Top Five Fridays: November 13, 2026
Eldora Mountain Resort. When it’s good, it’s good. Unfortunately for Nederland, CO at the moment, it’s most definitely not all good. More on that ongoing story in highlight #3. Image: Mt. Rose on Facebook
Hello, and welcome to Top Five Fridays, the November 6, 2026 edition! This week is a classic grab bag week - no theme, just back-to-back-to-back-to-back stories that you should know about. Topping that list of course, is a preview of this weekend’s World Cup alpine races in Levi, Finland, where Mikaela Shiffrin’s absence clears a path for any number of athletes to step forward and claim the top spot. From there, we’ll check in with updates from the Indy Pass and the Ikon Pass, both of whom have made a number of exciting announcements in the past week. Next, we’ll bring you back to Nederland, CO, where a story we were once thrilled to report has since become one that we discuss with much fear and trepidation. Finally, we round things out with a promising new development from Aspen, where the first ever chairlift with a backup battery is set to go live this winter. After those recaps, it’s time to check out for the weekend - tip your chair back, put your feet up, and enjoy a few of this week’s best edits! But first, the news:
#1: World Cup Alpine Race Weekend #2 is Finally Here! This Season’s Slalom Races in Levi Will Look Quite a Bit Different, at Least on the Women’s Side. Here’s Why:
If you missed the action from Soelden, now’s your chance to lock in for the season. Get fired up with the official trailer from the FIS.
First up in ski news this week, is preview coverage of this weekend’s upcoming Slalom races in Levi, Finland! Before diving into some of the intriguing storylines behind this year’s event, let’s start with the most important announcement of the entire event: snow control has given the Levi races a greenlight. Despite a mild fall season in Finland, the resort has managed to shore up its snow situation ahead of the event, thanks in no small part to their ever increasing snowfarming efforts. We’ve touched base on this a few times in the past, but this year in particular the practice has gained further attention as it’s become a case study being used by the FIS in its new, “Weather and Climate Services for Ski Resorts” guidance document, produced in conjunction with the World Meteorological Organization. In other words, Levi has been so successful with its efforts that not only are they able to host races annually in mid November, but they’ve become an example that the FIS hopes the world will follow. Keeping that concept in mind, let’s jump into the storylines.
As you might expect, the women’s side of the event is bound to capture significant attention, although this time it’s not because of who is in the race, but who isn’t. That’s because, for the first time in 12 years, Shiffrin will not be competing in the Levi Slalom. With the absence of the elite Slalom athlete, and owner of 9 Levi victories, it feels like the field is truly open for the first time in recent memory. As such, the “who to watch” list is quite long. For Team USA, that list is led by Paula Moltzan, who is not only coming off her first career World Cup gold medal in Soelden’s GS race, but also finished 5th overall in the Slalom rankings last season. With Shiffrin sitting this one out, Moltzan is set to lead the way for the Americans. Of course, as we know, the team is set to bring plenty of talent, with athletes like AJ Hurt, Elisabeth Bocock, Nina O’Brien all likely getting starts. As we’ve seen in the past, each of these athletes are entirely capable of logging excellent results, so don’t be surprised to see their names pop up again in our coverage next week. Beyond the American team, the other big name to watch this weekend is Petra Vlhová, who is returning to World Cup racing this season after a 2 year absence due to injury. In her first race back, the GS in Soelden, Vlhová sat in 11th after the first run before dropping to 23rd on the day. Despite that result, her presence should be taken seriously as she’s played the part of Shiffrin’s foil over the past decade or so, having 6 victories of her own at the venue. Safe to say, it’s about to be a very exciting season in the world of women’s World Cup Slalom. For more on these storylines, check out the coverage from SnowBrains.
