The gondala is still closed so we went scouting and found an old hotel, totally bombed during the war so it was more or less only ruins left of the hotel. With plenty of snow on the ruins and the hotel built in a slope it felt like a perfect ghetto photo session. The hotel is the oldest hotel in Gulmarg but since it was Hindi it was bombed during the war between India and Pakistan which is a shame. But at the same time it created a huge playground for us so we were happy anyway. We started climbing which was easier to say than to do but finally we succeed to get up to the third floor and while we were climbing and swearing Mats prepared the cameras, flashes and I don’t know all the stuff.
Anyway, I drop out and several meters below I touchdown in what I thought was a slope but no, the snow was so light and fluffy that I continued to fall just straight through it and instead of an easy drop from the third floor to a nice slope I dropped to flat and I both feel and hear my knee crack. Back at the hotel my knee now has double the size of the other knee and in a desperate attempt to stop it from swollen even more Im having a diet of pills and prayers to all gods I know that my ligaments are ok.
On the evening I limped up to Pine Palace and ordered in some smuggle beer to drown my sorrows. Two beers later and I was drunk and it was little bit fun that on the can it was a warning text, “For military use only” and they estimated it to be somewhere around 5 and 8%. After some beers my knee didn’t hurt that bad anymore so hopefully its good tomorrow!
“Sometimes its magic, sometimes its tragic”
– Mark Abma