skisnowboardnepal

Ski for Nepal 3 – Annapurna Winter Festival

November 13, 2019November 13, 2019 skisnowboardnepal

76706918_1122713441264808_7943819086587232256_o

Finally we are launching the next Ski training in Annapurna Base Camp. This year we will cooperate with the Mountain Academy of Nepal, an institute affiliated with the Ministry of Tourism in Nepal. The training will take place from the 10th until 23rd February and we will provide gear and ski instructors from Europe. As in the last years we will conduct a beginner Ski course, an advanced course and a Snowboard course. Furthermore, we will teach all students about avalanche awareness, rescue techniques and conduct practical trainings on how to find avalanche victims. After the training we will also organize a Ski, Snowboard and Skimountaineering race.

The advantage of Annapurna Base Camp as our location for this festival are manifold. First of all, there is plenty of snow. Especially for advanced skiers it is important to Ski various kinds of terrain and different snow types to progress. In February and March there can be up to 2 meters of snow in the Annapurna Sanctuary which is ideal for Ski mountaineering and splitboarding. Especially last year, there was so much snow, that the lodges at ABC had to close and some of the roofs collapsed due to the weight of the snow.

Second of all, the terrain in ABC provides different kinds of slopes. First of all, there are gentle slopes for beginners. Furthermore, there are slopes with more incline for advanced and professional skiers. Infact, the slopes are part of the north face of Hiunchuli 6441m. Due to the northern exposition, snow remains cold and hence fresh powder. You can ascend with climbing skins from ABC at 4200m up to 5200m and enjoy almost 1000m of descend.

Finally, the lodges in ABC provide great comfort to all students and instructors. After a long ski day it is better to enjoy a warm dinner in the heated dining room then to sleep in tents. Also the costs are significantly lower then in tents due to the gas, kitchen gear, food etc.

We hope to find about five to six instructors and about 30 Nepali students. Also we are planning to subsidize all Nepali students to keep the costs as low as possible. Currently we are still negotiating with the Mountain Academy, MoT and the VisitNepal2020 campaign office about a budget and are looking for private sponsors.

We will also soon upload a registration sheet for all the participants to faciliate insurance, ski gear and other equipment. Looking forward to ski with you in ABC! #skisnowboardnepal

Preliminary schedule:

1 Drive from Kathmandu to Ghandruk with the team and gears. Overnight at Ghandruk.
2 Inauguration Day at Ghandruk.
3 Trekking to ABC (Overnight at Sinuwa/Bamboo)
4 Trekking to ABC (Overnight at Himalaya/Deurali)
5 Trekking to ABC (Overnight at MBC/ABC)
6-9 Annapurna Winter Festival and basic training for trainee/locals/students/guide
10 1st National Ski/Snowboard Championship and Annapurna Winter Festival closing day.
11-13 Trekking to Siwai,Ghandruk
14 Drive back to Kathmandu

Impressions from 2017

20170215_132202

20170215_104323

Pasang

Lisa

vlcsnap-error083

20170215_094317

Cooperation with Vacation with a Cause

October 24, 2019October 24, 2019 skisnowboardnepal

Humla 9

The Foundation is happy to announce its cooperation with the Austrian company “Vacation with a cause”. Lisl Leitn, the founder joined us already in 2017 and was part of a group of european Ski instructors in Annapurna Base Camp.

We decided to team up, since the Foundation faced drastic financial problems in the last years. Funding a ski school in Nepal is quite a challenging task. Although we rely on volunteers and sponsors, it is difficult to organize trainings without any cash. While our sponsors such as Mammut, Contour Skins and Dynafit did provide us with vital gear such as avalanche tranceivers and Skitour skins these donations consist of gear, but not cash.

Therefore, we decided to initiate a social sustainable business model and reach out to travel agencies for cooperations. This step was important to provide job opportunities for our ski and snowboard guides and to promote skiing in Nepal to a global audience. Furthermore, our cooperation consists of combining ski tourism to Nepal with trainings for locals, guides and kids.

Humla7

We could not have found a better partner than “Vacation with a cause” since their business model does exactly do that. Lisa´s company offers Kite surf and surf trips to Brazil and cooperates with local surf schools close to Fortalezza. Her clients are looking not only for epic waves and beautiful beaches but also want to give back something to the surf community. Hence, the clients spend half of their vacation sharing their passion with local kids and enjoy themselves for the rest of the trip. They also provide English classes to the kids that will eventually significantly benefit their education in the long run.