On the men’s side, while the American team remains rooted in speed disciplines, we can expect to see a familiar cast of Slalom characters, likely consisting of Benjamin Ritchie, Jett Seymour, Luke Winters, and Cooper Puckett. Out of those names, we’ll be watching Ritchie the closest, not only because he led Team USA in the overall slalom standings at the end of last season, but also because he’s shown massive potential, having won the Italian National Championships last winter, and the U.S. National Championships the year prior. Between those results is a slew of DNFs and DNQs, suggesting that if Ritchie can put down back to back clean runs, he’s got a real shot at making a splash. Of course the real storylines are ultimately in Europe for this particular discipline, as the level of Slalom skiing there is through the roof at the moment. To give it some context, consider this tidbit provided by the FIS: last season Loic Meillard won the Olympic Gold in Slalom and in 2025 he won the gold at the World Championships, making him the undeniable world champion in the sport. That is, unless you factor in last year’s overall cup standings, in which he finished 5th. What this ultimately means is that the upper echelon of men’s World Cup Slalom skiing is incredibly competitive at the moment, providing plenty of reasons to watch.
All told, we’re set for an exciting weekend of action, and with the FIS’s new broadcasting agreements finally in place, you can catch all of it live or via replay over on the FIS’s new World Cup Ski & Snowboard YouTube channel.
#2: Both the Indy Pass and the Ikon Pass Announced Additional Offerings This Week. Here’s What You Need to Know:
An overview of the ski areas available for the pilot season of Indy Pass’s new “Destination Upgrade” pass add on. For a larger version, click here.
Next up this week, is a quick update from the world of multipasses, where two of the three biggest names in the business have just announced some new updates to their lineups ahead of the season. First up in this conversation, is the Ikon Pass, who just made a pretty big announcement by unexpectedly adding 3 days of access to Deer Valley to their Base Pass. Those of you who haven’t been living under a rock for the past few years already know that Deer Valley is in the process of a massive expansion. While that effort remains underway, incredible progress has already been made, with the 2026-2027 season offering access to 4,500 skiable acres across 10 peaks and 32 lifts. In other words, it’s a huge mountain, and adding access to the Ikon Base Pass is a big, big move.
Beyond that highlight announcement, Ikon also shared some additional updates. In Austria, the Ikon Pass previously provided access to Ischgl, one of the most party-friendly mountains in the world. Now, Ikon has expanded access to the other 3 ski areas in the Paznaun Valley, providing a total of 7 days of access for Ikon Pass holders, and 5 days for Base Pass holders across Ischgl, Kappl, See, and Galtur. With all of these resorts a simple 20 minute bus ride away from each other, this move creates a perfect, simple vacation option for pass holders looking to take a trip overseas. Finally, the Ikon Pass has also expanded its offering in Wisconsin, adding two days at Crystal Ridge, Nordic Mountain, and Little Switzerland to its Bonus Mountain lineup.
Not to be outdone, the Indy Pass announced a handful of updates this week, one of which is a new pass upgrade that will satisfy anyone who’s been weary of the two-day per resort limit that’s part of the deal. Last Thursday, the Indy Pass announced a new pass add on called the “Destination Upgrade”. This new product allows existing Indy Pass holders to increase their lift ticket allotment to 5 days at 13 resorts across the Rockies, the Pacific Northwest, Western Canada, and the Alps. Being touted as a pilot program, the idea behind this new pass product is that it’ll make destination travel more possible for Indy Pass holders who are generally ok with the 2 ticket per resort in their area, but have wanted a way to incorporate the Indy Pass into their vacation plans. Now, with the Destination Upgrade, Indy hopes to have solved this issue.
In tandem with this announcement, the Indy Pass has once again announced several new ski areas allowing access to pass holders. Without listing them individually, just know that there are 10 new alpine destination, 5 new cross country ski destinations, and the trio of New York’s Belleayre, Whiteface, and Gore have joined the Ally Program, providing pass holders with at least 2 day tickets for 25% off the walk up window rate. For more on this, click here.
#3: In Nederland, CO, the Well Intentioned Plan to Purchase Eldora Mountain Continues to Spiral Out of Control. Here’s the Latest:
Despite being a deeply valued part of the community, Eldora Resort may inadvertently lead to some significant problems for the town of Nederland - at no fault of their own. Image: Eldora Mountain Resort on Facebook
Moving right along, our third update this week has quite honestly evolved into a story that’s barely even about skiing at all. Those of you who read the headline of this highlight and who follow along with us here on Top 5 Fridays already know that the story of Nederland, CO’s plans to buy Eldora resort has gone from potential case-study in municipal excellence, to the brink of a municipal nightmare.
