Top Five Fridays: December 12, 2025
With the first women’s speed races of the season underway this weekend, athletes like Isabella Wright (pictured), Lindsey Vonn, and Breezy Johnson are already showing their potential for a strong season with the results from today’s Downhill race. We’ll hold the full outcome from that one, but recap all of the other action from this week in highlight #1! Image: U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team on Facebook
#1: FIS Results - Both the U.S. Women’s and Men’s Teams Finish Strong in North America, Just as the Women’s Speed Events Get Underway in Switzerland:
Hello, and welcome to Top Five Fridays, the December 12, 2025 edition! This week, we’ve got a ton of competitive news to cover, with plenty of action happening in both the alpine and freeskiing worlds. Of course it’s not all competition news this week - it hardly ever is. After getting you caught up to speed with who won what, we’ll head to the Pacific Northwest, where recent weather is starting to become more than just a bummer for skiers and snowboarders. From there, we’ll bring you a surprising story from South Carolina, where a fraud syndicate’s multiyear season pass scheme has just been broken up, before finally rounding things out as we always do, with a whole slew of excellent edits. If that sounds good to you, let’s jump right in!
Starting with the women’s side of the circuit, as per usual, this week saw the ladies congregate in Tremblant, Canada for back to back giant slalom races. Having become accustomed to podiums and near misses, this week was a bit more subdued than we’re used to, although it was still relatively successful in the grand scheme of things. In the first of the two races, Mikaela Shiffrin led the way for Team USA, finishing in 6th, followed by Nina O’Brien in 10th and Paula Moltan in 13th. While no podiums were had in this race, placing three Americans in the top 15 is still an impressive feat. That said, the best result of the weekend came a day later, when Shiffrin finished tied for 4th with Switzerland’s Camille Rast. Just .3 seconds behind them was Paula Moltzan in 6th. All in all, while not the wildly successful weekend of racing that we’re used to seeing, it remained a productive one, with Shiffrin now sitting in 6th in the GS cup standings and Moltzan in 7th. With plenty of season ahead, both athletes are in good position to make a run at a podium spot by the end of the season.
While the women’s technical team competed in Tremblant, the women’s speed team traveled to St. Mortiz, Switzerland, where their first races of the season are finally underway. Just hours ago, the first Downhill of the season wrapped up, and while we’re extremely tempted to share the results with you as there’s exciting news for Team America, we also recognize that some of you might want to watch a replay later this evening. So, for now our lips are sealed, but just know that we’re excited to report on the results from this race next week. From here, the women’s speed team will take the course in St. Moritz again tomorrow for a second Downhill, followed by a Super G on Sunday. On the technical side of things, Courchevel, France is scheduled to host a Slalom race on Tuesday, meaning that if trends continue, we’re bound to be absolutely, positively fired up when we report back next Friday. Until then, we recommend tracking down a replay of the St. Moritz Downhill and staying tuned to the action throughout the weekend!
On the men’s side of things, when we left off last week, we were just one race into a three race stint at Beaver Creek. As a reminder, in that first race, the U.S. Team earned its first medal of the season, with Ryan Cochran-Siegle taking home second place in the Downhill. So, with a head full of steam, what happened next? Well, unfortunately no more podiums came about, but that doesn’t mean the U.S. Men didn’t continue to compete and impress. In the second race of the weekend, a Super G, River Radamus and Ryan Cochran-Siegle went back to back, finishing in 12th and 13th place respectively, while Jared Goldberg snuck into the points, finishing in 25th. One day later, in a Giant Slalom, River Radamus scored his best run of the season, coming in 6th place, while C Team member Ryder finished in 25th and earned World Cup points for just his second time. Rounding things out for the team in that race was George Steffey, who took home 27th. All in all, it was a strong showing in Beaver Creek for the men, particularly for Ryan Cochran-Siegle and River Radamus. From here, the men are on their way to Val d'Isere, France for a Giant Slalom and Slalom race this weekend. You can check that schedule here.
