Anthony Bonello

Jalpak Tash – A Kyrgyzstan Epic – the new ski short film by Anthony Bonello. The three skiers Izzy Lynch, Leah Evans and Mike Hopkins traveled to Kyrgyzstan in February 2012 to explore the wild, unknown mountains of the Tienshan. A traditional yurt served as their base camp in the largely undeveloped mountain landscape. The result of this unusual ski trip is a no less unusual and extremely worthwhile film, which celebrates its online premiere on Wednesday, November 14, 2012.

We had the opportunity to interview the athletes of the film Jalpak Tash | A Kyrgyzstan Epic, the new ski short film by Anthony Bonello. The three skiers Izzy Lynch, Leah Evans and Mike Hopkins traveled to Kyrgyzstan in February 2012 to explore the wild, unknown mountains of the Tienshan.

After everything that could go wrong went wrong, the gods finally smiled on us and dumped 30cms of fresh, breathless powder on Termas de Chillan on Tuesday night. We woke up to a foot of dry snow piled on the bannister on the deck, and immediately the trials and tribulations of the past week were out and the electric energy of a pow day was in. Yeah!!!

To recount the joys of traveling, I got stuck in the Lima airport for 2 days after I thought my flight was at 1.40pm rather than am. You would think I would know to check that by now, but I didn`t. Some things never sink in.

Arrival

It was snowing hard as the huge, blue bus ran the gauntlet over the pass between Chile and Argentina. In Bariloche, it was snowing harder, and with stiff backs and heavy bags, we dug in for the night at a hostel. Grande flakes of snow fell in slow motion all night and when we woke up, town was caked and no-one could move. The sky had relieved itself of 1 meter of snow and we weren?t going anywhere- that is to say, the ski hill was shut down, and when it did open, we weren?t leaving until we had skied every centimeter of it.
We never made it up the mountain that first day. And nor did some friends that just arrived from Canada. Their skis had been lost in transit and all they had was what they were wearing.

Las Lenas is huge, but it isn't scary. It is supremely aesthetic and inspires you to leave a single, snaking track down each of its many faces. The thing is, it is very possible to do so with the Marte Chair running and incredible peaks within easy boot-packing distance. From the top of these, the mountains stretch on seemingly forever, and so do the possibilities...

The Haute Route from Chamonix to Zermatt; a much-traveled, challenging classic. This high alpine ski crossing leads through some of the most spectacular Alpine regions; it offers incredible descents, but also long daily stages and challenging alpine terrain. Without a doubt, the 5-6 day ski crossing is one of the highlights in the life of a tourer or freerider. Anthony was enthusiastic, but the huts seemed a little too "luxurious" for him. So he packed his own tent...

Haute Route - Verbier Route...

Haute Route - Regular Route...