Top Five Fridays: March 7, 2025
Hello, and welcome to Top Five Fridays, the March 7, 2025 edition! This week, we’ve got more FIS results, more FWT results, the debut of a new, potentially transformative winter sports, and last but certainly not least, pricing and other announcements from both the Ikon and Epic Passes ahead of next season. With a lot of ground to cover, let’s dive right in! Image: U.S. Ski and Snowboard Team on Facebook
#1:FIS Alpine World Cup Recap: The U.S. Women Continue to Roll in Speed Events:
Hello, and welcome to Top Five Fridays, the March 7, 2025 edition! This week, we’ve got more FIS results, more FWT results, the debut of a new, potentially transformative winter sports, and last but certainly not least, pricing and other announcements from both the Ikon and Epic Passes ahead of next season. With a lot of ground to cover, let’s dive right in!
First things first, let’s talk FIS World Cup Alpine racing. This week, we find ourselves on the home stretch of the schedule, with only two more week worth of races ahead of us before the finals in Sun Valley. As such, the final standings are starting to come into focus as we wrap our heads around which athletes have a chance at hitting career bests when all is said and done. We’ll circle back to that in just a moment, but let’s start by talking about results from the women’s side of things this past week, as Kvitfjell, Norway has just played host to two Downhill races and a Super G.
In the first of those three races, a Downhill, U.S. athlete Breezy Johnson continued to make her presence known on the tour, earning a third place finish. If you’ll recall, Johnson also earned two gold medals at the recent World Championships, as well as a 4th place finish in a Garmisch Downhill back at the end of January. For spectators of the sport, there was a bit of uncertainty surrounding her return after being unable to compete last year due to a whereabouts violation. For some, there were questions regarding how quickly Johnson would be able to return to form as she had been just hitting her stride when the ban occurred. Now, she’s answered those concerns with a resounding, “I’ve still got it.”
While that race was special for Johnson, her fellow teammates didn’t do too bad themselves. Also earning points in that race were Jacqueline Wiles who finished 8th, Lindsey Vonn in 13th, Lauren Macuga in 15th, and Isabella Wright with a 23rd place finish. All in all, another strong Downhill performance from the U.S. ladies.
Interestingly enough though, the next day brought more of the same. With another Downhill on the schedule, it was time for another U.S. athlete to shine. This time, it was a name we’ve mentioned far more times than we expected this season: Lauren Macuga. In the second Downhill of the weekend, Macuga once again put the women’s field on notice, posting her best result ever in the discipline: a second place finish, missing the gold medal by just .03 seconds. Following her lead in that race were Breezy Johnson in 10th, Jacqueline Wiles in 14th, Lindsey Vonn in 16th, and making her Top Five Fridays Debut, was Haley Cutler in 30th. Again, another successful Downhill race for the women’s team.
Rounding out the weekend for the women in Kvitfjell was a Super G race, and while it wasn’t quite as successful as the first two races of the weekend, there are some results worth mentioning. Topping that list is once again Lauren Macuga, who led the pack with a 12th place finish, followed by Lindsey Vonn in 16th, and Jacqueline Wiles in 27th.
With last week’s races in the books, it’s worth taking a look at where things stand in the women’s cup races. Typically this time of year, we’re talking about Mikaela Shiffrin, and what it would take for her to win multiple crystal globes. This time around, due to the injury that kept her out of most races this season, Shiffrin is not our focus. Instead, the name we’re most focused on is Lauren Macuga. Currently, of all the U.S. athletes, she has the highest ranking, with a 4th place overall in Downhill. Unfortunately, there’s quite a gap between her and the top 3 athletes. With two Downhill races left in the season, it’s not mathematically impossible for Macuga to close the 120 point gap to get a bronze, although it will be tough. Still, for Macuga, it’s an impressive spot to hold regardless. In addition to her 4th place ranking in Downhill, Macuga is also currently 5th in Super G, while Breezy Johnson holds 7th in Downhill, Paula Moltzan is 8th in Giant Slalom, and Mikaela Shiffrin is somehow still in 6th in slalom. With a month of racing left, there’s still plenty of movement in these standings and it’ll be worth keeping an eye on as things unfold.
As for the men, well, it was a bit of a mellow week. In Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, a Slalom and a Giant Slalom were held. In the Slalom event, no U.S. man was able to finish their first runs. In the Giant Slalom, River Radamus earned points as the 12th finisher, while fellow U.S. team members Patrick Kenney took 22nd and Bridger Gile took 24th.
