Gondola Ride

The Gulmarg Gondola is the reason most people put Gulmarg on a Kashmir itinerary at all. It is one of the highest operating cable cars in the world, and it does something no other Kashmir activity manages: it takes a reader with no fitness, no gear and no experience from a meadow at 2,650 m to open snowfield at nearly 4,000 m in under half an hour.

The two phases, and why the difference matters

Phase 1 runs from the Gulmarg base to Kongdoori, at roughly 3,080 m. It operates in almost every season and in most weather. This is where the beginner ski slopes are, where the gear-hire stalls cluster, and where the majority of visitors spend their day quite happily without going any higher.

Phase 2 continues from Kongdoori to Apharwat Peak at about 3,980 m. It is a genuinely different proposition — thinner air, no shelter at the top, and a service that is suspended at short notice whenever wind or visibility turns. Treat it as a bonus you might get rather than the thing you came for.

What the ride is actually like

• Cabins seat six and are enclosed, so the ride itself is warm regardless of the temperature outside.
• Phase 1 takes about eight minutes and climbs over dense pine forest.
• Phase 2 crosses open snow with very little below you — worth knowing if heights are a problem.
• There is no toilet at the Apharwat top station. Use the facilities at Kongdoori.

Who should stop at Kongdoori

Anyone travelling with young children, anyone over seventy, and anyone with a heart or respiratory condition. Altitude sickness at Apharwat is common enough that the staff at the top station see it daily, and the only treatment available up there is to get back in a cabin and come down.

If you do one thing differently after reading this page: book Phase 1 online before you travel. The counter queue on a clear February morning routinely costs visitors their entire morning in Gulmarg.