"It's pretty surreal to be here. You have to stop for a second and appreciate the moment", says Jeff Olson, a snowboarding lawyer from Texas. He and other adventurous Westerners have traveled to Bamiyan, 250Km Northwest of Kabul, to the impromptu ski slopes run by the ancient Shiite Hazara people. Jawad Lakoo, a local Hazara man, looks on the enterprise with trepidation. He witnessed the atrocities conducted by the Taliban during their rule of Afghanistan in the 1990s. "I remember three of my uncles - they took them from their shops and lined them up with more than 300 people and shot them". Even following the US-led intervention in Afghanistan, the Hazaras live in poverty, without electricity or running water. For many, the white slopes present a new hope. "Skiing sends a message of peace and unity", says local mechanic Shah Aqa.