The Algorithm, Part 3 of 4: Old-School Legends and the People Who Make the Stuff
Brands, gear, and folks who were skiing before your skis were invented.
This fall I cleaned up what my phone shows me, and I’m sharing the list: 100 Instagram and X accounts in four parts. Resorts, racers, brands, forecasters, and a few that’ll make you yell at your phone.
Missed the first 50? Part 1 and Part 2 are here. Here’s part 3.
51. Tanner Hall (X @TannerHall · IG @tannerhall)
Freeskiing pioneer. Park City-based, and still at it.
52. Glen Plake (IG @glenplake)
The mohawk. Still touring small ski areas and still out-skiing everybody.
53. Seth Morrison
Big-mountain legend from the ski films. Follow for the archive alone.
54. Chris Davenport (X @SteepSkiing · IG @steepskiing)
Two-time World Extreme Skiing champ and the first person to ski all 54 Colorado fourteeners in a single year. His X bio adds guide, World Cup announcer and author.
55. Julian Carr (X @JulianCarr · IG @juliancarr)
Utah big-mountain skier, cliff-hucker, and founder of the Cirque Series.
56. Elyse Saugstad (X @elysesaugstad · IG @elysesaugstad)
Freeride World Tour champ turned big-mountain filmer. Her word for it is extreme. Her footage agrees.
57. Bode Miller (X @MillerBode · IG @millerbode)
Six Olympic medals and two overall World Cup titles. These days he’s co-founder of Peak Skis, out of Bozeman.
58. Alex Hall (IG @alexhallskiing)
Olympic slopestyle gold in Beijing in 2022.
59. Sun Valley (X @sunvalley · IG @sunvalley)
America’s first destination resort. Old-school glamour.
60. CMH Heli-Skiing (X @cmh_heli)
Heli-skiing started here. Founder Hans Gmoser flew the first commercial trip into BC’s Bugaboos in April 1965.
61. Luke Koppa, Blister (X @BlisterReview · IG @blisterreview)
Blister’s managing editor, based in Crested Butte, and the name on a lot of their ski reviews. He doesn’t have a personal handle I could confirm, so the tag goes to Blister.
62. Greg Louie, The Ski PT (IG @the_ski_pt)
Volunteer PT for the US Ski Team who helps everyday skiers get back on snow after an injury. Follow him before you need him.
63. Brooks Curran (IG @brookscurran)
Ski photographer who grew up in Vermont. The East Coast on its best days, which do exist.
64. J Skis (X @jasonlevinthal · IG @j_skis)
The X tag is founder Jason Levinthal, who started LINE and then started J. His bio says he’s been making skiing “more funner” since 1995. I’ve been making it more expensive for about that long.
65. LINE (IG @lineskis)
The brand Jason started first. The Traveling Circus videos are still going.
66. Faction (IG @factionskis)
Designed and tested in Verbier, handmade in Austria and around the EU, by their own description.
67. RMU (IG @rmu.mtn.co)
Rocky Mountain Underground, out of Summit County, Colorado, since 2008. Employee-owned, so the people making the gear have to live with it.
68. Black Crows (IG @blackcrows_skis)
French skis from Chamonix that look cooler than anyone who’s ever bought them. Me included.
69. ON3P (IG @on3pskico)
Handbuilding skis in Portland since 2009. Note the ‘co’ in the Instagram handle.
70. Atomic (IG @atomicski)
Austrian, and the skis under Mikaela Shiffrin.
71. Rossignol (IG @rossignol)
Around since 1907.
72. FREESKIER (X @FREESKIER · IG @freeskiermagazine)
“This Is Skiing,” says the bio. Their Trailer Time guide is a whole evening, gone, and worth it.
73. Mad River Glen (X @MadRiverGlen · IG @madriverglen)
Ski it if you can. Skier-owned, a single chair, and still no snowboards. The comments have opinions about that last part.
74. Legs of Steel (IG @thelegsofsteel)
Ski film crew out of Innsbruck. Their website keeps a running count of broken bones since 2008. I keep mine to bruised pride.
75. Epic Pass (rage bait) (X @VailResorts · IG @epicpass)
Ikon made Part 1, so in fairness here’s the other side of the pass war. The X tag is the parent company. Pick a side in the comments and fight nicely.
That’s 75 down, 25 to go. If I missed your favorite, reply and tell me. I’ll probably agree.
Good news first: it's going to snow in the Wasatch this week. Up high, anyway. The catch: Utah gets one more sunny weekend, and the storm showed up on the overnight forecast a day late and a little lighter.
The Salt Lake NWS office now has widespread precipitation starting Wednesday morning instead of Tuesday, with 4 to 8 inches above 9,500 feet by Friday evening. Snow levels sit above 9,000 to 9,500 feet through Friday morning, then drop to about 8,000 to 8,500 feet Friday evening. Most places get half an inch to an inch and a half of water by then, locally more than two. Some guidance even keeps it going into the first half of next weekend. The forecasters are also eyeing the leftovers of Hurricane Trudy in the eastern Pacific, which they call a wildcard. I respect a forecast office that admits there's a wildcard. (From DC, every storm is a wildcard. Mostly the rain kind.)
Up on Hidden Peak, the grid has a sunny 48 today and a high near 31 next Friday, with 3 to 5 inches Thursday night and another 1 to 3 on Friday. That's the whole week in two numbers.
The longer range is where it gets fun. OpenSnow's 11-to-15-day number went up at Alta (12 inches, from 10) and Snowbird (13, from 11). Evan Thayer at OpenSnow Utah sees "perhaps signs of an active late October," and @WasatchSnow is watching "intriguing signals" on the West Coast for the end of the month that could mean an active early season for the Sierra, "and perhaps extending to Utah." I'll take perhaps. Perhaps is how every good season starts.
