Kashmir is generally considered a charming and captivating luxury travel destination where one can enjoy a peaceful holiday in the most wonderful climate surrounded by some of the best scenery in the world. Not many know that Kashmir is also probably the most challenging destination in the world for what is known as adventure tourism. It is safe to say that Kashmir is the ultimate adventure! For quite some time there has been an appreciable change in the pattern and type of vacation that people tend to take, and in particular the younger generation. It is the Active or Adventure Tourism that implies vacations with physical exercise. Some of the activities that are quite popular are mountain climbing, rock climbing, trekking, hiking, mountain biking, rafting and kayaking, parasailing and hang gliding, hot air ballooning and other sports. In winter, in addition to downhill skiing, a large number of people practice cross-country skiing, ski mountaineering, tobogganing and winter climbing.
Our state has some of the most challenging places to undertake all of these activities. In fact, for several of these adventure sports it may be the last frontier or the last challenge. Let’s analyze the various possibilities in this field of tourism. In the first place, the sport of mountaineering has a wide offer both in summer and in winter. We have the alpine style mountains that surround the valley. We can call them the Alps of the good old days. Mostly virgin and largely untapped. The peaks vary in altitude from 4,000 meters to 5,000 meters with varying difficulty. Some well-known peaks are Tata Kutti, Sunset Peak, Harmukh, Tuliyan Peak, Shesh Nag Peaks, and Kolahoi, popularly called the Matterhorn of Kashmir. In addition to these, there are dozens of unnamed peaks throughout the valley. Most of these peaks can be climbed alpine style in three days or, in the case of Kolahoi and Harmukh, a week or so. On some of the mountains there are harder north faces and rock faces that present a challenge to climbers. These mountain ranges are dotted with high altitude lakes. Some of the well known lakes are Gangabal, Nandakol, Kishensar, Vishensar, Gadsar, Yemsar, Sheshnag and Kounsarnag. Through these mountains there are very charming walks that vary in duration from two or three days to a week or ten days. The most frequented is the trek from Sonamarg to Naranag via the high altitude lakes of Kishensar, Vishensar and Gangabal. This is probably the most beautiful hike in the whole world. The lakes are stocked with trout and the mountainsides are carpeted with a wide variety of wildflowers. The other treks are from Lidder valley to Sindh valley via Aru, Lidderwatt and Tarsar. Kounsarnag via Aharabal and Kungwattan. A very interesting trek is from Lehinwan to Pahalgam via the Margan and Golul passes through the Wadhwan valley. Quite a few mountain trails are suitable for mountain biking. In the early 1980s, a number of British tourists cycled through these trails in the summer. In winter, the degree of difficulty of all these climbs is very high and some of them can be compared in hardness with very high and difficult peaks of the Himalayas. All mountain trails become excellent mountain and cross-country ski trails.
Next come the mid-tier challenges of Kishtwar and Zanskar mountains. These range in altitude between 6,000 meters and 7,000 meters and include Nun Kun, Pinnacle, White Needle, Brammah, Barnaj, Sickle Moon, and a host of other peaks, some of which are yet to be named or scaled. Expeditions to these peaks involve a few days of trekking and setting up intermediate camps. The duration is usually two to three weeks. The peaks of Kishtwar are very popular with British climbers and even Chris Bonnington, the famous climber, has been here on a few expeditions. Lord John Hunt had tried Kolahoi before heading to Everest. Sir Edmund Hillary has walked in the Lidderwatt area for two decades. Finally, we have the most challenging Karakoram peaks around the Siachen Glacier. These are the really tough ones and include Saser Kangri, Sia Kangri, Mamostang Kangri, and a host of unnamed peaks. There have been some joint expeditions with foreign parties in recent years. The expeditions here are of longer duration. In fact, the Siachin problem was caused by the Pakistanis allowing expeditions on their side into this hitherto unexplored and unknown area in the early 1980s. The Indians took control of the area in the most difficult winter conditions giving the Pakistanis a surprise the following summer. Recently there has been talk of demilitarizing the area and declaring it a Peace Park for adventure lovers.
