A new ski film follows Cody Cirillo and a small crew into Bolivia’s Cordillera Real, where plans to explore high-altitude ski lines became considerably more complicated by difficult snow, extreme elevation and widespread political unrest.
“We set out to spend four weeks in the Cordillera Real, opening freeride descents at altitude. The experience we had, and the story we came back with, was far more complex.” -Cody Cirillo
Alto: A Bolivian Ski Journey documents Cirillo, Fer Ferrandez, photographer Matthew Tufts and filmmaker Isaiah Branch-Boyle during a four-week trip to Bolivia in spring 2026. Their goal was to explore new ski lines on peaks approaching 20,000 feet, but roadblocks and anti-government demonstrations around La Paz repeatedly complicated access to the mountains.
The 27-minute film, directed by Cirillo, is now making the fall mountain-film circuit following a recent screening at the High Five Festival in Annecy, France. A newly released trailer offers the first broader look at the expedition, which eventually centered on 19,973-foot Huayna PotosÃ.
Three Ski Lines On Huayna PotosÃ
Huayna Potosà rises above the Cordillera Real near La Paz and became the focus of the expedition after the crew’s original plans changed.
Cirillo, Tufts and Branch-Boyle climbed the mountain’s Northwest Ridge before skiing from the summit. Cirillo later described the route as what the group believes could be a previously unskied descent. The line included sections exceeding 60 degrees on snow and ice along with multiple rappels before the team reached the lower glacier.
“We skied what’s believed to be a new descent, starting from the summit.”
The group also skied Huayna PotosÃ’s West Face after climbing a combination of established mountaineering routes. They reached a skiable point roughly 300 feet below the summit before descending sustained pitches around 55 degrees in difficult crust and ice. On nearby Pico Sur, the crew was able to ski directly from the summit, with Ferrandez taking a line that Cirillo described as another potentially new descent.
Interestingly, Huayna Potosà has already appeared on Unofficial Networks this year for a very different descent. French mountain biker Kilian Bron recently returned to the same nearly 20,000-foot peak and rode from its summit on a mountain bike after failing on an earlier attempt.
The Expedition Collided With Major Unrest In Bolivia
The skiing took place while Bolivia was dealing with weeks of protests and road blockades around La Paz and El Alto. By mid-May, major routes into the capital had been blocked for weeks, disrupting fuel, food and medical supplies. The unrest later escalated further, with the Bolivian government declaring a state of emergency in June as security forces moved to clear blockades around the country.
The official festival description for Alto says political unrest and roadblocks repeatedly disrupted access to the Cordillera Real, forcing the crew to adapt its plans while continuing to look for ski objectives at high elevation.
The film will continue screening at mountain and ski festivals through the fall, including stops in Europe and Canada, before an expected online release in early December. Stay tuned for community screenings across the country this fall.