#2: Freestyle Skiing Competition Updates: The Big Air in Beijing Was a Dazzling Display of Spin to Win, While the Snow League Showed its Worth:
Next up in ski news this week is more competitive highlights! This time, we’re checking in with the world of freeskiing, where we have plenty of action to recap from last weekend in Beijing. If you read along last week, then you might recall that the region played host to both an FIS Big Air event, as well as the first ever Snow League ski halfpipe event. We’ll do our best to cover all of the highlights here, but to truly understand these events, it’s going to be best to watch the highlight cuts on YouTube - we’ll link as many as we can here.
First things first, let’s talk about the Beijing Big Air events. With a Big Air event scheduled for Steamboat, CO this weekend, the American team sent just 3 men and 1 woman to compete in Beijing, mostly to earn experience and not points. As a result, we won’t spend a ton of time talking about podiums, but instead want to highlight the types of tricks we’re seeing to start the season. On the men’s side of things, the event was won by Norway’s Ulrik Samnoey, who earned his first gold medal, five years after his first World Cup podium. To achieve the feat, Samnoey stomped a switch left triple 1800 safety to indy truck in his first run, before taking the same trick to 1980 in his second run. Behind him in second place was Luca Harrington, while Matej Svancer took home third. Both Harrington and Svancer also threw triple 1800’s and triple 1980’s in their runs, with the differences being grab selection and Svancer’s buttered takeoffs.
Now, we do want to take a moment to point something out here. In recent years, we were finding ourselves incredibly excited about the future of Big Air as novel, mindbending bring-back rotations seemed to be opening the door to an entirely new and intriguing class of tricks. But, those tricks never seemed to take the top podium spot, and as a result the Beijing podium was dominated by the same two rotations, each with similar grabs. That’s not to take anything away from the skill or difficulty of the tricks, nor the athletes performing them, but it feels safe to say that fans of the sport would love to see more variation. Perhaps that will be the case when the Big Air takes place in Steamboat this weekend.
On the women’s side, there was a bit more variation, as the top runs featured an array of left and right doubles, as well as massive switch 1080’s. Ultimately, it was Finland’s Anni Karava who took home her first ever World Cup gold, having executed a perfect switch 1080 tail grab in her first run, followed by another massive double 1080 mute grab. All told, it was yet another event in which the women showed that they’re capable of continuing to take their rotations to the next level. You can watch a highlight reel of the action here.
Moving on from the FIS World Cup to an equally compelling event, we’re excited to bring you coverage of the first ever Snow League ski event! As a reminder, the Snow League is the brain child of Sean White, and a league in which snowboarders will compete throughout the season, earning points with the ultimate goal of competing in the championship at the end of the season. On the skiing side of things, this weekend marked the first ski event of the league, and the only event this season other than the final event in LAAX from March 19-21. So, while it’s an abbreviated season for the inaugural year of skiing, the event itself remains compelling for two reasons: its unique format, and its massive cash prizes.
As we noted last week, the Snow League features a bracket style competition, where athletes go head to head, tasking judges with deciding who had the better run. In the first ski iteration of the event, it proved to be an exciting format as it meant that athletes were forced to change their approach - focusing on beating one specific competitor at a time rather than the entire field. In the words of men’s event winner Brendan Mackay, “It was really cool competing in this format. There’s a lot of strategy, and also a lot of luck with who you’re up against.”
Speaking of winners, you can probably already guess who won the women’s side of things, as there’s been just one athlete consistently stealing the show at major events like this for the past several years: Eileen Gu. For their efforts, both Gu and Mackay were awarded an astounding $50,000 each, while Kexin Zhang and Luke Harrold each took home $20,000 for second place finishes, Fanghui Li and Gus Kenworthy each earned $10,000 for third, and Svea Irving and Nick Goepper each earned $5,000 each for their fourth place finishes. Additionally, it’s worth noting that each athlete that competed was given a $5,000 appearance fee, simply for showing up.