This weekend, by the NWS numbers
Alta: sunny, 50 Saturday, 48 Sunday, 47 Monday
Brighton: sunny, 52, 50, 49
Snowbird base: sunny, 56, 55, 54
Park City base: sunny, 63, 61, 60
Utah has zero active alerts, and yesterday's valley freeze warning has expired. The Utah Avalanche Center is still in fall mode.
Resort News
The best story of the day comes from outside Syracuse. Toggenburg has been closed since Intermountain bought it in 2021. Under a settlement with the New York Attorney General, it's been sold to local businessman Douglas Wheeler, who plans to rebuild it and open for 2027–28. Intermountain pays New York $30,000 and can't buy it back. Good news for small hills.
Up in Vermont, Killington (@KillingtonMtn) and Pico (@PicoMountain)'s local owners laid out the next chapter at their October 15 community update: more than $80 million spent so far and about $200 million planned over the next decade. The idea list includes new Snowshed and Ramshead lifts and new lodges at Bear Mountain and Snowshed, and the Snowdon Quad gets finished this offseason. There's snowmaking in there too. Powder says a $10 million Snowshed pumphouse replacement will nearly double that pumphouse's water capacity. Unofficial Networks puts the full plan near $280 million, counting what's already spent. More water for the guns is the money that matters.
Whitefish (@SkiWhitefish): A summer fuels-reduction project with the Forest Service thinned about 200 acres along the Chair 1, 2 and 4 lift lines. New glades, and Whitefish is up to 112 named trails.
Park City (@PCski): On October 10, 1,430 people on Main Street took the charity shot-ski record back from Breckenridge. They beat 1,420 by exactly ten. Somebody's cousin made the difference.
Eldora: TGR says Nederland's plan to buy it has hit financial hurdles.
Bookings: As of September 30, ski-town lodging on the books for November through March was down 8.3% from last year, per SAM. March was down 17.1% and December 6.9%, and November was about flat. Translation: there may be room at the inn.
Openings and Snowmaking
Making snow
Colorado: Copper (@CopperMtn)’s guns are on, and per Unofficial Networks it’s targeting Friday, November 6 to open, weather permitting, the same date as Breckenridge, which fired up its own guns this week. Winter Park joined Thursday night, and A-Basin (@Arapahoe_Basin), Keystone (@KeystoneMtn) and Loveland (@LovelandSkiArea) are still at it.
Arizona: Snowbowl (@AZSnowbowl), targeting November 20.
New Mexico: Taos (@TaosSkiValley) started Thursday morning.
Nevada: Mt. Rose (@MtRoseSkiTahoe) beat everybody. Its guns have been going since Sunday, October 11, and it’s aiming for November 6.
Vermont: Killington planned to fire up its guns this weekend, making piles on Superstar and a few other trails. No opening next week, though.
Not yet
Utah: Still no snowmaking reported in the Cottonwoods. Ski Utah's dates haven't moved: Brian Head November 6; Alta, Park City and Solitude November 20; Snowbasin and Snowbird November 27; Deer Valley December 5; Powder Mountain December 11.
Colorado gets a dry weekend too, with a 40% chance of snow showers near Loveland Pass on Monday afternoon. And a video from Loveland on October 14 caught thundersnow at about 11,000 feet, which is the most exciting weather sound there is.
Back East, Stowe gets rain and snow showers this morning, under a tenth of an inch of rain with a high near 38, then sun and 51 on Sunday. Lincoln, New Hampshire could see a slight chance of snow showers today with northwest gusts to 40. It's flakes. In October.
Racing and Events
The men's 2026–27 World Cup calendar is out: 43 races, five more than last season, at 21 venues, with World Championships in Crans-Montana February 1–14 and finals at Sun Valley in March. World Cup finals. In Idaho.
The Snow League (@thesnowleague) comes to Park City Mountain January 22–23, with Eileen Gu, Yuto Totsuka and Gaon Choi headlining and Park City's Zoe Atkin on the roster. Tickets are on sale, and kids under 12 get in free. X Games Aspen 2027 single-day Gold Lounge tickets are on sale too.
Gear and the Ride Home
Cody Townsend and Nikolai Schirmer both broke PurePeak's ultralight carbon shovel in normal use on an Alaska trip, with the blade cracking near the metal edge, and the founder is fighting back. Powder has the whole thing. Whatever you think of it, check your shovel before the season. AIARE also launched a one-day avalanche refresher course, which is a good excuse to brush up.
Powder posted its best freeride skis and best ski bags of 2027, and SKI has its eight best helmets. If you work in a ski shop, Elan's Support Your Local Ski Shop program is back for a third year, with a June 2027 trip to the factory in Slovenia for the boot fitters, techs and rental staff it picks.
For the ride home: Blister Podcast Episode 415, with Marcus Goguen on skiing and testing skis in Chile and getting ready for the season.
The Beacon and Probe lands in your inbox before first chair. Free, honest, no hype.
Check your beacon, point 'em downhill, and drop in.
Photo credits
Hidden Peak tram: VeggieGarden / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Killington Snowshed: EgorovaSvetlana / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Copper Bowl: DebateLord / Wikimedia Commons, public domain
Shovel and probe: Clayoquot / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0
Hero: Brent Gardner
Sources: NWS Salt Lake City, National Weather Service, OpenSnow, @WasatchSnow, @NWSSaltLakeCity, Utah Avalanche Center, Ski Utah, Powder, Unofficial Networks, SnowBrains, TGR, SAM (via SnowBrains), Blister, SAM Magazine, Summit Daily, Killington mountain report, WCAX.
