SKI AFGH SKI A NI S T A N SKI AFGHANISTAN A Backcountry Guide to Bamyan & Band-e-Amir Laurie Ashley & Chad Dear Bamyan River Bamyan Sar-e- Ahangaran Behsud Garm Bulaq E ni Valley D uka G 4615m N Koh-e-Allah A Orgash R Chapqolak 4715m A Bamyan Town Jawzari Mir Shah Khoja B y A e l l a Jawkar B V i 4740m d SKI Qazan Dast-e-Rast a l Aubala-e E o F H 4770m Ali Beg Koh-e-Raber O AFGHANISTAN K Borghasun 5045m Shah Foladi see inside back cover 4860m A Backcountry Jula Sang Zari BAMYAN Guide to Bamyan & Kamati Kamati PROVINCE Shahidan Band-e-Amir 0 0 5 10 5 15 20 Kilometres 10 15 Miles Laurie Ashley & Chad Dear Shibartu Qarghanatu TAJIKISTAN PAKISTAN Kabul r i Band-e-Amir/ m A enlarged area Yakawlang Junction Yakawlang - e - d n UZBEKISTAN a B see p.98 AFGHANISTAN TURKMENISTAN IRAN Backcountry skiing, like all travel in the high mountains, involves certain risks, so safety and minimising risk is a very important concern. No publication can alert Publisher you to every hazard or anticipate the limitations of the Aga Khan Foundation, Afghanistan March 2011 individual skier. Many of the approaches, ascents and With support from New Zealand’s Aid Programme. descents described in this guidebook require strong backcountry skills, including route finding, navigation in Authors Laurie Ashley and Chad Dear whiteout conditions, snow stability evaluation methods and avalanche rescue techniques. The descriptions of Design and Layout Mareile Paley / [email protected] roads, trail approaches, ascents and descents and natural features in this book cannot guarantee that a particular Maps Mareile Paley / [email protected] with the help of ASTER GDEM, place or excursion will be safe for you and your party Afghanistan Information Management Service / USAID, Janel Day at all times. When you participate in the activities Photo Credits described in this guidebook, you must assume full Front cover: West face of Qala-e-Khirs, Sar-e-Qazan, by Chad Dear Back cover: Skiing Koh-e-Zard with Jula Sang Zari in background, by Laurie Ashley responsibility for your own safety. Edited by Ian MacWilliam (who also co-wrote the History chapter) Printed by THE BAMYAN ECOTOURISM PROGRAMME, supported by Afghanistan’s Colorline, Islamabad Ministry of Information and Culture, the Bamyan provincial government, the Aga Khan Development Network and and New Zealand’s Aid Programme, is developing Citation sustainable tourism in Bamyan to help preserve and develop the history and L. Ashley, and Dear, C. 2011. Ski Afghanistan: A Backcountry Guide to Bamyan & culture of the region, to provide employment and to give local people the ability to Band-e-Amir. Aga Khan Foundation, Afghanistan, 120 pp. improve their living standards. Ski Afghanistan is published as part of the Bamyan Ecotourism Programme. ISBN 978-2-940212-08-8 THE AGA KHAN DEVELOPMENT NETWORK (AKDN) is a group of international development agencies working in rural development, health, All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a education, culture, microfinance and private sector development, primarily in retrieval system, or transmitted in any form and by any means without the prior Asia and Africa. It is dedicated to improving living conditions and opportunities permission of the publisher. for the poor, without regard to their faith, origin or gender. AKDN has been active in Afghanistan since 1995 and now implements a range of programmes © Aga Khan Foundation 2011 to rehabilitate and develop rural infrastructure, to support and upgrade the education and healthcare systems and to promote cultural revitalisation. AKDN All photos: AKF / Laurie Ashley & Chad Dear, unless otherwise attributed. Photos also makes strategic investments in important sectors of the economy, such as in “A History of Skiing in Afghanistan” chapter courtesy of Yusuf Kargar. telecommunications, tourism and microfinance. TABLE OF » BAND-E-AMIR AND PLACES ALONG THE WAY CONTENTS » OTHER PLACES TO EXPLORE » APPENDICES Hazaragi for skiers Cross-country skiing and snowshoeing: Quick reference guide ACKNOWLEDGMENTS » Koh ba Koh and Qol ba Qol traverse routes: Quick reference guide PREFACE » “Best of the Baba” » FOREWORD Travel, accommodation and other useful information !e authors » INTRODUCTION People and places Climate When to go Security LIST OF BOXED TEXTS A diversity of experiences Nam-e-Barfi: A celebration of the first snowfall Bamyan Social Tour Guide Association Hussein Dad How to use this guidebook Yakh molak: Sledding across cultures » TRAVELLING SAFELY IN THE BACKCOUNTRY: Après-tea? ESSENTIAL KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS, AND EQUIPMENT A people’s park “Bazaar skis” A HISTORY OF SKIING IN AFGHANISTAN » Ali: Borghasun’s first skier » DUKANI VALLEY Nai Nawaz: Melodies in the mountains Orgash Afghanistan’s first national park Sar-e-Dukani Jawzari LIST OF MAPS Khushkak Dukani Overview Sar-e-Qol-e-Chapdara » FOLADI VALLEY Dukani Driving Jawkar Overview Chapdara Orgash Sar-e-Jawkar Jawkar Sar-e-Dukani