Friends, it is our first long trip after the covid-19 pandemic. Skiing was on my bucket list for a long time. The last time when we had booked tickets, the “Pulwama attack” had compelled us to cancel our trip. This time, we kept our fingers crossed but luckily nothing happened & we did our skiing course in Gulmarg.

Gulmarg is one of the best international skiing destinations because of its snow quality. Snow in Gulmarg is powdery snow. One can not make a snowball from it. Skiing in powdery snow is again a different experience.

Our journey starts from viewing these beautiful snow covered mountain through an airplane & I know after proper training we will do skiing from this mountain top.

Our first day in Srinagar, dal lake was so beautiful. We had live barbeque while sailing in the lake.

Our next stop was Gulmarg. We had planned to stay for 6 nights in Gulmarg for skiing training. Ice skating & skiing both are accessible in Gulmarg. If you like speed, you will love to do skiing from slopes with high degrees. For us, we were lucky that we were able to get fresh snowfall in Gulmarg.

It’s a brief introduction to skiing slopes in Gulmarg. Gulmarg has 5 different slopes. One has to start training with baby slope. Once you know different techniques of skiing, the trainer will take you on different slopes 85-degree slope, highland slope, phase 1 & phase 2 slope. Watch this video for it.

After 5 days of intensive training, we know how to do skiing on different slopes & mountains.

The skiing course started at 10.00 am & completed at 4 pm. Every day after 4 pm we used to explore a nearby place. The first day it was a strawberry valley.

In backyard of our hotel

Can you imagine, we all were out to enjoy a bonfire in minus 10, yes you read it right! It was minus 10 & surrounded by snow but still enjoyed this moment.

India’s first IGLOO restaurant started in Gulmarg…

One day we went to explore snow leopard in the Gulmarg reserve forest. We didn’t find a leopard but the forest itself was amazing. Could catch a glimpse of icicles on the cottages.

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When we reached back to the hotel first thing to do was… drink this Kashmiri kawa. This was our everyday routine to get the warmth from this freezing weather.

We also explored Drung valley. It has a frozen waterfall & a frozen river. It was captivating & stunning.

Manasbal lake

When I look back and recall our trip, it looks impossible for me. I have never stayed in snow for more than 24 hrs. Even I have never been exposed to such a low temperature. Our temperature range during Gulmarg’s stay was -3 to -16 degrees. Yes!!! It was minus 16 at one night. During skiing hours also we used to face minus 3 to minus 6 in the day time. Extremely extreme exposure is the first time in my life for such a long duration. Still, I survived & even done difficult work to learn skiing in such extreme cold. Most of the time our minds create one perception that this thing is very hard & I can not do it. This is an illusion or cage if you are not able to see it. If you can’t identify this cage then you are trapped by the cage created by your mind. You will never try to overcome this cage & even your mind will resist it. So the most important thing is to identify such illusionary cages created by your mind which are real obstacles to your potential…….I believe that identifying such an illusionary cage(limitations) created by your mind is a real selfie. Once you identify it then & then you can break it. If you fail to identify it then you will not able to break it. …. so always try to take a real selfie & break your cage to show your real potential.