Ski Tours in India

CR Spooner, author of "Ski Touring India's Kullu valley" says "The Kullu Valley and its surroundings is heaven on earth for Skiers, Telemarkers and Boarders who don't mind hiking for their turns. Few areas in the world give you descents of 6000m and vertical descents of over 3000m."

We cannot agree more with him. We have been wandering not just the Kullu valley but the breadth of the Western Himalayas in winters on skis for more than a decade. In fact, the only reason why we are based in Manali is because of the Skiing it offers in the winters. We know the best trails and we also love to share those trails with our guests.

We offer 5 - 16 day Ski tours in India and Ski mountaineering tours to peaks that are in the range of 5500m to 7000m or Ski traverses across the Pir Panjal, Dhauladhar, Zanskar and the Trans Himalayan ranges.

How the trips work:

Most of our most tours currently are developed around Manali. Guests arrive in Manali and after their safety briefing and packing, we hit the trail. We are supported on the trip with porters and a cook who carry all our equipment and rations. Weather and snow conditions determine the routes and the areas we will follow through the trip. We have 50 glaciers and over 500 peaks in Himachal.

Our most popular backcountry Ski Tours in India tours are 5–15 days in Himachal Pradesh. Some of them are:

1. Hampta valley
2. Deo Tibba and Indrasan area in the Kullu valley
3. Beas Kund area
4. Chandra valley
5. Tosh valley
6. Malana valley
7. Pin Valley National park
8. Spiti valley
9. Manali wildlife sanctuary

On some of our Ski Mountaineering tours guests can climb and ski 2000m (6560ft) vertical feet a day. A very strong skier can total between 40,000 to 46,000 vertical feet in a week of course this is a lot and a big challenge.

Season: Mid February–Mid May

Our average group size: 1 to 5 guests.

Ability Levels:

Considering the nature of the ski terrain, we ask guests joining us to meet a minimum level of fitness and skiing ability (see below). The terrain we ski is steep, rugged and has natural obstacles and hazards to navigate around. Of course, it is possible to rest on one or more days.

For a trip with us you must be:

• physically healthy and in very good physical shape
• able to climb a minimum of 6560 v. feet/2000 v. meters we might end up doing this on some days depending on the tours you choose.
• able to link a minimum of 30 short radius turns in a fall-line, in deep snow-conditions and with a pack of 8 – 10 kilogram.
• able to ski with good control of your skis in difficult situations
• Must be comfortable living and camping in harsh backcountry winter environment where temperatures can go down to – 10 deg C especially in February and March at higher altitudes.

All our Ski tours in India tours will take you into a lot of remote wilderness areas and glaciated terrain. Being comfortable living in the outdoors with limited comforts is an important prerequisite. You will be living in tents on snow and things could get rather cold, harsh and wet.