User:Farhad Naik/sandbox

Snowboarding In Kashmir, India Farhad Naik Last winter was the fifth consecutive season of snowboarding for me and, like always, Gulmarg proved great, yet again. This is now becoming a strong trait of my conscious life that my summers are nothing but a trigger to the memories of the winters and I always think about the next snow season. Although, each new season supersedes the previous in its unique and mesmerizing effects on me, but the last season proved highly treasured as I met some great people from all over the world. Starting my snowboarding career in 2008 after I happened to meet a snowboarding instructor at a local hotel ‘Downhill’ in Tangmarg, who interviewed me, alongside a hundred more young boys, and declared me qualified to participate in a Free Snowboard training camp. The coaching was organized by Ski Himalaya, headed by Peter Robison and Bashir Lala. And the person who was interviewed me and others was a professional Snowboarding coach, Mr. Michael Nixon who had come from Vermont, USA. The training started exactly after 10 days of selection. The weather, as unpredictable in Gulmarg as ever, delayed the training schedule and made the scene a bit dismal for a while. But the training was resumed after a few days and few of my friends were also selected, to my sheer joy and delight. Also the excitement to receive coaching from the most professional and acclaimed coach kept my nerves high. Finally the entire group assembled at the slope which was specially prepared for skiers, and it was dominated by them as well. The skiers use Surface lifts around the ‘Beginners’ area and, as such, we the snowboarders, would walk all the time from bottom of the hill to the top watching, in utter dismay and anguish, the skiers using the lift. It, sometimes, was really painful to see them going up so easily and our group carrying snowboard and walking all the way up to the top. We also wanted to use the lift and for that we approached the Lift Operators knowing that most of them are locals and must know some of us as well since all the students were locals too. But our conversations with the lift operators were futile after they narrated the old age adage suggesting that “in 1990 one snowboarders group was allowed to use Surface lift after several deliberations and they, in the end, damaged the rope badly”. Ah! It sounded like a crude joke and we decided to hear no more jocks anymore and stick to the tiresome, but learning, processes. Now it was the time for exams and our coach, Michal Nixon decided to test our skills that had been imparted to us during the coaching season. Everybody was excited including me and everyone was nervous as well as desperate to be selected. 10 boys had to be selected and I kept my fingers crossed, hoping that I would deliver and chip in. Finally my prayers were answered and I found my name on the selection list. I felt jubilant and my spirits rose above and over the skies. The year was one of the lucky years for me. The season concluded and we paid adieu to our respected coach. The chill of the winter was disappearing under the hot summer sun and I, somehow, wanted to feel the freeze and live the memories all the time. Year 2009 came and I was waiting anxiously for the winter season. Finally the day came when white flakes began to fall and mount. My happiness knew no bonds as I packed my bag and headed for Gulmarg. But a bad news waited there- Michal would not come this season, for personal reasons! The season didn’t prove beneficial for us as we, the selected group, was now supposed to practice independently and we did that 2010 arrived and with the winter season arrived Michal as well. We joined him again, though this time he had come independently. The same issues of slopes, lifts etc crisscrossed and we continued to get benefitted by the coaching. It was a great season for learning. In the year 2011, Michal Nixon started a Non-profit organization namely ‘Snowboards for Kashmir’ (SFK). Out of group seven, including me, started working for SFK as instructors. I was chosen as the lead instructor and Operational Manager. Now the season was picking up and various lectures and talks regarding the technicalities of the sport were being discussed. In the meantime, Mr. Brian, an Avalanche expert, was scheduled to speak about the nuances of avalanche and the various means of safeguard. I stepped into the hall and was keen to listen to the details that are essentially needed when on a mountain or around an avalanche prone area. Mr. Brain Newman, an American, is the Chief Ski Patroller at Gulmarg and he was displaying something with the help of a projector. The centrally heated hall was filled with people showing keep interest in knowing the type of mountains and the fragility of the season as well. Amidst the comfort of the room, I felt a little itchy with my dress though, I was somehow managing to listen to the speaker who had a few advices for all of us for the next day. The interesting thing was that the person who was sitting next to me was my snowboarding teacher