Gulmarg is a famous tourist place in the State of Jammu and Kashmir in India. It is located at 8,500 feet (2730 meters) in Pir Panchal basin as a bowl-shaped small valley.
This place is a preferred destination of matchless beauty. Also known as the meadow of flowers, Gulmarg’s lush green grasses with cool breezes coming from surrounding dense forests of tall conifers on mountains with snowy peaks creates a fabulous experience that no tourist visiting Kashmir can afford to miss. And as winter approaches, the entire landscape changes from the bright green slopes of summers into the shinning white skiing track area beckoning winter sports lovers and adventurers to its gentle snow covered slopes. In fact, it is skiing that defines Gulmarg now-a-days.
Gulmarg is said to have been discovered as a leisure spot by one of the rulers of Kashmir, Yusuf Shah Chak, who along with his poetess Queen Habba Khatoon would visit the place. Mughal Emperor Jehangir with great aesthetic sense too well liked the place.
British were so fascinated by Gulmarg that it became their favourite sports jaunt on this side of Suez both during summer and winter. Besides setting up the world’s highest golf course at Gulmarg, they also made it an important ski resort with the introduction of Skiing almost at the same time as it had started in the Alps. The Ski Club of India was set up in 1927 and ski competitions were held at the nearby Khilanmarg with its pony track from Gulmarg kept open throughout the winter. The Christmas and Easter competitions evolved as the two major events.
Winter sports activities including skiing, which vanished from the area with the departure of British from India in 1947, were revived by the high Altitude Warfare School of Indian Army set up at Gulmarg. And after 1965 with the union Tourism Ministry’s intervention, Gulmarg started evolving into a Ski Resort of international standards. The Gulmarg Winter Sports Project was launched with UNDP’s assistance. Soon a large number of skiers mostly from abroad started thronging mountain slopes in the area especially to enjoy a white Christmas in the Himalayas in this region. Many of the winter sports lovers would make a four-hour climb to top of the mountain, “Apharwat” for a ski run that facilitates a fascinating view of the Himalayas and also far away Karakorum ranges including the peaks of Nanga Parbat and K-2.
A National Ski School was set up which started turning out qualified national ski instructors and in turn improved job opportunities in the area. Work also began for putting in place a Gondola from Gulmarg to Apharwat at an elevation of 3980 meters to coincide its completion with the proposed 1990 Asian Winter Games here. But unfortunately, all projections went haywire with the outbreak of militancy in Kashmir valley at the beginning of 1990 and the dream Gondola cable car project could be completed only in 2005-06 making it the highest ski resort served by lift in the entire world.
Designed by Poma of France, Gulmarg’s Gondola offers skiers and snowboarders a bigger lift-serviced vertical rise than any ski resort in the United States. As an idea of its scale, the vertical rise of Gulmarg’s Gondola is on par with any comparable single lift at Whistler-Blackcomb, which is famed for having the biggest vertical rise of any ski resort in North America.
With already a part of required infrastructure on stream, Gulmarg and its adjoining areas have the potential of emerging as the world’s most preferred destination in the near future. Its advantages are that unlike many European winter resorts Gulmarg has better snow line, is not overcrowded and is easily approachable with a little more than an hour’s drive from the nearest city Srinagar which has good board and lodging facilities and an airport of almost international standards.
Gulmarg is said to have been discovered as a leisure spot by one of the rulers of Kashmir, Yusuf Shah Chak, who along with his poetess Queen Habba Khatoon would visit the place. Mughal Emperor Jehangir with great aesthetic sense too well liked the place.
British were so fascinated by Gulmarg that it became their favourite sports jaunt on this side of Suez both during summer and winter. Besides setting up the world’s highest golf course at Gulmarg, they also made it an important ski resort with the introduction of Skiing almost at the same time as it had started in the Alps. The Ski Club of India was set up in 1927 and ski competitions were held at the nearby Khilanmarg with its pony track from Gulmarg kept open throughout the winter. The Christmas and Easter competitions evolved as the two major events.
Winter sports activities including skiing, which vanished from the area with the departure of British from India in 1947, were revived by the high Altitude Warfare School of Indian Army set up at Gulmarg. And after 1965 with the union Tourism Ministry’s intervention, Gulmarg started evolving into a Ski Resort of international standards. The Gulmarg Winter Sports Project was launched with UNDP’s assistance. Soon a large number of skiers mostly from abroad started thronging mountain slopes in the area especially to enjoy a white Christmas in the Himalayas in this region. Many of the winter sports lovers would make a four-hour climb to top of the mountain, “Apharwat” for a ski run that facilitates a fascinating view of the Himalayas and also far away Karakorum ranges including the peaks of Nanga Parbat and K-2.
A National Ski School was set up which started turning out qualified national ski instructors and in turn improved job opportunities in the area. Work also began for putting in place a Gondola from Gulmarg to Apharwat at an elevation of 3980 meters to coincide its completion with the proposed 1990 Asian Winter Games here. But unfortunately, all projections went haywire with the outbreak of militancy in Kashmir valley at the beginning of 1990 and the dream Gondola cable car project could be completed only in 2005-06 making it the highest ski resort served by lift in the entire world.
Designed by Poma of France, Gulmarg’s Gondola offers skiers and snowboarders a bigger lift-serviced vertical rise than any ski resort in the United States. As an idea of its scale, the vertical rise of Gulmarg’s Gondola is on par with any comparable single lift at Whistler-Blackcomb, which is famed for having the biggest vertical rise of any ski resort in North America.
With already a part of required infrastructure on stream, Gulmarg and its adjoining areas have the potential of emerging as the world’s most preferred destination in the near future. Its advantages are that unlike many European winter resorts Gulmarg has better snow line, is not overcrowded and is easily approachable with a little more than an hour’s drive from the nearest city Srinagar which has good board and lodging facilities and an airport of almost international standards.