Fit for the Himalaya

Whenever people plan a trekking or ski vacation in the Himalaya they start thinking about fitness requirements and try to find some helpful information. With this article I write about my training methods and describe the most relevant points for getting fit for a sports holiday in high altitudes.

It doesn’t matter whether you plan to participate in an expedition to summit an 8’000m peak or whether you intend to enjoy a ski or trekking vacation in the Himalaya Mountains – a sound physical and mental condition is a prerequisite for being able to fully enjoy such an adventure holiday and also to avoid becoming victim of acute mountain sickness (AMS).

To get ready for a trip to the high mountain area of the Himalaya it is therefore important to build a reasonable physical fitness level and to develop the right mental attitude.

Young Ski Instructors on a Mission

In 2009 the New Zealand Ski Club of Kashmir brought 8 young ski instructors from Australia, New Zealand, UK, Argentine and France to Gulmarg in Kashmir to teach the young children in this remote area how to ski. In his recent video Jack McCowan gives an account of the experience those ski instructors made when they were there. The video speaks for itself and shows how much the efforts of these young volunteers were appreciated by the kids and how much they enjoyed their first skiing experience.

These young ski instructors must be applauded for their selfless engagement and be thanked for a fantastic job done! They have contributed a lot by giving to many of these kids probably a ” once in a life time experience” and to some they may even have taught the basic skills that could motivate them to design their own future as skiing and mountaineering professionals.

We all can contribute to a brighter future for this young generation by visiting this Himalaya ski resort and by promoting it to all our friends and skiers or snowboarders we know.

gulmarg 2010 – a heli skiing experience by cable car

Many skiers and snowboarders who enjoy freeriding in deep powder snow dream about being able to enjoy heli skiing one day too. Unfortunately for many this remains an unfulfilled dream, mainly because this exclusive pleasure has its price. The typical costs for a week of heli skiing (5 to 6 freeriding days!) are between 4’000 EUR and 8’000 EUR, an amount that is a huge expenditure for most and exceeds the holiday budget options of a large portion of the freeriding community, even in good times.

Up to a couple of years ago it was still possible for freeriders to enjoy powder snow skiing on untracked fields in a number of cable car serviced ski areas in Europe and other western ski resorts. However, with the appearance of snowboards and the introduction of wide freeriding skis this has changed considerably. Today the capacities of freeriding terrains available in the proximity of cable car serviced ski areas are no longer

skiers’ safety in kashmir

Ski vacations in the Himalaya Mountains, especially at the ski resort of Gulmarg in Kashmir are gaining popularity and therefore more and more people are looking for useful information on safety issues in this region. Good sources of information are usually the online versions of the daily newspapers or websites like „Kashmir Watch“ which gives an overview on the present conflict status. Individual travelers are advised to also consult the Kashmir travel advisory of the state department/foreign office of their country of residence.

As organizers of ski and freeriding programs in Gulmarg we are not only responsible for the safety of our guests on the mountains but must also assure their well being during the whole duration of their ski vacation in Kashmir. Before interested skiers book with us we are often confronted with the following question „Is it true that the ski resort of Gulmarg is located in a disputed area and regularly targeted with acts of violence?”.