Next time you complain about the snow conditions or the queues in your favourite resort, spare a thought for riders in the former Yugoslavia.

The area around Sarajevo, host for the 1984 Winter Olympics, were at the centre of the Balkans war and as such contain an estimated 30,000 minefields, while of the three mountains used, Mt Jahorina is now in Serbia while Mt Igman and Mt Bjelasnica are in Bosnia-Hercegovina.

Although all the hotels on the latter areas were burnt out, one has been rebuilt, and both have a restaurant and ski hire facilities. The main pistes are open, although there has been very little snow so far this year.

You need a certain determination to take on this area. Emir Hajracic, who founded the Sarajevo Student Snowboard Club in 1998 doesn't think there are any minefields on the mountains now.

"I have been snowboarding in the area since 1996. Last year all off-piste areas on Mt Igman were marked with yellow minefield tape but we're pretty convinced that there are no mines. When you have half a metre of packed snow beneath the wide surface of a snowboard you cannot activate a mine so I think we were safe enough. Anyway, they say snowboarding is all about adrenaline."

A daily ski pass on Mt Igman or Mt Bjelasnica costs about £6 and a bus ticket from Sarajevo to the mountains around £2.50.

[First reported on The Independent earlier this month]