Three days, one instructor to yourself, and every basic skill you need to ski a beginner slope on your own.
This is the shortest course we run that still gets you skiing properly rather than sliding and hoping. Over three days on Gulmarg's Baby Slope, the 8-5 slope and Highland Park, you go from clipping into a binding for the first time to linking turns down a full run under your own control, stopping when you decide to, not when the slope flattens out.
We have been teaching beginners in Gulmarg since 2006. More than 2,500 skiers from over 40 countries have learned here with us, and we are registered with J&K Tourism as a ski school and guiding operator under permit no. JKAT00005678.
You fly into Srinagar. We take care of everything after that.
What's included
- Airport pick-up and drop: Srinagar (SXR) to your Gulmarg hotel and back, roughly a 1.5 to 2 hour drive
- 3-star or 4-star hotel stay with breakfast and dinner included
- Complete ski equipment: skis, boots, poles, fitted to you on arrival
- All essential safety gear: helmet, goggles, gloves
- Ski pants and jacket
- All ski lift passes for the beginner slopes used in this course
- One-to-one ski instruction: your own instructor for the full course, not a group of eight sharing one
- Daily transport hotel to slopes to hotel
- Emergency medical support on call for the duration of your stay
Where you'll ski
Three areas, in this order, because each one asks slightly more of you than the last:
- The Baby Slope: short, gentle, and forgiving. Where you learn to stand, stop and steer.
- The 8-5 slope: a longer beginner run where you start linking turns with some actual speed to manage.
- Highland Park: wider and longer again, with enough pitch that speed control becomes a real skill rather than a formality.
Day by day
Day 1, Standing, sliding, stopping
Morning starts with boot fitting and a proper equipment check: boot fit, binding release setting, pole length. Then onto the Baby Slope. You'll learn the athletic stance skiing actually needs, how to move around on flat snow, side-stepping and herringbone to climb, and how to fall and get back up without wearing yourself out.
The core skill of Day 1 is the snowplough, the wedge shape that lets you control speed and come to a complete stop whenever you want. By the end of the afternoon you'll be sliding the Baby Slope and stopping on command at a point your instructor picks.
Day 2, Linking turns
Turning, both directions, in the snowplough. This is the day the sport starts to make sense: you'll learn how pressure and steering change your direction, how to traverse across a slope, and how to use the beginner lift so you spend your energy skiing rather than walking uphill.
We move to the 8-5 slope once your stops are reliable. Longer runs, more speed to manage, and the beginnings of slope awareness, reading pitch, judging stopping distance, and the right-of-way rules that keep a busy Gulmarg slope safe.
Day 3, Skiing a full run on your own
Highland Park. Longer descents, linked turns from top to bottom, and the first steps toward matching your skis at the end of each turn, the movement that eventually becomes a parallel turn. You'll bring in pole use, work on rhythm rather than one turn at a time, and finish the day skiing the run repeatedly without your instructor needing to talk you down it.
What you'll be able to do at the end
- Ski beginner slopes independently and confidently
- Control your speed and stop where you choose, on demand
- Link turns in both directions down a full run
- Ride the beginner lifts without help
- Understand slope etiquette, right of way, and when conditions are and aren't for you
Three days is enough to become a skier. It is not enough to become an intermediate one, if you want parallel turns and Gondola terrain, the 5-Day Beginner Ski Package is the honest answer.
Not included
Airfare to Srinagar, lunch, personal expenses, travel insurance, ski clothing unless added on. GST where applicable
Good to know
- Fitness: normal everyday fitness is enough. Skiing is tiring for the first two days mostly because it's unfamiliar, not because it's an endurance sport.
- Altitude: Gulmarg sits at 2,650 m. Most people feel nothing beyond mild breathlessness on the first day. Drink more water than you think you need.
- Season: the Gulmarg ski season typically runs from late December to early April, with the most consistent snow between mid-January and mid-March. Conditions vary year to year, ask us what the mountain is actually doing before you book flights.
Book
Ask us anything before you book, we'd rather you arrive with the right expectations. WhatsApp or call +91-9596300570, or send an enquiry and we'll come back with dates, availability and what the snow is doing right now.
Enquire about this package. WhatsApp us.