Powder Magazine in India

Best touring day yet! Landed at 4,400meters on My Turn, took an hour long run with our new arrivals – Lynsey Dyer from Jackson, Wyoming and Photographer Scott Smith from Colorado. They had just survived a 15 hr car race from Delhi to Manali that words cannot describe. Let me just say, I have barely recovered from the same experience from 2001. I definitely used up 7 lives of mine on that day years ago. They had missed the luxury flight from Delhi and had no other way to get here in time. pigs, trucks, yaks, cars, horns, chickens, sacred cows mixed together like a video game gone haywire.

We then hopped a ride on Jerry’s helicopter, which happened to be in the area on a Brazilian Snowboard film shoot, landing on McNaughty’s for another 4,000 foot run. We then toured and ski-mountaineered across to Setham Dome, which is the sight of the proposed new Indian ski resort, the controversial one that Henry Ford’s grandson is involved in. 4,800 feet of corn awaited us, after we departed the gompa and colorful prayer flags at the summit.

Lynsey and Scott are here to do a story with me for Powder Magazine on Punjab Pioneers. I am researching women who have climbed and skied in the Indian Himalayas over recorded history. Fanny Bullock Workman was one of the first on paper – 1899-1906 she explored, climbed and mapped many peaks and valleys in India. A few days ago, I was honored to meet Dicky Dolma, the youngest woman ever to climb Everest and also the former Indian National Ski Champion. She proudly showed off her many medals and explained how her success has inspired many Indian girls to ski and climb. She now instructs at the Indian Mountaineering Institute, in Manali. We are planning to get together on Saturday with a bunch of her students and do a team teaching day up towards Rhotang Pass.

My latest idea is to start providing Dicky and her students with ski gear from the United States, and to possibly start a girls ski club. I’m planning on leaving my Karhu Jil’s, Head Sweet Fat Thangs, Dynafit Binders, some Patagonia clothing and 2 pairs of Garmont boots with the girls.