reset with subsequent snowfalls starting the formation of a much stronger base.

The big snowfalls this season didn't really happen until late (about a week ago) and the smaller snowfalls just kept taking the snowpack back to the tipping point each time, without causing that all important natural avalanche cycle. We had 2 deaths this season just outside the ski area as a result of this very reactive and dangerous snowpack. It wasn't until last week when we finally had a decent enough storm and everything started to slide. There ski patrol were also finally able to get pretty much the entirety of the ski area to slide as well with several days of control work. That persistent weak layer inbounds has pretty much been taken out by control work and they were able to get the phase 2 of the gondola open again for skiing and boarding.

We were able to start pushing out into the backcountry after a couple of days of skiing from the top of the gondola and we had 3 really great days of skiing and touring, culminating with a really nice run down the Shark's Fin (steepest zone in Gulmarg) with the much improved conditions. Most areas have now slid in the backcountry and with the new snow forecast for a couple of days time, the skiing should be really good. So, after a really slow start, my guests got to do some great skiing by the end of the trip and came away pretty stoked! All of this will be chronicled later in this blog when I get back to the US in a couple of weeks time. Thanks for checking in!


Nice ski touring out to Sunny Bowl past the Shark's Fin and Great White Shark areas. We skied a nice low angle line between to old slide areas (cornice collapse that caused the slopes below to slide), about a 1 hour 15 minute skin from the top of the gondola..... about 1,000ft vertical of untouched soft snow. It was one of the highlights of the trip

- Matt

 

[albertanskigirl]

As usual - awesome report. Looking forward to the photos! Glad to hear everyone's ok! Hope you and your wife have a great time visiting!

 

[Mattadvproject]

Okey dokey, I'm back safe in Denver so it's time to get this blog moving......

21st Jan to 23rd Jan – Travel Days

I left Denver on the 21st Jan after only 2 nights at home from Japan. I was pretty tired already so was expecting to be an absolute mess by the time I got to Gulmarg. I flew from Denver to Newark (3.5 hours) and then had about 4 hours to kill before my next flight. It was 80 degrees in Newark and the airport was roasting. They didn’t have any air conditioning going and it was pretty oppressive.

At 8pm I boarded my flight to Delhi. My plan was to stay awake as long as I could so I arrived in Delhi really tired and could get some sleep. I had a really nice older couple sitting next to me and we chatted a lot at the start of the flight. I watched about 5 movies in the 13.5 hours flight time and only nodded off once or twice. The flight arrived around 9pm local time and I was straight through immigration (E-visa) and headed out to collect my bags. All my bags arrived and then it was off to the Red Fox about 10 mins away to get my head down for the night.

I got about 7 hours uninterrupted sleep and felt pretty good in the morning. I was back to the airport around 830am to check-in for my flight to Srinagar (SXR). I went to the wrong place for check-in and had to go around to the other side of the counters. I saw Gavin (one of the guests) enter the check-in line behind me. I made it to the front and they weighed my bags. I was about 19 kgs over with 2 bags instead of 1. One of the porters came over and he managed to talk the agent down to only 3kgs, otherwise I would have paid a lot more for my bags. He got a healthy tip!

Gav checked in fine and then we were off to the gate. The flight to Srinagar went smoothly and we had some great views of the Himalayas. We arrived and grabbed our bags and then did our paperwork for the Tourism Department. It was about 45 minutes before Claire and Mike arrived (a couple of doctors from Scotland) and then we headed out. Our first stop was Dal Lake for lunch (gotta get my fix of Butter Chicken from Stream restaurant) and then we went to the dodgy looking money exchanger (totally legit by the way, just looks dodgy from the outside!) to change our money. I got 61 INR to the $USD. Not too bad. Then it took about 1.5 hours to make it up to Gulmarg.

We unpacked and settled into our rooms and then I did half of the avi safety presentation, before people started nodding off. We had some dinner at the hotel and everyone got an early night.


Feb 24th – Feb 27th – Skiing and avi safety training.

