Top Five Fridays: January 30, 2026
The mountain looms large over Telluride, as the decisions made by its owner impacts the entire community. More on why that matters in update #3! Image: Telluride Ski Resort on Facebook
Hello, and welcome to Top Five Fridays, the January 30, 2026 edition! Before getting into things this week, I (Matt) want to give a quick shoutout and thank you to Bob for holding things down for me these past couple of weeks as I traveled to Austria to coach Mad River Glen freeski athlete Seamus O’Neill in the Junior Freeride World Championships. While we didn’t get the result we were seeking, it was an amazing experience. Big shout out to the Freeride World Tour for putting on such an amazing event to support the next generation of freeriders. If you’re interested in seeing a replay of that event, you can do so here.
Now that I’m back in the writer’s chair, I’m excited to share with you a couple of expected updates this week with our recap of the latest FIS Alpine Racing action, as well as results from the second FWT stop in Val Thorens, France. From there, we’ll get into a couple of unexpected updates, as the Telluride community continues to be rocked by the effects of the patrol strike, while Alterra gets creative in its efforts to overcome a slow season at many of its resorts. If this sounds intriguing, keep reading, because we’ve got a lot to cover this week!
#1: FIS Results - The U.S. Women’s Team is Hitting its Stride Just in Time for the Olympics:
Starting as always with FIS World Cup Alpine racing, we’re excited to bring you plenty of results from the last full week of racing before our attention is captivated by the 2026 Winter Olympics. While there are a few races this weekend in Crans Montana, Switzerland, we’re just just about into the Olympic break, where we’ll watch one of the strongest U.S. Women’s teams in history attempt to capture several Olympic medals. Before we get there though, let’s talk about what happened this past week.
On the women’s side of things, Spindleruv Mlyn, Czechoslovakia played host to a Giant Slalom and a Slalom race. While both races came with exciting results, it was surprisingly the Giant Slalom that stole the show as the four U.S. women who qualified for finals all finished within the top 8. Leading that charge was Paula Moltzan who finished 2nd, followed by Mikaela Shiffrin in 3rd, Nina O’Brien in 5th, and AJ Hurt in 8th. While this particular race was an incredible result for the team on the whole, the next day’s Slalom race was equally incredible for Mikaela Shiffrin who managed to win by a full 1.67 seconds. In doing so, she secured the season’s Slalom crystal globe ahead of the Olympic break - an incredible achievement. That globe also marks a new record in the sport, as Shiffrin now has more same-discipline globes than any athlete, having just surpassed Ingemar Stenmark and Lindsey Vonn previous record of 8, with whom she’d been tied with.
You could hardly ask for a better weekend for the women’s team as they enter the Olympic break. With last weekend’s results, the U.S. Women’s team is now leading the Nations Cup standings in Slalom, Giant Slalom, Downhill, and Overall. While anything can happen in the Olympics, and things typically do get a little weird, the dominance of the U.S. women’s team has been hard to ignore this year, and our hopes are high that they’ll prevail in this year’s games.
On the men’s side of things, it was an incredibly busy week, with five races happening over the course of six days, across two venues. While no podiums were had, there were still a number of solid results. Unfortunately we don’t have time to cover all five races here, but we do want to quickly give a shoutout to Benjamin Ritchie, who finished 13th in the night slalom in Schladming, Austria on Wednesday night.
Looking ahead, Crans Montana, Switzerland is set to host a women’s Downhill and Super G race this weekend, as well as a men’s Downhill. From there, many of the athletes will head to Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy for the 2026 Winter Olympics. We’ll be back with more on that next week, but for now, click here to preview the Olympic schedule.
#2: With the Second Freeride World Tour Stop Completed, It’s Onto the First Ever Freeride World Championship:
In other competitive news, we’ve got action from the second stop of the Freeride World Tour, where skiers and riders enjoyed exceptionally powdery conditions at Val Thorens, France for the second year in a row. While this year’s event wasn’t quite as snowy as last year's, the soft snow still provided plenty of cushion, encouraging skiers to leave it all out on the mountain. Speaking of the mountain, this year also featured a new venue, which led to plenty of trial, and arguably even more error. Definitively divided into a top and bottom section, this year’s Val Thorens venue offered a number of different line choices in the top section, followed by what became known as the “Doom Drop.” Those primary feature sets, combined with plenty of hidden, sharky rocks, resulted in an event that was equal parts exhilarating and heartbreaking.
As always, we really recommend giving the full event a watch in order to get an appreciation for what went down, but what we will say is this: some serious storylines are starting to form already in this young season. Take for example Ben Richards, who is undefeated so far this season, having taken first in the first two stops. In Val Thorens, Richards benefited from going last, gathering plenty of information about the course before dropping in, ultimately deciding to absorb most of the lip on the Doom Drop, which resulted in by far the smoothest landing of the day. Or, on the other side of the spectrum, there’s defending champion Marcus Goguen, who only got 6th in Baqueira Beret and 15th in Val Thorens, with a score of 25. While he’s still above the cut line, Marcus will have to show up big in the rest of the events this year if he hopes to retain his crown. And then, there’s the wildcard: rookie athlete Kelly Hilleke who hails out of Aspen, CO. So far Hilleke has yet to complete a run, but despite that, he’s immediately made his presence known by combining front flips, backflips into closeout chutes, and attempting the largest air of the day in Val Thorens. At this point, it looks like if Hilleke can put down a full run, there’s a real chance he’ll find himself on the podium at the end of the day.
