TCR | August 21, 2026 — Kai Jones Sends Something Unreasonable, Eight Grizzlies Summit a 10,000-Foot Peak, and Zermatt Locks Out Everyone But the National Team

August 21, 2026

The Forecast

Eight grizzlies, one summit, and a line that shouldn't exist

Kai Jones just reminded everyone what TGR teaser season is supposed to feel like. The clip — ripped from Beyond the Fantasy — shows Jones dropping into a line so steep and consequential it looks like a rendering error, and it's exactly the kind of thing that starts appearing in your feed when the film houses flip the switch. TGR's countdown to premiere is loud and getting louder. Meanwhile, the Andes continue to operate on a different plane of existence: Valle Nevado is holding at 516 centimeters, Portillo — now confirmed into October — sits at 284cm, and La Parva is stacked at 246cm. Across the border, Las Leñas is riding a healthy 224cm base. Eight grizzly bears just took over the summit of Glacier National Park's third-highest peak, Zermatt locked its glacier lifts to Swiss national team skiers only, and NOAA is already putting out early El Niño signals for next winter. Film season is live. The Southern Hemisphere is still gorging. August is earning its keep.

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Fresh Tracks

◆ Unofficial Networks

Eight Grizzlies Claimed a 10,020-Foot Summit in Glacier. The Hikers Had to Wait.

Three hikers headed for Siyeh Peak — Glacier National Park's third-highest — and found eight grizzlies already holding the summit like they owned the place. Which, to be fair, they do. Ryan Roberts (@ryanskis1) got the footage that'll make you rethink every exposed ridge scramble you've ever done casually.

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◆ SnowBrains

Zermatt's Glacier Is Open This Summer — But Only If You're On the Swiss National Team

The Theodul Glacier usually spins lifts for anyone with a pass all summer. This year, with conditions deteriorating fast, Zermatt shut public access and reserved the ice exclusively for Swiss national team training. Marco Odermatt gets turns. You get to watch from the village.

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★ Teton Gravity Research

Kai Jones Sends a Line That Shouldn't Exist

TGR just dropped this teaser clip from Beyond the Fantasy and it's the kind of thing that makes you involuntarily lean back from your screen. Jones commits to a line where the margin between skiing and falling is measured in inches. Film season is officially awake.

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◆ Stab Magazine

Gen Z Just Took Over Padang — Three Perfect 10s and a Final Heat Total of 17.83

Lucy Darragh and Rajo Barrel won the 23rd Rip Curl Padang Cup with a combined age less than Ian Crane's solo odometer. Three perfect 10s were thrown down. The future of heavy-water surfing looks extremely sorted.

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The Edit

Salomon sent an all-women content team to cover UTMB 2025 — photographers, videographers, the full production crew — after noticing that the people behind the cameras at the world's biggest trail running event were almost exclusively men. This film, built around photographer Cortney White and the women who told the story of the race, is less about the running and more about who gets to frame the narrative. It's a quiet, confident piece from Salomon TV that says more about the outdoor industry's blind spots than any panel discussion ever could.

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@Salomon TV

Off-Piste

🌤️ NOAA's Climate Prediction Center just released updated seasonal outlooks with early signals pointing toward El Niño conditions for the 2026-27 winter. It's way too early for powder promises, but the pattern is the kind that historically delivers for the Western US and Japan. Powder Magazine

🐻 Colorado Parks & Wildlife is responding to a record number of bear reports this summer following two more attacks in mountain towns this week. CPW is urging residents to lock down trash, bird feeders, and anything else that might invite a 300-pound houseguest. Powder Magazine

🏔️ Ten ski areas are expected to be open by October, including Portillo's newly extended season, Saas-Fee, and early openers in Austria and Scandinavia. The Alpine glacier closures this summer have reshuffled the calendar, but the countdown to Northern Hemisphere lifts spinning is officially under a month. InTheSnow

⛷️ DPS has quietly been building custom skis for American military and NATO special operations units for a decade. Backcountry Magazine goes deep on the program and the man running it — Mike Cannon — who gets a window into a world most civilians never see. Backcountry Magazine

Dropping

Lib Tech Orca II — Travis Rice's legendary powder shape gets a proper sequel. The original Orca redefined what a short-fat freeride board could do; the II refines the template with updated volume distribution and a hull designed to plane faster in deep snow without sacrificing edge hold on hardpack. It's the rare board that changed an entire category and then actually improved on itself. If you're planning a trip south this winter — or just banking on that El Niño signal — this is the stick.

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Conditions Check

Chile firing

Valle Nevado holding at a staggering 516cm base, Portillo at 284cm and now running into October, La Parva stacked at 246cm — the Andes are having a generational winter. →

Argentina mixed

Las Leñas is riding a solid 224cm base, but Chapelco is scraping by on just 5cm — the snow distribution across the border is wildly uneven. →

New Zealand thin

Treble Cone is open but reporting just 3cm of base — it's been a tough winter across the Southern Alps with coverage well below average. →

Australia mixed

Falls Creek is the bright spot with 43cm base and lifts running; Perisher and Thredbo are both sitting at 0cm — the Aussie season is hanging by a thread outside Victoria. →

Oregon / Summer thin

Timberline is open but reporting 0cm base on the Palmer Snowfield — summer operations are limited and conditions are marginal at best. →

Alps — Summer thin

Zermatt has 8cm and is open exclusively for Swiss national team training; Hintertux is open but showing 0cm base — glacier skiing in the Alps is effectively on life support this summer. →

If eight grizzlies can summit a 10,000-foot peak, you can make it to Friday afternoon. Go earn your weekend.

The Conditions Report

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