24th Feb – Day 1

The weather wasn’t very inspiring when we got up. It was pretty damp and there was a lot of cloud about. We had to finish our indoor presentation after breakfast, but that only took about 30 minutes. We purchased weekly passes for about 9,400 INR (about $145 USD, as always, a great deal). I prefer getting the weekly passes as you don’t have to queue for tickets again later. It wasn’t a really inspiring day unfortunately, the snow was really bad and there wasn’t a lot of it. We did a run down from the chairlift and it wasn’t a lot of fun. There were quite a few rocks poking out and you had to be very careful where you skied.

We did a couple more runs and then had some lunch inside one of the dabba’s (tea stalls) to get warm. Then we headed back to the hotel and started our on-snow training. There is a decent patch of open ground in front of the hotel and we had enough room to do some single searcher/single victim scenarios. Everyone got to do 2 runs each. We did the most basic searches possible, with no skis on and carrying our shovels and probes out already deployed. We started off slow and then did the second go at speed. There were some nice improvements from all of the guys. Everyone was pretty wet and tired by the end and probably thankful to go inside and dry out. That was the highlight of day 1.


First views of the Himalayas on the plane ride from Delhi to Srinagar. Make sure you sit on the right side of the plane if you want the views.


The mountains are getting bigger. It's only a 1hr 15 minute flight, so make the most of it.


Gav with our first monkey sighting, just outside our hotel. The Hilltop Hotel is a god place to see monkeys. I often woke up to see them out in front of my windows.

- Matt

 

[Mattadvproject]

25th Jan – Day 2

Thankfully it snowed overnight and we awoke to a chance of sun. The mountain was still shrouded in cloud but it looked like it would lift. I was hoping the guys could get a view of the mountain for the first time. The ski patrol was up doing control work so we waited for a while. Claire was feeling the cold so her and Mike and Jeelani (our local guide) went for a run down to the bottom. Gavin and I stayed put and by noon, the chairlift was finally ready to go. Patrol had gotten the main bowl at the top to release producing a D4 sized avalanche. We couldn’t see it with the cloud but we could hear it.

We were about 10th in line and there were only a few tracks when we got to the top. About 2/3 of the way up the clouds finally lifted and it was bluebird. Gavin finally got to see the view, it was stunning! We headed a little to the skier’s left where it was a little less tracked. The snow was about 20cm’s deep, pretty heavy (not a bad thing as we needed denser snow to cover up the rocks). We enjoyed some nice turns together, skiing short pitches one at a time and then re-grouping. We skied back to the chair and put in another lap.

By about the 3rd lap, we saw Jeelani with Mike and Claire so we all did another run together. The snow was getting pretty tracked (everyone was confined to the main bowl as patrol had signs out saying don’t go across the slide path to the other ridges – fair enough as there was still a lot of hangfire) but the lower cloud was starting to burn off. It was turning into a lovely day. Then we had to stop for lunch at the dabba’s and we had some fried rice.

Then we had to continue on with our beacon practice. I like to ramp things up gradually, so this time, we went to the large open area in front of the patrol HQ and we started work on multiples. We were still on the flats with skis off, but this time we had our packs on with the gear inside (so they had to practice deploying their gear as well) and they had to learn to use the flagging feature on the beacons. We started with single rescuer with 2 beacons and then moved into a three person group looking for two beacons.

As always, they got plenty of feedback from me and a couple of goes. By the final go, the group was looking pretty good as they were getting consistent at working through all the main steps of the AIARE avalanche rescue checklist and increasing speed. I was very happy with the progress. We didn’t get finished till close to 5pm. It had been a big day and then we still had to ski down to the bottom of the gondola. Thankfully with the new snow, the coverage was a lot better from the day before and there were less exposed rocks in the main trail. Overall, it had been a really positive day (especially compared to the previous day), with the new snow really helping the conditions and good work being done on the beacon skills. I was really happy that they had gotten the visibility and decent skiing from the top of the chairlift. A good 2nd day! It was off to the Highland Park to celebrate with a couple of well-earned beers.


Gav checking out the view of the southern bowls and ridges. This is where the two fatalities had happened earlier in the season and at this stage, they were still primed and ready to slide again.


Gav approves of the view.


Working on our beacon skills. Here Gav and Mike are digging out the first victim whilst Jeelani watches closely.


Whilst Claire starts looking for victim number 2. The ski patrol HQ is in the background and to the right is the mid-mountain snow study plot (roped off).

