Tuesday, December 30, 2008

GULMARG: THE INSPIRATION

I cannot recall how I first heard of a ski resort in India but it was described to me as an expanse larger than Verbier with vertical footage similar to Whistler, serviced by one six-person gondola. Many hours after that were spent Googling into the night to learn more about Gulmarg. "Ne Pofa, A short ski trip around the world" from M.dub is a beautiful video featuring the resort in the second half. It alone was enough to convince me to drop it all last year and go ASAP. Now I'm back for the second round.

Trip reports provide the grittier details about a destination, so browsing the travel forums has become mandatory before any adventure. The chestnuts in all of the internet jibber-jabber are these submissions from Matt Roon, whose excellent trip reports are hosted at TGR:
TR: Gulmarg 2008 (1/3)
TR: Gulmarg 2008 (2/3)
TR: Gulmarg 2008 (3/3)