When we last covered this story back on October 23rd, we cheekily referenced Parks and Rec character Ben Wyatt, whose backstory consists of him bankrupting a small town by spending their entire budget on an unfinished winter sports hub called, “Ice Town”. While we jokingly drew comparisons to that fictional story in our previous coverage, we’ve come to learn this week that that story actually isn’t so far from the truth.
In ongoing coverage from the Colorado Sun this week, the story of Nederland’s attempts to purchase Eldora have escalated to the point where one local resident is saying, “If the town had an emergency siren, I’d be blasting it right now.” That quote comes from a man named Dallas Masters who's been independently investigating the financial trail of this entire purchase. That investigation has ultimately led to the town board making some pretty glaring admissions centered around how they’ve been covering acquisition costs up to this point, as well as what measures they’ll need to take should the acquisition fall through. To put it bluntly, it’s not good.
As it stands, Nederland would be on the hook for about $2.8 million if the deal fails to materialize. That money would need to come from the town’s general fund, which, as it turns out, has nowhere near that amount of money. As such, the municipality’s plans to cover the expense include ideas such as using $1.9 million from the town’s Downtown Development Authority reserves or using $2 million from their water and sewer fund savings account, with no plans to repay it. Finally, a third option, and one that’s very reminiscent of the Ice Clown, is to use $900,000 that’s currently set aside for its community center, and to reallocate that for the repayment of debt.
What all of this amounts to is a simple takeaway: Nederland has inadvertently dug itself a hole. Now, there are only two completely opposite outcomes of this story: either Nederland’s deal goes through, the debts are wrapped into the bonds, and the outcome is a nailbiting success story; or life imitates art and the town of Nederland becomes a real life Ice Clown. For more on this, check out the report from the Colorado Sun.
#4: Aspen Snowmass Announces World’s First Chairlift With Backup Battery:
Aspen’s Elk Camp chairlift, now the first in the world to run have it’s backup power come from a battery. Image: SkiResort.com
Finally, we’re rounding out our highlight reel this week with a pretty cool story coming to us out of Aspen. There, as many of you know, the resort has been busy overhauling some of its infrastructure this summer, including lift upgrades. While the highlight of that project is a new high speed quad lift that replaces its historic Bell Mountain and Little Nell lifts, there’s another equally impressive, more subtle upgrade that’s taken place. This winter, when the Elk Camp chairlift starts spinning, it’ll be the first in the world to operate using a battery powered backup.
In a report from Powder this week, we learn quite a bit more about this unique upgrade, and why it matters to the mountain. Starting with the bare facts, the new battery powered backup will replace the lift’s diesel power backup. That form of energy, as you might guess is the ubiquitous form of backup energy, with nearly every lift in the world relying on fossil fuels to power the lifts when power goes down. Next winter at the Elk Camp lift though, that power source will switch to battery power.
While that may seem like a subtle change, and reliance on the backup energy is likely to be a rare occurrence, the entire system is set to make a relatively significant impact. For starters, the battery itself will be powered by clean, renewable energy. At the end of the day, when lift isn’t running and the battery has no need to be filled, that renewable energy will flow back to the grid. In other words, not only is this new battery set to replace the lift’s reliance on fossil fuels, it’s actually a net positive for the grid itself. According to Chris Miller, senior vice president of sustainability at Aspen One, this transition should reduce the resort’s carbon dioxide emissions by about 144 tons each year. While he notes that that’s a drop in the bucket, he also goes on to point out that with over 4,000 chairlifts in the world, this small upgrade could easily pave the way forward for others to follow suit, ultimately making a significant difference.
As for concerns regarding whether or not a battery backup is a reliable replacement for diesel, it sounds like there’s no need to be worried. Reports suggest that the battery is capable of powering the lift for a full 2 hours - more than enough time to clear guests from the chairs.
For more on this, check out this week’s report from Powder Magazine, or this report from the Aspen Times.