Storm days

2/8/10
Gulmarg

It’s been snowing pretty steadily since Thursday now. We’ve accumulated well over a meter and there is more on the way. Periodically, our roof dramatically sheds huge amounts of snow, which causes the whole building to shake. Buildings that aren’t inhabited have massive round cornices forming over the eves. We’ve gotten more snow in the last week than this place has seen in the last 3 months. Both stages of the Gondola are shut down. They always close the top stage when it’s snowing or even foggy, but it’s very they close the bottom stage. So for now we’ve been entertaining ourselves on the playground right behind the hotel: Monkey Hill. Monkey Hill is about 600-feet tall and is covered in large, spread out pines. It is perfect for tree-skiing and has many little hills and ridges that are in the 35-45° range. So it’s got decent pitch. A 45° slope is actually pretty damn steep.

There are a few ways to get up this hill. The first option is to bootpack straight up. This is the quickest, yet hardest way to do it. Then there are a couple of skin tracks. The main skin track everyone takes contours around the mountain a bit then climbs up a really mellow and almost flat ridge. It takes about 20-25 minutes and is also a pretty good workout. Usually I’m quite hot when I reach the top. There is another skin track that has been set on a very aggressive slope due to the current snow conditions. The snow falling is very wet and the temperature is quite warm. This makes for pretty sticky and compactable snow. Thus, one is able to skin up unusually steep slopes. The skins have no problems holding onto a 30° slope. This skin track is my favorite because it’s pretty fast and it takes you through some interesting places as you zigzag up. The tricky part, however, is turning around on these steep switchbacks. It’s a bit of a balancing act. First, you plant your poles good and strong uphill. Then you take your uphill-side leg, turn it 90° and take a big awkward lunge into the next switchback. Replant the poles. Now you’re standing in a sort of a ballet pose with legs going each direction. Your final leg you must lift up behind you and point your toes as you swivel your ski around, careful not to burry the tip into the snow bank, all the while keeping your balance because a stumble could easily turn into a long roll down the hill in deep powder.

As you near the top of the hill, the slope flattens out a little and there are some larger clearings. The giant trees look like large columns of snow. Their branches, unable to support the tremendous weight, now slope downwards and occasionally let off a bombardment of snow that looks like a small blizzard. I had one of these fall on me the other day. It was more funny than anything else as I was soon covered in a few inches of powder, but I was lucky not to get hit by any of the heavier ice chunks that created sizeable craters in the snow around me.

It is coming to the point where you can crash as hard as you want and the snow will soften your fall. This is great news because there are many logs and stumps to jump off. There is a large stump sitting right over a near-vertical drop of about thirty-feet literally right behind the hotel. A few more feet of powder and this jump will have a great landing. Wes has been eyeing this jump daily and can hardly wait to huck himself off of it.

When it snows like this the power goes out in Gulmarg. Luckily, we have wood-burning stoves for heating. I wonder what the more expensive places advertising central heating are telling their guests.