Two skiers standing on an open snowfield high on the mountain, looking out over ridgelines that run to the horizon.

Freeride and Backcountry Ski Packages in Gulmarg

7-Day Freeride10-Day Freeride10-Day Backcountry14-Day Backcountry
How you go upLifts + SkinsLifts + SkinsLifts + SkinsLifts + Skins
Guided ski days6101014
Flex/rest daysNo112
Ascent per day0–45 min0–45 min700–1,200 m700–1,200 m
Descents per day4–84–81–31–3
Gondola Phase 1 & 2YesYesYesYes
Chairlift + drag liftYesYesYesYes
Powder ski setupYesYesYesYes
Touring setup + skinsYesYesYesYes
ABS airbag packYesYesYesYes
Transceiver, shovel, probeYesYesYesYes
Avalanche training1 block2 blocksFull curriculumProgressive + assessed
Walkie-talkies + SIMYesYesYesYes
Remote route transportYesYesYesYes
Multi-valley daysNoNoSomeYes
Fitness requiredGoodGoodHighHigh
Prior off-piste experienceHelpfulHelpfulRequiredRequired

Not sure? Read Freeride vs Backcountry Skiing in Gulmarg, or message us with your ski background on +91-9596300570 and we'll tell you straight.

Newer to skiing? Start with our beginner packages, 3, 5 and 7 days from first turns to parallel skiing on chairlift terrain.

Choose your duration

Duration
7 days
Level
Confident off-piste
Discipline
Ski
Instruction
One to one

Day by day

  • Day 1, Arrival, fitting, assessment. Arrival, fitting, assessment

    Airport transfer, hotel check-in, and equipment fitting. Afternoon on lift-served terrain so your guide can see you ski, genuinely see you, not take your word for it, and calibrate the week. Transceiver issued and the first search drill run before the day ends.

  • Day 2, Avalanche safety day, and first powder. Avalanche safety day, and first powder

    A full morning of companion rescue: trailhead check protocol, signal-coarse-fine-pinpoint search, probing patterns, strategic shovelling, timed single-burial scenarios. Then a first snow pit, profile, hand hardness, grain forms, temperature gradient, and an ECT so you see what the layer that matters this week actually does. Afternoon skiing Gondola Bowl.

  • Days 3–6, Freeride days. Freeride days

    Four full days on the mountain, terrain chosen each morning against the day's hazard, weather and how the group is skiing. A typical day is 4–8 descents mixing bowls, chutes and trees, with a short boot-pack or skin to access the day's main line. Snowpack observations continue daily; you'll dig with your guide rather than watch. If the weather shuts the upper mountain, the tree runs and the Kongdoori terrain still ski well, Gulmarg rarely gives you a day with nothing.

  • Day 7, The best of the week, and out. The best of the week, and out

    Whatever the mountain has given us that we haven't skied yet, then a debrief on what you learned, what to work on, and what you'd be ready for next time. Airport transfer the following morning.

What's included

Travel and stay

  • Airport pick-up and drop: Srinagar (SXR), roughly 50 km and 1.5–2 hours each way
  • 3-star or 4-star hotel with breakfast and dinner, free Wi-Fi, a dedicated ski room to dry and store equipment, and 24/7 hot water
  • Daily transport hotel to slopes to hotel
  • Remote route transport: vehicle pick-up from the villages our descents finish in, including Babareshi and Drung
  • Local SIM card, one per group

Lifts

  • All ski lift passes
  • Gondola Phase 1 ski passes: Kongdoori, approx. 3,100 m
  • Gondola Phase 2 ski passes: approx. 3,980 m, the gateway to Apharwat's terrain
  • Chairlift ski passes: Kongdoori toward Mary's Shoulder
  • Drag lift ski passes: the 726 m Kongdoori drag lift, Asia's longest, opened December 2025

Equipment

  • Complete powder ski equipment: freeride skis, boots, poles
  • Touring ski setup including skins, for the lines that need 20–45 minutes of skinning or boot-packing from a lift station
  • Backpack
  • ABS-style avalanche airbag backpack
  • Avalanche safety gear: three-antenna digital transceiver, metal-bladed shovel, 240 cm+ probe
  • All essential safety gear: helmet, goggles, gloves
  • Ski pants and jacket