Aobala-e-Qazan Qazan Jawzari Ali Beg & Borghasun Ali Beg Khushkak Band-e-Amir Borghasun Foladi Driving Koh ba Koh Overview ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, we thank the people in the communities in and around the areas mentioned in this book. Their hospitality, detailed knowledge of the area and enthusiasm for skiing and winter recreation enabled the success of our research and will be critical for the future success of tourism in Bamyan. Numerous sta! members of the Aga Khan Development Network supported the writing of this book. Robert "elen and Amir Foladi assisted greatly in cra#ing the vision of the Ski Bamyan project and provided strong leadership and support throughout. Ian MacWilliam’s commitment and enthusiasm for the project pro- pelled it to another level. Abdullah Mahmoodi was an essential contributor to the development of this book and to the wider e!ort to develop ski tourism in Bamyan. We are grateful for his dedication and friendship. Other AKDN Ecotourism sta!, including Jawad Jahid, Gul Hussain Baizada, Ghulam Reza Mohammadi and Khaliq Bamyani also provided valuable support. We must also thank the operations sta! at AKDN Bamyan for their support and $exibility with our ever-changing schedule. "ank you to the Bamyan Social Tour Guide Association for their participa- tion. We especially thank Hussein Dad and Jawad Wafa for their commitment to learning how to ski, to teaching others, and to promoting tourism in Bamyan. Hussein Dad deserves additional thanks for persevering through o#en challenging weather during the %rst traverse of the Koh-e-Baba along the Koh ba Koh. "anks also to Zekria Ahmadi, from the United Nations Environment Pro- gramme’s Shah Foladi Protected Area project for his technical insights and general support of this project. "anks to John Kelly and Kristin Anthony-Malone of the Canadian Avalanche Centre and the Canadian Avalanche Association for their signi%cant contribution and to the Montana Backcountry Alliance as well Ascending as Chris “Corleone” Tamborini for research assistance. Finally, thanks to everyone, Sar-e-Dukani basin spanning continents, who inspired this book. PREFACE – SKIING IN AFGHANISTAN? «!e hotels were full. !e river was lined with people in tents. People from all over the world came to Bamyan to see the Buddhas, Koh-e- Baba, and Band-e-Amir. » –Bamyan elder, Haji Zekria Ahmadi, describing tourism in Bamyan in the 1970s !e image evoked in the quotation above is probably not the image most people have of Afghanistan. More than three decades of war have destroyed much in the country, including its once profitable tourism industry. As an enclave of relative peace and security in Afghanistan, Bamyan is preparing once again to welcome visitors from around the world to explore the province’s historic sites, experience its welcoming culture, take pleasure in its natural beauty, and, for the first time, to ski in its snowy mountains. With so many challenges and so much uncertainty about the future of the country however, some may question whether it is appropriate to encourage the revival of tourism at the present time. !e global tourism industry has grown dramatically since Afghanistan was plunged into conflict three decades ago. Today, tourism is one of the largest and fastest growing industries in the world and is an established component of the development agenda for many of the world’s poorest countries. When planned and managed well, tourism can promote sustainable local livelihoods, improve Curious onlookers and welcoming hosts – local governance, enhance natural resource management and support other important development goals. When unplanned and unmanaged, it can have the girls in a mountain village opposite effect. One of the many lessons learned through the expansion of the tourism industry is that places of former conflict can rapidly become popular tourist destinations. Cambodia, for example, experienced a dramatic increase in tourism in the decade following the 1991 comprehensive peace settlement. More than two million people a year now visit Angkor Watt alone. Within thirteen years of the genocide in Rwanda, tourism became that country’s highest foreign currency earner. Tourism has not only created jobs in Rwanda, it has also served as a means for formerly warring groups to work together constructively and build a peaceful future. In Nepal, as peace and stability has ebbed and flowed over the past decade, tourism has consistently been one of the fastest industries to recover, fueling economic growth and providing jobs. COMMUNITY-BASED APPROACH Tourism is contributing significantly to development in Serbia, Croatia, Montenegro PREFACE and other former Yugoslav republics. Tourism has also been a central component Fundamental to ski tourism in Bamyan is the principle that its development of South Africa’s post-apartheid development. Less than twenty years after Nelson should begin with the people closest to, and most reliant on the mountains.