An Indian snowboarder recently pulled off a thrilling adventure on Mount Titlis, carving down the snow-covered Swiss Alps in traditional lehenga. Urmila Pable, of Mumbai, braved sub-zero temperatures without a jacket to pull off the stunt. Her daring run, which she later shared on Instagram, has been going viral online.
Urmila’s journey began with hours of patience at freezing temperatures atop the famous Swiss mountain peak.
A long wait to pull off snowboarding stunt
“We waited on top of Titlis from 4 PM until sunset, which was around 8 pm, freezing our a**** off at -5°C just for one sunset run. The lifts were closed, the piste was being groomed, and we were basically under surveillance because going down was not allowed,” she revealed in her Instagram post.
(Also read: BombayMami on snowboarding in a lehenga: “I want South Asian women to be seen and be unapologetically themselves”)
A piste machine, also known as a snow groomer, is a large, tracked vehicle used to flatten and maintain snow on ski slopes. Because standard operations had ended for the day, the terrain posed strict operational and logistical challenges — but that did not deter the Indian snowboarder.
{{/usCountry}}A piste machine, also known as a snow groomer, is a large, tracked vehicle used to flatten and maintain snow on ski slopes. Because standard operations had ended for the day, the terrain posed strict operational and logistical challenges — but that did not deter the Indian snowboarder.
{{/usCountry}}“So we waited for the sunset, hid from the piste machines, and finally started our descent through the mountains,” said Urmila.
A lehenga in Switzerland
Urmila did not just pull off a descent from Mt Titlis, she did so while wearing a lehenga. Once the descent began, the snowboarder faced extreme visibility challenges while wearing a purple lehenga instead of standard thermal snow gear.
“I had to do the run in an Indian outfit, without a jacket, while literally snowboarding BLIND through clouds. One second I couldn’t see anything, and 10 seconds later I came out of the clouds to the most insane sunset view,” she wrote on Instagram.
Navigating down the mountain proved to be a high-stakes escape as conditions deteriorated and light faded.
Because standard operations on Mount Titlis had concluded for the day, marked ski runs were officially off-limits and actively being prepped by heavy machinery.
To avoid detection by resort staff and snowcat operators patrolling the slopes, Urmila was forced to abandon standard pathways and dodge security to navigate alpine terrain in near total secrecy.
(Also read: Indian artist who went viral with saree hula hoop dance grooves to Mukkala Mukkabla at Paris Olympics)
She described it as a “real James Bond mission” in “going off piste, crossing a sketchy slushy ridge, almost sliding down the mountain, and eventually snowboarding until it was almost completely dark… followed by an hour long walk down the valley.”
Looking back on the dangerous trek, she described the experience as unforgettable despite the extreme risks involved.
“Almost got killed. Almost got caught. Froze my a** off,” wrote Urmila Pable. “But honestly? One of the most surreal adventures of my life,” she concluded.
Video goes viral
Urmila's video collected 2.5 million views in a day on Instagram. Thousands of people complimented her skill and daring in the comments section.
“You are just incredible,” wrote actress Lisa Haydon.
“How did you survive wearing this dress and not even shivering,” a viewer wondered.
“The coolest person I've seen lately,” said another. “Girl cooler than the air there,” read a comment under the clip.