Monthly Archives: January 2010

Current Gulmarg weather Ski Season 2009-2010

You can find current upto the minute Gulmarg weather conditions and temperature here.
2010-01-28 13:30:00
North Kashmir’s Gulmarg tourist resort received snowfall Thursday morning, starting early in the morning – even as the weatherman predicted rain and snow in many parts of the Kashmir Valley.
Ski blogger Sam Lozier is spending a chunk of this winter in Kashmir, India with his friend Allen Taylor. From his blog report in boston.com:
Gulmarg has finally got some good weather in the forecast. After an unbelievably dry early season (only two storms so far) it looks like the jet stream is shifting south over the Arabian Sea, where it will pick up a lot more moisture than it does when it swings in over Asia. With combined force of the jet stream, the karmic assistance of our Kiwi friend James, who is leaving just before the storm, and the help of Allah (all the locals insist we trust in Him to bring the weather), we should end up with a bit of snow here in town.
More can be read on the blog posted by Eric Wilbur, Boston.com Staff January 27, 2010 01:39 PM

Calendar of five Short Snow Skiing Courses 2009-2010

Calendar of five (05) Short Snow Skiing Courses 2009-2010
1st Course
 27th December,2009 to 10th January, 2010
2nd Course
 14th January, 2010 to 28th January, 2010
3rd Course
 01st February, 2010 to 15th February, 2010
4th Course
 19th February, 2010 to 4th March, 2010
5th Course
 8th March, 2010 to 22nd March, 2010
Duration of Course 15 Days
No. of Trainees to be involved in each course 40 Trainees
Fee per Trainee per Course Rs4500/-

More information: The Indian Institute of Skiing and Mountaineering (01954-214037)

IISM Gulmarg Application Form

Enrollment

Interested participants wishing to join any course have to send the application form along with the full fees in the shape of bank DD drawn in favour of “Pay & Accounts Officer Department of Tourism New Delhi” payable at Punjab National Bank, New Delhi, (the fees is non transferable and non refundable). The application form should be written in block letters and mailed to:

Principal

Indian Institute of Skiing & Mountaineering, Indiatourism

Gulmarg, Kashmir.

Ski across the fence to Pakistan!

From a blog post by Sam Lozier, Boston.com Correspondent.

Gulmarg is very (VERY) close to the border with Pakistan. As it still hasn’t snowed in weeks, we’ve been pushing out of the resort and exploring the surrounding drainages for ski potential. Today we headed toward the line of control to see what the terrain was like on the Indian side.
To those familiar with the area, we were headed past the shark fin to ski a chute that looked like it was holding snow pretty well. Unfortunately, it was also very close to the border fence that is the line of control.
It’s a rather curious set of sensations that come over you when you when skiing near the Line of Control between India and Pakistan. We were as awestruck by the beauty of the place as we were the absurdity of recreating near one of the tensest borders in the entire world. Dulling the entire experience thought was the pounding headache I had from hiking at 14k feet to get to the view.
Further compounding the ridiculousness of the situation was a report that we’d received from a skier who’d been here in previous seasons. He said that it only takes a few storms to completely bury the fence. The unassuming backcountry skier could ski right over the border into Pakistan rather easily. With that in mind, we’ve made an effort to document where exactly the border is, so as not to end up like the hikers that accidentally ended up in Iran.

The story was reported here.

Snow Baseball Championship in Gulmarg Kashmir

Snow Baseball Championship in Gulmarg Kashmir
[flv:/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/20100111_AB_16_Snow_Baseball_Championship_in_Indian_Kashmir.flv 400 345]
Courtesy: ntdtv.com

Young players participated in a snow baseball championship in Indian Kashmir.

The town of Gulmarg gets heavy snowfall during the winter and is covered in white for about six months. The town offers an excellent playground for winter sports.

[Fida Hussain, Organizer]:
“We consider ourselves as the frontrunners of playing this game on snowfields. We want some development in this game as Gulmarg is the perfect spot for national and international championships.”

The sport requires a lot of courage and determination from participants.

[Asif Farooq, Baseball Player]:
“We are happy that we participated in this baseball championship. Now we will be able to play baseball on the snowfields. This is the first time that baseball has been played on snow and our experience has been very satisfying.”

Gulmarg is considered the country’s premier ski resort with its natural slopes and inclines.

Gulmarg Dec 25: (courtesy Rising Kashmir)
Snow Rugby, Snow Cycling and Snow Baseball attracted the tourists at one of the world’s best ski-destination Gulmarg as the Tourism Department organized 3rd Snow Festival to kick start the winter sports here on Sunday.
Minister for Tourism and Culture, Nawang Rigzing Jora, inaugurated the festival in which these summer games were the star attractions.
Twenty-five cyclists participated in the 7 km mass-start snow cycling event, while as the school teams participated in the snow ruby and snow baseball events.


Gulmarg wore the festive look as all the games were played on Sunday.
Chairman JK Rugby Association, Mohammad Iqbal was declared as the pioneer of the snow ruby in the sub-continent.
“I feel proud to be the pioneer as many countries have taken cue from us. They are excited and willing to take part in the event. The snow rugby has turned craze in the sub-continent since its introduction here in Gulmarg,” said Iqbal, adding, “The teams from USA, New Zealand, Fiji, Kazakhstan are expected to take part in a rugby championship in February next year.”

The snow rugby fever has turned girls also to the game.
“This is a treat to play the game on snow. The game is played on playfield which may be dangerous for girls. However, on snow, we feel safe and there is also added excitement,” said one of the players in the event, Dhuha Qazi.
In the girls snow ruby matches, Presentation Convent bagged first place, while as Green Valley and Minto Circle teams bagged second and third place respectively. In boy’s event, Linton Hall, Burn Hall and Green Valley bagged first three places respectively.

Besides, snow rugby the visitors were surprised by the snow cycling event also.
Many mountain bikers participated in the 7km mass start event. They rode up and down the slopes at Gulmarg captivating the attention of the visitors.
NIS qualified coach, Ghulam Rasool Kawa, bagged first place in the event while as Anzil Mukhtar and Mudassir Ahmad bagged second and third place respectively.
JK Baseball Association also had teams to exhibit baseball on the white carpet.

Gulmarg army men to represent India in Olympics

According to bleacherreport.com (Anita Lobo), three Indian athletes will represent India at the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games from February 12–28.

The Indian qualifiers are luge specialist Shiva Keshavan, who won Silver at the recent Asian Championship in Japan, Tashi Lundup, and Jamyang Namgyal, who are employed by the Indian Army and stationed at Gulmarg, which is the tiny-but-serving winter sports capital of India.

While this is Keshavan’s fourth Olympics, it’s the first where he has corporate sponsors (Swissair, Limca Book of records, and Reebok) and a full-time coach. There is no such support for the two Army men.

WHAT A SHAME – Update Feb 24, 2010: Overheard (from BBC actually):
Vancouver’s Indo-Canadian community has rallied to provide funding and uniforms for India’s three-man Winter Olympics team… The owner of a sports shop donated track suits for the opening ceremonies, saying the rush was on to get the Indian flag embroidered onto the gear. And a local Punjabi radio station is raising funds for the team – made up of a luger and two skiers.

The luge used by captain Shiva Keshavan is also donated – by lawyers in India. Five lawyers chipped in 450,000 rupees ($9,700; £6,200) after Keshavan’s old luge – held together by duct tape and screws – broke during training in November.

Alpine skier Jamyang Namgial and cross-country skier Tashi Lundup round out the team.