- Matt

 

[Mattadvproject]

Here's a little mish-mash of the skiing from day 2, from the top of the chairlift. In the previous posts I had mistakenly put January a few times, when it was supposed to be February. Sorry aboot that!


- Matt

 

[Rod9301]

The location is attractive, for sightseeing and general tires stuff. I would go.

But, in the entire area, and I include Kazakhstan, kirghizstan, etc, even though they are not that close, the full on Continental climate makes for a really sketchy snowpack.

I climbed close by, and pretty scary avie conditions.

 

[Mattadvproject]

The location is attractive, for sightseeing and general tires stuff. I would go.

But, in the entire area, and I include Kazakhstan, kirghizstan, etc, even though they are not that close, the full on Continental climate makes for a really sketchy snowpack.

I climbed close by, and pretty scary avie conditions.

Thanks for the comments Rod. Gulmarg is an amazing place, not only for sightseeing, but also for skiing and riding. It has some of the best terrain and (believe it or not) gets very reliable snow (this season was the worst snowpack in the 9 years I have been going there), but you do have to hit it at the right time. It's hard for me to compare it to Kazakhstan and the other places you mentioned, my experience in those parts has been limited to the Aletai mountains in the Xinjiang and I've only been there once. I would say that the snowpack there was a lot worse than what I have ever seen in Gulmarg, completely rotten from the bottom to near the top. But again, I have no historical data or experience to know if conditions in Aletai were an anomaly or not.....

The avalanche conditions we encountered in Gulmarg this season was definitely not a new phenomena. Gulmarg does have a pretty decent natural avalanche cycle most seasons, I can only remember maybe 2 seasons (2013 and 2017) when this didn't happen. This year it happened much later than usual. If Gulmarg receives early season snowfalls (this year they had a big dump in early December and then they didn't get any big dumps for another month or so, but it they can get snowfalls in November and October). The major and regular snowfalls don't typically start until the end of December or early January (what the locals call the "Chilli Kallan" - probably butchered the Kashmiri spelling on that one.... it translates as "old man winter"). The months before the New Year can be cold and dry so any snow on the ground obviously sits and rots and we see a massive faceting cycle. Then when the proper snowfalls come in, then it's only so long before the weak layer at the base of the snowpack becomes reactive.

In a good season, then you typically see a big natural avalanche cycle right around mid-January, after about 2 or maybe 3, big storms (not always but it's something people thinking about going early season would be wise to track). The weak layer is cleaned out and then the snowpack can reset with a much stronger base. The skiing after that, is usually pretty good. So if you can catch it after that avalanche cycle has happened, then you are probably going to get really good conditions for skiing up high in the alpine zone. I personally stay away from Gulmarg early season and wait to go until the end of February and into March when conditions are a lot more stable. From memory, 2013 and definitely 2017, we didn't have the usual early season persistent weak layer problem as the snow came in later and it didn't stop snowing. In other season, we've had the natural avalanche cycle in January and then stability has been good after that.

This season has been really tough, If you've read my previous blogs on Epicski (this is my first time blogging about Gulmarg on Pugski) then you will see that this season did rank up there as the toughest conditions that I have personally seen there in 9 years. On it's day (and you have to be there at the right time), Gulmarg in my opinion, has some of the best off-piste skiing in the world, but you have to be there when it's right. Conditions for us didn't start to improve until the last few days of the trip and then it was all-time. That big, wet, heavy storm we got at the end of Feb/start of March was the one that finally caused the snowpack to slide and reset. Everything went and that was a good thing. We had to be really patient, but the touring we were able to do after that from the top of the gondola was magical. So, the avalanche conditions were not unfamiliar therefore, but we were more than a month behind in the typical avalanche cycle and timing of the tipping point. All of this is still to come in the blog.....

- Matt

 

[Rainbow Jenny]

Awesome TR as always, Matt. Thank you for sharing.

I saw the Gulmarg video Sabrina provided during the 4 day AST 2 avy course in Niseko couple weeks ago with a Kiwi guide/former NZ and Interior BC ski patroller. Bronwen briefly shared some comments from her friends/colleagues guiding in Gulmarg. I appreciate your thoughts and analysis here, really great supplemental learning opportunity.