Ultimately that’s our real Snow League takeaway. While the event itself was cool and fun to watch, the real game changer here is the amount of prize money being awarded to athletes. In the broader view of things, we know that both the FIS and X Games League continue to emphasize the importance of paying athletes in order to make professional freeskiing a viable career option - something that it has never been. We also know that just about a month ago Sean White’s Snow League landed $15 million in an initial investment round, showing that there’s real capital interest and support for this kind of thing. With all of this in mind, maybe, just maybe, freeskiing and snowboarding are on the verge of becoming much wider spread career paths. Here’s to hoping.
#3: The Pacific Northwest is Experiencing One of its Worst Starts in Years, the Effects of Which Go Far Beyond a Simple Lack of Recreation:
A chair at Oregon’s Mt. Bachelor lays in wait for snow to fall, allowing the ski season to finally get underway in the state. Image: Mt. Bachelor Ski Resort on Facebook
In other, significantly less fun news, we have the unfortunate task of sharing with everyone an update from the Pacific Northwest, where Oregon and Washington are off to terrible, horrible, no good, very bad starts to the ski season. While we’ll start this update with some weather information, the real story here goes far beyond a lack of skiing.
We start this bummer of a highlight in Washington, where a tremendous amount of rain has fallen this week, causing every ski area in the state to be closed until further notice. To be fair, with the way the season has started, only Crystal Mountain and Mission Ridge have been able to open so far this year, but this week’s unseasonal rain has only served to temporarily close those two resorts while pushing opening days as the state’s 8 other resorts back to 12/26 at the earliest. As for the rain itself? Again, we’re not talking about just a little bit of rain here - we’re talking about a full on deluge. According to coverage from Powder Magazine, Summit at Snoqualmie has reported over 8 inches of rain between 12/4 -12/10, and it hasn’t stopped since. That story isn’t at all uncommon for the state, as nearly every resort is reporting significant precipitation. There is, fortunately, a glimmer of hope: temperatures are beginning to trend downward, and Summit at Snoqualmie is reporting that the rain has turned to snow as of Thursday. Should the amount of precipitation continue, there’s a chance that the state could bounce back rather quickly.
Ironically, just one state south in Oregon, the weather has been quite opposite. There, the state is currently undergoing what meteorologist have called a “snow drought”. That, in combination with temperatures that have been about 20 degrees above average for this time of year, means the ski season is off to a slow start there as well. There, according to OnTheSnow.com, none of the state’s 9 ski areas have been able to open for the season. Fortunately, like in Washington, snow is expected to begin soon, hopefully jumpstarting the season.
In addition to the weather itself, the second part of this week’s highlight is a focus on the impact that slow starts like this can have. As we all know, ski towns across the country rely on their ski areas to bring in business for local lodges, restaurants, and shops. In a report from Central Oregon Daily this week, we learned a bit more about the real impact that the lack of snow is having not just for businesses, but for employees who rely on them for seasonal work. At Hoodoo Ski Area, hundreds of workers have been laid off as the resort has been unable to open, and thus they aren’t needed. While these employees are able to collect unemployment in the meantime, doing so requires that they actively look for a job, meaning there’s a real chance that at least some of them won’t be returning to Hoodoo this winter if the ski area isn’t able to open soon. This of course would lead to und desirable outcomes for the employees who wish they were at Hoodoo, as well as the ski area itself who could find themselves understaffed.
Similarly, Bend, Oregon’s Powder House ski shop was also profiled in the report from Central Oregon Daily. There, shop owner Todd McGee says that he has a core staff of about 14 people, and then an additional 15 employees that he brings on for seasonal work. While he hasn’t had to make any cuts yet, he fears he might have to if business doesn’t pick up as a result of winter.
