ALPINE MEADOWS, Calif. — Under clear blue skies and with snow still clinging to the high alpine slopes, the Snow Surfaces Cup returned to Alpine on Tuesday, Apr.29, drawing snow professionals from across the Tahoe basin for a day of competition and camaraderie. 

What began years ago as a small-scale groomer’s race has grown into a full-blown industry gathering under the leadership of Brendan Gibbons, Director of Snow Surface at Palisades Tahoe. The event now includes grooming teams, snowmakers, and terrain park crews, all competing in a series of highly technical and entertaining events—from slalom skiing to hose-rolling and snowcat joystick mazes.

Now dubbed the Brian Gimbert Memorial Cup, the competition honors the memory of a Palisades groomer and snowmaker who was killed on the job in 2023. “He’d been grooming since he was 16 years old at Homewood… a great representative of the industry,” Gibbons said. “I felt it was appropriate that we go ahead and name the Cup after him.”

This year’s main event—the giant slalom race—was once again dominated by Kirkwood, who took home first place for the third year running. Northstar finished second, with a team from PistenBully, one of the industry’s top grooming equipment manufacturers, taking third.

The Maze Competition, a crowd favorite that requires snowcat operators to guide a golf ball through a tabletop maze using their machine’s blade-mounted joystick, saw Kyle Ellis of Palisades Tahoe take top honors. Ollie Russell of Northstar and David Spurlock of Heavenly rounded out the podium.

The event’s other challenges included a hose-throwing contest—testing the precision of snowmakers—and a range of awards recognizing everyone from the fastest skiers and snowboarders to the slowest team on the hill. Gibbons noted that the competition is as much about community as it is about victory. “Everybody takes great pride in putting out the best product possible, whether it’s the snowmakers or the groomers,” he said. “And the terrain park guys are every bit a part of it too.”

More than 100 participants turned out this year, with representation from across the region, including Diamond Peak, Heavenly, and Palisades Tahoe. Teams from Idaho and Oregon have participated in recent years, and Gibbons said the event is open to anyone in the industry—”even from Europe, if they want to come.”

The Snow Surfaces Cup has benefited from strong support, not only from mountain operations departments across the region but also from top industry sponsors like TechnoAlpin, SMI, HKD, and Pro Snow Line. The competition’s continued growth has Gibbons and his team thinking even bigger.

“I’m hoping that this just keeps getting bigger and bigger,” he said. With talk of expanding into a full-fledged Snow Surface Festival, the once-humble groomer’s race is on track to become a cornerstone event for the mountain operations world.