The North Face announced today (May 12, 2026) an eight-year partnership as the Official Performance Apparel Partner of U.S. Ski & Snowboard locking up Olympic uniforms through the 2034 Winter Games in Salt Lake City.
Under this new partnership, The North Face will provide competition outerwear for national team athletes, coaches, and staff across all 11 U.S. Ski & Snowboard disciplines, including the Stifel U.S. Ski Teams: alpine, cross country, freeski, freestyle moguls, freestyle aerials, nordic combined, Para alpine, Para nordic and ski jumping; the Toyota U.S. Para Snowboard Team and the Hydro Flask U.S. Snowboard Team. Athletes will wear The North Face gear during World Cup events, World Championships, national events, official training camps, and the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games through April 2034.
Sounds like a pretty good deal, no Kappa. Follow the jump for the official word from US Ski and Snowboard.
A Kelly Slater affiliated Austin, Texas wave pool development appears to have hit a snag recently as seven contractors have filed $4.6 million in liens against the project, according to a story in The Austin American Statesman.
Publicly available filings indicate seven companies claim they were not paid for work completed in late 2025 and early 2026. . . That work includes water treatment, plumbing and control systems, HVAC systems, aquatic filtration materials and equipment, engineering, concrete, sand and rock, among other items. . . The claims come as the project’s ownership group, Austin Surf Club Venture LP, confirmed to the American-Statesman that construction work is pausing for now.
The project is a redevelopment of a previous wave pool failure, NLand Surf Park which closed in 2016 due to reported regulatory issues. The new development was said to feature muli-million dollar homes around the wave and has reportedly attracted purchases from Tony Hawk, Drew Brees, and Matthew McConaughey.
Is living by the actual ocean so hard? We never will understand much of the whole wave pool business model, but stay tuned as we continue to stumble along.
If you were planning on a peaceful morning session at Cardiff Reef, California this week, you just might be sharing the lineup with a 15-foot Great White, according to a story on NBC San Diego.
Monday morning delivered a lovely surprise to the Encinitas coast: a 40-foot fin whale carcass floating just 400 yards off San Elijo State Beach. Naturally, because nothing says “beach day” like a bloated, decomposing mammal, local lifeguards were tasked with the glamorous job of towing the “bus-sized” snack further out to sea.
The real star of the show wasn’t the whale—it was the massive Great White shark that decided to turn the towing operation into a slow-speed chase. Witnesses caught the shark casually following its floating charcuterie board as it was dragged away from the surf zone.
Encinitas officials have issued a shark advisory from Swami’s to Cardiff, essentially telling everyone that while the beach isn’t closed, you might want to consider that the water currently tastes like whale soup to every predator in the Pacific. So, by all means, paddle out. Just know that if you look like a side dish, that’s on you.
[Editors’ Note: This post was written by Google’s Gemini. We are doomed. Top photo by Craig Callender, Ph.D.]
After a ridiculous tariff policy that he didn’t even understand, Felon 47 gets to watch as $166 billion of that money goes right back to the importers it was stolen from in the first place thanks to a new online portal from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, according to a story on Gizmodo.
Now, CBP said in court filings that importers paid roughly $166 billion in tariffs under Trump’s unconstitutional policy. . . The agency says it will process refunds in phases, according to its website. The first round will focus on tariffs that have been paid but not yet finalized because they’re still under federal review, as well as some that are within 80 days of finalization. Later phases will handle older, fully finalized tariffs.
There are so many business owners who voted for the clown. Hopefully, after this they’ll at least think about it before making more bad decisions in the future.
Seems Nike SB is Creased, by Johnny Wilson. “Twelve skaters. Five cities. Two photographers and a filmer. The Nike SB Air Force 1. Re-engineered for skateboarding.” Enjoy.
OG snowboarding lensman Dano Pendygrasse and writer/editor Colin White joined a crew of snowboarding’s capture crew for a group discussion at the Whistler Museum on April 13, 2026 to talk shop, according to story in Pique Newsmagazine.
Snowboarding is cool. It’s radical, dynamic, and colourful. But we, the non-boarder population, only really know that because there are people there to capture it. . . That documentarian role was the focus of an April 13 panel Whistler Museum, where a multi-generational panel explored how snowboard culture in Whistler has been captured and shared.
It’s always nice to get together and talk story about the good ol’ days of shred. For more from all those involved, click the link.
It just couldn’t happen to a better company, but over 2,000 current and former ski and snowboard instructors have joined a “collective action Fair Labor Standards Act lawsuit” against Vail Resorts according to a story in Ski Area Management.
Quint et al. v. Vail Resorts, Inc., was first filed in 2020 by three Beaver Creek employees, two ski instructors and one lift ticket scanner, who allege Vail Resorts violated the Fair Labor Standards Act by not paying snowsports instructors for time spent traveling between work sites, putting on and taking off gear and equipment, and attending training, as well as not being reimbursed for costs of work-related equipment purchases and cell phone use.
Apparently, 24,000 employees were eligible to join the suit, but the deadline to join was April 15, 2026 so if you’re not in on it you’re out. Good luck to the employees. The days of ripping off seasonal workers need to end. Especially now that resort workers don’t really have many options when it comes to where they can work.
The OC’s favorite surf writer Layland Connelly has the scoop on the latest from the USA Surfing’s battle to administer surfing in the LA Olympics. Yes, USA Surfing is the official national governing body (or NGB as they say) for surfing now, according to the OC Register.
“Surfing is a sport that has deep roots in Southern California, and will no doubt be a highlight of the LA28 games,” Gene Sykes, USOPC chair, said Wednesday during the board meeting briefing. “The obligation of the NGB is significant, and the process by which we determine capabilities in the long and short term is one we take very seriously. USA Surfing’s new leadership and new approach has made this moment possible.”
It really shouldn’t be this difficult, but it’s the Olympics so it is. For all the details, click the link.
The North Face announced today (May 12, 2026) an eight-year partnership as the Official Performance Apparel Partner of U.S. Ski & Snowboard locking up Olympic uniforms through the 2034 Winter Games in Salt Lake City.
It just couldn’t happen to a better company, but over 2,000 current and former ski and snowboard instructors have joined a “collective action Fair Labor Standards Act lawsuit” against Vail Resorts according to a story in 
