Gulmarg Meadow

55 KMs

Gulmarg[a] (also known as Gulmarag,[4] lit. 'meadow of flowers' in Kashmiri[5]) is a hill station and a notified area committee in Baramulla district of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.[6][7] It is located in the Indian-administered part of Kashmir, close to the Line of Control that serves as the de facto border between India and Pakistan. It is in the Pir Panjal Range in the Western Himalayas within the boundaries of the Gulmarg Wildlife Sanctuary.[8] Gulmarg is situated at an altitude of 2,650 m (8,690 ft), and is a popular tourist and skiing destination in the Kashmir Valley. Known as Gaurimarg (meaning "path of goddess Gauri") to the locals, it was renamed as Gulmarg by Yousuf Shah Chak, who ruled Kashmir from 1579 to 1586. The place served as a summer and recreational retreat during the Mughal rule in the 17th century, and British Raj in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The Gulmarg ski club was established in 1927. After the end of the British rule in the Indian subcontinent, it became part of the princely state of Kashmir and Jammu, which later acceded to India in October 1947. It was briefly captured by Pakistan during the India–Pakistan war of 1947–1948, before being retaken by the Indian Army. In 1948, the Indian Army established the High Altitude Warfare School in Gulmarg. In the 1960s, the Indian government promoted it as a tourist and winter sports destination. In the 1990s, the area was affected by insurgency, which impacted tourism, before its recovery in the 21st century. Gulmarg Gondola, which was constructed in multiple phases since the late 1990s, is a multi-stage ropeway that ferries people between Gulmarg and a shoulder of the nearby Apharwat Peak. Gulmarg has hosted the National Winter Games three times.