Skiing on the Line of Control

For 50 years the violently-disputed "Line of Control" separating Indian and Pakistani troops along India's northern border has run through a snow-capped state in the Western Himalayas called Kashmir. At one time an independent kingdom, Kashmir has been the site of three wars and dozens of skirmishes waged between India and Pakistan for its control. It is a beautiful place with a tragic history.

While the full Kashmir story is more than I can tackle in this blog (though you can read more here) the roots and the relevance of this conflict are briefly summarized by wikipedia,

"Pakistan argues that Kashmir is culturally and religiously aligned with Pakistan (Kashmir is a Muslim region), while India bases its claim to Kashmir off Maharajah Hari Singh's decision to give Kashmir to India during the India-Pakistan split [in 1947]. Kashmir is considered one of the world's most dangerous territorial disputes due to the nuclear capabilities of India and Pakistan."

My journey to Kashmir began with an email last Wednesday telling me that Gulmarg, a little hill station at the edge of the Kashmir valley whose name means "meadow of flowers," had just received 5 feet of fresh snow.

"If we're ever going to go, now's the time," my friend said. I needed no encouragement.  Eager to ski in the Himalayas and to see this mystical and troubled place, my friends and I boarded a plane for Srinagar, the Indian government's summer capital for Kashmir. After a turbulent two hour drive through wintry swamps and past sandbag-laden military checkpoints we arrived in Gulmarg, population 800, elevation 8825' (2690 meters). It was already afternoon but we managed to get in a few runs and chat up the local Kashmiris, renowned for their warm friendliness (and delicious fruit-tinged tea) in this very cold place.

I spent the next day with a guide skiing the main mountain, Apharwat, a 13,500 peak accessed by a two-stage French-built gondola completed in 2005. Serious skiers can read a good description of the terrain here.

Valle' ("Wally") Muhammad, my 39-year old Kashmiri ski guide, is a father of two who learned to ski in the 1980s. But over our lunch of tea and curry at a lodge half way up Apharwat, Wally told me how he had had to put away his boots, bindings and poles for 13 years between 1990 to 2003 when successive attacks by Pakistani-backed paramilitary forces (terrorists if you're Indian, Mujahideen freedom fighters if you're Pakistani) all but ended the flow of tourists to the region. A 2003 ceasefire and the completion of Gulmarg's Gondola two years later brought him back to the slopes but the thin trickle of out-of-towners I met was little proof that the terrorist-ridden image of Kashmir had been shaken from Indian minds.

More on Wally (pictured below), Kashmir, and the conflict's impact on the local economy tomorrow...it's late here, and my eyelids are still sore from squinting into the sun-drenched snow...

Comments

[Karol]

Eager to hear the rest of the story.
Sore eyelids -- What, no goggles?

[Arundathi]

A little further from Gulmarg is Sonmarg which is also very beautiful and the trek from Gulmarg to Sonmarg (we did it on horse-back 15 years ago), is breath-taking.
If you have time, its worth a trip.

[ishani]

If there's paradise on earth, it is here...it is here...it is here - is what is said about Kashmir. But the 'is' in many ways has now changed to 'was'. Perhaps, the reason why you used a sepia toned photograph? For many Indians the idyllic Valley which used to be a tourist's paradise is now more or less out of bounds!

[Jayant Kamath]

Yes, that is true. Kashmir is indeed heaven on earth - I visited the place in April 2005 with my family. We took the bus from Jammu to Srinagar, driving on mountain roads with the river bullying its way through the rocks.

I was reluctant to go first but a friend, who had visited an year earlier, pointed out that more people die per day in road accidents in Bangalore, than in a month because of the inane militant bombings.

People are warm and hospitable and really welcome you.

And this year, it is to Uttaranchal in April.