Looking ahead, the women will be in Are, Sweden this week for a Giant Slalom and a Slalom event, while the men will be in Kvitfjell, Norway for two Downhills and a Super G. You can preview all of those races here.
#2: Freeride World Tour Stop #4 Recap: Boom and Bust in Georgia:
In other competitive ski news this week, we bring you a recap of the long awaited Georgia stop of the Freeride World Tour. If you caught TFF last week, then you already know that the Georgia event was a bit of a stop-go situation, as an initial postponement gave way to a scheduled competition day, which was ultimately also postponed due to an avalanche occurring during venue preparations. As a result, the event was finally held on the last day of the weather window, at the originally planned venue.
On the day of the event, conditions were seemingly excellent, with no signs of wind and bluebird skies. Unfortunately though, it did seem as though there was a bit of a punch to the snow as multiple athletes had runs cut short due to tomahawking. Still, the potentially sketchy conditions didn’t ruin every athlete’s dreams and aspirations, as several were still able to put down full runs, packed with features from top to bottom. At the end of the day, it was Marcus Goguen who not only won his second FWT event in a row, but also his second Georgian event in a row. To his credit, Goguen’s run at this year’s event was entirely different from last year’s making his run that much more impressive. This time around, Goguen opted to start things off by 3’ing a cliff located below the ridge to the skier’s left rather than acid dropping the most obvious and popular hit located directly below the starting gate (which he did last year). From there, Goguen was on an entirely different line than last year, but still managed to squeeze in a massive cork 7 as well as another huge 360 over the nose of a pyramid cliff. Capping things off, he knocked out a quick screamin’ semen off the windlip at the bottom of the venue. While there were some other impressive runs from the likes of Martin Bender, Toby Rafford, and Virgile Didier, it was ultimately Marcus’s combination of trickery and quick, intentional skiing that won the day.
On the women’s side, there seemed to be quite a bit more strategic decisions making happening, as smart line choices were the hallmark for most successful runs. While the women have certainly stepped up and shown an aptitude for big airs and tricks in recent years and events, this particular stop seemed all about playing it smart, getting the points, and securing the cut for finals. When all was said and done, it was Zuzanna Witych who took home the gold, opting to mix big airs with a technical section to boost her line score in a strategic way. Now, with four events down, it’s time for the last stop in Fieberbrunn, Austria, after which the cut for the final event in Verbier will be made.
Speaking of which, we have some news relating to Fieberbrunn. Just yesterday, the Freeride World Tour announced that they’re taking an unconventional approach to the Fieberbrunn stop. With uncertain weather ahead, they opened the weather window a day earlier than expected and are planning on running the men’s snowboard, women’s snowboard, and women’s ski categories today, March 7th (in fact, the event will have likely happened by the time this post is published). For the ski men, the hope is that there will still be a chance to run them in the middle of next week after the next snowstorm. As for why they’re not running all divisions at the same time? Well, it’s simple: they believe the face can currently take 30 skiers and riders, but not 50. As such, the three divisions with 10 athletes each will take advantage of the opportunity to ensure an event, while the 20 male skiers will wait for another chance. Ideally that happens next week and we can share results from both, but we’ll be back with women’s results regardless. To catch up on all the action from Georgia, click here. To stay up to date with the latest plans for Fieberbrunn, click here.
#3: Epic, Ikon Announce 2025/2026 Pass Prices and Adjustments to Offerings:
Looking across the Land of Giants to A-Basin’s East Wall. While we’re sure the rise in multi-pass prices will get talked about quite a bit, we have a suspicion that Ikon’s unrestricted access to Arapahoe Basin may be the most controversial part of this update. Image: Arapahoe Basin on Facebook
Moving away from competitive ski news for just a moment, our next highlight this week falls under the category of “housekeeping,” in the sense that this news isn’t overwhelmingly exciting, but is absolutely necessary to share with our readers. The update itself is simple: both the Epic Pass and the Ikon Pass have announced their pricing and product offerings for next year. While some of this is business as always, there’s also a bit of sneaky news in here that bears pointing out. You’ll see what we mean.
