Good morning, Stoke Crew. Hope some of you finally got to ride some powder yesterday! Now we just need about a foot a day for the rest of the season to catch up on the snowpack. Seems doable, right?
In today's report
- Shiffrin gets her gold
- McMorris falls short
- National climbing championships results
- Everest bill will limit climbers
Olympic Updates!
❄️ What's Been Happening?
Mark McMorris finished 8th in men's snowboard slopestyle at the Milan Cortina Olympics on Wednesday, marking the first time in four Olympic appearances the 32-year-old Canadian has missed the podium. China's Su Yiming won gold with a first-run score of 82.41, Japan's Taiga Hasegawa took silver 82.13, and American Jake Canter claimed bronze 79.36. McMorris posted a top score of 75.50 points and fell on his third run attempting to improve his position, having competed just two weeks after a February 4 training crash left him with a concussion, pelvic bone bruising, and strained abdominal muscles that forced him to miss the big air competition.
The Regina native, who became the most decorated Winter X Games athlete in history with 25 medals (including a slopestyle gold in January), told reporters he was "feeling pretty beaten up, mentally and physically" but remained "really, really, really proud to make it to a fourth Olympics."
Shiffrin won Olympic slalom gold on February 18 in Cortina with a dominant 1.50-second margin, ending an eight-year medal drought and fundamentally reshaping her Olympic narrative as gold medalist. The 30-year-old's victory marks her fourth career Olympic medal (3 gold and 1 silver) and makes her the most decorated female American skier in Olympic history, surpassing Lindsey Vonn.
Shiffrin posted the fastest first run with a 0.82-second lead despite a near-slip, then increased her advantage to 1.50 seconds in the second run for the largest winning margin in any alpine event since 1998.
- Switzerland's Camille Rast took silver and Sweden's Anna Swenn Larsson claimed bronze, becoming the oldest Olympic slalom medalist ever (34 years old).
Aspen's Alex Ferreira enters his third and presumably final Olympics this week as a favorite for halfpipe skiing gold, aiming to complete his medal collection after winning silver at Pyeongchang 2018 and bronze at Beijing 2022. The 31-year-old competes in qualifiers Thursday and finals Friday in Livigno, Italy, with teammate Nick Goepper alongside him as another legitimate gold-medal frontrunner. "Got the silver, got the bronze—let's complete the set with the gold," Ferreira said before leaving for Italy, adding "you really have to nail it in this moment, because you would have to wait another four years for this perfect moment and the stars to align again."
A gold medal would cement Ferreira as potentially the greatest Aspen Olympian ever from a region that has produced more than two dozen Olympians but few medalists, with recent standouts including halfpipe snowboarder Gretchen Bleiler (2006 silver) and alpine snowboarder Chris Klug (2002 bronze).
Colorado's Jake Canter won Olympic snowboard slopestyle bronze on Wednesday with a third-run score of 79.36, securing his first Olympic medal a decade after a 2016 trampoline training accident left him in a coma with a 20% chance of survival and permanently deaf in his right ear. The 22-year-old from Evergreen, who developed alongside the Aspen Valley Ski & Snowboard Club as a youth, landed a backside 1980 (five and a half rotations) off the bottom jump in his final run after his first attempt wasn't enough for medal contention and his second run ended in a crash.
MOUNTAIN BRIEFING
❄️ New Bill Limits Who Can Climb Everest
Nepal's National Assembly unanimously approved the Integrated Tourism Bill on February 9, 2026, mandating that climbers provide proof of summiting at least one 7,000-meter peak in Nepal before receiving an Everest permit. The legislation, introduced by Tourism Minister Anil Kumar Sinha, replaces Nepal's 1978 Tourism Act and targets the growing number of inexperienced climbers attempting the 8,848-meter peak, a trend blamed for congestion, accidents, and rescue service strain. Nepal offers 72 peaks between 7,000 and 8,000 meters for this prerequisite.
The bill also transforms the existing $4,000 refundable waste deposit (requiring eight kilograms of solid waste removal from above base camp) into a non-refundable environmental fund fee, addressing criticism that Everest has become a dumping ground with an estimated 50 tonnes of accumulated waste.
- The bill will now move to the House of Representatives (lower house) to be elected during the March 5 elections, which means the law won't take effect for the 2026 spring season, possibly triggering a rush of inexperienced climbers attempting to summit before implementation.
Events!
🧗🏻♂️ The 2026 YETI Climbing National Championships Results
Lead Climbing Final
- Men's: Colin Duffy won the Men's Open Lead National Championship, becoming the first competitor to conquer the steep middle section before falling at holds 47 and 48. Dillon Countryman took silver with a score of 33+ (33+ means the number hold he got to before falling), while fellow Olympian Jesse Grupper earned bronze with a high point of 28. The event featured a notable return of several Olympians and past champions competing in Nationals for the first time in years. This marks Duffy's first Lead National Championship title and only his second National Championship overall.
- Women's: Brooke Raboutou claimed her first-ever National Championship title in the Women's Open Lead Final, nearly topping the route before falling from the final hold with a score of 46. Analise Van Hoang earned silver (34+) and Alexandra Inghilterra took bronze (24+), with hold 18 proving to be a critical crux that eliminated six of the ten finalists. The sold-out crowd witnessed a stacked field featuring two Olympians, including Kyra Condie, alongside rising talents making their Elite National Championships debuts.
Boulder Final
- Men's: Hugo Hoyer won the Men's Open Boulder National Championship, securing gold with consistent performances including reaching the 10 hold on two boulders and earning one of only two tops in the round on the fourth boulder. Cozmo Rothfork claimed silver as the only competitor to reach the 10 hold on all four boulders, while Sergey Lakhno earned bronze after a strategic flash on the fourth boulder. The final was notably difficult, with success measured more in progress than tops across a field that included first-time Elite finalists alongside seasoned podium veterans.
- Women's: Natalia Grossman won the Women's Boulder National Championship in dramatic fashion, flashing three of the four boulders despite competing with a partially dislocated shoulder that had cast doubt on her participation just days before the event. Her composed and increasingly confident performances, capped by technical footwork on the fourth boulder, brought her to tears as the crowd celebrated her title. Brooke Raboutou added a silver medal to her Lead gold from earlier in the week, while defending Boulder National Champion Melina Costanza earned bronze with her consistently strong showing across the round.
📚 Trailhead Trivia
When were the first Olympic games?
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Answer!
The first Olympic Games took place in 776 BC - The original Olympics began as part of an Ancient Greek festival, which celebrated Zeus, the Greek God of sky and weather. The whole competition lasted for up to six months, and included games like wrestling, boxing, long jump, javelin, discus and chariot racing.
See you soon,
Tyler
Creator — The Stoke Report
