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Backcountry Skiing blogs, videos, photos, and a whole lotta stoke.

Travel Series Part 4: Himalayan Honeymoon | Manali, Valley of Gods, India | 03/19/09, by Dark Star

"Sorry Ms. Raymond". She caught me again. I'm not very good at pretending to pay attention. I'm a teenager in geography class having the same daydreams I do everyday in winter: when is it gonna snow again, and what would it be like to make turns in the highest mountain range in the world?

Fast forward a decade and its now late March. I'm not a professional skier, but I'm a pretty good ski bum-trying to ski most days there's snow, at least one day in every month of the year, and the dreams only grow. However, one dream remains salient. All skiers have some sort of dreams. Whether it's to commit to that all too committing straightline, huck just a little bit bigger, stomp just a little bit cleaner, bag that Peak in prime conditions, travel to unskied locations, or finally get that elusive couloir that you've been staring at since you saw it in Couloir Magazine eight years ago, we all have dreams. My dream has been to ski in the Himalaya for as long as I can remember.�

So I'm about to get married and the dream has manifested into reality. My honeymoon is going to revolve around skiing in the Himalaya. Yup, she's a keeper. After months of research my thoughts were: Nepal is a big time commitment with a great chance of being sandbagged. Tibet is a logistical nightmare especially with all the recent political action. Bhutan would be epic, but it's so expensive and would also require at least a month or two to make turns work. We only had a few weeks. The answer was India.

The plan seemed simple enough. Actually, the Indian Himalaya seemed ideal. While there would be 20,000 foot peaks in our accessible zone, not everything would be glaciated and crevasse ridden, unless we went there. Also, in the past few years adventurous souls have gotten of the beaten path and headed to Gulmarg for what seemed to be some great skiing. But I still wanted to get further away from the beaten path.

Although I'd been told there's plenty of pow, a gondola sporting enormous vert, and stellar backcountry access in Gulmarg, it wasn't sitting right for some reason. No lifts I thought, I want to hike. And I wanted to get high. Real high. We were gonna use enough fossil fuel to fly and drive our way to get to the mountains, so we might as well at least earn our turns, right? That was my thought, and Jillian agreed.

We took a gamble and made plans to get to Manali and the valley of the gods. When we arrived in New Delhi we were greeted by the owner of the hostel with a big smile. An interesting exchange ensued from there.

Owner: So it's your honeymoon. Why are you staying here? I have another hotel across town that is much better.

Me: Um...

Owner: When will you be going to Taj Mahal?

Me: Um, we aren't headed that way. We came to ski.

Owner: Oh, Gulmarg huh? You'll love it. It's beautiful there. But you must go to Taj Mahal when you return.

Me: Actually, we want to get on the bus to Manali in the morning, to go ski out there.

The owner fell silent, and looked at me like I was a bit off.

Owner: The only skiing is in Gulmarg! And you can't come to India, and leave without seeing Taj Mahal.

That night I worried for a bit, wondering if all this planning was for nothing. Was the dream in jeopardy? I contemplated rerouting our trip to Gulmarg. But the next morning the bus came by, and we got on. After having endured a ridiculous flight from Tahoe to Chicago, catching sunrise over Greenland via the polar route to Asia, and a steamy entrance into New Delhi, we got on a bus after one night's stay for another 14 hours of travel. That bus ride was the real adventure of the trip, but we did make it to Manali, and there were big mountains, and more importantly- snow!

So, was it worth it? Hell Yeah! Well, we didn't bag any 8,000 meter peaks. We didn't even ski from a summit above 20,000 feet. But we did make turns in the Himalaya. Great turns. Creamy turns. Way high. We topped out on amazing, enormous ramps with such deep, crystal clear views that the Great Himalayan Peaks of Lhasa looked close enough to spit on. It was surreal. It was scary. There were huge seracs dangling high above melting glacial terrain. Not to mention the avalanche debris was like nothing I've seen before. I love couloirs. I mean, really love'em. But the couloirs we found had debris piles so deep, I could barely enjoy the depth of the walls surrounding us as we climbed for fear we'd be swallowed whole at any instant. Very humbling to say the least.


But, it was the dream. We rode safely for the few weeks we were out there, tagged numerous peaks, made turns all over the region, and left nothing but tracks. We even made a few turns where we were told none had ever been made before. It wasn't easy by any stretch. It certainly wasn't Everest.� And it surely wasn't a traditional, relaxing honeymoon, whatever that is. But we did it- together. And although I can now tick Himalayan turns off that constantly growing list, really, I can't wait to go back.


If you liked this article, you'll want to read:

Travel Series Part 1:� Rocky Mountain Road Trip
Travel Series Part 2:� Look Out Hippies, Here We Come! (Pacific Northwest)
Travel Series Part 3:� Pilgrimage to Alaska 1, Pilgrimage to Alaska 2