Day 6 : Gondola Ride

The agenda for the next day forenoon was the famous 'Gondola' ride of Gulmarg.The Goldolas had been imported from France and in collaboration / inspired with those in Switzerland. They were pretty expensive too. For the two phases of rides, there were separate tics for Rs 300/- and Rs 500/- each. We had kept a guide for the whole day so he did the running around of getting the tics and making us board first. The first phase took us to a height of 10,500 feet. We rested there for about an hour as the second phase was undergoing repair and we wern't even sure if we would be able to take that ride today. Anyhow, we relaxed in the open restaurants and enjoyed some kahwa, went around the place and saw some springs. Ponys were also available to take us through the rest of the journey. We even joked that maybe its the pony people who might have purposely damaged the second phase gondolas.

Just then we saw one gondola moving up and the rides had started. We stood in one long Q which was full of lots of Gujratis. Infact throughout our this trip, we saw big groups of gujjus, lots of them from Gujrat, Maharastra; maybe they are the fearless ones or they get long holidays during this season. We got into the gondola again for the second ride. Our first ride had been facing the valley and this time it was facing the top. So we got good views of both the valley and the ice-peaks. We could even see Nanga Parbat from here, Pir Panjal, Karakoram range. Guide also pointed out the LOC and where the kargil was. He said even when the Kargil war was going on, this place was full tourists enjoying the Gondola.On the way we even saw some huts, which belonged to the pony people and they were actually gujjars who move down to the valley in winters.

The Gondola stopped in between several times to give us a good relaxed view else the journey would be over in 6-7 minutes. We reached the top of the second phase and as we came out, we could feel the rarified air and scarcity of oxygen. There were white peaks all around and snow at our feet. It was the feeling of being on top of the world. While mom dad rested on some stones there, I set out for a small hike with the guide. Within a couple of minutes I started breathing heavy, maybe because of the sudden height, lack of acclimitisation, rarified air or my anaemia I had to take short breaks to get back my breath. I never imagined myself to get tired so soon, maybe I am not really the mountain type. Still I continued to follow my guide taking breaks in between to enjoy the gorgeous view of peaks. I reach the top of a small hillock. Guide said that if we climbed half a mile more we could see lake on the other side of the hill but I felt tired and also worried about parents waiting down there so decided to give it a pass.

It was a quicker ride down. We took both rides one after another and reached down in no time. It was almost lunch time and here was a restaurant right inside the Gondola campus. We ordered for some veg thali and Kashmiri pulao and had a hearty lunch. After the lunch there was nothing much to do and so we relaxed on the benches in the sun. I had planned to go a trek with the guide by myself. So, after resting for a while and refreshing with some warm coffee, I set out for the trek.