French Ski Resorts Invest €555 Million in 2025, Maintaining Record-Level Commitment French ski resorts invested €555 million in 2025, maintaining a historically high level of spending and reinforcing the sector’s central role in mountain economies, according to the annual investment survey conducted by Montagne Leaders magazine in partnership with Atout France and Domaines Skiables de France. The total is nearly identical to 2024 and stands 50% above the ten-year average, keeping […] Industry News Martin Kuprianowicz | March 2, 2026 0 Comments
La Clusaz, France, Report: One of Those Days Report from Saturday, February 28, 2026 Balme—Candide Thovex’s Playground. A mythical location on the far skier’s right side of La Clusaz Resort. Where the wave of freeskiing creativity crested and broke before it slowly rolled back… You can still see the high-mark that the water left behind at the French ski area in Candide Thovex’s famous films: One of Those […] Conditions Report Martin Kuprianowicz | March 1, 2026 1 Comment
We Went to The Biggest Ski Area on Earth and Got Our Whole Perspective Changed On the pursuit of good powder snow sometimes you find something bigger. A place so vast it makes your brain stutter.A landscape so interconnected it feels impossible.A ski area so large it stops feeling like a resort and starts feeling like its own mountain range. This is Les 3 Vallées (which happens to be on the Epic pass for added convenience […] Trip Report Martin Kuprianowicz | February 27, 2026 8 Comments
Large Avalanche Sweeps Across Pistes At Flégère In Chamonix, Injuring 3 Skiers A large avalanche roughly D3 in size roared down from steep terrain above the Floria T-bar at the Flégère ski area at approximately 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, crossing multiple groomed runs and burying skiers, prompting a major emergency response that was still unfolding late in the day. The slide released from rocky slopes above the lift and swept across at […] Avalanche Martin Kuprianowicz | February 24, 2026 0 Comments
SnowBrains Podcast Ep. 103 | Dave Searle – Chamonix IFMGA Mountain Guide Our guest today is Dave Searle – mountain guide, deep mountain thinker, and someone who has built his life around moving through wild places with purpose. Dave has spent years guiding in serious terrain, helping people travel safely and confidently in the mountains while also developing a thoughtful approach to risk, decision making, and what it really means to operate […] Featured Video Podcast | February 19, 2026 0 Comments
2 Foreign Skiers Killed in Avalanche at La Grave, France, After Entering “Strongly Discouraged” Zone With Guide Another tragic reminder of how serious big-mountain skiing can be unfolded Tuesday, February 17, in La Grave, France, where two skiers in their 30s were killed in an avalanche on the resort’s legendary high-alpine terrain. The avalanche occurred in an off-piste sector of the domain, an area known worldwide for its steep, unmarked lines accessed by a single lift system. […] Avalanche SnowBrains | February 17, 2026 0 Comments
[VIDEO] Red Bull Athletes Session Unique Terrain Park They Constructed High in the Alps of Eastern Italy Red Bull has built its reputation on pushing the limits of action sports, and its latest unique terrain park session shows that the brand has no plans of slowing down. A few months ago, four Red Bull athletes took to the Julian Alps in Italy to ride a precise yet flowy line, forcing each rider to navigate each feature with […] Quinn Brophy | January 28, 2026 0 Comments
A Guide to Les 3 Vallées, the World’s Largest Ski Area When I first looked at the piste map of Les 3 Vallées in the French Alps, it was hard for me not to feel impressed. Billed as the largest interconnected ski area in the world, this massive merging of three major adjacent ski resorts—Courchevel, Méribel, and Val Thorens—actually encompasses four lesser ski areas as well, and altogether, it’s so stupendous […] Trip Report Erik Trinidad | January 16, 2026 0 Comments
[VIDEO] IN COLD BLOOD & by Heart | An Intimate Freeride Film with Victor de Le Rue IN COLD BLOOD” is an intimate mountain film told through the inner voice of a rider torn between fear and obsession. As he moves between high-stakes competitions and raw backcountry adventures, we witness a search for balance between adrenaline and family, ambition and peace. No interviews, no showboating—just one man’s honest dialogue with the mountains. A visual and emotional journey […] Backcountry SnowBrains | December 19, 2025 0 Comments
Italian Ski Resort Sparks Controversy After Using Helicopters to Dump Snow on Bare Slopes Monte Bondone ski resort above Trento in Italy is facing mounting criticism from environmental groups after reports surfaced that operators used a helicopter to ferry snow onto a wind-stripped slope earlier this month. The move, first reported by Corriere del Trentino and later detailed by the Daily Mail, has intensified debate over how far alpine destinations should go to maintain […] Industry News Martin Kuprianowicz | December 11, 2025 0 Comments
