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Making News
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Winter 2010
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Price Beat Guarantee*
New for season 2010 are our unique Price Beat and Snow Guarantees, plus our new Escorted Group Departures (ex Delhi). Our new Price Beat Guarantee* means we will beat any available price by 5% - period! Quote must be presented prior to your final payment. Our Snow Guarantee ensures you’ll be able to carve your tracks in untouched powder, or we’ll refund your lift pass. It’s that simple. We have new Escorted Group Departures (ex Delhi) in: January, February and into March 2010. |
Season 09 Review
Seasons come and go. But this one was a season to remember because, amongst other things, on the 14 February 2009 Srinagar formally inaugurated its new International Airport! Massive renovations to the airport's terminal and runway truly make it an amazing site. International flights to/from Dubai have initially been introduced with more destinations being later introduced.
Our team was at it again ensuring our clients got the best service and snow runs. The powder days were amazing, soft, untouched and heart-pumping. With 75 degree slopes, Shark's Fin (upper back country) served a treat - albeit dangerously! Mt Apharwat's far wider ridges provided some of the most exhilarating runs, as were the runs to Baba Reshi, Sun Peaks, and through to Tangmarg.
Gulmarg's new Mountain Patrol now provide much more than just patrols and safety. Every Tuesday evening at the (old) Pine Palace they volunteer their time in educating boarders and skiers alike in mountain and avalanche safety - thanks very much Guys! Bring on season 10!
Warren Miller - off the grid in Kashmir!!
Warren Miller’s previous release ‘Off The Grid’ features Kashmir! Our chief guide, Firdous Chaila, was again selected to coordinate the guiding for the Warren Miller team!
Along with carving up the Himalayas and the Western Tien Shan in Uzbekistan, Currypowder’s Peter Georgiou also had the immense powder pleasure of heli-boarding in wonderful Kyrgyzstan during February 2007. Kyrgyzstan lies next to Uzbekistan and is an integral part of Central Asia. The country’s average elevation is an amazing 2750m! Its world famous alpine lake Issyk-Kul is surrounded by some of the most incredible mountain scenery you will ever experience. The Tien Shan mountains are truly magnificent as their rugged ridges and mountain lines congregate so amazingly close to each other.
Our partners in Kyrgyzstan are Helipro, who were also very helpful and professional. We strongly recommend you visit their site. Our experience in beautiful Kyrgyzstan proved it to be a striking country, both geographically, socially and culturally. The snow quality was just incredible. Very light, dry, fluffy and deep. For a place which hadn’t seen snowfalls for almost 2 months, there was simply too much powder which often meant boggage! The locals I encountered were extremely friendly and always ready to go the extra mile in showcasing their lovely country to you. One amazing man who helped me very much was Mr Valentin of Yak Tours Hostel. Having said that, the resort of Karakol with its heli-pad lies some 300 km from the capital Bishkek.
Our intention was to introduce Kyrgyzstan’s heli-riding product onto our current list of exotic powder places, but we will hold off till the following season, perhaps.
For those interested in carving some truly soft Kyrgyz powder, please check out Helipro’s site. Feel free to mention to them that we referred you there! |
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15.6.2006
Hotel Mumtaz has added to hotels on offer
Hotel Mumtaz has recently been added to our list of hotels on offer. Much like Hotel Highlands Park, Hotel Mumtaz offers our guests a warm colonial atmosphere with double rooms and en suite bathrooms. Hotel Mumtaz is also minutes from the gondola and serves fabulous Kashmiri and western food. |
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31.5.2006
Hotel Pine Palace opening extension
Hotel Pine Palace will be opening a separate extension to its existing hotel in May 2006 with a new separate building. The new hotel will be furnished to a more deluxe level and promises to continue offering guests a warm and cozy atmosphere. |
31.5.2006
Mission Gulmarg Project
Mission Gulmarg Project took off on January 15th.
The Mission has currently trained 20 local skiers.
Whistler & Blackcomb resort (BC Canada), has donated a huge amount of uniforms, ski and rescue gear. Thank you Whistler!!!
The trainees completed their course working on their powder skiing abilities, daily transceivers practice, and basic first aid course.
They have also gone through an avalanche rescue course.
Contacts with the Indian army have led us to a very exciting collaboration for conducting avalanche control on the 2nd phase of Gulmarg's slopes. Avalanche control will be implemented within the next snowfall.
Mission Gulmarg trainees, its instructors, government in its different departments, and other Gulmarg locals are all really happy with the safety changes Gulmarg is undertaking. |
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20.5.2006
Gulmarg as Davos!