Now its time to adopt the same approach in Nepal. Therefore we sat down with Lisa and planned for the winter season 2020 and drafted two fixed departures for interested SkiMo and Splitboard enthusiasts. The first group will trek to the Annapurna Base Camp and join us for Skitours in the mornings and subsequently teach locals in the afternoon. The second group will fly to Nepal in March and explore the hidden powder slopes of Humla, while continuing our ski training in Simikot and Hepka Valley.

Sounds interesting? If you want to be part of the first Ski school in Nepal and enjoy Himalayan Powder please contact Lisa. She will provide all details, costs and a concise itinerary: info@vacations-with-a-cause.com

https://vacations-with-a-cause.com/en

Dates:

Annapurna Base Camp 14 Days: 25.02-09.03.2020

Humla 15 Days: 11.03-27.03.2020

Some impressions from our previous trainings:

ABC7

ABC 4

ABC8

ABC3

The first Ski lift in Nepal – Backyard engineering 2.0

October 16, 2019October 16, 2019 skisnowboardnepal

The first time I visited Kalinchok in Dolakha was in 2011. As a “backpacker”, I ran into a group of youngsters who began to study tourism at the Nepal Academy for Tourism and Hotel Management (NATHM). The idea to open a skischool in Nepal was only put in concrete terms when Utsav Pathak, one of the students, suggested in 2015 to start a ski project in Nepal. Subsequently we decided to collect used Skitour gear and Snowboards through friends and family in Germany and Austria. In a next step, several friends joined me to teach a group of 15 students and mountain guides how to ski and shred in Rolwaling Valley in Dolakha. It was my second time in Dolakha and once more, after the trip to the high mountains, we trekked up to Kalinchok to scout the area for possible ski slopes.

Utsav and his friends returned dozens of times to their local mountain to Ski and suggested to me to look into building a Ski lift. It took several months until Florian Trittler, a fellow ski instructor from Germany who also skied in Nepal with me, and my Nepali friends continued to look into the matter. Florian also works in a cable car company in Austria as an engineer and together we drafted the first protype on paper. Our approach of German engineering, mixed with a Nepali cost-benefit analysis, eventually ended in a rope tow system, powered by a gasoline engine. 27018429_1955470457854692_366574133_o

We did not want to errect a permanent structure to keep the footprint light, since Kalinchok is not only part of a conservation area, but also an important religious shrine. Therefore, the poles and bottom- and top station are held in place by metal poles. In addition, electricity in Nepal is scarce, hence we decided to opt for a combustion engine for the first prototype. After looking at backyard rope tows on youtube and historical ski lifts from the alps, we wanted to keep it simple and as cheap as possible.

When I begann to search for reduction gear boxes on Kathmandu markets, I realized it will be a long journey to design and built the lift completly by ourselves. Hence, we approached Guna Raj Dakhal, one of the leading cable car engineers in Nepal, who instantly was interested in pioneering the first ski lift in Nepal. Guna is one of the engineers who is part of the recent boom of cable cars in the country. In contrast to European or American cable cars, the infrastructure is commonly used to transport pilgrims (and goats) to religious shrines. The business model remains similiar. After four to five years, the cable car is paid off. This led to the errection of Manakamana, Chandragiri, Kalinchok and finally a new project in Sarangkot.

Our vision however is different. We only realized that promoting skiing to beginners is not so easy without a ski lift. Although it worked for the first generation of Skiers in Nepal, it is incredbly exhausting to skin up with skis and to focus again while going down. At least for the very beginners. Therefore, we decided that a rope tow lift, up to 80m is sufficient to introduce beginners to the sport while limiting the environmental footprint to a minimum extent. We still believe in a Skitour & Splitboard tourism in Nepal that can attract foreigners while we establish a Ski culture for Nepalis.

How does it work? This season we faced some temperature issues with the carburator. Also the large iron rebars that we used to fix the system loosend in the soil. We are looking forward to operate again next January and February with some technical improvements. The interest of the locals and Kathmandu tourists was definitely high! Overall at least 250 youngsters came out to Ski with us, hence its a major success to bring more people on the slopes! Ski on! #skisnowboardnepal

Here is the first 100% Nepali Ski Movie filmed and edited by Rupak Tandukar

Inauguration ceremony with high level guests. Jevan Ram Shrestra President of the Olympic Committee, Vice-Mayor of Charikot, District Chief of Police Dolakha

Two poles are needed to increase the rope tension. An old rice bag serves as counter weight.