Since we got some heavy rain during the course, the snow profile was more interesting than otherwise. The Decision Making in Avalanche Terrain field book is fantastic, the daily trip form provides a wonderful framework for thinking about various avalanche problems, logging expected vs observed conditions, and making alternate plans every morning. Our debriefing sessions afterwards were invaluable although I had a little trouble focusing after such long days.

Btw, I’m finally finishing Hokkaido with 40 resort, 20 touring, and 3 xc days, it’s been an amazing journey full of wonderful new friends.

 

[Mattadvproject]

Awesome TR as always, Matt. Thank you for sharing.

I saw the Gulmarg video Sabrina provided during the 4 day AST 2 avy course in Niseko couple weeks ago with a Kiwi guide/former NZ and Interior BC ski patroller. Bronwen briefly shared some comments from her friends/colleagues guiding in Gulmarg. I appreciate your thoughts and analysis here, really great supplemental learning opportunity.

Since we got some heavy rain during the course, the snow profile was more interesting than otherwise. The Decision Making in Avalanche Terrain field book is fantastic, the daily trip form provides a wonderful framework for thinking about various avalanche problems, logging expected vs observed conditions, and making alternate plans every morning. Our debriefing sessions afterwards were invaluable although I had a little trouble focusing after such long days.

Btw, I’m finally finishing Hokkaido with 40 resort, 20 touring, and 3 xc days, it’s been an amazing journey full of wonderful new friends.

Always nice to hear from you Jenny, congrats on the AST 2 and sounds like you had an awesome season in Japan! Nice work. What was the Gulmarg video you watched during your course? I'd like to see it (if I haven't seen it already). I definitely tend to dig more pits in Gulmarg than I do in Japan, the snowpack there definitely seems to be more complex on average than in Hokkaido. It was tough that the group didn't get as much meaningful skiing in as we would have liked at the start of the trip, the avalanche education they received and the conditions that they witnessed, well that was priceless, in my opinion. Cheers Jenny, where are you heading to now?

Kind regards,
Matt

 

[Mattadvproject]

26th Feb – Day 3

We warmed up with a couple of runs from the chairlift and people had started to cross the main avalanche gully to the far skier’s left of the ski area and out past Army Ridge. My guys weren’t into that (given the avi danger and potential for hang-fire from above) so we stayed right in the main bowl. The snow was pretty chopped up and it was challenging skiing. After 2 laps or so we were getting a little tired, so we decided to take a scenic gondola ride to the top.

Even though we had a weekly pass that gave us full access to both stages of the gondola and the chairlift, they still wanted to try and charge us for a scenic ride up and down. That was frustrating! I managed to haggle them down to just charging us one way (480 INR, which is less than $10) but I still wasn’t happy about paying in general given that we had ski ride tickets. Anyway, I’ll save that rant for another time. For Gav and Mike, it was a great chance to get up to the top and see the view. The guys were not disappointed and we took plenty of photos. We didn’t have any of our gear but we were able to dig a quick hand pit and get down to the base of the snowpack. There were some pretty large and well-formed facets at the base of the snowpack. The guys had not seen such developed facets like that before.

On the way up we could also see the massive release at the top of the main bowl from the control work that the ski patrol had done. It was scarily impressive. The snow wasn’t super deep (crown was around a meter on average, not the biggest slide in Gulmarg I have seen) but it went full track and ran nearly 4,000 vertical feet. A slide like that, down to the ground, through rocks and into the gully, would be un-survivable. It was scary to see but from an educational perspective, invaluable information. The guys had an even greater respect for the mountain after seeing that.

Then we had some lunch at the dabba’s. After lunch it was time to finish off our beacon training. This was the full scenario, with skis and full packs on, working on multiples. We did two runs. The first run was in the beacon training park area; using the 1 beacon there and one of my beacons in a pack. They couldn’t dig up the patrol beacon (they could only probe for it) but they could probe and dig up the pack. They did well; working on a slope with full gear was definitely a challenge. Then we did one more with 2 buried beacons in packs and they did a great job there. Both beacons were found and dug out in under 10 minutes. They worked well as a team and followed all of the AIARE steps. It was great to see. It was a lot of hard work for them, but working through the progression through the 3 part system helped them build and then practice, solid beacon, probing and strategic shoveling skills. I was really happy with the progress!


