TCR | April 25, 2026 — The Southern Hemisphere Just Woke Up

Published April 25, 2026

April 25, 2026

The Forecast

The Forecast

The Southern Hemisphere Just Woke Up

Saturday morning and while most of the Northern Hemisphere is doing the math on how many corn laps are left, New Zealand just opened a ski area — in April — because the Southern Hemisphere has decided winter starts now. Hanmer Springs is spinning lifts after an early-season dump, and after last year's disappointing Kiwi season, the energy down under is cautiously electric. Back up here, Palisades Tahoe just extended into May after catching 11 inches of April snow, which means California still has a resort running and the season refuses to flatline. The Wasatch has 18 centimeters in the three-day forecast, so if you wrote off Utah, you wrote off too early. Mammoth is Mammoth. Killington's Superstar is doing what Superstar does. And today in Whistler, the community gathers on snow to celebrate the life of Kai Smart — a reminder that the mountains hold everything, the joy and the grief, and the people who show up for both are the ones who matter.

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Fresh Tracks

Palisades Extends Into May Because April Decided to Act Like January

◆ The Inertia

Palisades Extends Into May Because April Decided to Act Like January

Eleven fresh inches gave Palisades Tahoe the excuse it needed to push closing day deeper into spring. California's last resort standing just bought itself a few more weeks, and nobody's complaining.

Whistler Gathers on Snow to Remember Kai Smart

◆ Teton Gravity Research

Whistler Gathers on Snow to Remember Kai Smart

Today Whistler holds Ski for Kai — a community tribute to a skier whose loss cuts deep. Friends, family, and the mountains he loved. The only fitting venue.

◆ Powder Magazine

Jesper Tjäder's Unrailistic Returns to Åre — And It's Still Beautifully Unhinged

The third edition of Tjäder's wild slopestyle event drops April 30 in Åre with a Best Trick comp and a main event that blurs the line between skiing and performance art. Spring's most creative competition is back.

Worst Timing for an Airbag Deploy

★ TGR

Worst Timing for an Airbag Deploy

Marcus Goguen sends a backflip and his airbag just... goes off. Mid-air. The kind of moment that makes you check your own gear twice and then laugh about it for the rest of the season.

The Edit

Mark Abma standing on the edge of something unreasonable, looking down, and then going anyway — that's the whole Matchstick Productions catalog in one sentence, and this clip from Return to Sender delivers it in concentrated form. The cliff drop is massive and clean, the kind of commitment that separates professional skiers from the rest of us who merely think about lines like this. Abma's been doing this for decades and the nerves never get old — you can hear it in the title.

Watch →

@Matchstick Productions

Off-Piste

🔹 A 100-foot ice block is holding up Everest's spring climbing season. The Khumbu Icefall — the same terrain Andrzej Bargiel skied last fall — has a massive chunk of ice blocking the standard route, delaying rope-fixing operations and potentially pushing summit windows later than usual. SnowBrains

🔹 Brodie Mountain in Massachusetts might actually come back from the dead. The abandoned ski area in the Berkshires, shuttered since 2002, has new ownership and plans are emerging for a revival. The East Coast lost-ski-area community just got its first real piece of good news in years. Unofficial Networks

🔹 Breckenridge and Brian Head are adding bonus days after officially ending their seasons. When late-season storms arrive after you've already called it, apparently the move is to just... un-call it. Breck adds surprise laps for passholders, and Brian Head follows suit. The Inertia

🔹 RIP Bernie Rosow. The Mammoth Mountain community lost a beloved groomer, skier, and all-around mountain person. Known for his park skills, deep-snow instincts, and the kind of local knowledge that makes a mountain home. He'll be missed. Powder Magazine

Conditions Check

Pacific Northwest closed

Zero snow on the ground at Baker, Crystal, and Stevens with only 2cm in the three-day forecast — lifts are done for the season up here. →

Rockies mixed

Utah has 18cm in the three-day forecast and temps in the upper 20s°F overnight, which could give Snowbird a legitimate weekend; Colorado is thinner with only 7cm expected and most areas wound down, but Breck just announced bonus days. →

Northern Rockies / Interior BC thin

Jackson picked up 21cm over the past week with cold temps (-13°C to -2°C) and another 3cm in the forecast — limited terrain but still worth checking on; BC is dry with no new snow expected. →

Northeast spring

Killington's Superstar is open and grinding toward May, Jay Peak is skiing trees with excellent spring corn this weekend, and 9cm fell over the past week — don't write off the East. →

Europe mixed

The Alps are holding thin coverage at glacier altitude with temps from 0–8°C and no new snow expected; Scandinavia is the bright spot with 6cm in 24 hours, 11cm for the week, and 13cm in the three-day forecast under cold temps and midnight sun. →

Japan closed

Hokkaido is bare with no snow on the ground and temps above freezing; Honshu sits at 1cm depth with highs pushing 15°C — the Japanese season is done. →

The season doesn't end when it closes. It ends when you stop thinking about it. Most of us never do.

The Conditions Report

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