Auli

A closer look at Auli

Auli is the most spectacular piece of open ground in Uttarakhand. It is a series of clear, sloping meadows at around 2,800 to 3,050 metres, cleared of trees and ringed by oak and conifer forest, and what makes it extraordinary is what you are looking at: Nanda Devi, India's highest peak entirely within its borders, sits almost directly opposite, flanked by Mana Parvat, Kamet, Dunagiri and Trishul in a wall of ice that fills the entire southern horizon. On a clear winter morning it is difficult to make yourself go indoors.

In winter Auli is India's best ski destination, with slopes running from gentle nursery gradients to a four-kilometre run that drops around 500 metres, served by a chairlift and a ski lift, with snow-making machines fed from a purpose-built artificial lake when nature does not cooperate. Instructors, boots, skis and poles are all available on site, and complete beginners can be up and turning within a couple of days. The season is broadly January to March, with February the most reliable.

Out of season Auli is arguably even better. The snow melts back to green meadow, wildflowers come through, and the same views are available in soft summer light with almost nobody else there. The Auli ropeway from Joshimath — 4.1 kilometres, one of Asia's longest and highest cable-car systems of its kind — climbs through ten towers with the valley falling away beneath you. Short walks lead to Gurso Bugyal, a high meadow about three kilometres from the top station, and to Chattrakund, a small forest lake.

Auli is nine hours from Haridwar, so we break the drive rather than doing it in one go, usually with a night at Joshimath, which is also the gateway to Badrinath and to the Valley of Flowers trek. That makes Auli easy to combine: a Badrinath darshan and two nights in the meadows work beautifully as a single trip. We book stays with mountain-facing rooms wherever possible and plan the ropeway for early morning, because in these valleys cloud tends to build from about eleven o'clock onward.