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      • Winter arrives in Gulmarg - Weather Update

      BACKCOUNTRY NEWS AND FORUMS

      Welcome to your source for the latest news, conditions, and insights on backcountry skiing and adventuring. Explore reports, gear reviews, safety tips, and more to help you make the most of your time in the wild.

      If you sign up as a member this is your chance to tell everyone about everything and anything to do with backcountry skiing. Follow the simple steps to register and WHAMMY, you’re in. If you are pulling your hair out with frustration, have a look at the help forums for answers or take a pause and drop us an email at: info (at) backcountryskiingcanada.com. We’ll do our best to help out as soon as we can (but all bets are off on a powder day, obviously).  


      Winter arrives in Gulmarg - Weather Update

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      • admin
        2015-10-26 11:29:37

        Winter arrives in Gulmarg - Weather Update

        Here is the lates weather report from Gulmarg India: We have a couple of decent storms shaping up for Gulmarg right now. Currently it is snowing hard in Gulmarg, they've gotten 11 inches at mid-mountain so far, with more coming through the night. Winds are increasing (from the SW), with more than 20 mph constant wind speed, maybe higher, up high. We'll have to see how much wind-blown snow there is, there could be a lot on the leeward side of the ridgetops and upper ridgelines. This is a warm/wet storm, with temps hovering around freezing at mid-mountain and only a couple of degrees below freezing a the summit.

        Ski Gulmarg

        Ski Gulmarg

        There is another storm forecast for the weekend, this is a bigger storm with more then 24 inches currently forecast at the summit for Saturday and more to come for Sunday. The temps are forecast to be a lot lower on the weekend.These 2 storms should deposit a fair amount of snow. We might see some different layers in there already at the start of the snowpack and we'll need to see how impacted it all has been by wind deposition.There could be enough snow from these storms to start the formation of the snowpack in Gulmarg in my opinion. We'll see.

        Therefore we will need to be monitoring the weather to see if this snow remains and how it changes. For those that have been following our reports over the years, you will know that early snow in Gulmarg (as it is anywhere else in the world), is not necessarily a good thing.

        If the temps remain low and we have lot's of cold, clear nights, then we could see the formation of depth hoar at the base of the snowpack. This is a common phenomena in Gulmarg. There needs to be enough snow on the ground and the right temps for this to happen.

        So, this is something we will be looking at from now on. The 3 previous storms (Sept 1st, 17th and 27th) didn't leave enough snow on the ground (plus the temps warmed up), so nearly all that snow melted out (there might still have been a decent enough accumulation of snow still at the top of the Shark's Fin area, which we will need to be wary of – there are no reports of how that show is changing, but I did see photos that showed a decent accumulation that was staying consistently shaded and cold….).

        Ski Gulmarg

        Ski Gulmarg

        Jeelani Rather, our head guide in Gulmarg, will be out on the mountain for us, poking around and reporting back on the snow. My goal is to be able to build an idea on how the early season snowpack is shaping up (before I get to Gulmarg), as this will no doubt have long-standing impacts on the stability of the snowpack for the early season and beyond. Our monitoring program really starts to shift into second gear now, now that there should be enough snow to start the snowpack. We'll report our findings as we have them, in the mean time have a look at the snow forecast here.

        Ski Gulmarg

         

        If you are interested in skiing in Gulmarg, consider signing up to our Gulmar trip this winter, details are here.


