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Santo Domingo Dominican Republic. Unusual Snow Crystals Some exotic examples from the snow crystal menagerie. In addition to the normal snowflake forms (see Guide to Snowflakes ), there are also many unusual shapes that can be found floating from the sky.

AIR RAID: Kiwi snowboarder Clint Allan jumps over a house in Koh-e-Baba mountains, Bamiyan province, Afghanistan, a province wracked by war since 2002. A gaggle of villagers deep in the mountains of central Afghanistan stared in wonder as a professional snowboarder from New Zealand launched himself over half a dozen young children, two of them perched atop donkeys. It was one of the oddest interactions between foreigners and Afghans in the decade since US-led forces invaded the country, and the result of a surprising tourism push in a country at war.

International aid workers and enterprising locals are trying to attract snowboarders and skiers to the untouched slopes of the Koh-e-Baba mountains to improve the fortunes of Bamiyan province - the site of towering Buddha statues destroyed by the Taliban in 2001, and one of Afghanistan's poorest provinces. It's no surprise that challenges abound. Though Bamiyan is largely peaceful, it's tough to convince any but the most adventurous travellers to come to war-torn Afghanistan. Codegear rad studio 2007 serial number. Once visitors land in the capital, Kabul, they face the tricky prospect of catching a diplomatic or humanitarian flight since no commercial airlines fly to Bamiyan. A few hardy foreigners have braved the six-hour drive despite the threat of robbery and kidnapping. There are no ski lifts, so every ascent requires a lung-busting climb up snow-covered mountains that rise to more than 5000 metres. Skiers climb up using 'skins' - pieces of rough fabric stuck on the bottom of skis for traction.

Snowboarders use special boards that split down the middle and then lock back together for the downhill. LEAP OF FAITH: Kiwi snowboarder Mitch Allan launches himself over a bunch of locals in Koh-e-Baba mountains, Bamiyan province, Afghanistan. The writers of the definitive (and only) guide to skiing in Bamiyan also suggest the 'donkey lift' - hiring a villager's donkey to carry you up the mountain. The commercial guest houses open in the winter provide little more than a bed and a traditional wood-burning stove, and 'apres ski' is limited to tea, kebabs and parlour games.

But the mountains are spectacular and provide seemingly endless runs down pristine slopes filled with nothing but the sound of the wind and the rush of skis against snow - a far cry from the crowded trails of American and European ski resorts. This was the draw for a group of professional snowboarders from New Zealand and Australia who travelled to Bamiyan in late February to film a documentary. They were terrified when they arrived in Kabul, especially because of violent protests against US soldiers burning Korans that left more than 30 people dead.

'The amount of guns and razor wire that I saw on my way to the guest house from the airport only confirmed what I expected,' said Alex Cameron, 22, editor of a snowboarding magazine in Sydney. 'But stepping off the plane in Bamiyan, I felt completely safe.' Arriving in Bamiyan does feel a bit like being enveloped in a pastoral painting. The flight into Bamiyan city first makes a flyby of the gravel runway to make sure it is clear of animals and people. The plane lands with views on one side of the snow-covered Hindu Kush mountains, and the niches of the Buddha statues carved into sheer red cliffs on the other.