For now, that’s really all there is to say about this one. Let’s all hope winter arrives in the Pacific Northwest soon, not just because skiing is amazing and you all deserve it out there, but because local economies and seasonal workers stand to benefit as well. For more on this, check out the report from Central Oregon Daily.
#4: South Carolina Woman Convicted For Her Role in Fraudulently Selling Discounted Epic and Ikon Passes:
A shot from Brighton Resort, where astute employees first stumbled across this long running scheme after noticing some fishy chargebacks. Image: Brighton Resort on Facebook
Finally, for our last highlight this week, we have quite the story to share. On Wednesday of this week, news started spreading that a woman named Jamilla Greene from South Carolina had been convicted for her role in an elaborate discounted multi-pass scheme. In short, it worked like this: Greene, as well as a currently unknown number of accomplices, would offer to sell people Ikon and Epic Passes at discounted prices via places like Craigslist, Facebook Marketplace, online classifieds, or word of mouth. Once they found a buyer for a discounted pass, they would then purchase a pass for their “customer” using a stolen credit card. The customer would then use an app like Venmo or Apple Pay to buy the pass at the discounted rate, and Greene would make a sale without ever having spent a dollar.
While that might sound bad enough, what makes this story particularly attention grabbing is the size and scale of the operation. According to reports, the scam started back in January 2020 and ran through June 2024. Over the course of those 4.5 years, it’s alleged that the group brought in multiple millions of dollars. While these numbers are surely inaccurate, quick napkin math shows that if the scheme brought in $2 million - the lowest amount of “multiple millions” possible - at a price of even $700/pass, it would mean the group sold roughly 2,850. From 1/1/20 - 6/30/24 is 54 months, which (according to calculator math this time) would mean the group was selling roughly 53 passes every month. Take into account seasonality, and the fact that they were likely selling at a much deeper discount in order to make the offer more attractive, and suddenly you can see how busy this group was, selling several, if not dozens, of passes a day.
At that kind of rate, you have to assume that the scheme was run by far more than just Jamilla Greene. At the moment, we don’t know exactly how large the group that was running this scam was, or if there’s a chance that it remains ongoing. All we know is that the “investigation into coconspirators continues.”
As interesting as this story is, the story of how it unraveled is equally as interesting. The beginning of the end started at Utah’s Brighton Ski Resort, where employees noticed a high number of chargebacks on day tickets. For those unfamiliar, a chargeback is a process in which the owner of a credit card can report a fraudulent charge, and the credit card company reimburses the card holder while requesting a refund from the business that sold the product. In this case, holders of the stolen credit cards were filing chargebacks for tickets to Brighton that they had never purchased.
After noticing the high rate of chargebacks, Brighton employees were able to identify a user account that was involved with a significant number of the chargebacks. One day, they got lucky and were able to locate two skiers on the mountain who were using tickets that had been purchased by the account. When confronted, they told resort employees a story that began to reveal the scheme.
Earlier that season, they had purchased discounted Ikon Passes from a man who was referred to them via a “friend of a friend.” All was well for about a month, until Alterra emailed the pass purchasers, telling them that their passes had been revoked due to chargebacks that had been issued for the passes. Angry and frustrated, the pair called the man who supplied the passes, who then offered to buy them season passes at any resort they’d like. They chose Brighton, and thus passes were once again purchased on their behalf using stolen credit cards. Once again, chargebacks were issued, triggering the alarm for Brighton employees.
At the moment, that’s where this story lies, although we suspect it’s not over. While Jamilla Greene has been convicted of the charges and is set to be sentenced on February 24th, the majority of this story seems to focus around “a man” and a group of coconspirators. As such, we suspect this story will become much larger once the full size of the operation is revealed. In the meantime, we suggest that all of our readers purchase their Ikon and Epic Passes directly from the source - not friends of friends found on classified ads. For more on this, check out the report from Utah’s KSL.