      • dromo_mania
        2015-10-26 20:13:04

        Good photo's.. great report. Bring it on
      • xcountry41
        2015-10-27 10:43:00

        As a Canadian with minimal travel experience outside North America I'm curious to what would attract Western Canadians to ski somewhere like India? After watching all the major powder stoke videos over the years I can wrap my mind around a trip to Japan, in January and I'd bet the touring would be epic (for me it's mostly about the pow turns) but India , I just really have never even considered it a ski destination. Sure, the mountains are Impressive! but I don't talk to many that head to ,say, Mt. Robson for the skiing. So what's the attraction?
      • skifreak
        2015-10-27 10:47:41

        Gulmarg is the next Japan. Big mountians, big snow and no people. Years ago no one really skied Japan, then it got discovered and its now on the map,... Gulmarg is still that jewel that has yet to be discovered.
      • xcountry41
        2015-10-27 21:56:52

        Sounds interesting, thanks! I'm starting my research now. Just hope a guy wouldn't have to drive in some of that crazy traffic you see on "don't drive here" type discovery channel shows! 
      • Mattadvproject
        2015-10-28 23:20:00

        xcountry41 said:As a Canadian with minimal travel experience outside North America I'm curious to what would attract Western Canadians to ski somewhere like India? After watching all the major powder stoke videos over the years I can wrap my mind around a trip to Japan, in January and I'd bet the touring would be epic (for me it's mostly about the pow turns) but India , I just really have never even considered it a ski destination. Sure, the mountains are Impressive! but I don't talk to many that head to ,say, Mt. Robson for the skiing. So what's the attraction?

        I hear you xcountry41! I think skifreak nails it with his/her reply! It's true, we have one big mountain with amazing terrain and huge vertical, tons of snow and hardly anyone there to compete with for first tracks. The mountain is so big, the storms are large and frequent enough, plus with so few people, that it simply can't all get tracked up. The bottom line is, if you know where to go in Gulmarg, you can always find untouched snow, it's pretty unique in that regard.

        I don't think it's just about the skiing/riding though, there's more to it than that. It's the local people, their culture and their hospitality, all the uniqueness that goes into a trip to Kashmir and Gulmarg, that's also a drawcard in my opinion. The Kashmiri people are some of the most hospitable in the world.

        It's interesting to note that Gulmarg has received a lot of ski press in recent times. Phase 2 of the gondola has been operational since 2005 and since then there have been a rash of major ski production companies who have filmed in Gulmarg (sorry I can't say how many of the major snowboard production companies have been out there); most of the big ski co's have filmed there though. TGR were the first, then Warren Miller (at least twice), MSP, and Salomon Freeski amongst others. If you want the links to some of those segments, let me know and I can post them here. I have most of them on my playlists on YouTube.

        So, Gulmarg has definitely been shown to the ski/board world, I just don't know why the ski/board world hasn't embraced it in return? Numbers of Westerners visiting Gulmarg actually seem to be lowering overall since 2011. The lift lines in the mornings at the gondola are definitely decreasing (which I personally don't mind but it's not good for the local economy that relies heavily on tourism, thankfully the numbers of domestic visitors to Gulmarg are steadily increasing, not that they are skiers though..... again, good for us!). So, maybe the very small bubble that was initially created seems to have burst? I also think that Japan is drawing potential Western visitors away from Gulmarg at the moment as it is THE hot destination.

        Is Gulmarg going to experience growth and mainstream acceptence like Japan is? I personally doubt it, even though the infrastrucure improves every year. I think if it was going to happen, it would have happened by now. Maybe if Japan gets played out and people want somewhere new to explore? I know that many countries still have travel advisories out against travel to either parts of, or all of Kashmir and that must certainly put people off (although I've never had any problems since I've been going there from 2008 onwards). If those advisories are removed (some countries have started to remove them or lessen them), then that would be a positive change and we'd see greater numbers.

        It is a long way to travel for a lot of people and that's never going to change, though it's actually not that difficult - fly to Delhi, stay overnight, catch a quick 1 hr15 minute flight the next day to Srinagar and then drive 2 hours up to Gulmarg, so I'm sure that is off putting too (though not much longer than flying to Japan). Depends on your threshold for long-distance travel is. I think it's all part of the adventure myself.

        So, for the right person (adventurous, open-minded, patient but powder hungry!), then Gulmarg is still a paradise. There's still plenty of powder to go around for everyone, even if more people come. How long it will stay that way, is debateable. Just my 3 cents.....


        Matt


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