[VIDEO] “Made in Italy”—Riding the Famed Aiguille de l’Amône Taking place after the events of 3AM: Snowboarding the Chuting Gallery, “Made in Italy” is the story of freeride snowboarder Juan Peon’s journey to the Alps to ride the famed Aiguille de l’Amône (The Needle of Lamone). Towering spires, technical couloir riding, and a visit to Superior Optic’s manufacturing facility in Italy where their products are handcrafted. This is the […] Backcountry Martin Kuprianowicz | December 4, 2025 0 Comments
The 10 Snowiest Resorts in Europe For powder seekers, few things matter more than consistency—the kind of deep winter snowpack that transforms a good ski trip into an unforgettable one. Across the Alps, snowfall varies dramatically by altitude, exposure, and local weather patterns. But year after year, a handful of resorts rise to the top with reliable, season-stretching storms. Using average annual snowfall totals collected by […] Martin Kuprianowicz | December 4, 2025 1 Comment
Compagnie des Alpes, France, Secures 25-Year Contract to Operate La Plagne, the World’s Largest Ski Resort New out of the French Alps broke on Tuesday that Compagnie des Alpes will continue running La Plagne, one of the world’s largest ski resort, after local authorities selected its bid for a new 25-year operating contract. The decision, announced November 25, follows a competitive tender process overseen by the Syndicat Intercommunal de la Grande Plagne, the public entity that […] Industry News Martin Kuprianowicz | November 27, 2025 0 Comments
SnowBrains Forecast: Over 90cm of Snow for the Alps This Week This forecast was created at 4:20 p.m. PST on Thursday, November 20, 2025. The European Alps are heading into a very active stretch, with two storm cycles bringing widespread fresh snow from Thursday night through late next week. The first system is colder and modest in depth but lays down a soft powder layer across almost every major resort. A […] Weather WeatherBrains | November 20, 2025 0 Comments
Rockslide in Italian Dolomites Closes Trails and Forces Evacuation Italy’s Dolomites continue to face danger amid what CNN has dubbed “the deadliest hiking season of the century.” Starting July 30 and 31, and into the first days of August 2025, a series of rockfalls swept down the Cima Falkner in Italy’s Brenta Dolomites region. Standing at a height of 9,840 feet, Cima Falkner is one of the tallest and […] Hiking Joseph Kaufmann | August 7, 2025 0 Comments
Baby Survives 160-Foot Fall Down Mountain at Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis Ski Resort, Austria A 10-week-old baby sustained non-life-threatening injuries in the Austrian Alps after their baby carriage rolled down a mountain slope around 12.55 p.m. on July 14. According to Austrian police, the incident occurred while the 23-year-old mother was hiking with the baby and the father in the Serfaus-Fiss-Ladis area of the Tyrolean Alps. The mother stopped to open a gate when the stroller […] Crash Joseph Kaufmann | July 28, 2025 0 Comments
The Swiss Alps Have Lost 38% of Their Ice Since 2000 “Glacier Loss Day” marks the point in the year when all the snow and ice that accumulated over the previous winter have melted, meaning any further melt is a net loss for the year. In 2025, Glacier Loss Day arrived as early as July 4. In 2022, it came even earlier, on June 26. On these early summer days, all […] Climate Zach Suffish | July 24, 2025 0 Comments
Helicopter Crash Claims One Life in Remote Swiss Alpine Region A helicopter crash in the high-altitude Fusshörner region of the Swiss Alps has left a 51-year-old Swiss man dead, Valais authorities confirmed Saturday, June 28. The helicopter, which was traversing the Oberaletsch Glacier at the time, came to a sudden halt on its side after an unexplained impact with the ground, according to Valais cantonal police. The aircraft, operated by […] Crash Joseph Kaufmann | July 2, 2025 0 Comments
Human Remains Found in Blatten, Switzerland, Following Massive Glacier Collapse Last Month [UPDATED Friday, June 27, at 6:07 pm European Central Time] Human remains were discovered Friday in the debris field above the village of Blatten, more than three weeks after a devastating glacier collapse buried large parts of the valley in rock, ice and mud. According to a press release from the Valais Cantonal Police, the remains were recovered during a […] Martin Kuprianowicz | June 27, 2025 0 Comments
19 People and Dog Rescued After Being Trapped for Hours in Austrian Cable Car Damaged During Storm 19 people and a dog were rescued unharmed Monday evening after spending more than four hours trapped in a gondola suspended high above the ground during a summer storm in western Austria. The passengers were riding the Karrenseilbahn, a popular cable car in the state of Vorarlberg, when severe winds struck the area around 3:00 p.m. local time, pushing two […] Martin Kuprianowicz | June 25, 2025 0 Comments
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