Skiing - Auli
Auli was the centre point of our entire North India tour. After completing the Jungle Safari in Corbett, we took the late night bus(2am) to Joshimath, 16 kms from Auli.
We reached Joshimath at around 5pm in the evening and were disappointed to know that the rope-way from Joshimath to Auli had made its last round at 4:30pm and there would be no more ferries that day.
Left with no option, we decided to spend the night in Joshimath . Visited the Shankaracharya temple nearby and roamed around in the market. History goes that the great Guru Adi Shankaracharya had first trekked the icy slopes of Auli and also built a temple at Joshimath.
The next day we just reached just in time for the first trip of the ropeway from Joshimath to Auli. This rope-way is India’s longest rope-way (16kms long ). The rope-way offered superb views of many peaks that are visible from Auli – prominent amongst them being the Nandadevi , Kamet, Mana Parbat and Badrinath peak.
Auli is a winter resort run by Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN).. Auli is open only for 3 months in a year from Jan to March and the period we visited it happened to be peak season.
We rented ski equipment which consisted of ski boots, skis and ski poles. These boots are very heavy and reach almost up to the knee. The instructor told us that one has to sit down on the knees while skiing.
After practicing for 25-30mins(during which we fell thrice !) we decided to head for the slopes.
A 3 km long slope ranging from a height of 2519 to 3049 m is a major attraction in Auli. Also a 500 m long ski-lift carries skiers back to the slope top, thus saving them the trouble and time to bridge up wearing long skis. However since we were complete novices, the instructor took us to a smaller slope around 1km in length and started skiing crashing there !
Falling is a staple in skiing. Learning to fall and stand up is prerequisite to skiing practice because you cannot learn to ground yourself on snow until you take falling classes.Hence our instructor taught us first how to fall and not hurt ourselves.
Although going down the slopes was real fun on the skis, but getting up once we used to crash wasn’t. In fact we ski boots are so firmly attached to the skis, the we had to remove them in order to get up each time after we took a fall, which was essentially how our short-slides used to end for the first couple of hours.
The snow was around knee-length high and the depth used to increase treacherously towards the edges of the slope. On a couple of occasions, I couldn’t control the direction, swayed left and went skiing and then crashed in to the snow which was more than waist-deep.
Taking a turn or side-stepping during skiing requires one to shift his weight on one side before taking a turn. We tried a number of times and would eventually crash. It was towards the later part of the day when we learnt how to stop and change directions during skiing.
However just one day and we learnt quite a few basics of skiing, not to mention that we could ski down almost 700-800mts without crashing which was itself an achievement.
Our hectic schedule dint allow us to stay there and attend a week-long skiing camp that is run by the Garwal Mandal. I guess after a week on the slopes one will be confident enough to whiz down a mountain and execute a fancy parallel turn. There are other benefits too - your tummy disappears & your muscles tone up.
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