Ski India!!

1/24
Early in the morning, I took the bus up to Solang Nullah valley to SKI! When I got to my hotel, I quickly rented skis and headed up to the hill. But apparently in India they don't get the ski lifts running as early (opens at 10am), so I went back down to the village for breakfast. I ran into 4 canadians from BC (the only westerners I would see at the ski area) who were doing a ski tour to the different valleys around here which are closed off in the winter due to snow on the passes. They were skinning up a slope on the opposite side, so I joined them as the lifts weren't open yet. I still had my himalaya trekking legs and was able to keep up with them even though I was bootpacking until we got high enough that the snow was just too soft and deep. So then I had to ski down and say goodbye to them as they headed off for the spiti valley. When I got back down to the resort, it was time to ski. The whole skiing experience there was just hilarious. Partly b/c of the carnival I am sure, the whole base area was packed with Indians. They were all dressed in old 70's and 80's one piece suits and wearing rubber boots they they all rented on the road up. I was by far the biggest gaper at the resort...mainly because I was the only non gaper. There I was in my rain pants that could easily pass for fashionable snow pants and fancy softshell hagloffs jacket with a nice ski cap looking like a goofball probably to all those people in their pink one pieces, rubber boots, and backwards baseball caps. In this big base area they were busy taking photos of being in the snow. There were the lower caste Indians who would get paid to push them around on wooden sleighs and then some people were posing with yaks or riding horses. It was one huge chaotic (and fairly dangerous) playground. The whole area had this hole recklessness feel to it that of course would never EVER be allowed in America or Europe. First there were tons of paragliders landing right onto the snowfield with all the people (the paragliding was some of the cheapest I have seen, but no way would I do it there as there have been reported deaths and just watching them take off, sometimes they hit trees, other times didn't quite get lift off and just dragged along the steep slope). When these paragliders would come in at high speed (with the Indian tourist yelling his lungs out) sometimes they would take out some of the tourists down taking photos in the field. There was also this thing called a zorb ball. A huge blown up ball about 10-12 feet in diameter in which they would put a couple of people in on top of the bunny slope and roll them down. It ended up being like bowling for humans. This ball rolling at high speeds would come crashing into the crowd of people, yaks, horses, chai stalls at the bottom of the field. If you weren't paying attention, you would definitely be taken out! Then there were tubers coming into the crowd from steep ramps all over the place and of course out of control skiers. There were also tourists riding 4-wheelers and snowmobiles here there and everywhere. Just sitting and having a chai and watching it all made me laugh and laugh. It was almost better than skiing. They advertised "guides" for 4 dollars for the day, which I first thought would be backcountry guides, but it really meant more of a ski instructor. But ski instructing would be a bit generous for what they did. Basically, these "ski instructors" who I wonder if they could actually ski themselves, just helped the tourists put on their boots and skis without falling and then would push them around on the flat land. The ski instructors were dressed in just jeans and usually like a professor type jacket. I myself had rented K2 fours. The rental place gave me their newest skis since they said I knew how to ski and b/c the K2s have USA written on them and they thought it would be fitting for me--and they definitely were much newer than most of the ones I saw lying around. However, to give you an idea, these k2 fours were a model earlier than my k2 fours (and the ones Sherman had) that I bought USED while in highschool in about 1999. I was surprised that they were able to find some boots that my feet actually fit in, though I would guess they were about size 10 or 11 as my toes hurt quite badly by the end of the day, but for the 1st 1/2 actually felt quite good. Of course they didn't do any adjusting to fit the boots to the skis nor adjust the DIN or anything, nor did they have the tools to let me do it, and the numbers for the DIN were rubbed off anyways so I wouldn't have been able to tell. They had 2 lifts at the resort which was either called Solang Nullah or Ski Himalaya...I couldn't quite tell. A thing I found funny was that the big signs they had advertising for SKi Himalaya had pictures of Bode Miller and Lindsey Vonn skiing and celebrating at the Vancouver Olympics. I really doubted if the two of them knew they were the posterboys for Himalayan skiing. Of the 2 lifts, one was a poma that was free and just serviced a tiny bunny hill similar in grade, but shorter than the galloping goose run at Winter Park. The other was a gondola which was a 3 1/2 minute ride and I would say serviced vertical