As told by gnarcore.com's ERIC GREENE
There's a large amount of humans in India. 1.2 billion to be exact. I'm not sure what that number even means, but it's a lot. We recently went there to snowboard, and to answer the question of every customs agent we encountered along the way- on the snow, not the sand dunes. 
And the snow was spectacular by the way. Apparently it's a gamble to hit good conditions in India, but we rolled the dice and cleaned house! Before leaving on this adventure we received a substantial amount of discouragement and cautionary advisory because the state of Kashmir is "extremely dangerous for foreigners and full of terrorists". This was not the case at all. Although it is a military state, the people are incredibly relaxed and hospitable. In my opinion, anywhere in the world can be a dangerous place to travel if you're an idiot, but fortunately we didn't have any idiots in our group so the trip was incessantly smooth.
SBC Photo Editor, John Scarth, Alterna films Producer Carlo Wien, Travis Williams, Matt Belzile, Eric Greene
Things are just a little different in India, but not in a negative sense and change is always refreshing. I guess when you host the rights to the highest gondola on the planet it's only necessary to hire some security to warn off others from trying to claim it
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After a week of snowboarding and lung exercises at 13,500 feet, we got to be tourists and check out the sites. It was an amazing experience to see some of the cultural history first hand, feast on the amazing cuisine and spend some time relaxing in a foreign environment.
It's humbling to witness the contrasting lifestyles that are so prevalent in other countries. Indian culture is richly embedded with beauty, poverty, health, illness, spirituality and struggle. Our eyes were opened to the depressions that are suffered by millions of people, yet everyone we encountered was always in good spirits
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In india, there are new things to encounter around every corner. Things happening on the streets may be strange in our ideologies, but apparently completely normal situations
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Belzile...charmed i'm sure.
All in all, it was an incredible trip filled with great snowboarding and experiences. We covered a lot of ground, logged a lot of vertical feet and shared a lot of laughs.
Too much van time? Greener and Scarth...looking like the're pushing one out
Check out the full story of our adventure next winter in Snowboard Canada and if you're stumped planning an exotic snowboard vacation, think India. Seriously, there are Himalayas there and they are no joke.