Good morning, Stoke Crew. The longer days are really starting to hit, and it's hard not to get excited about what's coming... long summer days filled with adventures are right around the corner. Let's get into it!
In today's report
- 🥾 Blue Lakes hikers get one more permit-free summer
- 🏂 Natural Selection Tour results
- 🎿 Utah won its 18th NCAA skiing championship
- 🧗 Washington's iconic Lower Town Wall crag is now a state park
- 🚲 Giant Group revenue fell
- 🏔️ Colorado acquired a 3,300-acre ranch near Eldora
MOUNTAIN BRIEFING
🏔️ Blue Lakes open, Utah wins, Revelstoke sends
🥾 Hikers heading to Blue Lakes in the Mount Sneffels Wilderness this summer won't need a permit, but new rules are coming. The U.S. Forest Service announced that the anticipated permit system has been pushed to 2027 at the earliest, while 2026 brings mandatory waste pack-out requirements, bear-resistant food storage, a camping ban at the middle and upper lakes, and a six-person overnight group limit starting May 31.
- The trail was closed for restoration during summer 2025, with parking upgrades, a new restroom, and habitat restoration work completed. Expect heavy crowds this year as visitors return before the permit system takes effect.
- When permits do arrive, the plan would cap day-use at 40 people and overnight camping at 24, down from the hundreds counted on peak summer days. The Forest Service estimates about 35,000 people recreate in the Mount Sneffels Wilderness annually.
- Blue Lakes tested positive for dangerous E. coli levels, attributed to improper human waste disposal, which drove the new pack-out requirement.
Why It Matters: Blue Lakes is one of Colorado's most iconic hikes, and it's been loved nearly to death. The one-year permit delay gives hikers a final open-access summer, but the new waste and camping rules signal the management regime to come. If you've been planning to go, 2026 is your window before the cap comes down!
🎿 The University of Utah won its 18th NCAA skiing championship and second consecutive title after the four-day event at Utah Olympic Park (alpine) and Soldier Hollow Nordic Center (Nordic) in Park City/Midway. Utah edged Colorado by 10.5 points, scoring 549.5 to the Buffs' 539, after entering the final day 6.5 points behind.
🏂 Nils Mindnich and Zoi Sadowski-Synnott were crowned the 2026 Natural Selection Tour snowboard champions at Revelstoke, British Columbia. The event ran in the Montana Bowl venue after a midweek storm dropped 40cm of fresh powder, resetting the terrain for finals.
Climbing
🧗Ondra flashes v15, Crag gets saved
🧗 Adam Ondra has flashed his fourth V15 boulder, Emotional Landscape, capping a historic winter in which the Czech legend became the first person to flash four boulders at the grade. He's now turning his focus back to lead climbing competition ahead of World Cup Prague (June 3-7).
- The run began in November with Foundation's Edge (making him the third person ever to flash V15), followed by Lion's Share and Celestite in late February (three days apart), and now Emotional Landscape in March.
- Of the difficulty, Ondra noted: "Even V15 is already extremely difficult, and very few climbers in the world can climb it, even after many days of projecting." He called Celestite, where every millimeter of body position matters, his proudest flash.
- Ondra stepped away from competition bouldering after last year's Prague World Cup, partly due to shoulder wear. He's now shifting to lead climbing for the 2026 competition season.
- Context: Ondra made the first ascent of Silence (5.15d, still unrepeated), completed the second ascent of the Dawn Wall on El Capitan, and holds the records for hardest boulder flash (V15), hardest sport flash (5.15a), and hardest trad flash (E11).
Why It Matters: Four V15 flashes in a single winter is unheard of! Nobody else has flashed more than one. At 33, Ondra continues to redefine what's possible across every discipline of climbing, from bouldering to sport to big walls. His return to competition adds another storyline to a year that's already been one of his best. Check out his youtube video.
🧗 The Washington Climbers Coalition has donated the Lower Town Wall, a granite crag near Index once hailed as one of America's top climbing destinations, to Washington State Parks. The donation caps more than 20 years of conservation and public access efforts after the private property owner posted "no trespassing" signs in 2009.
- The Washington Climbers Coalition, working with the Access Fund, the American Alpine Club, and the Mountaineers, raised funds to purchase the property and now transfers it to state management as part of Forks of the Sky State Park.
