TCR | August 25, 2026 — Cloudbreak Goes Live, a Super El Niño Winter Forecast, and Hank Bilous Declares War on Style

August 25, 2026

The Forecast

Cloudbreak goes live

Cloudbreak is on. The WSL Fiji Pro opened today with the world's best surfers threading one of the heaviest lefts on the planet, and Gabriela Bryan showed up ranked number one in the world, loose and dangerous and apparently not bothered by any of it. Meanwhile, meteorologist Chris Tomer just dropped his 2026-27 winter forecast and the headline is a screamer: a super El Niño, one of the strongest and earliest on record, with equatorial Pacific temps already running +1.8°C above normal. If that holds, the implications for the Western US snowpack are enormous. But we're getting ahead of ourselves — right now, the Southern Hemisphere is still gorging. Valle Nevado is holding at 516 centimeters. Portillo is running into October at 279cm. La Parva is stacked at 224cm. Hank Bilous just dropped a film about what style actually means in freeriding, Lindsey Vonn hit another recovery milestone after nearly losing her leg at the Olympics, and someone listed an entire ski area in Maine for $3.5 million. Tuesday is earning it.

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Fresh Tracks

◆ Surfer Magazine

Gabriela Bryan on Being Number One, Carissa Moore's Shadow, and Not Overthinking Fiji

Bryan arrived in Fiji atop the world rankings and talked about the mentorship of Carissa Moore, the pressure of a title race, and the art of keeping things loose when the stakes are this high. Great profile piece for anyone who respects what it takes to hold the number one jersey.

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◆ Unofficial Networks

Chris Tomer's 2026-27 Winter Forecast: A Super El Niño Is Coming

Everybody's favorite skiing meteorologist just called it — ocean temps already running +1.8°C in the equatorial South Pacific point to one of the strongest and earliest El Niños on record. The Western US should be paying very close attention.

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◆ Powder Magazine

Lindsey Vonn Hits Another Recovery Milestone After Nearly Losing Her Leg

The Olympic crash was horrific. The recovery has been quietly relentless. Vonn just cleared another major milestone on the road back, and honestly, beating the odds is just what she does.

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★ Teton Gravity Research

Jeremy Nobis: From Race Course to Freeride

TGR digs into the vault for Harvest — their second-ever film — and the moment Jeremy Nobis decided race gates weren't enough. A quick, sharp look back at the origin story of modern freeride skiing.

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The Edit

Ross Fulkerson takes on some of Bishop's most committing highball boulder problems — including 'A Little Life' and 'Terminus,' two legendary Keenan Takahashi first ascents perched atop the Buttermilks — and the film doesn't flinch from the mental calculus involved. This isn't a send reel. It's a raw, beautifully shot meditation on what happens inside your head when the landing zone is a pile of talus and the only protection is commitment. Produced by Mellow and shot by a stacked crew, it's one of the best climbing films to come out of the Buttermilks in years.

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@Mellow · @Jacob Collins · @John Durant

Off-Piste

🎿 A 152-acre ski area in Lee, Maine — Mt. Jefferson — just hit the market for $3.5 million. It comes with a tubing operation, firewood business, lumber kiln, and residential space. If you've ever fantasized about owning your own hill, this is the listing. Powder Magazine

🎬 Hank Bilous — the guy who launched that massive transfer at FWT Hakuba — just released "The War on Style," a new film exploring self-expression and line choice in freeriding. Less send footage, more philosophy of movement. STEEP Magazine

🏔️ Lake Louise is expanding terrain again for 2026-27, adding new connections and routes across Richardson's Ridge after opening 200 acres and a new high-speed quad last season. Banff continues to quietly build one of the biggest ski areas in the Canadian Rockies. InTheSnow

🐟 Rocky Mountain National Park just closed 14.3 miles of streams on its west side through August 30 as crews continue a multi-year effort to restore greenback cutthroat trout — Colorado's state fish — to its native waters. The Poudre River drainage is off-limits for the week. Unofficial Networks

Dropping

FLUX NGR MF-10 Bindings & NGR Boots — FLUX's new MF Program is a rider-driven collab series, and the NGR MF-10 binding built with Takaharu Nakai is the standout. Designed for freeride snowboarding with the kind of response and dampening that big-mountain riding demands, paired with a dedicated NGR boot built to match. The same program includes models developed with Terje Haakonsen — so the company they're keeping speaks for itself. Dropping for the 26-27 season.

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Conditions Check

Chile firing

Valle Nevado holds at a staggering 516cm base, Portillo at 279cm running into October, La Parva at 224cm — the Andes are having a generational winter. →

Argentina mixed

Las Leñas is sitting on a solid 211cm base, but Chapelco is barely alive at 5cm — the snowline is drawn sharply between regions. →

New Zealand thin

Treble Cone is open but operating on a 5cm base — it's early-season scraping at best, and NZ needs a proper storm cycle to get going. →

Australia thin

Falls Creek is the only show in town with a 28cm base; Perisher and Thredbo are sitting at zero — the Australian season is struggling to find its footing. →

Oregon / Summer thin

Timberline is listed open but showing 0cm base on the Palmer Snowfield — late-summer operations are hanging by a thread. →

Alps — Summer thin

Zermatt is open on an 8cm base for national team training, Hintertux showing 0cm — summer glacier skiing in the Alps is minimal at best. →

The ocean's running +1.8°C hot. The Andes are seventeen feet deep. And somewhere in Maine, someone's about to buy an entire ski area for less than a condo in Aspen. Go find your line.

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