Malam Jabba is Pakistan's sole ski school. For the most part, we just hear about the negative stories from Pakistan. Rarely, we get a glimpse into life beyond politics and violence. How would you like the idea of skiing in Pakistan? I'm guessing probably not as much as you'd prefer the slopes in Aspen or the Austrian Alps.But locals in Pakistan are trying to increase its popularity and BBC recently covered the one and only ski school in that country. The town of Malam Jabba in the Swat Valley is the location of the school, where many people learn to downhill ski on homemade skis built from wooden planks with shoes nailed onto them, using tree branches as ski poles. Malam Jabba used to have a ski lift that was a gift from the Austrian government, but sadly, it was destroyed by Islamic militants. When the Taliban took over the area from 2007 to 2009 they banned skiing. But now the sport has seen a growing interest, even though the school is only equipped with 15 pairs of skis and a few poles. Afghanistan is also home to multiple world class skiing locations. But today’s violent climate leaves some ski areas too dangerous for tourists to visit.