Short film ‘The Beginning‘ captures the grit, determination and deep personal connections that drove Alenka Mali to land a daring snowboard BASE jump in Squamish. Photos :: Jimmy Martinello.
Somewhere between Patagonian spires and the Alps of Slovenia, a young Alenka Mali found her calling. Mali was raised by two climbers, and the mountains were always her home. Her earliest memories are the sound of crampons on ice, the smell of wet wool and the feeling of snow settling after a storm.
By the time she was 24, Alenka had set down her own track. The Squamish backcountry had become her playground, and freeride snowboarding her mode of expression. But she wasn’t content to ride lines—she wanted to jump from them.
After discovering BASE jumping, a new dream took shape: to fuse snowboarding and flight into one daring gesture. Goat Mountain, towering above Squamish, became her focus. For years, she scouted, trained and bided her time. Then, in 2024, the mountain gave her a window.
Check Alenka on the ML Live It Up podcast:
On a clear day, with the right snow conditions and the winds low, Alenka strapped in and dropped from the summit—riding a line clean off an immense 1,200-metre cliff. In an instant, she was airborne.
Shortly after this triumph, Alenka shared four days with her mother in the Tantalus Range. The time together, in a place where memory and mountains meet, adds another layer to this already powerful story.
The Beginning is more than a film—it’s a testament to finding the edge of what’s possible, to the pull of family and to the courage it takes to begin.
Check out the story behind Alenka’s BASE jump here.
Check the ML Podcast!
