Between the peaks: A Kashmiri winter tale

A guest post by Amar B. – my partner, who spent January back home in India and came back with way too many beautiful photos.

Living in British Columbia for the last 11 years, I’ve grown up alongside snow-capped mountains. The Sea-to-Sky highway, the peaks of Whistler – they’ve become a kind of second home since I moved to Canada to pursue engineering. But every year, without fail, there’s a pull back to where it all began.

This past month, I’ve been back in India – my annual ritual to step away from the corporate software world and just be with my parents. This year, though, my mom had a surprise for us: a winter trip to Kashmir.

The floating palace

We didn’t stay in a hotel. For five days, our home was a houseboat moored on Dal Lake.

Stepping inside felt like entering a different century. Every wall and ceiling was covered in hand-carved walnut wood – the kind of craftsmanship that takes decades to master – all lit up by a grand chandelier. Waking up to the gentle sound of water against the hull, with breakfast already being prepared by a staff that felt more like family than hotel workers, was a quietly extraordinary way to start each morning. They put together menus from scratch every day, and every meal landed like exactly what you needed against the winter cold.

One evening we took a shikara ride as the sun went down. The lake went glassy and still, reflecting the houseboat lights and the hills behind them. One of those moments where you just stop talking and take it in.

A tale of 2 gondolas

We made the long drive out to Sonamarg one day. The road winds through dramatic passes with heavy grey clouds sitting low over jagged, snow-covered peaks – the kind of scenery that makes a long drive feel worth it.

But Gulmarg was something else. We took the gondola up to the summit and as I looked out over the Himalayas bathed in brilliant sunshine, I genuinely did a double take. It reminded me so much of Whistler – the scale of the gondola, the white everywhere, even the energy of it. But then you really look, and you realize how different the soul of these mountains is. There’s something strange and wonderful about having both places exist in the same frame in your head: the Himalayas and the Coast Mountains, two worlds apart, painted over each other in the same shade of white.

The royal feast

No visit to Kashmir is complete without a proper Wazwan. We indulged in the legendary Wazwan, a multi-course meal served on large copper platters, piled high with fragrant rice and rich, savoury preparations of lamb and chicken.

We also ate fresh fried trout, crispy and spiced in a way that you can only really get right at the source. As someone who eats a lot of Pacific salmon back in Vancouver, there was something quietly satisfying about how different – and how good – it was.

5 days with no real agenda, in one of the more spectacular places I’ve ever been, with my parents. Kashmir has a way of making you put your phone down without even deciding to.

Until next time, Kashmir.