- Lower Town Wall has been one of Washington's most popular climbing destinations for more than 60 years. Co-founder Matt Perkins noted that many climbers initially considered it a training ground for Yosemite, but "beginning around 1980, the Lower Town Wall came into its own."
- State Parks has committed to managing the property as a climbing park, with a climbing management plan already adopted. The coalition added a vault toilet and improved access trails prior to the transfer.
Why It Matters: This is what climbing access advocacy looks like when it works: a 20-year effort to save a threatened crag from private lockout, ending with permanent state park protection and a management plan built with climbers. At a moment when climbing access battles are happening across the country, Lower Town Wall going from "no trespassing" to state park is a model for the community.
Environment
🌲 Front Range gets a new backyard
🏔️ Colorado has acquired the 3,314-acre Toll and Ranch near Eldora and the Continental Divide, preserving it as the state's newest wildlife area. The Conservation Fund purchased the property from the Toll family (owners for four generations since 1893) and conveyed it to Colorado Parks and Wildlife. The listing price was $9.9 million, funded through habitat stamp fees and Great Outdoors Colorado lottery proceeds.
- The ranch spans Boulder and Gilpin counties and includes 3.5 miles of South Boulder Creek, 16 ponds, and rises from about 8,000 feet to nearly 13,000 feet near Buckeye and Tennessee Mountains. It's home to elk, deer, moose, mountain lion, black bear, snowshoe hare, and trout.
- The property is a critical elk migration corridor, used for rutting, mating, and birthing seasons. CPW called it "a unique opportunity to conserve important wildlife habitat and hunting and fishing opportunities along Colorado's Front Range."
- Existing recreational access continues: Eldora Nordic Center's 18 miles of cross-country ski trails and the Kinglet mountain bike trail will remain under recreation leases. Visitors will need a state wildlife area pass or hunting/fishing license.
- The purchase was funded partly through the Colorado Wildlife Habitat Program's $12.47 habitat stamp, which has secured over 300,000 acres in conservation easements statewide.
Why It Matters: A 3,300-acre ranch less than an hour from Denver, straddling the Continental Divide, with elk herds, trout streams, and Nordic ski trails, is now permanently protected from development. With the Front Range growing fast and undeveloped parcels this size increasingly rare east of the Divide, this is a win of an acquisitions in recent Colorado history. The funding model (habitat stamps from hunters and anglers plus GOCO lottery money) is a reminder that conservation in Colorado runs through the outdoor recreation community.
Business
📉 The world's biggest bike company struggles
🚲 Giant Group, the world's largest bicycle manufacturer, reported a 15.5% decline in consolidated revenue for 2025, with the fourth quarter down 9.5% year-over-year. The company has been on a downward trajectory since early 2023, compounded by a U.S. Customs and Border Protection Withhold Release Order (WRO) issued in September 2025 that suspended imports of Giant-branded bikes, parts, and components from its Taiwan factories into the United States.
- The WRO was issued over labor practices at Giant's manufacturing facilities in Southeast Asia, specifically the treatment and compensation of foreign workers. It effectively locked Giant out of the U.S. market for its owned brands during the critical fall selling season.
- Q4 gross margin improved to 19.7% (from 13.5% prior year), suggesting some operational recovery even as revenue declined.
- Giant expects 2026 to mark a "transition to a healthier, more stable market environment," citing strong brand positioning, product innovation, and its globally diversified manufacturing network (Taiwan, China, Netherlands, Hungary, Vietnam).
Why It Matters: Giant makes more bikes than anyone on earth, and they're locked out of the U.S. market over labor violations at their own factories. The WRO is a serious reputational and financial blow to a company already struggling with post-pandemic demand normalization. For the broader bike industry, Giant's troubles signal that the pandemic boom hangover isn't over, and that supply chain ethics are now a competitive risk.
📚 Trailhead Trivia
Silence (5.15d), the hardest sport climb in the world, is located in which country?
⚡ Share The Stoke
This newsletter is for mountain lovers, first chair advocates, and the ones who live for type 2 fun. Basically, the type of people whose "five-year plan" is just a list of peaks and routes!
If you know someone like that, forward this email or send them to thestokereport.com. Thanks for spreading the stoke — it seriously means a lot!
Answer!
Norway!! Hanshelleren Cave in Flatange
See you soon,
Tyler
Creator — THE STOKE REPORT