about 1/3 as much as say Vail's gondola or 1/2 as much as Beaver Creek's Centennial Express so decent vertical, but keep in mind that those lifts in Colorado typically dump you off 1/2 to 2/3 up the mountain and then you have even another lift to take you higher. To ride the gondola you paid per ride (300 rupees) as opposed to buying like a day pass. And an interesting thing is that before getting on the gondola, you had to go through security and a pat down. Thank God we don't have to do that in the US or lines could be tremendous. There were lots of Indians riding the gondola, but they all just rode it to the top, took lots of pictures and then rode it back down. The whole day that I was there, I was the only one I noticed that actually skied down. This mean that even though it hadn't snowed in over a week, I still had first tracks and fresh powder all day. The mountain, other than the gondola really had no other of the ski facilities that you would think about at a resort back home, so basically it was just backcountry skiing accessed by a gondola. For example, there was no ski patrol, no avalanche control, no named runs or marked runs (well actually no runs just backcountry), no grooming of course, no ropes. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the terrain was actually quite steep and almost everything accessed by the gondola would have been a black or double black I think. From the gondola I would hike about 10 minutes to the top of the mountain (which had great views of the himalayas) there and then ski down. The top 1/2 of the ski was through really nice soft powder, the bottom 1/2 was through powder if you were on more north facing slopes and through slush (or ice depending on time of day) as the bottom was warmer and more springlike. But I can only imagine what it would have been like if you were there after some big snows. Fresh tracks all day for a week with great snow! From the top there were about 3 main pistes you could ski and since they had no names, I named them. The lift line and gulley I called Chai Express as it was the quickest and most direct route down to the 10 cent chais. To skiers left was a really nice run full of powder, nice glades, some cliffs and good steeps. I called this Bro's Face as I figure he would have liked it a lot. To skiers right was a very very steep run (which even made me a bit nervous as first) and some tough gullies and I named it Delhi Belly, which is also what they call the traveller's diarrhea that most people get in India. Since they charged per ride and the ride wasn't super cheap really, I took the gondola 3 times, hiked up it twice, did the poma lift a few times, and then took a few other means of getting up. Once I took a horse and another time a Yak. In the US we have the poma horse to get you up terrain...in India, they have The Horse. I figure the horse and yak must come in handy during power cuts and such.
I of course was the photographic delight of lots of people there and I can only imagine how ecstatic they must have been in the gondola when they saw me ski Chai Express as every time I rode the gondola up they were so busy snapping pictures of everything, so to actually see a skier coming down and perhaps taking a nice tumble in the powder must have made them so happy. I was asked several times to walk a ways up and ski down so they could photo and video me, and I was also asked whether I was a professional skier...I had to answer no, but I could just hear manly man's (jeff from VT) voice saying, but you are a professional driver. I met one guy that told me he used to ski for the India olympic team and now he owned a hotel up here. I wish I could have gotten which olympics so I could see how he did. B/c I remember India's first ever women's olympic skier was like 3 and a half minutes behind lindsey vonn in the downhill (I think my own mother would have maybe been just over a minute behind lindsey). But he was pleased to know that I had met both of the posterpeople for the resort (Bode and Lindsey) when I worked at the Beav.
Although I would be far from the best skier on the mountain at a Colorado resort, here I was no doubt the king as would any of my family members had they been there instead. The only people actually skiing (other than those being pushed around by the "guides") were a few people from like bombay or delhi on the poma lift and then once school got out, lots of kids skiing in boots like 3 times there foot size and ski the same height as mine.
Everytime I would finish a run I would grab a chai and then sit at smile and giggle at the crazyness of the scene going on at the bottom. One of the things that travellers talk about is that is there any place in super crowded and chaotic India where you can be alone and have quiet. Well, definitely not at the bottom of the ski hill, but certainly in the middle of a powder-filled double black run. The silence was so strong that it almost felt loud if you know what I mean.
I was staying at a pretty nice hotel that had amazing sunrise and sunset views of a huge mountain that reminded me of the Maroon Bells. The place even had some little propane heaters in their dining room that were nice to hang out by and read.

