World’s Highest Ski Lifts
By Patrick Thorne, AKA “The Snow Hunter”

One of he world’s highest gondolas, at 13,576 feet above sea level, is located in Gulmarg, India, and cost $8 million (U.S.). They hope that it will lead to a fresh influx of foreign tourists. One of the big main attractions of the area, a tourism official said, is that “you can ski for a whole day here for the cost of two cups of coffee in the Swiss Alps.”

Located in the state of Kashmir, Gulmarg has a long history dating back to British Colonial times. The area was beginning to see a boom in international business in the late 1980s and early 1990s, as a heli-ski base, but then came political tensions in the area -- ownership of which is disputed by India and Pakistan and it was then populated by Indian troops rather than Bollywood film stars and remains within shelling distance of the Pakistani border. However, with current positive dialogues between the two nations after the nuclear tensions of 2002, the local state-run tourism bodies are in a positive mood and the gondola is clearly seen as a sign of India’s commitment to the region.

The status of local separatist terror groups remains confused. Pakistan has vowed not to support them, but tourists in Kashmir are still occasionally being murdered, although the major groups are now stressing that tourists are not targets.

There is a higher gondola which reaches 14,816 feet in China, but it doesn’t serve a ski area (although recent reports suggest that there may one day be ski run at Jade Dragon where it is located). Higher ski lifts in the past consisted of primitive rope tows in Bolivia and Venezuela but neither are now operational.

Currently the world's highest northern hemisphere winter ski lift is at Loveland, Colorado, a high-speed quad reaching 12,700 feet. Higher surface lifts at Zermatt in Switzerland, at 12,792 feet, and Elbrus in Russia, at 12,713 feet, only operate in the summer. Other high lifts at Pikes Peak, Colorado and Merida, Venezuela, don’t serve ski areas.

< Current Issue | Top ^