Michael Nixon who was engrossed into the lecture and I couldn’t even manage to say hello to him. Next morning I woke up at routine time and after a quick breakfast I left for the Gondola Base. I noticed, for the first time, the advisory note hanging outside Gondola office, which I had always neglected, which indicated that the condition of the snow was moderate. The next hurdle was to reach the kongdoori hills and the worst thing was that I had no idea about the cost of gondola ticket. I saw a group of snowboarders waiting for someone. As I reached close to them one of them shouted, “Are you a guide?” I was about to say no, but the thought of earning a Gondola ticket made me say a big YES. I am farhad, I said and could easily understand that they understood nothing, they were not English. Finally one girl from that group came forward and tried to speak with me in English. I thought it as a lucky chance to introduce myself with that group. I got introduced by the help of the girl who knew English. We than approached the ticket counter and waited for another half an hour before we had our tickets in hand. The girl became a virtual translator between me and the group and we began to understand each other. We reached Mount. Affarwat top and the first question they asked me was about the altitude. When I informed them that it was 4200 meters above the sea level, they were excited as, it was for the first time that they were on such a high altitude mountain. After making sure that everyone among them was fully equipped for the mountains, we chose a Tail Guide among them and started to slide down the mountain. The snow was good and everyone was enjoying, but in next few minutes the visibility turned very bad and we stopped on a ridge top. The Tail Guide came to me and enquired about our location after which in informed them that we were at a ridge top and were safe from avalanche as well. But, let me admit, I knew the answer was not convincing as I was not sure about the location myself. We were stuck there for about 15 minutes after which better light conditions prevailed and we finished our first run. The “G-4”station was too crowded with skiers, the same huge line, and they again asked me to go and buy tickets for everyone. I again bought the tickets and my first day as a Guide was really great with the Ukrainian group. I feel so glad to be a part of SFK. My first winter as Instructor for ‘Snowboards for Kashmir’ was really great as in the very first season we trained more than 35 local students besides learning ourselves.

Snowboarding In Gulmarg, Kashmir India
Last winter was the fifth consecutive season of snowboarding for me and, like always, Gulmarg proved great, yet again. This is now becoming a strong trait of my conscious life that my summers are nothing but a trigger to the memories of the winters and I always think about the next snow season. Although, each new season supersedes the previous in its unique and mesmerizing effects on me, but the last season proved highly treasured as I met some great people from all over the world. Starting my snowboarding career in 2008 after I happened to meet a snowboarding instructor at a local hotel ‘Downhill’ in Tangmarg, who interviewed me, alongside a hundred more young boys, and declared me qualified to participate in a Free Snowboard training camp. The coaching was organized by Ski Himalaya, headed by Peter Robison and Bashir Lala. And the person who was interviewed me and others was a professional Snowboarding coach, Mr. Michael Nixon who had come from Vermont, USA. The training started exactly after 10 days of selection. The weather, as unpredictable in Gulmarg as ever, delayed the training schedule and made the scene a bit dismal for a while. But the training was resumed after a few days and few of my friends were also selected, to my sheer joy and delight. Also the excitement to receive coaching from the most professional and acclaimed coach kept my nerves high. Finally the entire group assembled at the slope which was specially prepared for skiers, and it was dominated by them as well. The skiers use Surface lifts around the ‘Beginners’ area and, as such, we the snowboarders, would walk all the time from bottom of the hill to the top watching, in utter dismay and anguish, the skiers using the lift. It, sometimes, was really painful to see them going up so easily and our group carrying snowboard and walking all the way up to the top. We also wanted to use the lift and for that we approached the Lift Operators knowing that most of them are locals and must know some of us as well since all the students were locals too. But our conversations with the lift operators were futile after they narrated the old age adage suggesting that “in 1990 one snowboarders group was allowed to use Surface lift after several deliberations and they, in the end, damaged the rope badly”. Ah! It sounded like a crude joke and we decided to hear no more jocks anymore and stick to the tiresome, but learning, processes. Now it was the time for exams and our coach, Michal Nixon decided to test our skills that had been imparted to us during the coaching season. Everybody was excited including me and everyone was nervous as well as desperate to be selected. 