First things first, let’s talk price. Next season, the full Epic Pass will run you $1,051.00, while the Ikon will cost $1,329.00. That price difference between the two passes is to be expected, and is consistent with the difference in recent years. They also both increased in price, which is also unfortunately to be expected. For the Epic Pass, the price for the full pass represents a roughly 7% increase from last year’s initial price of $982, while the Ikon Pass has jumped about 9.4%. Additionally, it’s worth noting that the Ikon Pass has also done away with one of their products, no longer offering the Base Plus Pass. Now, it’s simply either the Ikon Pass, or the Ikon Base Pass. Again, this is comparable to the Epic Pass, who offer two primary pass options with the Epic and the Epic Local Pass.
In addition to these price hikes, which have become an expected part of the winter cycle, we’ve also received some updates from the Ikon Pass regarding resort access. First, the bad news: Windham Mountain in New York will no longer be a part of the pass. Now, the good news: Buck Hill in Minnesota, Cranmore in New Hampshire, Jiminy Peak in Massachusetts, Wild Mountain in Minnesota, and Ischgl in Austria have all joined the Ikon Pass, offering varying degrees of access.
Perhaps the biggest news to come out of this announcement though, is that the Ikon Pass now includes unlimited access to Arapahoe Basin. For those who call the resort home,it’s a pretty monumental update considering that the resort parted ways with Vail’s Epic Pass in 2019 due to overcrowding issues. Those overcrowding issues, as you’ll recall, were also amongst the primary concerns that arose when Arapahoe Basin announced that they’d been purchased by Alterra this past fall. While the resort’s management team promised that the acquisition wouldn’t change the way of life at the mountain, the resort also implemented parking reservations on weekends for the first time ever this winter. Whether or not that’s been a favorable change depends on who you ask as management cites few, if any, parking issues this season, while locals bemoan the introduction of paid parking to their mountain. Noting that this year’s iteration of the Ikon Pass included a limited number of days at Arapahoe Basin, it’ll be interesting to see how the unlimited access plan plays out. As always, you can be sure that we’ll report back if this story blossoms.
If you or someone you know is interested in buying an Ikon Pass, you can do so here. If you’re more of an Epic person, click here.
#4: Shaun White’s “Snow League” Debuts This Weekend, Potentially Ushering in a New Era of Winter Sports Leagues:
Finally, we’re rounding things out this week with a highlight that’s not exactly ski news. Or not yet anyways. If you read along with us this past summer, or are even vaguely aware of freeskiing news, then you probably already know that the X Games has announced plans to become the X Games League (XGL) starting next year. When that announcement was made, it sent shockwaves through the world of freeskiing. Then, very shortly after, it was announced that legendary snowboarder Shaun White was also starting a league, called Snow League.
This weekend, in Aspen, CO, the Snow League is set to make its debut.
Unlike the X Games, which were also hosted at Aspen just over a month ago, the Snow League is starting out with a very specific focus: snowboard halfpipe. In its inaugural season, aptly named “Season One,” the Snow League will feature four stops, with athletes earning points at each one via head-to-head style competition. At the end of the four stops, a champion will be crowned for Season One.
As a new effort, Season One of Snow League comes with the prerequisite amount of awkwardness as the schedule and format both have a bit of a prototype feel to them. While Aspen is the first stop of the league, the three remaining events planned for Season One won’t take place until next year. After the initial event, there will be an approximate 9 month delay before the second event is held at Secret Garden, China next December. Then, Aspen will host again at the end of February 2026, with Laax, Switzerland rounding out the season in March of 2026. Additionally, while the first event of Snow League will exclusively feature Snowboard Halfpipe, the expectation is that Ski Halfpipe will join the league next season, presumably for an abbreviated version of Season One. Much like being a teenager, the inaugural season of Snow League looks to be both awkward and exciting.
Of course here on TFF, we’re always keeping the bigger picture in mind, which is exactly why we’re sharing this news. While we don’t know what will become of the Snow League, or the XGL for that matter, we do know that the two are both attempting to transform freeskiing and snowboarding into much larger sports leagues. Whether or not they’re able to successfully do so is yet to be seen, but either way, it’s an exciting time for those with an interest in the sport as it feels like there’s a better chance than ever for these professional athletes to finally earn an adequate paycheck for their efforts. Again, the verdict is out as to whether these leagues will be successful, but one way or another, we’re certainly in for a show as fans of the sports. To learn more about the upcoming debut of Snow League, check out their website.