Like every year for the past five, Delhi Rock is organising a skiing and boarding trip to Gulmarg in February, and would like to invite you to join us!
The deal this year:
We’ve arranged a deal with our friends in Gulmarg to include your stay, equipment and an experienced instructor to teach you skiing or boarding. If you want to come with us, pick your dates between 30th Jan and 14th Feb, email us at team@delhirock.com, and book your flights!
The cost of room & board on a sharing basis, equipment, and instruction is built into a single cost per day per person of Rs 4,500. Expect to spend an additional Rs 10,000 getting to Gulmarg from Delhi and back.
Our goal is to make staying in Gulmarg super affordable, so that folks can come up for longer and put in a decent amount of time on the slopes. Accommodation will be B&B style, and you’ll be sharing a room, so ideally would be up with friends.
About Gulmarg:
February 1st to February 14th is the peak season at Gulmarg, when you expect to find a settled snowpack, minimal avalanche hazard, and good snow in the village to get started learning on. If you’re coming for the first time, you should really plan to spend a full 8 days at Gulmarg, and a minimum of 4.
The usual routine if you’re learning skiing or boarding is to spend three days on the golf course, where the gradient is modest, the equivalent of greens in international resorts. After several days of practice with an experienced instructor, you’ll then be ready for Phase I of the gondola, which takes you to Kongdori midstation, at 10,500 ft.
Phase I is an intermediate (blue) run down to the village, so a few runs down Phase I, which has a groomer run all the way down, is a good day. Phase I has lots of alternate runs down as well, which get progressively steeper and go through trees, so lots to explore.
For experienced skiers and boarders, Mt Apherwat, 13,780 ft, offers unparalleled access to backcountry terrain all the way around the peak. The gondola goes to 400 ft shy of the summit, so you can either ski or board down the avy controlled terrain under the gondola, or hike up a bit and do some of the incredible 360° long powder runs that Gulmarg is famed for.
Prep for the trip:
In terms of gear, our snow camping gear list is a good start (remove the group gear part, the rest is applicable). This should be assembled carefully, and tested in town for comfort.
In terms of physical prep, skiing and snowboarding are all about balance, core strength and quad endurance, so doing functional training around those three areas would be good prep. Google “snowboarding workout” or “ski training” for more.
How to join the trip:
Gulmarg is a really magical place, especially in winter, so we do hope you consider coming with us this year. To save our dates on your calendar, please accept this Facebook event.
Email team@delhirock.com with your date preferences, and we’ll get started with including you on our trip! Have a great winter.
