TCR | April 09, 2026 — Six Days and a Sierra Storm

Published April 09, 2026

April 9, 2026

The Forecast

Six Days and a Sierra Storm

The calendar says six days until the big resorts shutter for the season, but the Sierra didn't get the memo. A legit storm cycle is bearing down on California this weekend — models are showing 1 to 3 feet for the higher elevations, which is the kind of late-season gift that turns a slushy April into a full-on reset. Everywhere else? The math is getting grim. Base depths across the West are functionally zeroed out, the Alps are clinging to glacier scraps, and Japan closed the book weeks ago. But the stories worth telling right now aren't about snowpack totals — they're about Vail Resorts pulling the plug on a Swiss resort while locals still have snow underfoot, MSP loading helicopters in Terrace for next year's film, and Natural Selection assembling its Alaska roster. Closing day is coming, but we're not there yet. Especially not in Tahoe.

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Fresh Tracks

◆ Teton Gravity Research

Natural Selection Returns to Alaska With a Stacked 2026 Field

The YETI Natural Selection Ski comp heads back to the Alaska Range with a roster that reads like a freeride fantasy draft. One-day format, backcountry terrain, no safety net — this is the purest expression of competitive big-mountain skiing left.

Read →

◆ SnowBrains

Vail Resorts Shuts Down Crans-Montana Early — Swiss Locals Are Furious

Conditions were still excellent. The snow was there. But Vail pulled the plug on Crans-Montana anyway, leaving Swiss locals and business owners asking the question everyone's been asking for years: does Vail care about the skiing, or just the spreadsheet? The answer keeps writing itself.

Read →

◆ Unofficial Networks

Silverton Mountain: America's Most Unhinged Ski Area

One chair. No grooming. Mandatory avalanche gear. Silverton Mountain is what happens when a ski area decides that coddling customers is someone else's job. A good reminder, as the rest of Colorado limps toward closing day, that genuinely committed terrain still exists.

Read →

◆ Powder Magazine

Trygve Berge, Breckenridge Co-Founder, Dies at 93

A Norwegian immigrant who co-founded Breckenridge and helped shape American resort skiing. Colorado Snowsports Museum Hall of Famer. The kind of figure whose legacy you ski through every time you ride Summit County.

Read →

The Edit

MSP is in Terrace, BC with Northern Escape Heli Skiing, stacking footage for the 2026 ski film — and Logan Pehota is the one in front of the lens. This behind-the-scenes clip is raw phone footage from the shoot, the kind of thing that used to stay on a filmer's camera roll. Pehota in big BC terrain with heli access and MSP's crew behind him is exactly the kind of segment that anchors a fall premiere. File this one away for September.

Watch →

@Matchstick Productions · @Logan Pehota · @Northern Escape Heli Skiing

Off-Piste

• Vail Mountain has named Shaydar Edelmann — a 20-year snow industry vet coming over from Heavenly — as its new VP and COO. The revolving door of Vail Resorts management continues its spin cycle. Powder

• Alyeska Resort extended its $5 Honor Roll student lift ticket program through April 26, making it the best report-card incentive in America. Sundays only. Straight A's not required, but your GPA better be respectable. TGR

• Grand Teton National Park is planning a 196-acre prescribed burn near Mormon Row, potentially igniting as early as today. The area sits east of Blacktail Butte — worth knowing if you're touring in the southern Tetons this spring. Unofficial Networks

• The Uninvited Invitational — a snowboard event born from the video-part underground — is streaming live for 2026. If you care about snowboarding's creative core, this is the one to watch. Whitelines

Dropping

Nordica Dobermann Multipista 80 DC (26/27) — Nordica is blurring the line between their race-bred Dobermann platform and their all-mountain shapes. The Multipista 80 DC takes race construction — stiff, precise, narrow — and pairs it with a more forgiving rocker profile and a shape inspired by their freeride lineup. The result is a carving ski that doesn't require a World Cup start gate to enjoy. Blister has the measured specs and first impressions up now.

Shop →

Conditions Check

Pacific Northwest closed

Zero snow depth at Baker, Crystal, and Whistler with no new snow in the past week and nothing in the forecast — the PNW season is done. →

Rockies thin

Utah picked up 6 inches over the past week but base depths are essentially zero; Colorado is similar with temps pushing into the 50s — any remaining open terrain is extremely limited, though the Sierra is the bright spot with 12 inches forecast this weekend. →

Northern Rockies / Interior BC thin

Jackson and Big Sky show just 1cm of snow depth with 6 inches over the past week; Revelstoke sits at 2cm base with no new snow and nothing incoming — what's left is barely skiable. →

Northeast thin

Temps are cold enough at -5°C to 6°C with 2 inches over the past week and 35 km/h winds — Killington and Jay Peak may still have managed terrain open on snowmaking corridors, but natural coverage is effectively gone. →

Europe thin

The Alps are scraping by with 1-2cm base across France, Switzerland, and Austria; temps in the mid-30s to 40s°F with no new snow — glacier operations like Zermatt may hold on, but the broader season is winding down fast. →

Japan closed

Zero snow depth across both Hokkaido and Honshu with temps hitting 10-14°C and nothing in the forecast — Japan is done for the season. →

The Sierra's about to get a foot of snow with six days left on the clock. Sometimes the mountain gives you exactly what you need, exactly when you thought it was over.

The Conditions Report

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