What’s your dream ski trip? Many skiers and snowboarders might come up with similar answers – heliskiing in Alaska, ski touring in the Italian Dolomites, road tripping through the Canadian Rockies or indulging in the best Swiss luxury... the list goes on.

But for Lovisa Rosengren from Sweden, the dream was more unusual – a mixture of culture and skiing in Gulmarg in Kashmir, India. And after entering the clothing company Salomon’s Dream Trip competition the dream became a reality on what might be the most epic ski holiday ever.

Sending her to Kashmir with a pair of Salomon athletes - professional skiers Cody Townsend and Kalen Thorien - Salomon made Rosengren's wish come true, and revealed the possibilities of this relatively untapped ski destination along the way.

Previous winners of the Dream Trip competition have chosen world-renowned skiing destinations such as Japan and British Columbia, but this is the first to combine skiing with lesser-known terrain. At first the team thought the trip to Kashmir would be more focused on the local culture, rather than finding the best powder and lines – but they were wrong.

The trip is documented in a 10-minute video following the crew from Delhi to Kashmir and Gulmarg’s powdery peaks.

“After two years of chasing deep snow on the Dream Trips, it was cool to go on more of a cultural trip,” says Salomon athlete and episode producer, director and cameraman Mike Douglas.

“What we didn't expect was the deepest conditions we've had on any of the Dream Trips. Nearly three metres of snow fell while we were in Gulmarg.”

“I wanted to go here (Kashmir) because I thought it was something special – you get skiing and you get the culture part,” said the winner Lovisa Rosengren.

First stop is hectic Delhi Credit: getty

The trip begins in the hubbub of Delhi, one of the largest cities in the world, but soon the crew swap car horns for mountain tops as they travel northwest to Kashmir, the northernmost region of the country.

On their way to Gulmarg ski resort the stark contrast to the bustling city is evident.

“I never knew the difference between [the rest of] India and Kashmir,” says Cody Townsend. “You almost feel like you’ve stepped into a new country.”

A dream trip is a representation of yourself, who you are gets reflected in the things you want to do.

Located on a mountain plateau at 2,600m, Gulmarg is India’s leading ski resort. In the days when India was part of the British Empire, the resort used to be popular with British civil servants and soldiers who wanted to escape the summer heat and play golf.

When the Dream Trip crew arrives a storm is on its way. What follows is footage of the threesome enjoying insane amounts of fresh powder among the trees of Gulmarg’s backcountry – until they hit a problem. “It’s too deep to ski,” says professional skier Kalen Thorien. “This is the best worst problem ever.”



The break allows to team to explore the culture of the area. Kashmir is a majority-Muslim region and has a relatively undiscovered tourism industry. The film crew follows the three skiers as they paddle out to a floating vegetable market.

“Those type of cultural experiences you don’t get on normal ski trips,” says Townsend. It’s a far cry from the traditional Austrian lederhosen or French fondue nights most skiers would class as the cultural element of their winter holidays.



Once the snow clears and the sun comes out, the real magic of Gulmarg is revealed – as if the endless powder wasn’t enough. The team head up the world’s highest gondola, one of the resort’s four lifts, to the top of Apharwat at 3,979m. From the summit there is over 1,500m of vertical to explore.

From here the crew see the Himalayas in the distance – the chain of mountains runs from Pakistan into India and north to China, with some of the world’s tallest mountains poking through the clouds.

The majority of Gulmarg’s terrain is off piste Credit: GETTY

The majority of Gulmarg’s terrain is off piste and involves ski touring and hiking, but the rewards for the powder hounds from Salomon are untapped bowls and backcountry terrain that would rival any heliskiing terrain.

Is Kashmir safe for regular skiers and snowboarders to visit? Not quite – due to border disputes with neighbouring Pakistan, the Foreign Office currently advises against all travel to the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, including tourist destinations such as Phalgam, Gulmarg and Sonamarg. So for now it will be better to think of somewhere else for your own adventurous trip.

Unfortunately, the Foreign Office says Kashmir is currently unsafe to visit Credit: GETTY

“A dream trip is a representation of yourself – who you are gets reflected in the things you want to do,” says Townsend. For competition winner Rosengren, that was the interest in experiencing a completely new culture, in a country she’d never visited, and the desire and daring to ski the deepest powder she’d ever found, on the highest possible mountain.

“It was really cool to have a female winner for the first time,” said Douglas. “Lovisa is a bit shy and reserved, but when she gets on snow she absolutely rips. No offence to our previous Dream Trip winners, but Lovisa is the best skier we've brought along.”

Salomon will be looking for another Dream Trip winner in the coming months. Visit tv.salomon.com to enter.