Bamian lay on one of the silk routes and was an important religious site for the Gandharan Empire that included Takht e Bhai and Taxila in Pakistan. The cliffs overlooking the town are riddled with large numbers of caves in which Buddhist monks lived and worshipped. They were often highly decorated with Buddhist motifs including large statues of the Buddha. The giant Buddhas of Bamian were completed in the 6th century AD and stood 55 and 37m high respectively making them, for nearly 1,500 years, the highest standing Buddha statues in the world. In the 11th century, Buddhism was replaced by Islam in the region, Bamian became less important and the Buddhas fell into disrepair. The Mughal emperor Aurangzeb destroyed the legs of the largest Buddha in the 17th century and the Persian, Nadir Shah fired a cannon at them in the 18th century. Despite this, the statues retained their world-renowned status until March 2001 when the Taliban used artillery, anti-tank mines and finally dynamite to destroy the Buddhas over a month-long period. Even without the Buddhas themselves, the valley of Bamian is still striking, the ruins of 2 forts guard the entrance to the valley and at sunset, the rock takes on a beautiful hue. It is also possible to climb into the caves and view the valley from where the largest Buddha’s head would have been. Bamian is also host to the Marathon of Afghanistan, and also where we run our winter ski touring trips, a great way to experience rural Afghanistan in winter.