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IIS&M | |
| Established | 1969 |
|---|---|
| Affiliation | Government of India, Department of Tourism |
| Principal | Dr Alok Sharma |
| Location | , , |
| Website | http://iismgulmarg.in/ |
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Indian Institute of Skiing and Mountaineering (IIS&M) was established in 1969 at Gulmarg by the Department of Tourism and the Government of India. The institute is chartered to train skiers and mountaineers from all over the world. [1]
Founded in 1969, initially IIS&M was started as a Project named Gulmarg Winter Sports Project (GWSP) in order to develop ski resorts of international standard in Gulmarg. Now it has grown into an institute which conducts various adventure courses and corporate activities. [2]
The institute conducts courses on various fields such as skiing, water skiing, paragliding, paramotors, parasailing, hot air ballooning, and canoeing [3] [4]
Gulmarg, known as Gulmarag in Kashmiri, is a town, hill station, tourist destination, skiing destination, and a notified area committee in the Baramulla district in the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is located at a distance of 31 km (19 mi) from Baramulla and 49 km (30 mi) from Srinagar. The town is situated in the Pir Panjal Range in the Western Himalayas and lies within the boundaries of Gulmarg Wildlife Sanctuary.
Magam is a tehsil in central Kashmir's Beerwah sub-district. It is also a town, notified area committee, and a block in Budgam district in the Indian-administered union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. It is 11 km (6.8 mi) away from sub-district headquarter Beerwah and 20 km (12 mi) away from Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir. Magam comes under both Budgam and Baramulla districts, and is the main business hub in the area, located on the way to Gulmarg. The Idara Abu Fazal Abbas Islamic Library, opened in Magam in 1985, is the largest Islamic private library in Jammu and Kashmir.
The University of Kashmir (UoK), informally known as Kashmir University (KU), is a collegiate public state university located on the western side of Dal Lake in the city of Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir which was established in 1948. The main campus of the university is divided into three parts; Hazratbal Campus, Naseem Bagh Campus, and Mirza Bagh Campus.
Jammu and Kashmir is home to several valleys such as the Kashmir Valley, Chenab Valley, Sindh Valley and Lidder Valley. Some major tourist attractions in Jammu and Kashmir are Srinagar, with its renowned Dal Lake and Mughal Gardens, Gulmarg, Pahalgam, Bhaderwah, Patnitop and Jammu. Every year, thousands of Hindu pilgrims visit holy shrines of Vaishno Devi and Amarnath which has had a significant impact on the state's economy.
The High Altitude Warfare School (HAWS) is a defence service training and research establishment of the Indian Army. In 1948, the Indian Army established a ski school in Gulmarg that later became the High Altitude Warfare School, which specialises in snow–craft and winter warfare. It is located in an area which is prone to avalanches. Selected soldiers from the US, UK, Germany and other countries visit regularly for specialist training.
Gulmarg Gondola in Gulmarg, Jammu and Kashmir, a union territory of India is the second longest and second highest cable car in the world. Higher lines include the Mi Teleférico in Bolivia and at Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.
Winter sports are common in India in the Himalayan areas. Ski tournaments take place every winter in Gulmarg, Kashmir and Manali. Winter sports are generally more common in the northern states of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. Skiing, snow rugby, snow cycling and snow football are few of the common sports played in India. Skiing is more popular although India has taken part in Luge in Winter Olympics since 1998. The Bandy Federation of India is headquarters are in Mandi in Himachal Pradesh. Luge is practiced in a big way by the mountain residents in an improvised form called 'Reri'.