A reduction gear and a car transmission provide the necessary low speed while permitting enough torque to pull up to 10 persons at the same time

27651312_10214800253741510_880367715_o 27537248_10214792396625087_1938194968_o

The Ski Map of Nepal

October 15, 2019October 16, 2019 skisnowboardnepal

Always wondered where you can go Skitouring or Splitboarding in Nepal? Here you have a brief overview. For more questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Ski school exploratory to Humla, the “Wild West” of Nepal

October 15, 2019October 16, 2019 skisnowboardnepal

This February, I was lucky enough to organize an exploratory Skitour trip to the remote district of Humla in the very West of Nepal. Humla´s remoteness is not only given due to its border with Tibet, as many districts in Nepal, but primarily because of the lack of roads. Only since very recently, a road is being built from the Tibetian border town of Hilsa to the districts capital Simikot. However, Nepal Army which is implementing the work is still blasting the last section out of a massive rock. Nevertheless, reports claim that the road could be finished already this year and hence finalising a milestone infrastructure project for Humlese citizens.

It will take several more years to finalize the connection from Simikot to the Terrai and Humla´s neighbouring provinces, but work is already underway. Currently there remain only two options to reach Simikot: By foot via a multiple days trek, or by plane within several hours from Kathmandu. While I decided for the latter, I convinced my colleagues in Kathmandu to open a chapter of our Skischool in the far West. We sorted out four sets of Skitour gear and avalanche recievers and booked a flight to Simikot.

When I took my flight from Nepalgunj to Simikot, I was the only passenger aboard including dozens of stoves, bags of rice and other foodstuffs. As soon as the Twin Otter touched down and disembarked at the “Lukla-style” airport, dozens of traditionally clothed Humlese rushed towards the plane. I slowly realized what this was about. The crowd of people was desperate to fly out before the winter fully commenced and the ovens, my fellow passengers, were sold at the local market just in time before massive snowfall was about to start.

Simikot in deep snow

Finally, I was welcomed by my friend and the guide for any trekking activites in Humla: Abinash Lama. Abinash, is about my age, fluent in English and dreams of studying Cinematography. Currently he is not only an ace in photography and videography but also frequently vlogs on Youtube. At some point, he confessed to me, that every upload of his edits on the web takes up to 3 days. Which shows his incredible motivation to share and tell stories of Humlese people, social challenges and their hardhsips.

Abinash hosted me for the two coming weeks and was extremly keen to learn how to Ski. Hence, after the predicted snowfall started, we started right away with the training on large flat potato field. The locals were stunned about a short demo run and what you can actually do with skis and I went on to instruct them the very basics of the gear and how to use it.

Our Ski course attraced massive attention and lots of interest

The following days we recieved further snowfall and I was stunned about the mass of snow in Nepal in an altitude of only 2000m. Due to the Western Disturbances, the massive weather systems that bring the winter rain to the Terai and the snow to many glaciers, precipitation is the highest in the very west. After all my years of instructing Nepali skiers and snowboarders I was incredbibly excited to ski my first ever tree run in Nepal. On the other hand, I was in a quagmire. Should I leave Abinash and my students to explore prospective slopes for bigger trainings and commercial skitour operations and reports to the government? I decided to stay in Simikot for almost two weeks to teach as much as possible, while only exploring the vicinity of the district capital. While the road towards Hebka Valley and Hilsa is already finished, it is quite difficult to travel long distance, even with SkiMo gear.

Pauli La, I believe one of Nepal´s highest roads

Interestingly, several Bolero Jeeps have already been flown in by helicopters to connect the surrounding villages with Simikot. However, due to the mud and snow, the drivers gave up and went on holidays. Nevertheless, I stumbled upon another road leading up to a pass called “Pauli La”. This is what I believe, one of the highest motorable roads in Nepal reaching about 4600m. I do not exactly know why it was built in addition to the main road following the Karnali river, but it is the perfect access to a pass and several peaks that are perfectly suited for Ski & Splitboard Touring.

VLOG0869

The first snow plough in Nepal

During my two week stay, the airport was shut down due to the snow. Hence, I was stunned again when I saw the first snow plough mounted to a jeep in Nepal. Airport authorities, Army and Police helped to clear the runway, and after several hours of shoveling, the first planes from Nepalgunj were able to land. What was planned to be an exploratory expedition, turned to one of my best skischool trips to Nepal ever. Not only was I able to instruct students and find new friends, I also discovered several new potential spots for a sustainable SkiMo tourism in the very west of Nepal.

-Julius Seidenader-

PS: We are just planning for Spring 2020. Please get in touch if you are interested to join, help or support our cause.