A guide to being a Snow Bum.....Gulmarg Style

Sandy is our friend that knows how to milk the most out of his travel time. He has tuned his skills to a fine art over the last few years. We asked him to write some blog entries for us and sort of leak some of his Gulmarg knowledge. He agreed and has written about a few of the topics he thinks are vital reading for the aspiring Himalayan snow bum........

Gulmarg and the plateau....Ski town like no where else in the world.

I’ve always wondered how people manage to do seasons. Living in a ski town just isn’t

cheap. Finding a good job that means your shred time to work ratio ain’t heavily work 

weighted, can be a nightmare. Don’t get me wrong it can be done. However, more and 

more  people are sacking off ‘reality’ for a life of meaning and fun, which means a lot of the 

good jobs are already filled for the following season. Therefore, you’ve got to be cheeky 

and perhaps look for somewhere a little unique and essentially cheaper. Alternatively, you 

could become an investment banker, work for a few years and then take a couple off to 

‘reassess’ if earning wads of cash is actually fulfilling! What ever floats your boat really.

Now what if I’d told you I’ve done my last three seasons without having to do any work whilst there. Okay, I may have made some hats to sell. But all who know me, know how well my hats sell! It may have involved a bit of hard graft before getting there. It may also require living in a little less home comforts than you’d get in a Western resort. But for three months free time to shred to your heart’s content, would you complain? 

You can try to buy one of these from Sandy.
You'd best be around for the whole season if place an order!

Where is this shred heaven, well only India. Eh, India? You read it right. Look at a map of the Himalaya and you’ll notice they tail off in Kashmir, the most Northern State of India. They’ve got a gondy and they get snow. Oh man do they get snow! 





India is notorious for it’s cheapness on the backpacker circuit. So you’d expect a shred season to follow suit. Well, in all honesty, it’s not quite the case. You can definitely spend money in Gulmarg, just like any other ski town. You can stay in the swankier hotels, go bloody heli-skiing(!), drink the $5 beers everyday and get old men to pull you around on sledges. (Seriously, you could!)This is all good and well if you’re only there for a couple of weeks or even a month. But I’m not talking about that holiday type jazz. I’m talking about the long-haul. The be there at the beginning of the season, dodging the hidden rocks and getting to know the other 30 people who share your love for the white stuff. Right through to the Spring storms, where you’re blasting slashes, wind lips, cornices, steeps and still finding deep, deep love with the other 5, by now amazing, people who are just that little bit keener than the rest.

Are these the 5 who are keener than the rest?
(photographer included)

But how do you go about making that 3 month powder dream a reality, in Gulmarg? Well 

I’ve got a few hints and tips to try and make life a bit easier. I suppose the first thing I’d say is if you’re a bit high maintenance don’t bother! By all means come to Gulmarg on an 

adventurous shred holiday and live it up. This advice is for the people like me. The ones 

that work a hard job and spend all their waking moments trying to sort out what is the most 

important bit of gear they should be buying next. The one’s that can face waking up in the 

morning and seeing their breath mist up in front of them. The one’s that might not mind 

cracking the ice off the toilet or showering from a bucket.The one’s that might just be a 

little bit feral!

If this sounds like you and wearing a beanie that proclaims your love for snow would be standard then stay tuned!