Top Five Fridays: January 16, 2026
Mikaela Shiffrin Is back on top of the slalom podium and much more below in todays Top Five Fridays! Image: SkiRacing.com Article
Hello and welcome to Top Five Fridays, the January 16, 2026 edition! We’ll once again cover the dominance of the US women’s ski team and offer some updates on fun stuff like resort closures, defunct ski manufacturers, and fellow snow reporters!
#1: Alpine Race Recap–No changes atop the leaderboard for US women–others are finding success as well!:
Paula Moltzan (USA), Mikaela Shiffrin (USA) and Katharina Truppe (AUT) atop the podium on a momentus day for Stifel U.S. Ski Team. Image: GEPA pictures/ Wolfgang Grebien SkiRacing.com article
Guess what? Mikaela Shiffrin won a slalom race. The end. In other news, teammate Paula Moltzan came in second in the a Flachau Night Slalom held in Austria this past Tuesday. Under the lights, Mikaela once again lit the lamp and finished first, earning her 6th slalom win of the season, 70th World Cup slalom victory, and her 111th career WC slalom podium. She beat fellow teammate Moltzan by .41 seconds with Austrian Katharina Truppe in third in front of the home crowd. Fellow American Nina O’Brien was the next best US finisher in 13th.
In other US ski team news, the locks of the Olympic team has been named, with women like Lindsey Vonn, Shiffrin, Moltzan, and O’Brien leading the charge. The US women get a full quota of 11 athletes while the men have earned fewer spots. There are more spots remaining, with names like Breezy Johnson and Jacqueline Wiles at the top. For the men, we get to see Ryan Cochran-Siegle and River Radamus for sure, and then other skiers like Ryder Sarchett are just in view.
Freestyle news: If you thought Mikaela’s 70 Slalom wins was impressive, check out Mikael Kingsbury, who captured his 100th mogul victory on January 9th at Vas St. Come in Canada. Kingsbury is now 33 years old and made his WC debut in January of 2010 at age 17. Amazingly, he has held the all-time WC wins lead for eleven years, starting in 2015. He won Olympic gold in 2018 and silver in 2014 and 2022. He has won 9 golds at World Championships in moguls and Duals.
#2: Peak Skis now not defunct?:
6-time Olympian and all around ski racing legend Bode Miller took to social media to announce his ski company, Peak Skis, has relaunched for 2026. Image: Unofficial Networks Body Miller Relaunches Peak Skis For 2026
At some point, we’ll get to the bottom of all this. In the meantime, it certainly makes for a spicy story, and one that has kept popping up like some twisted ski version of whack a mole. This past winter, the lights at Peak Skis seemed to go out. The website turned off, no word was heard from Bode, Andy Wirth, or anyone else involved in the company. They just vanished. This allowed the rumor mill to go into full circulation with speculation abound. The main message seemed to be that they just flat ran out of money. After a few month hiatus, they seem to have found new funds and are now back in the ski business. Bode came out with an announcement on his social media page, which honestly seemed like more of an April Fools ski joke, just a few months too early. While details and facts are hard to find, we can report that the website is live, it looks like you can buy an 88 or a 98 and get Bode’s autograph on them. He’s also reporting that he “updated the sidecut and geometry to create better balance and performance.” Hopefully the company will be able to right the ship, right the wrongs, and move forward making good skis. The skis were always the bright spot of the company, as most people genuinely liked them. With proper management and a sound business plan, there’s no reason that this shouldn’t find more success in the future. The comments of the social media posts, though, sound less than enthusiastic about this relaunch.
#3: Le Massif de Charlevoix, our ski neighbors to the north, is largely still closed to to a worker strike:
With Le Massif now shut down due to a resort-wide strike, this marks the second labor strike at a ski resort this winter and follows last years Park City Strike. Image: Peak Rankings Le Massif de Charlevoix Shuts Down in Resort-Wide Strike
On January 2, 2026, the labor union voted in favor of an unlimited general strike which resulted in the indefinite closing of all mountain operations. Since, then, starting on January 6, partial and limited operations began, but the resort, for the most part, is still quite closed. Their website indicates that they operate skiing from Tuesday through Saturday, and only in the Camp-Boule sector which appears to be a smaller zone at the resort. Other than restrooms at the Chalet Sommet, no services are available on the mountain. In addition to services being closed and resort access being limited, there are also restrictions on guests. These include: Season pass holders, guests with ski and accommodation packages, and guests of the Club Med at the base. It does not seem like any other ticket sales are available. The last update was three days ago on January 13th.
The union represents roughly 300 employees across all departments, so it’s not just patrol–it’s everyone. Pay, sick leave, limits on subcontracting, better work equipment, and faster vacation accrual are all sticking points in the future negotiations.
#4: Fellow Snow Reporter Hugh Johnson of Smuggs gets some local love on WCAX:
Local Hero and Smuggs snow reporter interviews with WCAX 3 about his "no bull snow repoprts" Image: WCAX 3 Unsung hero guides Vermont skiers with snow reporting
As some of you likely know, we run our own little independent IG channel called stowesnowreport, where we head up to the mountain and do a little video report of the morning’s conditions and overall mountain demeanor. Just across the Spruce side of the mountain, though Hugh Johnson has been at it for Smuggler’s Notch Resort for over 30 years. Johnson’s “No Bull Snow Reports” are the culmination of early morning ski missions, weather research, and access to snowmakers, groomers, and patrollers to help paint a clear picture of what your ski day may look like. It all ends up in his blog, which is frequently updated:
This past summer, the North America Snowsports Journalism Association awarded Johnson the Bob Gillen Memorial Award, given to those upholding the highest standards of professionalism in public relations and communications.