Hitting the Ski Slopes in Afghanistan?

By ⋅ March 6, 2012 ⋅ Post a comment
Afghan Ski Challenge in 2011. (Photo: Afghan Ski Challenge)

Afghan Ski Challenge in 2011. (Photo: Afghan Ski Challenge)

When you think of skiing this time of year… you might picture the Rockies in the American west… or the Alps in Europe.

One place you’re almost certainly not thinking of is Afghanistan.

But that’s where we’re going for today’s Geo Quiz.

Afghanistan is known for its mountain peaks. And there’s plenty of snow in the winter.

But skiing just isn’t an established tradition in the war-torn nation. Still, the second annual Afghan Ski Challenge Championship was held there recently. See pictures from the first Afghan Ski Challenge.

We want you to name the province where the competition was held.

The ski challenge championship took place on the Koh-e-baba Mountains. They’re located in central Afghanistan, in a province northwest of Kabul.

And finally: this province is most famous to outsiders for its huge Buddha statues, which were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001.

And the answer is Bamiyan Province.

Marco Werman talks with the Wall Street Journal’s Charles Levinson, who was there to cover the second international Afghan Ski Challenge championship. You can read Levinson’s piece for the WSJ here.

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Discussion

One comment for “Hitting the Ski Slopes in Afghanistan?”

  • jsmetz

    You had a Wall Street Journal reporter who called Afghans “Afghanis.”  Afghans are insulted when they are referred to as “Afghanis.”  Afghanis is the money of Afghanistan, not the people of Afghanistan.   If we want to get along with these people (we need every friend we can get in the middle east), we should stop insulting them.  I had no problem correcting a US Senator on this gaffe, and I hope you will have no problem correcting the reporter.