Guiding, safety and communication

  • Professional backcountry ski guide, certified through AIARE, Avalanche Canada and the Kashmir Avalanche Association
  • One-to-one ski instruction where you want technique coaching alongside guiding
  • Avalanche safety training and daily practice: transceiver drills, probe and shovel technique, snow pits, ECT and Rutschblock tests
  • Walkie-talkies for group communication
  • Emergency medical support and a defined rescue and evacuation plan

Not included

Airfare to Srinagar, lunch, personal expenses, travel insurance covering off-piste skiing, search and rescue and helicopter evacuation (mandatory), ski clothing unless added on. GST where applicable, heliskiing (available separately)

Full 7-day freeride page

What it costs

Per person in Indian rupees. The solo column is the price for one person travelling alone; the sharing columns are the price each person pays when two or three share.

Package prices by length, hotel grade and party size
Package Solo 2 sharing per person 3 sharing per person
7-Day Freeride3-star hotel ₹1,77,600 ₹1,32,600 ₹1,14,266
7-Day Freeride4-star hotel ₹2,09,600 ₹1,52,600 ₹1,28,933
10-Day Freeride3-star hotel ₹2,48,000 ₹1,86,500 ₹1,61,166
10-Day Freeride4-star hotel ₹2,92,000 ₹2,14,000 ₹1,81,333
10-Day Backcountry3-star hotel ₹2,59,000 ₹1,95,000 ₹1,68,500
10-Day Backcountry4-star hotel ₹3,05,000 ₹2,24,000 ₹1,89,500
14-Day Backcountry3-star hotel ₹3,50,000 ₹2,63,000 ₹2,27,000
14-Day Backcountry4-star hotel ₹4,13,000 ₹3,02,000 ₹2,55,500

Prices are for the season and can change between seasons. What each price covers, and what it does not, is listed under each duration above. For a quote on your dates, send us an enquiry.

Take the itinerary with you

Every package brochure is on one page as a PDF, with the full itinerary, inclusions and booking conditions.

Downloads

Enquire about freeride & backcountry ski

Tell us your dates and what you can ski. We will reply with what the mountain is realistically likely to give you in that window.

WhatsApp is how we usually reply.

Every length we publish for this package.

Your dates

We run 15 December 2026 to 31 March 2027. The calendars will not offer dates outside that.

Diet, an airport pickup, a non-skiing partner, equipment you already own, what you have actually skied. Optional, but it changes how we plan your week.

Prefer to talk? WhatsApp +91 95963 00570.

Frequently asked questions

What is freeride skiing in Gulmarg?

Lift-accessed off-piste skiing. The Gulmarg Gondola carries you from the base at 2,650 m to approximately 3,980 m, and the terrain below the top station, Gondola Bowl, Shark Fin, Monkey Hill, the runs to Drung, is ungroomed, uncontrolled powder reached with little or no climbing. It's the reason Gulmarg attracts skiers who'd otherwise be touring for a week to get one comparable descent.

Do I need to be an expert skier to book a freeride package?

No, but you need to be a confident parallel skier comfortable in variable snow. Off-piste experience helps and isn't required, we teach powder technique as part of the week. What doesn't work is booking this as your first week on skis; for that, see our beginner packages.

Is Gulmarg's off-piste terrain patrolled?

The marked in-bounds area is patrolled. Everything else, which is most of what makes Gulmarg famous, is not. There is no avalanche control work and no closure system out of bounds. That is why a guide, full rescue kit and daily snowpack assessment are not optional extras on this trip.

What avalanche equipment do I need to bring?

None, transceiver, shovel, probe and an ABS-style airbag pack are all included, along with powder skis and a touring setup. Bring your own boots if you have them, and your own transceiver if you own one, because you'll search faster with a familiar unit.

Can beginners join a freeride package?

No. Our freeride packages assume a confident parallel skier. If you're starting from scratch, our 7-day beginner package will get you skiing parallel on chairlift terrain, and freeride becomes a realistic goal for a following season.

