Hmm, maybe the last winter in the east? While in Asia I have skied in Japan twice, as well as New Zealand once, time to try out something a little more out their. Options are China, Korea or Kashmir?? Some assumptions; Korea is probably to crowded ( less than 2 hours from Seoul) and China is , or could be way to cold?? holy moly listen to me 
.
Well the decision was made, Kashmir! For folks that don’t know it, Kashmir is a state/province in India, which abuts Pakistan, Nepal, China . So needless to say there are some mountains in this area, called the Himalayas?? also to make this a little more fun, this is probably the most contested real estate in the world! It was always amazing when I told folks that we were skiing in Kashmir! India? The look on their face? was They have snow their? It also didn’t help to have Mike send me regular news flashes of political killings, avalanches!!
THe plan , was to fly to Mumbai late, stay over night , than catch the early flight to Shrinagar , via New Delhi, Jummar, 
. No
problems, just stay on the plane and watch the change of passengers at each airport. This picture is in Mumbai arranging for our Taxi, they have a good system, just seemed a little bit chaotic after living Singapore’s efficient machine. So they threw the skis on top of the cab and we were off, essentially moving closer to the domestic terminal, so we could catch the early flight in the morning to Shrinagar.
Oh, did I mention that ? Mike agreed to keep me out of trouble , and ski if their was time. Here ,he is inspecting the rope system , make sure it was meeting spec. We would have included more Mumbai pics. but we got their late and left early , never saw light.
What a fantastic view out of the window! first view of the Himalayas
When we got to Shrinagar our contact was their, so 
it was just
a matter of getting gear and skis . What we realized, quick enough was that we were not the only skiers, and their were a lot of nationalities their. We ended up sharing the truck with 4 Italians.
If you look close you can see folks , standing on top of cars, loading skis.
On the way to Gulmarg, all we could see were houses in construction. The area was booming. Who would have thunk?
Nothing like a gas stop, but their was
petrol! I think it was a joke, or when they really did not have gas, the sign was their.
Whi
le we where fueling, I had the chance to full fill one of those long-lost dreams ” driving a steam roller”! well maybe not drive it but certainly sit in the drivers seat!
At some point on the way up to Gulmarg , you might see something that reminds you ( like a horse and carriage? not a tourist ride) , that you are not going to loon mountain. This was on the main road.
Hmm the next stop is Telemarsk, where we traded vehicles from no chains to one chain and also to note the monkeys sitting on the roof.
The idea of a monkey at high elevation is hard to get use to, I kept thinking they would jump on me! yikes! but they seemed to be more scared of me. Here one is picking lice off of the back of the other.
here we are unloading and actually surrounded by SNOW!
This is the store /lunch canteen at the lower gondola lift
This is one of the lunch places I went to, .
The guy was more friendly than he looks
The next group pictures are mountain skiing? the first day it was pretty bullet proof for me, although some folks seemed impervious to it, I just need to get out more .
As you can see it was snowing! not a lot but every day a couple of inches was all we needed
The first time or maybe everytime, it is generally wise to get a guide, When this was first getting arranged we wondered 
how the local guides would be, but it turned out that they were great and could ski anything! this is Faziz and Mike.
This is an old avalanche run out? they said it was not because the mountain was so far away?? but still
This picture is hard to capture the true magnitude of this but, it was more apparent at the top, looking up to the mountain .
Well , after a hard on the slopes we had to relax, and there is nothing like a beer to unwind with. Looks like Mike is dropping off. Sorry mike but could not resist! 
Mike ended up leaving a couple of days before me, so we wanted to get a good pic. of the 3 of us.
As you would have it, the day after Mike left the clouds blew out and the sun came in! Than we could really see what was above us.
Looks Like?? hmmmm India??? really . Hell we could have been in Idaho
Holy Moly! that is awesome. You can see the lift on the left side, kind of the best of both worlds, back country with out skins!
One of the fun aspects of skiing here, is the amount of different countries represented here. They may be in the alps, but the area is so small, as far as the gondolas .
While we were their we ran into ( literally ) in to folks from Finland, Spain, Italy, Ireland, France, US, and Russia. the next picture is with a russian couple and her brother. All snow boarders! I think they are taking over the world.
We did have a couple of shots with clouds coming in.
I have a couple of more pictures ?? yeahh right , maybe 300! but the next 2 are pretty good after that , I took off to Shrinagar
Untracked Snow, nothing is better than that.
High stuff
The last part of the trip was to be spent in Shringar on lake dal, on a house boat! but first we needed to drive down the mountain, on essentially a lane and 1/2 road, with on coming trucks and buses, all chained up?? well mostly chained up.
On the way up we only had one chain ? which means that the wheel without the chain will get all of the power and, much fish tailing In this picture we were almost down so he was taking the chain off.
This is what many of the Kashmiri men do for income, they pull people on sleds up and down this road. Most of their customers are either Chinese from Hong kong, or Singapore , as well as Indians from down south. Check out the snow banks? and these are not plow banks. Off to the right is the gold course, which is at the highest elevation in the world. Wonder how far golf balls travel their.
This is yours truly on the boat being row’d out to the house boat. 
Back in the day,this is one of the few places where Indian Raja’s went to escape the heat,as well as the Brits .I don’t believe I saw any motor boats, the locals were very aware that it was important to keep the Lake in pristine condition, after all it is a destination point for many tourist.
Some of the House boats or House barges had some pretty interesting names:
Their was also the Neil Armstrong house boat, and many more;-) . All of the floors are covered with beautiful carpets? “You want to buy one? good prices?
The next few pictures are of lake Dal and the mountains surrounding it.
This looks like a couple of guys heading off to work.
One of the interesting points, is that these folks were very focused on letting me know that they loved us, and their country was safe! that was the big message, Kashmir is safe. On another note, I have never seen so many soldiers in my life, because Pakistan would love to include Kashmir in its territory. I asked a few Kashmiri’s and their responce was that they would like to be their own country?? So we will see what becomes of this little Gem of a country.
When I first arrived at my house boat, they started calling me GodFather like the movie, Than they gave me a beer and I understood, it was pretty funny. I was the only one in the boat, looks like each boat had 3 bedrooms.
Well this was the last night in Kashmir, hmmm wonder what the light means? No one can say I am not the brightest bulb? It was a great trip, I think the skiing had me a little intimidated, took me a few days to get everything clicking, I passed on some runs that I should have taken? So if I am here next year I will come back, but instead of end of Feb, maybe the first of Feb. Hope ya’ll liked the pics! Take care
