TCR | August 18, 2026 — Portillo Extends Into October, Valle Nevado Hits 516cm, and Shannon Schad Skied the Line They Told Her Not To

Published August 18, 2026

August 18, 2026

The Forecast

The Forecast

Seventeen feet deep and still counting

Valle Nevado just posted 516 centimeters. That's nearly seventeen feet of base depth — up over a hundred centimeters from where it sat two weeks ago, which already felt absurd. Portillo, riding the deepest season in recent memory, just announced it's extending operations into October because why would you close when the mountain is this fat. La Parva is at 264cm. Las Leñas is holding 234cm across the border. The Andes are having the kind of winter that makes Northern Hemisphere skiers physically uncomfortable scrolling their feeds in August. Meanwhile, film season teasers are officially live — TGR is in countdown mode, and the first clips are starting to hit. Passo Stelvio just shut down its summer operations because the Alps are melting, an activist investor is making noise at Vail Resorts, and Stab Magazine just declared they'll never run a live surf contest in the ocean. It's mid-August. The Southern Hemisphere is absolutely gorging itself.

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Fresh Tracks

◆ Powder Magazine

Portillo Is So Deep It Just Extended Into October

After a rocky early season, Portillo has stacked over 23 feet of snow and is pushing its closing date into October. The Northern Hemisphere had one of its worst winters ever; Chile is having one of its best.

Stab Magazine Will Never Run a Live Surf Contest in the Ocean

◆ Stab Magazine

Stab Magazine Will Never Run a Live Surf Contest in the Ocean

After six years of trying, Stab is pulling the plug on ocean-based competitive formats. The logic is annoyingly sound — you can't schedule a storm three days out and sell tickets to it. A fascinating admission from one of surfing's sharpest editorial voices.

Shannon Schad Skied Jackson Hole's Permanently Closed Tower Four Line Anyway

★ TGR

Shannon Schad Skied Jackson Hole's Permanently Closed Tower Four Line Anyway

In 1999, Shannon Schad dropped the notorious Tower Four line at Jackson Hole for TGR's 'The Realm' — a run so audacious it had ski patrol and locals fired up after the premiere. A perfect film-season appetizer from the vault.

◆ Gripped Magazine

Siblings Send a 5.13 Crack at Altitude in Chamonix

Giulia and Mattia Bernardini climbed Digital Crack 5.13b on the Grand Gendarme near the Aiguille du Midi — a famous 50-meter alpine crack at serious altitude. Doing it with your sibling is either the best idea or the worst.

The Edit

Rich and James from GMBN take their trail bikes on a proper Alpine traverse — Morzine to Les Gets to Samoëns — putting the "one bike to rule them all" theory to the test across bike park berms, technical singletrack, and scenic ridgelines high above the Haute-Savoie. It's a well-shot argument for the trail bike as the ultimate quiver-of-one, and the kind of summer adventure content that makes you want to book a ticket to the Alps. If you're waiting for snow, this is a solid way to burn twenty minutes.

Watch →

Off-Piste

🏔️ Passo Stelvio, Italy's iconic summer ski area, has shut down operations amid record heat across Western Europe. The glacier pass, which normally runs May through November, couldn't hold on. Another reminder that summer skiing in the Alps is becoming a fragile proposition. Powder Magazine

📈 Activist investor Oasis Capital Management just increased its Vail Resorts stake by over 2.3 million shares, pushing its total holdings to a level that demands attention. The fund's play appears focused on operational efficiency and capital allocation — translation: someone thinks Vail is underperforming and wants the board to hear about it. SnowBrains

🐻 Pro trail runner Klaire Rhodes was attacked by a brown bear in Alaska on August 13 and walked away to tell the story. Her takeaway: "Bear spray works." File that under gear that earns its weight. Canadian Running Magazine

🧗 Tyler Thompson just clipped chains on Kinder Cakes 5.15a in Rifle, Colorado — his fourth route at the grade and second this year. The 5.15 club is still extremely small, and Thompson is quietly building one of the most impressive tick lists in American sport climbing. Gripped Magazine

Conditions Check

Chile firing

Valle Nevado at a staggering 516cm base, Portillo at 284cm and extending into October, La Parva at 264cm — the central Andes are having a generational winter. →

Argentina mixed

Las Leñas holds a solid 234cm base, but Chapelco is scraping by on 10cm — a tale of two mountains separated by a few hundred kilometers. →

New Zealand thin

Treble Cone is open but showing just 3cm of base — it's been a tough start and the mountains need a proper storm cycle to get rolling. →

Australia mixed

Falls Creek is the bright spot with a 53cm base and lifts spinning, but Perisher and Thredbo are sitting at 0cm — the Aussie season is surviving on altitude and geography. →

Oregon / Summer thin

Timberline reports 0cm base but the Palmer Snowfield may still offer limited summer laps — check before making the drive. →

Alps — Summer thin

Zermatt showing 5cm and Hintertux at 0cm — with Passo Stelvio already shutting down, Europe's summer glacier options are dwindling fast in the heat. →

Seventeen feet of base and they're adding weeks. Sometimes the mountain just says keep going.

The Conditions Report

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