Visiting Sonmarg was a bittersweet experience. Especially when we were welcomed by a heavy downpour and were forced indoors. But much to everyone’s relief, an overcast night brought along a greener day.
The roads were gorgeous with dazzling green trees forming canopies, making the night in with the unseasonal rain outside, worth it. We came to a place where the snow had melted to form sleet, and were told that to reach the snow covered ranges we would have to cover the rest of the distance on horseback.
We walked further onto the murky white sleet, which was lined on both sides by small shacks where warm beverages and meals were being sold, or shop keepers were renting winter wears and boots for people who weren’t prepared for the extra drop in temperature, that the rain had left behind. Cold weather and a nice cup of warm Kahwa, is hardly a combination that anyone can refuse. Which made these shacks the hotspots to strike up conversations with both the locals and fellow tourists. Not to mention, this is the place where you can rent your horse or pony of choice for the onward journey.
With the Kahwa providing us with the much needed warmth and our rides picked, we were ready to get on with our journey. Personally, the horse riding is one of the highlights of this entire experience. Especially, when you get the opportunity to commandeer your own stead. The experience in itself is thrilling and admittedly heart-stopping when the horse believes it is a good idea to take the road not taken, and venture from the stone path made for them, to the greener pastures meant for the trekkers.
The horse ride ended once we reached another set of shacks situated over a thicker layer of sleet, with a higher ratio of snow this time around. This was where people met tourists on their way back, booked their sleigh rides, and had another round of Kahwa. There we were informed that the path ahead which lead to the foot of the hills, where people rode sleighs or took photographs, had become too slippery and accident-prone due to the rain.
The path to the foot of the hills was nothing short of an obstacle course and was indeed slippery. It was filled with missteps, skipping over rocks and walking over logs to avoid thin layers of ice formed over pools of water. At the foot of the hill, we were made to sit on individual sleighs while the guides dragged the sleighs with a rope up the snowy slopes. The feeling was an intense mix of awe and anxiousness, as we took in the various stages of climb or descent that fellow visitors were in, while we hoped to god that our guides wouldn’t let go off the rope. My heart skipped a few beats when the guides did slip and made us both slide down the slope.
When we reached the top we watched with bated breath the beautiful view down below of the shacks and the horses dotting the sprawling white blanket. After a short photo-shoot where our guides created a manual snowfall for us. It was time to go down. With our guides on the sleigh with us this time, we flew down the slopes with the cold wind whipping at our faces while maneuvering around other sleighs. By the time we reached the bottom, my face was numb from cold but my heart was filled with so much joy that I knew a permanent grin on my face was there the entire day.
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