Skiing in India is an activity that mostly takes place in the northern states of India, where the Himalayas are situated. Skiing is administered by the Indian Mountaineering Foundation in India. The Himalayas provide an excellent skiing experience owing to their great height which makes for long descents. Heliskiing is also gaining popularity in places like Manali and Gulmarg. However skiing in India suffers from lack of infrastructure. There are also security concerns in Gulmarg which is 20 km (12 mi) from the Line of Control, however since 2002, it has been peaceful, which has led to an increase in skiing activity in the region. Some of the most popular skiing locations in India are Gulmarg in Jammu and Kashmir, Solang in Himachal Pradesh and Auli in Uttarakhand. The skiing season in India is from January to March.
Colonel Narendra Kumar, PVSM, KC, AVSM, FRGS was an Indian soldier and mountaineer. He is known for his expeditions across various mountain ranges such as the Himalayas and Karakorams, and respective subranges such as the Pir Panjals and Saltoro Mountains. His reconnaissance efforts on the Siachen glacier were key to the Indian Army's reclamation of the forward posts of the glacier in Operation Meghdoot in 1984. He was the deputy leader of the first successful Indian Mount Everest expedition in 1965.
Mountaineering is quite popular in India, since the entire northern and north-eastern borders are the Himalayas, the highest mountain range in the world. The apex body in India is the Indian Mountaineering Foundation, which is affiliated to the International Federation of Sport Climbing.
The Western Himalayas refers to the western half of the Himalayas, in northwestern India and northern Pakistan. Four of the five tributaries of the Indus River in Punjab rise in the Western Himalayas; while the fifth, the Sutlej cuts through the range after rising in Tibet.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to Jammu and Kashmir:
The Jawahar Institute of Mountaineering and Winter Sports was established in 1983 in Aru, Pahalgam, when chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir suggested its creation to Prime Smt Indira Gandhi. The institute was formed on the lines of other national mountaineering institutes in the country. Aru was chosen as a natural location for the institute with its rolling hills and easy access to mountain passes. The institute currently offers training in Mountaineering courses, Skiing courses and Adventure Courses.
Popular sports in Jammu and Kashmir include cricket, football and winter sports along with sports like golf, water sports, Ice stock sport and adventure sports. The National Winter Games have been held in Gulmarg in 1996, 2004 and 2009. The first Khelo India Winter Games were held in February and March 2020 in Leh and Gulmarg. Jammu and Kashmir won the most gold medals while the Indian Army team came second with 8 gold medals. The second edition of the winter games were also held successfully in Gulmarg in 2020 with Jammu and Kashmir coming first and Karnataka second.
Jammu and Kashmir is a region administered by India as a union territory and consists of the southern portion of the larger Kashmir region, which has been the subject of a dispute between India and Pakistan since 1947 and between India and China since 1959. The Line of Control separates Jammu and Kashmir from the Pakistani-administered territories of Azad Kashmir and Gilgit-Baltistan in the west and north. It lies to the north of the Indian states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab and to the west of Ladakh which is administered by India as a union territory.
Colonel Ranveer Singh Jamwal, SM, VSM**, is an officer of the Indian Army and the first Indian to climb the Seven Summits along with Mount Everest three times. He is a veteran of more than 45 mountaineering expeditions. He presently holds two Asian records and three Indian Records in mountaineering.
The Gulmarg Golf Club is a public golf course in a meadow at Gulmarg in Baramulla district, Jammu and Kashmir, India. It lies 35 km from Baramulla city. The golf course, at an elevation of 2,650 metres (8,690 ft) above sea level, is the second highest green golf course in the world. It lies 52 kilometres (32 mi) from Srinagar in the west. The golf course gets covered in by a thick layer of snow during the winter. It is open from April to November.
Khelo India Winter Games are the national level multidisciplinary grassroot winter games of India. Events include skiing, alpine skiing, nordic skiing, snow rugby, Ice stock sport, snow baseball, mountaineering, snowshoe running, ice hockey, figure skating and speed skating. It was decided to hold the first Khelo India Winter Games in 2020 after the success of multiple editions of the Khelo India Youth Games.
High Altitude Research Laboratory (HARL) is a research laboratory located at Gulmarg, India.
