GULMARG GENERAL INFORMATION
GULMARG
February 2013
GONDOLA
phase 1 opened in 1998 lifting capacity 1500 pph
phase 2 opened in 2005 lifting capacity 600 pph
phase 2 is 2.69 km long over a horizontal distance of 2.54 km
base elevation: bottom of Gondola: 2700 m
top of first Phase: Kongdoori 3100 m 400 m
top of 2nd Phase: Apharwat: 3980 m 880 m
CHAIR LIFT
opened in September 2011 costing AU$ 3.26 million (180,000,000 rupees)
lifting capacity 1000 pph
it covers a distance of 1600m
bottom of chair: Kongdoori: 3100 m approx
top of chair: Mary's Shoulder: 3445 m 445 m
RUN TO TANGMARG
top of run about 2650m
Tangmarg is about 2180
ski descends about 450m (finish slightly above town)
RUN TO BABARISHI ROAD
top of run about 2650m
road to Babarishi about 2300
descent about 350m
RUN TO DRUNG:
starts at top of Gondola, phase 2 3980 m
finishes at creek upstream of Drung: elevation 2,200m approx
descent: 1780 m
FROM BLOG DESCRIPTION 1st week
Gulmarg is situated about 60 km from Srinagar and the village is around 2700m ASL. It is a busy summer tourist attraction for Indians. In winter it is a popular destination with foreign skiers with (I would estimate) about 500 keen skiers here and maybe 250 being Russian and the rest from almost every country that has snow. This makes it a very different ski resort as there is such a diverse group and most keen to hike and get there fat skis or maybe split snowboards into some fresh powder. The emphasis is definately on quality not quantity with often only one or two runs done in a day. The lift organisation is also something unique. Patience is essential as long queues and poor organisation are the order of the day.
THE SNOW
The snow is a little wetter than I expected, not champagne powder but there is plenty of it and with only 500 riders and the high elevation there are some almost untouched fantastic runs. The inbound ski area is very small but with an open boundary policy there is plenty of “back-country”. The problem there is the ever present risk of avalanches. This is not something to be taken lightly and we have a guide (Majeed) with the two of us 6 days a week. He is a local with plenty of experience. After the storm we had on Monday and Tuesday the avalanche danger was quite high. On Monday we skied “The trees” from Gulmarg village down to the next village “Tangmarg” and although the snow was heavy (wet) it wa a great start. Tuesday they opened the first phase of the Gondola which gave us 400m of vertical and a great start. Wdnesday when the storm stopped they opened the chair lift which was another 445m and finally Thursday the to phase of the Gondola was opened adding 900m of vertical taking us to nearly 4000m.
February 2013
GONDOLA
phase 1 opened in 1998 lifting capacity 1500 pph
phase 2 opened in 2005 lifting capacity 600 pph
phase 2 is 2.69 km long over a horizontal distance of 2.54 km
base elevation: bottom of Gondola: 2700 m
top of first Phase: Kongdoori 3100 m 400 m
top of 2nd Phase: Apharwat: 3980 m 880 m
CHAIR LIFT
opened in September 2011 costing AU$ 3.26 million (180,000,000 rupees)
lifting capacity 1000 pph
it covers a distance of 1600m
bottom of chair: Kongdoori: 3100 m approx
top of chair: Mary's Shoulder: 3445 m 445 m
RUN TO TANGMARG
top of run about 2650m
Tangmarg is about 2180
ski descends about 450m (finish slightly above town)
RUN TO BABARISHI ROAD
top of run about 2650m
road to Babarishi about 2300
descent about 350m
RUN TO DRUNG:
starts at top of Gondola, phase 2 3980 m
finishes at creek upstream of Drung: elevation 2,200m approx
descent: 1780 m
FROM BLOG DESCRIPTION 1st week
Gulmarg is situated about 60 km from Srinagar and the village is around 2700m ASL. It is a busy summer tourist attraction for Indians. In winter it is a popular destination with foreign skiers with (I would estimate) about 500 keen skiers here and maybe 250 being Russian and the rest from almost every country that has snow. This makes it a very different ski resort as there is such a diverse group and most keen to hike and get there fat skis or maybe split snowboards into some fresh powder. The emphasis is definately on quality not quantity with often only one or two runs done in a day. The lift organisation is also something unique. Patience is essential as long queues and poor organisation are the order of the day.
THE SNOW
The snow is a little wetter than I expected, not champagne powder but there is plenty of it and with only 500 riders and the high elevation there are some almost untouched fantastic runs. The inbound ski area is very small but with an open boundary policy there is plenty of “back-country”. The problem there is the ever present risk of avalanches. This is not something to be taken lightly and we have a guide (Majeed) with the two of us 6 days a week. He is a local with plenty of experience. After the storm we had on Monday and Tuesday the avalanche danger was quite high. On Monday we skied “The trees” from Gulmarg village down to the next village “Tangmarg” and although the snow was heavy (wet) it wa a great start. Tuesday they opened the first phase of the Gondola which gave us 400m of vertical and a great start. Wdnesday when the storm stopped they opened the chair lift which was another 445m and finally Thursday the to phase of the Gondola was opened adding 900m of vertical taking us to nearly 4000m.