10 boys had to be selected and I kept my fingers crossed, hoping that I would deliver and chip in. Finally my prayers were answered and I found my name on the selection list. I felt jubilant and my spirits rose above and over the skies. The year was one of the lucky years for me. The season concluded and we paid adieu to our respected coach. The chill of the winter was disappearing under the hot summer sun and I, somehow, wanted to feel the freeze and live the memories all the time. Year 2009 came and I was waiting anxiously for the winter season. Finally the day came when white flakes began to fall and mount. My happiness knew no bonds as I packed my bag and headed for Gulmarg. But a bad news waited there- Michal would not come this season, for personal reasons! The season didn’t prove beneficial for us as we, the selected group, was now supposed to practice independently and we did that 2010 arrived and with the winter season arrived Michal as well. We joined him again, though this time he had come independently. The same issues of slopes, lifts etc crisscrossed and we continued to get benefitted by the coaching. It was a great season for learning. In the year 2011, Michal Nixon started a Non-profit organization namely ‘Snowboards for Kashmir’ (SFK). Out of group seven, including me, started working for SFK as instructors. I was chosen as the lead instructor and Operational Manager. Now the season was picking up and various lectures and talks regarding the technicalities of the sport were being discussed. In the meantime, Mr. Brian, an Avalanche expert, was scheduled to speak about the nuances of avalanche and the various means of safeguard. I stepped into the hall and was keen to listen to the details that are essentially needed when on a mountain or around an avalanche prone area. Mr. Brain Newman, an American, is the Chief Ski Patroller at Gulmarg and he was displaying something with the help of a projector. The centrally heated hall was filled with people showing keep interest in knowing the type of mountains and the fragility of the season as well. Amidst the comfort of the room, I felt a little itchy with my dress though, I was somehow managing to listen to the speaker who had a few advices for all of us for the next day. The interesting thing was that the person who was sitting next to me was my snowboarding teacher Michael Nixon who was engrossed into the lecture and I couldn’t even manage to say hello to him. Next morning I woke up at routine time and after a quick breakfast I left for the Gondola Base. I noticed, for the first time, the advisory note hanging outside Gondola office, which I had always neglected, which indicated that the condition of the snow was moderate. The next hurdle was to reach the kongdoori hills and the worst thing was that I had no idea about the cost of gondola ticket. I saw a group of snowboarders waiting for someone. As I reached close to them one of them shouted, “Are you a guide?” I was about to say no, but the thought of earning a Gondola ticket made me say a big YES. I am farhad, I said and could easily understand that they understood nothing, they were not English. Finally one girl from that group came forward and tried to speak with me in English. I thought it as a lucky chance to introduce myself with that group. I got introduced by the help of the girl who knew English. We than approached the ticket counter and waited for another half an hour before we had our tickets in hand. The girl became a virtual translator between me and the group and we began to understand each other. We reached Mount. Affarwat top and the first question they asked me was about the altitude. When I informed them that it was 4200 meters above the sea level, they were excited as, it was for the first time that they were on such a high altitude mountain. After making sure that everyone among them was fully equipped for the mountains, we chose a Tail Guide among them and started to slide down the mountain. The snow was good and everyone was enjoying, but in next few minutes the visibility turned very bad and we stopped on a ridge top. The Tail Guide came to me and enquired about our location after which in informed them that we were at a ridge top and were safe from avalanche as well. But, let me admit, I knew the answer was not convincing as I was not sure about the location myself. We were stuck there for about 15 minutes after which better light conditions prevailed and we finished our first run. The “G-4”station was too crowded with skiers, the same huge line, and they again asked me to go and buy tickets for everyone. I again bought the tickets and my first day as a Guide was really great with the Ukrainian group. I feel so glad to be a part of SFK. My first winter as Instructor for ‘Snowboards for Kashmir’ was really great as in the very first season we trained more than 35 local students besides learning ourselves. Farhad Naik