In February 2016, a group of skiers in Gulmarg, Kashmir, came within a few metres of one of the world’s most elusive big cats. Their guide took the motionless grey shape in the snow for a fallen log – until it moved. The footage of that snow leopard encounter quickly travelled around the world.
The video was filmed by Owen Lansbury and uploaded to Vimeo in February 2016. The skiers were guests of the ski-trip operator Bill’s Trips, led by American guide David Marchi.
What happened on the slope in Gulmarg
In its 14 February account, Bill’s Trips described how Marchi, skiing first, mistook the animal for a log and came very close before it reacted. The startled cat turned towards the group for a moment and then ran off into the trees. Viral headlines spoke of skiers being chased, but the operator was clear: the leopard bolted away from them.
Because of the animal’s colouring, the operator at first wondered whether it was a common leopard. On 3 March 2016 it published a follow-up reporting that local wildlife experts and a National Geographic biologist had reviewed the footage and confirmed a snow leopard.
Gulmarg: skiing in the Himalaya
Gulmarg is a hill station at 2,650 metres in the Pir Panjal Range of the Western Himalaya, in the Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir, about 56 kilometres from Srinagar. Mughal rulers used it as a summer retreat, British officials golfed and hunted here in the nineteenth century, and a ski club was founded in 1927. Today it is India’s best-known ski destination and has hosted the National Winter Games.
The draw is the Gulmarg Gondola, one of the highest cable cars in the world. The first stage opened in 1998 and the second in 2005, climbing to roughly 3,950 metres on Kongdoori, a shoulder of Apharwat Peak, and opening up huge powder bowls and long tree runs. Most of that terrain is lightly managed, which is why many visitors ski with local or international guides – and why encounters with wildlife in the forest below are possible at all.
The snow leopard: built for the mountains
The snow leopard (Panthera uncia) lives across the high mountains of Central and South Asia, from eastern Afghanistan and the Himalaya across the Tibetan Plateau to southern Siberia and Mongolia, usually between 3,000 and 4,500 metres. The Snow Leopard Trust describes the adaptations that suit it to that world:
- Camouflage: smoky grey fur with dark spots and rosettes that breaks up its outline against rock and snow.
- Big paws: broad feet that spread the cat’s weight on snow, with fur underneath for grip and to limit heat loss.
- A long, thick tail: used for balance on rocky ground, storing fat and wrapped over the face like a blanket while sleeping.
Unlike lions and tigers, snow leopards cannot roar; their short vocal folds produce meows, grunts, moans and the friendly snort called prusten instead. The camouflage is the real reason the Gulmarg skiers came so close. A cat lying still on a broken, snowy slope simply vanishes until it moves. Our gallery of snow leopard photographs by David “Baz” Jenkins shows how hard they are to spot even when you know where to look.
Snow leopard conservation status
The species is listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. Threats include poaching, retaliatory killing after attacks on livestock, and the loss of wild prey such as ibex and blue sheep. The IUCN/SSC Cat Specialist Group notes that reliable global population figures are still lacking, and estimates suggest fewer than 10,000 mature adults remain in the wild.
If you are lucky enough to see one, give it space: stop, stay quiet, keep its escape route open and let your guide lead. The wildlife-watching principles used by national parks apply perfectly to a snow leopard on a ski slope. For another mountain-animal tale, read about the cat a hiker followed near Gimmelwald.
Related reading
- Spot the Snow Leopard: David “Baz” Jenkins’ Himalayan Photographs
- Boston’s Snowy Streets in Clayton Vila and Cam Riley’s Ski Film
- Ian McIntosh’s Alaska Fall During Paradise Waits
- Skiing a Volcanic Slope: The Snow-Free Film
- Léo Taillefer’s Line of the Winter: A 2015 Ski Film
- Candide Thovex’s First-Person Ski Film: Trees, Tunnels and Unexpected Turns
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