Our first view of the big D4 slide that patrol had released the day before during their control work in the main bowl of the ski area.





Top of phase 2 of the gondola at 12,293ft.


The crew from left to right: Suhail (another one of my local Kashmiri guiding team), Mike and then Gav.





Myself and Gav, above the clouds.





Some large depth hoar that we found at the base of the snowpack at the top of the gondola, after digging down by hand.


JetForce airbags are so fun!


Gavin on the way down from a run from the chairlift.


The northern end of Mt. Apharwat. These are almost 4,000ft vertical runs.


Final phase of our beacon training program. Multiple burials with full kit, on a slope. Claire had a later start that day but was able to join us for beacon training.

- Matt

 

[Mattadvproject]

27th Feb – Day 4

Again our only option for skiing was the chairlift and that was getting pretty beat-up, so after a run or two, we got stuck into snowpack analysis. We’d obviously seen all of the avalanches both within the ski area and adjacent in the backcountry, but why were they happening? I wanted the guys to take a close-up view of the snowpack (in different locations) so they could better understand why the avalanches were happening.

We ended up digging two pits, one slightly above the chairlift at about 11,500ft (NNE aspect) and then down lower next to the ski patrol hut at the mid-station. It was interesting to see how much less snow there was this year. I’ve dug pits in that same location before and typically there will be a lot more snow. One year we dug down more than 3m to get to the base. That was a big hole…..

This day the snow depth was only around 150cm’s deep. That’s really not that much and a reminder that we were dealing with a shallow and potentially more reactive snowpack. We dug a 2m wide pit down to the base. This was a good chance to further refine our strategic shoveling techniques. We had a look at all the different layers by passing a crystal card down through the sidewalls of both sides of the pit and then doing hand hardness tests. The layers were all over the place, with multiple counts of hard layers on top of soft layers.

Then it was time to test the bonding between these layers with a whole series of tests, starting with a shovel shear test, a couple of column tests and then an extended column test. The extended column test was the most revealing with a failure on 14 taps and propagation across the entire column. Not good! We tried a rutschblock test as well but the results were inconclusive.

We had consistent failure with the column tests with easy results that would likely step down to the bottom of the snowpack. As the avalanche report was saying, failure in the upper snowpack could propagate down and entrain the entire season’s snowpack. Our findings definitely supported that statement. During our testing, we heard a loud rumble in the distance. It was a little cloudy at the time, but it turned out to be a large natural slide down lower in the Saffron Bowl area.

After lunch, we went out past the ski patrol HQ (near the mid-station), we dug another 2m wide pit down to the ground and conducted the same tests. Here we also found a complex snowpack, with large facets towards the ground, but the snowpack was saturated and the bond between the grains was more cohesive. The snowpack here was a lot more supportive. Again, this was very educational for the group and now the team had a much better understanding of why the stability was so low and why the avalanches had been occurring. It was still a very positive day for all concerned.


Mike using the metal crystal card to check and mark the initial layers in the snowpack.



This was our profile dug just above the chairlift at around 11,500ft.


Gav isolating a 30cm x 30cm column for a Compression Test (CT).


The natural avalanche that went whilst we were digging our first pit. Must have happened as the temperatures rose. We didn't see it slide but we certainly heard it.


Our second pit, several thousand feet lower in elevation, next to the mid-station. It also had a lot of layers in it, but the snow was pretty saturated and the bonding seemed better.


Still some decent facets at the base.


Sahil, learning a lot as well.

- Matt

 

[Mattadvproject]

A quick video of one of the tests in the upper snowpack. This was an ECTP 14 (not 12 as I had said in the video). Here you see pretty easy failure and then propagation across the entire slab. Not good! No doubt any slides starting in the upper portion of the snowpack would have the energy to step down to the base and entrain the entire season's worth of snow. Certainly this is what we had been seeing all around us already. It still wasn't safe to go skiing in the backcountry and we needed more snow to come in and overwhelm the persistent weak layer. The hope was then the weak layer would be cleaned out and the snowpack could reset with a more stable foundation. There's always hope in Gulmarg as big storms happen frequently and it was looking like it would take just one more big storm (ideally a wet and heavy storm) to cause a large natural avalanche cycle. Thankfully that did happen a few days later......