I sort of thought it would be interesting to do a comparison between Vail Resorts (namely Beaver Creek) and this Solung Nullah in terms of price

B/c of the winter carnival and although I booked a couple of days early, the only place that had free rooms at the actual base of the mountains was the fanciest resort. It was ski in ski out. I paid 11 bucks a night for it. I would guess at ski in ski out at the Beav you would easily, easily be looking at 500+ per night, though not only would your place likely come with a heated pool and jacuzzi it would also have heat, a hot shower, and running water (the water only ran in the afternoons at this place b/c it was frozen during the night and mornings).

Dinner at the nice restaurant there cost me about 1.50 and another 50 cents for a drink. I think dinner at the beaver creek chophouse, grouse mountain grille, or mirabelles would easily run 45 bucks plus 10 for a drink.
Breakfast was to be had for 75 cents with tea for 10 cents. At the beav you would probably be looking at at least 10 for a breckie and 5 bucks for a starbucks. Though at the beav you get free hot chocolate for the 1st hour and free amazing chocolate chip cookies at the end of the day!
Lunch on the mountain was about 1 buck to fill you up where as at one of the lodges on the mountain at the beav, you would be looking at probably 20+ bucks, though if you go guy brother style (which Lucas unfortunately knows all too well) you are looking at eating for free on crackers, honey, and hot sauce.

My rental for the day cost me 10 bucks. I would guess you maybe could get by at 25 or 30 bucks in Avon for the most basic and up to 70 up at the beav for demos.

The bus from the nearest transportation hub (Manali) cost 35 cents, though you had to walk the last 2km's b/c the road was too snowy for the bus and of course it wasn't heated. I think (but I can't quite remember) that busses between Vail (where a greyhound drops I believe) and the beav are free or like a buck. Of course once at the Beav, the shuttles are free and on call at your service, and walking 2km would NEVER happen. Instead, you would be treated to Lucas Frederick Stringfield driving up your drive and carrying your skis to the door for you...now if you are a young lady, this is worth every cent of that overpriced vail resort ski ticket!

Now the place where the skiing was a bit expensive was the lift tickets. One ride up was 300 rupees or 3 rides for 900rp (20 dollars). A lift ticket at the Beav right now costs 94 dollars if you buy it right there at the resort day of (of course you can get major discounts if you buy at other places, have the colorado card, buy multiple days, etc). So that would mean that at Solang Nullah, if you paid 94 dollars you would get to do 14 runs. Now if you were my parents nowadays that would likely be more than you could do in one day, but also keep in mind that the runs at the Beav are much longer, are taken care of, include ski patrol rescue and insurance, toilets, heated lodges, high speed lifts, cute kiwi lift operators, groomed runs, marked obstacles, terrain parks, maps, signs, snow making, etc. For people like my brother, stringbean, and myself, I've never really counted, but I would guess when we are skiing hard and from first chair to last chair we ski somewhere between 15-20 runs in a day, and we're talking long runs. Does that sound right guys? So in that case, it is actually cheaper to ski at the Beav and when you consider the rest of the prices, that means the skiing at Solang is actually really expensive. Though of course the Indians never do more then one gondi ride anyways. Good thing is the really good ski area that I am going to next in Kashmir supposedly has an all day pass as well for like 25 bucks, so that is good news!

But WOW! what a sweet day of skiing. From the good skiing with powder to the crazyness of the Indians at play in the snow and the overall cheap costs...amazing. I only wish I had my brother or my hlp Stringbean to be whooping it up through the powder and trees.