When the snow finally settled in Val Thorens last week, the FWT found itself with quite the podium. At the top was Ben Richards, followed by FWT rookie Joey Leonardo in second, and Ross Tester in third. Interestingly enough, these three athletes had one thing in common: rather than attempt to backflip the Doom Drop, they all spun a 360 - clearly the right move for the feature.
From here, the Tour takes a quick break as many of the athletes are set to compete in the first ever FIS Freeride World Championships, from 2/1-2/6, in Ordino Arcalís, Andorra. While this is a standalone event that won’t count towards the FWT standings, it remains an incredibly exciting occasion as it marks significant progress towards the sport’s hopes for Olympic inclusion. You can learn more about that right here.
#3: Mayors of Two Telluride Towns Resign After Well Intentioned Attempt to Purchase the Resort Goes South:
In Telluride, all the locals want is a good relationship with the mountain. Unfortunately, that’s much easier said than done. Image: Telluride Resort on Facebook
Moving on from competitive news, we have quite the story to cover coming to us out of Telluride, CO. There, as you’ll recall, the town was recently sent into a tailspin over the holiday season as the resort’s ski patrol union decided to strike in an effort to increase their wages. While many in the community supported the patrollers’ goals, the strike had unexpected results. Rather than feeling pressured to come to a resolution with the unions, Telluride’s owner, Chuck Horning, felt content to simply close the resort. That, of course, had a significant impact on the local economy as tourism came to a screeching halt. Eventually, due to community pressure, the patrollers came to a compromise with the resort and Telluride reopened. At that point, our coverage noted that the story of the strike was buttoned up, however the larger story about Chuck Horning hadn’t been completed yet. What we didn’t expect was for the story to come roaring back so quickly.
A couple of weeks ago, the Colorado Sun reported that during the strike, the mayor of Telluride, Meehan Fee, and the mayor of neighboring Mountain Village, Marti Prohaska, had met with Chuck Horning to discuss an offer to buy Telluride resort from him. According to the report, Fee and Prohaska had put together a proposal in which a group of investors were willing to pay Horning $127.5 million in exchange for 51% ownership of the ski area. The goal of this proposal, of course, was to give the local population a bit more say in decisions that affect the town. According to the two mayors, Horning was initially interested in the deal.
And then, the proposed sales contract was leaked in a post on Facebook. Now, both mayors have resigned.And then, the proposed sales contract was leaked in a post on Facebook. Now, both mayors have resigned.
According to both Fee and Prohaska, neither one was pitching the proposed sale under their official capacity, but rather as private citizens. Despite their insistences, both towns have initiated investigations into the mayors as some details in the proposal blurred the line between the public and private sectors. For example, the sales proposal cited water rates for snowmaking, housing collaborations, and line items for “flight related budget allocations.” While likely well intentioned, the issue here is that the mayors were putting public commitments into a contract without going through the proper processes. A mayor, for example, can’t promise a business a special rate on water without having it approved by a budget committee.
As we concluded in our previous coverage of Telluride, it feels as if this story is still being written. While both mayors have resigned and are being investigated, and Chuck Horning continues to insist that the resort is not for sale, the fact of the matter is, the town wants more say in its local mountain, and we have a feeling they won’t stop until they get it. For now, you can learn more about this most recent update in this report from CPR.org.
#4: Alterra is Now Paying Ikon Members to Ski at Their Resorts:
Want to make a little extra money for lunch in the lodge? If you’re an Ikon Pass holder, all you have to do is go skiing. Image: Alterra on Facebook
Finally, rounding things out this week is a story that, while a bit disheartening in nature, is actually valuable information for all of our readers with Ikon Passes. That news of course, is that Alterra has announced a new promotion in which pass holders can earn a $20 credit for each day that they go skiing at an Ikon Resort between now and February 25th, limited to three days / $60 in credit. Making the deal even sweeter is the fact that these credits can be used at a wide range of locations, including not just food and beverage options, but in the rental shop and retail shops as well. In other words, if you’re an Ikon Pass holder who goes skiing 3 times in the next month, you could earn $60 in store credit at the retail shop. Not a bad deal.
So, what’s the catch? As far as we can tell, there really isn’t one. You do have to register for the promotion, but doing so seems to be a relatively painless process - all that’s required is your name, Email, and birthday. From there, credits will be automatically added to your account by 3/6 with an expiration date of 5/31.
As for why Alterra is doing this? Well, that’s where it gets a little disheartening. While things here in Vermont have been pretty snowy this season, we’re willing to bet most of our readership feels differently about the season so far. Across the West, the Rockies, and the PNW, it’s been a tremendously dry season. In fact, according to Vail Resorts, it’s been, "one of the worst early season snowfalls in the western U.S. in over 30 years.” As a result, the Epic Pass is reporting a 20% decrease in skier visits this season as compared to the same period last year, and a 15.9% decrease in revenue from food and beverage. While those are numbers from Vail, we have to imagine that Alterra is taking a similar hit this Winter as the lack of snow is undoubtedly impacting skier visits everywhere. As such, this promotion is simply a way to get pass holders to the mountain, where the company hopes they’ll spend additional money on amenities like food, beverage, retail, and rentals.
To learn more about this promotion and the likely causes for it, check in with Denver7.com.
#5: And Now, Your Edits of the Week: Join the Faction Crew as They Go on a Mongolian Journey “150 Hours from Home”:
*** Warning: Some foul language occurs. ***