WINTER BREAK LEAP OF FAITH

Two novice skiers try to find their feet amid Gulmarg’s snow-whipped slopes

- GUSTASP & JEROO IRANI

We stood atop a gentle beginners’ slope, watching some colorful ski gods schussing down distant trails, curling and uncurling their bodies with ease. Plagued by doubt, we balanced ourselves on unwieldy skis clipped onto large ski boots weighing two kilos each, a pole in each gloved hand, and dithered.

But then we remembered how lucky we were to be here: in Gulmarg, Jammu, and Kashmir, at the country’s premier ski resort in a high, forested valley at the base of Mt. Apharwat looming at 14,403 feet. We had long dreamt about reveling in the cold caress of a Himalayan winter and learning the daunting sport. Gulmarg welcomes both expert skiers and novices (like us) who learn the basics on a few groomed bunny slopes at private and state-run ski schools. So, leaving all caution to the chilly wind, we swooped down the incline, elated at a glimpse of the snow-whipped Pir Panjal range which rings Gulmarg like a forbidding army of stone. Evergreen trees rose around us like protective totem poles.

It might take a while to learn skiing, but it sure teaches you how to laugh at yourself. Our first attempts were undignified tumbles beside five-year-olds on wee skis, stopping by to offer help. Mortified and embarrassed, we’d decline. Those nimblekneed little ones would then bend down, scoop up fistfuls of snow to pop into their mouths, and whiz away!