- Matt

 

[Mattadvproject]

Feb 28th Day 4 – Gulmarg Sightseeing

The gang decided to take a rest day as there was no new snow and everyone’s legs were getting pretty tired. After a late breakfast, I took Mike and Gav around town for some sightseeing. We walked to Mr. Khan’s cloth house first and were given a very warm welcome by the man himself. Mr. Khan is one of my favorite people in the world and he gave us all cups of Kawah (A popular Kashmiri hot drink) and some snacks. The guys tried on a bunch of clothing and bought a few items.

Then we headed out and went past the beginner ski slopes on the golf course to check out some of the local and domestic tourist skiers. That’s always fun. We also checked out the government ski hire shop at the top of the pomas and they actually had some decent (though getting old) gear (a lot of Dynastar skis and Lange boots).

Then we headed back towards the gondola and up Monkey Hill to the Khyber, the 5 star resort perched on a little hill top. We had a lovely lunch (Claire came with us for that) and had a nice tour around the facility. Everyone was very impressed! We finished with a few beers at the Highland Park Hotel.


Wonderful of the Mt. Apharwat and the Gulmarg ski area.



Mike and Gav.



Visiting Mr. Khan and playing dress-ups. The famous red leather poncho!



Mike approves!



The guys trying on some Pherans, long gown-like pullovers that Kashmiri men wear in the winter.



Gotta accessorize with the right hat.....



Checking out Pashmina shawls.



He's got quite a few....







Monkeys out the front of our hotel.







I never get tired of watching the monkey's.....

- Matt

 

[mikel]

Thanks for the report and all the pics. This is great stuff. I didn't realize that this was such a nice area. I thought it was affected by the political landscape and not necessarily the safest area for westerners.

 

[Mattadvproject]

Thanks for the report and all the pics. This is great stuff. I didn't realize that this was such a nice area. I thought it was affected by the political landscape and not necessarily the safest area for westerners.

Thanks for following the TR Mikel and for the kind words, it is greatly appreciated. You would not be alone in those thoughts, I think a lot of Westerners might share a similar opinion of Kashmir, I'm definitely trying to show Kashmir in a different light though and focus on the positives of the place. For me it is always a unique and rewarding experience going to Gulmarg, it's a beautiful area (shame about the trash!) but what really keeps me coming back, is the warmth and hospitality of the local Kashmiri people. They are some of the friendliest and most welcoming people on the planet. Those are the experiences I remember the most.

Most Kashmiri's would like to have their own independent state, free of Indian occupation. They've wanted that since 1947 when the Indian army has had a presence in the valley. Pakistan lays claim to parts of Kashmir as well as China and the Kashmiri's are stuck in the middle. There is a growing resentment to the Indian army's presence in Kashmir (something like 80% of the Indian army is currently stationed in Kashmir and that is hundreds of thousands of troops). You will see soldiers everywhere sadly.

Now that's not something that as we tourists should necessarily be worried about. The soldiers are there in Kashmir, to try and act as a deterrent to their international rivals and are not a concern to tourists. There is no doubt that there is a lot of ill-will between the soldiers and the Kashmiri's and there seems to be a growing resentment with the Kashmiri youth in more recent times (kids that are growing up that were too young to remember the harsh times of the 90's in Kashmir), but this is not seen in Gulmarg. Gulmarg is a quiet and peaceful place, year round and is a safe place for tourists to visit.

The domestic tourist market in Gulmarg is alive and well, especially in the summertime where queues for the gondola can go for several hours. In the wintertime, the Western travel market has remained stagnant, maybe even shrunk as the much more popular ski markets of Japan lure would-be-Western visitors away from a visit to Gulmarg (also the growing resort infrastructure in Eurasia and maybe even China, could also be competition for the Western market). Many countries have travel advisories against visiting Kashmir unfortunately. Until those are lifted, I don't know if we'll see big numbers of Western skiers and boarders visiting Gulmarg. That means for the time being, the mountains will stay quiet, the powder untouched and easy to get to. I'll keep going back as long as I can and it would be my pleasure to take more adventurous American skiers and boarders out there. I'd love to hear @Mike King has to say on the matter, as a Pugski regularr who has been to Gulmarg before.....

Cheers Mikel, plenty more to come!

- Matt