Policy meets reality.
Torment Weather Report: Seems to be an unevenly distributed start to the winter. They’re launching rocks in Vermont, blowing snow in Utah, and hitting opening day powder turns in California. In the Pacific Northwest many base areas are pretty much dirt 😢. Meanwhile, there seems to be lots of optimism in Europe and Japan.
In economic news, the US Mint has officially stopped making pennies. Here’s a nice little obituary for our copper-coated brethren. Elon Musk has a chance to become the world’s first Trillionaire. Everyone agrees that he’s a stand-up guy, a hard-worker, and completely deserving of this auspicious milestone. Hooray!
Somewhat related; Crystal Mt. Resort in Washington is selling line cutting passes on weekends and holidays. You can add this privilege to your season pass for an extra $1500, or upgrade your daily lift ticket for a mellow $199! Crystal is calling this the “Reserve Pass,” but we think it should be called the “Deserve.” The people that buy it think they deserve to ride powder before everyone else, but in actuality, they deserve to be pelted by iced-over snowballs from point-blank range by the rest of us plebeians in the lift line. Buyers beware…
Former Olympic slalom snowboarder Ryan James Wedding, also known as “El Jefe”, has been dubbed a “modern day iteration of Pablo Escobar.” He runs an international drug smuggling ring, and is the number one importer of cocaine into Canada. From one type of snow to another huh? This guy is doing more to reclaim snowboarding’s outlaw status than anyone else in the game. Also, the FBI is offering a FIFTEEN MILLION dollar reward for information leading to his arrest. That’s a fuckton of heli-time, just saying. @Rosspowers, you know this guy?
In video news we’ve got a really diverse offering this week. The rail wizard Sam Anderson and crew have dropped Head Under Water. That one’s up on the site with a little write up and some photos, and right here for you lazy sods. Multiple wild maneuvers in here.
London-based Wasted Talent Magazine just put out two snowboard films; The Golden Road to Samarkaland, and I’m Not Mad at You, a Wasted-Talent x Nomadik production. Both offerings are worth a watch. The former, a beautifully shot trip to Uzbekistan with Arthur Longo and Parker Szumowski, and the latter, an impressive display of boarding from Kazu and friends in Switzerland and Japan. Nomadik could be the coolest outerwear brand in boarding, though getting their gear in the states is a bit confusing. Maybe stuff a board bag in Japan and hawk pieces to your friends upon return?
There’s also Nitro’s Spike, and Inyo and Worm’s ultimate Alaskan adventure, Cheechako.
In brands making unexpected and/or bizarre ventures outside their usual purview, we’ve got skateboard brand Fucking Awesome producing a motocross collection and releasing a dirtbike “street part.” We can’t tell if this is fucking awesome or fucking whack. Thoughts?
Speaking of whack. Outside magazine published the below photograph to promote their “Best Women’s Snowboards of 2026” article. It was so bad that Robin Van Gyn, tireless advocate for women in boarding, brainchild behind the mini-series Fabric (available on Apple TV btw), and the force behind women’s backcountry event R&D, publicly roasted them in her stories and offered to help photo edit whenever needed. But at least they’re running an actual on-snow test, didn’t snowboard mags used to do this?
That’s it for this week. Hopefully some spots start opening soon, so we can all practice our maneuvers:
Here’s your Instagram Clip of the Week: Dat bounce though…
And your Instagram Photo of the Week: Lifts and splitboards be damned, slide 11...