Some of the most famous rivers flow through our mountains. The three main rivers are Indus, Jehlum and Chenab. There are other mountain rivers like Suru, Drass, Zanskar, Nubra and Shyok in Ladakh. Also, there are smaller ones like Sindh, Lidder, Veshav, Rembyara and Kishenganga in the valley. Most of the rivers are suitable for the practice of whitewater sports of different levels and degrees. For beginners Lidder and Sindh are ideal. Some sections of Jehlum before Baramulla are also good. Indus and Chenab are the most challenging and demanding. Some sections are impossible to navigate both in rafts and kayaks. The Zanskar River is the most dramatic and exciting with its long and deep gorge that even seems like a challenge to rafters who have already done the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon. Indus near Leh, Lidder in Pahalgam and Sindh in Sonamarg are already being used for both training and exciting pleasure rides for casual tourists. Zanskar from Padam to Nimu is a very popular week-long expedition among foreign rafters.
It is possible not only to organize tourist packages on all these rivers, but also to hold international competitions of the highest level and challenge. In view of the very small number of people who have been frequenting these rivers, we can say that they are more or less virgin, especially some difficult and remote sections. Even if we have dozens of groups and expeditions in the future, they will still be a small percentage compared to our great potential in this field. The other adventure activities like parasailing/hang gliding, hang gliding and hot air balloon rides have limitless possibilities. There are numerous mountain ranges with meadows at the bottom that can be used for aerial sports. Himachal has made Billing an international stage for these activities. In Kashmir we have dozens of better sites than Billing with very challenging thermals like Kongdori meadows and Khilanmarg below Apharwat which has a gondola to the top. Sanasar, Mantalai and Natha top in Jammu have been previously tested by foreign air sports instructors. In fact, almost all seasons have the possibility of practicing these sports. Also, to have a more difficult challenge, one can go to different valleys in Ladakh.
In the 1970s and 1980s adventure tourism had really taken off in Kashmir and it was becoming a world class destination for this specialized sector of tourism. Unfortunately, the 1990 turmoil and the kidnapping of five hikers in the Pahalgam area gave it a tremendous setback. In fact, this activity completely disappeared from the valley. Now that the situation is gradually calming down and tourism is on the way to reviving, it would be advisable to concentrate on this specialized sector of tourism. These activities do not require an elaborate infrastructure and are more service-oriented. Due to its dangerous nature, one must have an efficient search and rescue organization backed up by a foolproof communication system. Most foreign tourists are insured for search and rescue in case of any trouble, but due to the absence of a reliable private organization in the Himalayas, they are reluctant to come here. However, by the early 1990s we had established an excellent high-frequency radio communications network through the tourism department with imported equipment. The link was established between Leh, Kargil, Padam, Srinagr, Kishtwar, Jammu and Delhi. All the expeditions were monitored and several rescue missions were carried out in collaboration with the Air Force and the Army.
This helped save the lives of many adventure sports enthusiasts across the state. I had the opportunity to personally participate in some rescue missions in the Ladakh area. The system can be reactivated once it is decided to promote adventure tourism on a large scale. In fact, the Indian Mountaineering Foundation has adopted the J&K model and rescue and communication equipment is currently being imported to establish a similar system throughout the Himalayas. Most adventure tourism activities are part of ecotourism in a broader context, but need to be regulated very strictly to prevent damage to the fragile mountain environment. One has to aim for sustainable tourism. We must determine the carrying capacity of our areas for these activities and then ensure that we do not exceed the optimum level as is being done in several countries. A typical example is Bhutan. The ideal way is to enforce strict regulatory control over the entry of various expeditions and groups. These can be charged some environmental tax to pay for keeping the mountains clean. The Mountaineering Foundation of India (IMF) is already levying such a tax on foreign mountaineering expeditions, which gives a portion of all these royalties to Himalayan states for conducting clean-up expeditions. However, trekking groups and some participants of other adventure activities are not required to go through IMF.
These have to be controlled by local authorities. All these regulatory activities in environmental matters and management of different areas can generate significant employment. In addition, trained guides, porters and instructors would be needed. These can be recruited from the local youth in these remote mountainous areas and trained in some of the mountaineering institutes that already exist in the state, such as the Jawahar Mountaineering Institute in Pahalgam. Developing Adventure Tourism on a larger scale can also boost the import and sale of some of the specialized equipment required for these activities. In view of these possibilities, it would be useful for the State Tourism Authorities to make Adventure Tourism an important driving force for the future development of tourism in the State. Kashmir would hopefully one day become the ultimate destination for adventure seekers all over the world!