SKI: The Ski Kashmir Initiative

Kashmiri skiers.

For those of us who love recreating in the outdoors, the mountains are typically a place of peace, play and wonder; a place to escape to.

The mountains of Kashmir, on the other hand, have often been the land of war; a place to escape from. Despite the region’s holiness as a place where land meets the heavens, it has long been a place of terror and violence. The Midcountry I inhabit and write about here is a place of privilege and plenty. Kashmir is a different type of Midcountry: one that sits literally and precariously between countries.

The town quiver (and boot liner drier).

Nonetheless, Kashmir – the politically divisive mountainous region between India, China and Pakistan – has seen days of peace. And during those days of peace, the seeds of a ski industry have been planted. The steep, wide-open faces and deep Champaigne snow pack are the stuff of powder hound dreams, and now, while the basic infrastructure of ski resorts and a tourism industry remain, the people who would play in those mountains lack the resources to do so. Many of the mostly Muslim locals barely have enough food to eat, let alone adequate winter clothing. And skis, boots and bindings? Financially impossible. But soon Kashmiri skiers will be getting a little help from another mountain tribe, one that knows the beauty of descent and the boon of a ski industry as well as any other people on earth: ski bum Coloradoans.

Last March, my life-long friend and ski partner Charlie Noone came across a BBC article while he was surfing the web at his college rental in Durango, Colorado: “Ski respite for war weary Kashmiris,” it said. A world traveler and core skier, he read on. “…For the first time, local Kashmiris outnumber foreign adventure tourists [at Gulmarg ski area]. All are enjoying a welcome respite from the years of bloodshed that have meant recreational activities such as this have not been possible…” the article said. “…[Instructors] were not expecting so many Kashmiri children to come forward.’ The ski instructors now bemoan the lack of equipment and accommodation facilities for the increasing number of enthusiasts.”

Charlie started thinking about how many pairs of skis he had in his basement.

East meets West.

As an ex-ski racer, he had dozens. “I started to think about how many skis all of us have in our basements,” says Charlie. “What hit me was just that we’ve been so fortunate in America, Colorado, in the Roaring Fork Valley where I was born. The Colorado mountains have given so much to me and so much to our community.” That empathy evolved into a nonprofit organization called Skis4Kashmir, also known as SKI: the Ski Kashmir Initiative that Charlie founded with a mutual Fort Collins-based friend, Dallas Erwin.

Dr. Guru, Dallas Erwin and Charlie Noone (left to right).

The pair are aiming to not only deliver needed clothing and ski equipment, but also to host ski camps for Kashmiri children in which participants learn to ski and travel in the rugged Himalayan backcountry. The programs will run at the Gulmarg Ski Area, which has two French designed gondolas. The ski area has 4,300 vertical feet of lift accessed skiing from its 13,000-foot summit.

Skis4Kashmir will also mix participants from diverse social and economic backgrounds to help facilitate compassion and understanding between the castes. “Skiing gives me ultimate joy and freedom,” he says. “Skiing is the freest I can be as a person in America – nobody telling me what to do. Beyond that it has given me community. The friendships I’ve made through skiing are phenomenal. I love the people I ski with. In the backcountry we depend on each other if something goes wrong, and it’s nice to just share a chairlift with someone, even someone you don’t know.”

Charlie also hopes to help redefine the role of the mountains in the area around the Gulmarg Ski Area, as well as promote peace through prosperity. He and Dallas recently returned from a two-week trip to Kashmir. “Many Kashmiris kind of resent the mountains,” he says. “They see them as a limiting factor that cuts them off from the world. I want to help people love the mountains, and an economy could come of that, and peace could come from that economy.”

Winter cross country travel is an everyday reality for many Kashmiri people.

Charlie and Dallas are recruiting a group of ski partners to travel to Kashmir this coming February to help launch the ski programs. That team includes Greg Piper, a Fort Collins local, as well as Steve Mace from Durango. Steve has previous international adventure education experience: he helped guide Tibetan orphans up the Rombuk Glacier on Mt. Everest with Erik Weihenmayer and his Braille Without Borders program, as documented in the award-winning film Blindsight. On the Kashmiri end, Dr. Guru of the nonprofit Guru Foundation has supported the effort by providing room, board, transportation and governmental connections for the programs.

Once you go fat, you'll never go back. Dr. Guru's son Mohamad.

Although Charlie knows his crew is a well-traveled bunch, living and working in Kashmir will be a challenge. “When I get homesick in Europe, I can go to McDonalds and get a burger. It’s weird, I know, but it makes me feel close to home. In Kashmir there’s nothing similar. It’s a dangerous place with lots of guns. It shouldn’t be your first rodeo, that’s for sure.”

All else may be foreign, but the snow and gravity will provide the instructors with some refuge. “Utah says they have the best snow on earth, but they haven’t been to Kashmir,” Charlie says. “It’s a lot like Europe, except with 18,000 foot peaks. The clouds back up on there and get stuck for days, just snowing, snowing, snowing.”

Finding donations for gear and programmatic support has been easy for Charlie and Dallas. Now they just need to fundraise. “It’s hard asking people for money,” Charlie says, “especially in this recession.”

To get involved or make a donation, visit skis4kashmir.org.

Ooh, Baby! Gulmarg Ski Area.