When is the best time for freeride skiing in Gulmarg?

Mid-January through February is generally the most reliable window for cold, dry snow, with the season typically running late December to early April. March can deliver excellent stable spring skiing on the higher aspects. Message us and we'll tell you what the current season is actually doing rather than what the brochure average says.

Is 10 days too long for a Gulmarg ski trip?

For a freerider, no, it's arguably the right length. Gulmarg's snow arrives in Western Disturbance cycles, and a ten-day window is much more likely to include both a big storm and the cold, clear days after it than a seven-day window is. Longer trips also justify the flights better on a cost-per-ski-day basis.

What happens on a storm day?

We ski. Storm days in Gulmarg are often the best tree-skiing days of the trip, the gladed terrain on Monkey Hill and the lower mountain holds visibility when the upper mountain is a whiteout. If the Gondola is on wind hold, we work with what's turning. Days that are genuinely unskiable become avalanche training, gear work and rest.

Can I combine 10 days of freeride with heliskiing?

Yes, heliskiing is offered separately and can be added to any package. Weather and availability decide the day. Ask us when you enquire and we'll explain how it's priced and scheduled.

Do I need ski touring experience for the freeride package?

No. Some lines need 20 to 45 minutes on skins or a boot-pack, and we'll teach you skinning, kick turns and transitions on the trip. If you want days that are mostly climbing, our backcountry packages are the right product.

What's the difference between backcountry and freeride skiing in Gulmarg?

Freeride is lift-accessed off-piste, the Gondola takes you to nearly 3,980 m and you ski down. Backcountry is human-powered: you climb on touring skis with skins, typically 700 to 1,200 vertical metres a day, into terrain beyond the lift network. Freeride gives you more descents; backcountry gives you solitude, remoteness and terrain nobody else reaches.

Do I need ski touring experience to book?

Not mandatory. You need to be a confident off-piste skier with good uphill fitness; we'll teach skinning, kick turns, transitions and pacing on the trip. Previous avalanche training is strongly recommended, and we'll teach and drill the full companion-rescue sequence regardless.

How much climbing is there per day?

Typically 700 to 1,200 vertical metres, over three to five hours, carrying an 8–12 kg pack, at altitudes between roughly 2,650 m and 4,000 m. Days are built up gradually across the trip, and there's a flex day the guide can place where the weather and your legs need it.

What if the avalanche danger is high?

We change the plan. Elevated hazard sends us to lower-angle terrain, forested touring or lift-served skiing, and on the worst days we don't go into avalanche terrain at all. Our guides are certified through AIARE, Avalanche Canada and the Kashmir Avalanche Association, and we've guided in Gulmarg since 2006 with zero avalanche accidents among our guided clients, a record built specifically on being willing to change the plan.

Is there mobile coverage in Gulmarg's backcountry?

Largely no. Gulmarg village and the Gondola base have signal; Kongdoori is patchy; the touring terrain, the back side of Apharwat and the descents toward Drung and Babareshi generally have none. Every group carries walkie-talkies and we issue a local SIM per group, because international roaming does not work reliably in Jammu & Kashmir.

Is 14 days too long for a ski trip to Kashmir?

For a backcountry skier, it's the length that makes the most committing terrain accessible. Big objectives need a settled snowpack, a clear weather window and a full day, you can't book those in advance, you can only be present when they align. A fortnight makes that likely; ten days makes it possible; a week makes it luck.

Do I need a formal avalanche course before booking?

Strongly recommended. We deliver a full progressive avalanche programme on the trip regardless, and by the end you'll be running profiles and stability tests yourself under assessment.

Can I bring my own touring setup?

Yes, and we encourage it, especially boots. Fourteen days is a long time in unfamiliar boots. Bring your own transceiver too if you own one. Tell us what you're bringing before you travel so we can check compatibility and have spares ready.

How does the trip handle a long spell of high avalanche danger?

It absorbs it, which is the main argument for the length. Two flex days plus lift access means a dangerous cycle becomes tree skiing, lift-served powder, avalanche education and rest, rather than a ruined trip, and the objectives wait for the pack to come back into range.