The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry’s (FICCI) national executive meeting on Friday approved chief minister Ghulam Nabi Azad’s idea of evolving Gulmarg as a ‘South Asian Davos’. If everything goes as per the script, then its maiden twoday meeting would take place in December. Gulmarg, the winter wonderland, barely 50 kilometers north of Srinagar is one of the best ski-resorts of the world.
“We have committed our total support to the chief minister and we will ensure that it is a huge success”, a senior FICCI official speaking on behalf of Habil F Khorakiwala, senior vice-president of FICCI told ET. Besides, we have agreed to his suggestion of setting up a Knowledge Commission and sponsoring the Investment Summit for J&K in Mumbai this August. FICCI members committed over Rs 1,200 crore investment, mostly in hotels and hospitality sector, on the table during the morning interactive that followed detailed presentations from the two sides.
Bharti Airtel joint managing director Rajan Mittal said his company would invest Rs 200 crore in the state. He, however, said that the state would need to be a bit liberal in permitting his company to create additional infrastructure that would include forests. Lalit Suri, whose hotel hosted the meeting said he was ready to invest around Rs 100 crore in a hotel at Gulmarg besides setting up a R. 250-crore shopping centre and multiplex in Srinagar city.
In the agronomy area, FICCI officials said, while one company made a commitment, a few others including Coca Cola and Hindustan Lever showed interest.
Unlike 1997 when the industrialists were advised by the then chief minister Farooq Abdullah not to move out of the Centaur Lake View Hotel, this time the businessmen are moving without guns and apprehensions.
Having a regional Davos is in fact part of Dr Haseeb Drabu’s idea of bridging the gap between London, Frankfurt and Paris on one side and Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore and Sydney on the other side by creating Jammu & Kashmir International Financial Centre (JKIFC). Drabu, who is the Chairman and CEO of the JK Bank is economic adviser to the J&K government. In fact Ficci members termed his presentation on JKIFC idea as “extra-ordinary” and said it is workable.
Drabu believes that proposed JKIFC being at the centre of the two halves of “financial universe” has 42 countries spanning the Middle East, North and Eastern Africa, the Caspian and the Indian subcontinent. |
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15.5.2006
'Gulmarg to be developed as Indian Davos'
By Lola Nayar, Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad Friday announced plans to step up interaction with Indian and global investors and develop the tourist resort of Gulmarg as the Indian equivalent of Davos, the headquarters of the World Economic Forum.
"In this most beautiful part of the world, I am going to start an 'Indian Davos' at Gulmarg. Starting this December, we will provide the Indian and international industry leaders a platform to interact and do business, not necessarily with Jammu and Kashmir," said Azad, addressing the executive committee members of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).
The chief minister invited FICCI leaders to help him formulate plans to develop Gulmarg, a major tourist destination in Kashmir, as a global business conference centre on the lines of Davos that hosts the annual summit of global business leaders every year.
Stating his intention to hold regular interactions with potential investors to look at the opportunities in the state, Azad said an 'Invest J&K Summit' is proposed in August to showcase the achievements and strengths of in the state.
"It will be a two-day affair which will give us the opportunity to network with industry leaders of the country and foreign investors," the chief minister said.
He said that in 2005-06 fiscal the state had recorded 10 percent economic growth, higher than the national growth of 8.1 percent - an announcement that took a lot of people here by surprise.
Despite continuing militancy in Jammu and Kashmir, Azad said the support provided by the central government to step up infrastructure investment and the multilateral funding assured by the Asian Development Bank are expected to further boost investment flow into the state.
"More than the money that has come in through this route (multilateral funding), it is the systems that this investment has brought in that is excepted to help the state," the chief minister said.
"Already current expenditure has been replaced by capital expenditure and capacities are being created in infrastructure and manufacturing. Private investments in select industries and select regions are increasing rapidly. But we have a long way to go."
Jammu and Kashmir Principal Secretary (Industry) S.S. Kapur said that since 2002 the state has received or is in the process of getting investments worth around Rs.35-40 billion ($768-877 million).
Several pharma, food processing, textile, packaging as also tourism and hospitality companies have offered to either step up investments in the state or bring in new investments. In food processing alone, the state has received over Rs.3 billion investments in the past three years.
Among companies planning investments in the state are Dabur, Wockhardt, Cipla, Surya Healthcare and Coco-Cola India. Bharti Enterprises will invest Rs.2 billion more to expand communications network thereby doubling its investment in the state.
Urging the India Inc. to support the efforts of the state government to give a vote of confidence through increased investment in Jammu and Kashmir, Azad urged investors to look beyond Jammu city, Katra and Srinagar to other places to develop more economic hubs.
He chief minister agreed to the FICCI proposal to set up a joint knowledge committee to study ways of attracting investment and generating employment. |
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