Kashmir Secrets Revealed- POV

in , , ,

I have a wee dilemma on my hands here. There is this incredible place to ski that I discovered with friends and normally I would never make its whereabouts public on the World Wide Web. But, you see, this particular place is rather removed and the local people are crying out for visitors to kick start tourism again in this black listed part of the world. If you hadn’t guessed, it is Kashmir. But inside I’ll give you the finer details.

Read More

Daytime Karaoke- Why not?

in

I haven't had much to show recently on my blog from my time back home in Australia. This is both a fair and unfair representation of that time. I have been busy catching up with friends, but also having to resort to such drastic measures as daytime karaoke to beat the boredom waiting for everybody to have their weekends and stop working.

Beth—a good friend who has her week days to herself—and I caught up this week and wanted to do something both fun and a little ridiculous. Daytime karaoke fit both those criteria. We entered in broad daylight and left in broad daylight, completely sober. Good times!

My "Crossing the Ditch" Buddy

Since being back in Australia I have been catching up with family and friends, but one buddy I was excited to see was James Castrission who in January 2008, with Justin Jones, completed the first kayak crossing from Australia to New Zealand.

I met James in New Zealand when we both first started alpine climbing. We shared some good adventures in the NZ Alps, but nothing compared to this. I hate to brag, but I'm pretty proud to know this guy.

Check out their website at www.crossingtheditch.com.au for more details on their adventure.

Tailor Made Me a Gentleman

in ,

While in Kashmir, a friend took us to meet his tailor in Srinagar. Gulzar (pictured center) is a very proper remnant of the British colonial era, swearing occassionally when called for, and making suits for all matter of diplomats, foreign aid workers and travellers. Like most encounters with local people, the sales pitch came out immediately, and I was determined not to be sold to. But then Gulzar dropped this bomb...

"God made you a man, let a tailor make you a gentleman"

I was sold.

Read More

Last Day of Skiing in Gulmarg, POV

in , , ,

This was our last day skiing at Gulmarg this year. The conditions weren't especially inspiring, but the need to get out and get some blood pumping proved enough to get us onto the gondola. Hiking and traversing to this zone inspired even less inspiration than that which could be seen from the hotel. But, sure enough, our bet bet on decent snow came through and we enjoyed soft snow, and as this video more than conveys, a long, long fall line that is so representative of Gulmarg. There is always incredible vert no matter the snow.

VIO POV camera courtesy of Helmet Camera Central

One Month of Hope Down the Toilet

in ,

After not coming down with some sort of chronic gastro condition in the first week traveling in India, I conceived this pipe dream that maybe I could get away with not being sick. Given my recent bowel history in South America I know that was fool hardy. Hell, I still had to walk the ecoli/gardia/Delhi Belly gauntlet for a whole 3 weeks more, but the dream had taken seed and every day there after I grew in confidence. But I didn't dare articulate the thought out loud. That would have been the end of me.

Read More

I am quoted in the "Rising Kashmir" Newspaper

in

I discovered today that I was quoted and the central character to an article in the Rising Kashmir news. A journalist had interviewed the three of us while we were in Gulmarg and this is the result.

Disclaimer- Everything quoted might be true or was said, but the context is completely fundled, I mean muddled.

Read it and enjoy it because the writer's intentions are well meaning, but it makes me cringe at myself.

Read the Rising Kashmir Article

Line of No Control- Steep Chutes in Gulmarg

in , ,

Gulmarg has reveled itself to me far beyond my expectations. The last week has been blue skies and with the Avalanche Advisory at Low, we ventured a little further and were rewarded with 3 incredible descents, not to mention the epic descent the sun made, casting some of the most incredible light over the mountains and ourselves as it set.

Read More

India Introduction

in ,
I am going to freestyle here becasue it is late (again) and I need to get to bed to get a(nother) flight early in the morning. What I did want to post before I disappaear off the grid for a while, was post 2 pictures that are stuck on Stevie's camera. The first is from Tokyo and is of this Shibya girl—picture blonded hair, designer clothes and fancy boots, rounded out with sparkly glasses, all attitude—riding a Harley Davidson. The second would be either an entire family of 4 riding a coughing and spluttering moped/scooter, or a haggard man pedaling a tricycle rickshaw with boxes stacked on the back. You get the picture.
Read More

Hirafu POV

in , , ,

Here is a little helmet cam edit from the last few days skiing here in Niseko. The snow isn't what Niseko is known for, which is to say deep, but the most significant things to note are the clear skies and visiblity.


Hirafu POV from Anthony Bonello on Vimeo.

 

Today we ski toured on the lower flanks of Yotei and it was probably our best day skiing here in Japan. Not becasue it was so deep, but the most fun and gratifying. Ill have a POV edit from today shortly. Hopefully...

VIO POV camera courtesy of Helmet Camera Central

Elephant in the Room- Dealing with Trash in Japan

in , ,

click to enlargeThere has been an elephant in our apartment for the last week or so here in Kutchan. Our elephant was closer to an actual elephant however. Ours was big, smelt and we had no idea what to do with it. It was our trash.

In Japan, waste is categorized into organic, combustible and non-combustible, and then an array of recycling sub categories. It is a seriously mind boggling exercise to sort trash here. Pleading forigner ignorance wasn't going to be an option for us becasue we had a trash flowchart in English. While it generally made sense, there was still a lot that didn't.

Determined to do our part and attempt to assimilate and respect the Japanese way of doing things, Stevie and I rolled up or sleves and went through all our trash that had been put into the "deal with later" bin more commonly know as the back deck.

Read More