The 6000 ft Chute

By:  Sam
March 24, 2010


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This is going to get ugly.

If the avalanche debris was the most physically challenging portion of the day, what we encountered afterwords was the most mentally challenging. At Solang (where we left the bikes), there is a ski area that has got to be high in the running for strangest ski area in the world. When we emerged from the apocalyptic avalanche debris, we were deposited on a boulder filled field filled with Indian tourists wearing all manner of “trekking suits” (one piece ski suits from the early 1990’s). Many of them were riding on donkeys, a lucky few were on yaks, and almost all were talking on cell phones. None were doing much of anything, other than milling about near the snow, and all attention was on us as we made our way through the crowds. As we reached the main base of the ski area, things got much weirder. Zorbing is still a sport in India, and, for a couple of hundred rupees, you can rent a paraglider and teach yourself to fly. As I stood, exhausted and bewildered, staring at the madness, a man working on repairing a snowmobile walked over to me and offered to polish my ski boots. Fearing the sudden implosion of my brain, I beat a hasty retreat to the motorcycle set off for the tranquility of Vashisht, thus ending another bizarre day in the mountains of North India.

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Yeah. You try dealing with this while exhausted after hiking all day.

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“Hmm, so which of these distinctive looking boulders did we stash our shoes behind?”

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Solang ski area, possibly the strangest place on planet earth. Even weirder than Quebec.

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Read about the author:   Sam

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7 Comments

  1. powhounddd
    wrote on March 27th, 2010 at 9:57 am  
    1

    That is pretty incredible. Mega-chute!!

    But…weirder than Quebec? “C’est impossible!”

    Respond to this comment/comment thread
    • Dwyer
      wrote on March 28th, 2010 at 2:03 am  
      2

      nope. its not.

  2. chris
    wrote on March 27th, 2010 at 12:02 pm  
    3

    Nice pics Sam and welcome back. You guys in VT?

    Respond to this comment/comment thread
    • Sam
      wrote on March 27th, 2010 at 3:48 pm  
      4

      we’re still in NJ, and I will be for about a week more. It’ll be nice to have some time to re-adjust and take it a bit easy before trying to get going on real life again.

  3. StuckinJersey
    wrote on March 27th, 2010 at 5:57 pm  
    5

    Man, stuff looks FANtastic. that is a special place.

    Respond to this comment/comment thread
  4. CookieMonster
    wrote on March 30th, 2010 at 2:06 am  
    6

    I have to say, this is an absolutely brilliant trip report. What a monster line!

    Respond to this comment/comment thread
  5. Butch Chamberlain
    wrote on March 8th, 2011 at 1:50 pm  
    7

    If you’re not on the edge, then you are taking up way too much space! Very sick ravine. Conditions sound absolutely painful. But I do envy you. Great stuff great stuff. Keep it up. Imagine what you can find if only one takes the risk of checking things out. Hmmm

    Respond to this comment/comment thread
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