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Legendary Banzai Ski Race Returns to Palisades Tahoe Next Winter

Originally posted on Powder | By Ian Greenwood | Last updated Sep 12, 2025 3:51 PM ET

Daron Rahlves’ legendary, no-holds-barred ski and snowboard race, the Banzai Tour, is coming back to Palisades Tahoe, California, next winter.

Rahlves, an alpine racer, Olympian, skicross athlete, and all-around American ski icon, last held the event at Palisades Tahoe a decade ago. Previous Banzai Tour competitions took place throughout the Lake Tahoe area and saw four racers at once blasting down a winding, undulating course.

Scheduled between April 10 and April 12, 2026, the upcoming Banzai Tour race will see competitors battling for the fastest time near the KT-22 chairlift in a unique combination of freeride and skicross. Red Bull is sponsoring the event.

“Palisades Tahoe is proud to once again host this iconic competition where passion, grit, and gravity collide,” the ski resort said.

When April arrives and the Banzai kicks off, epic spills, epic saves, and epic finishes are virtually guaranteed.

To give you a better idea of what all that means, here’s a look at the 2014 Banzai Tour stop at Sugar Bowl, another ski resort near Lake Tahoe.

Sugar Bowl’s history inspired the Banzai Tour. From 1940 to 1975, the ski resort held an off-piste giant slalom race called the Silver Belt Classic.

In it, skiers would compete on ungroomed and unmanicured slopes. Unlike preened World Cup venues, the course included gullies, chutes, rocks, and trees.

Whoever got to the bottom fastest won. Rahlves took that idea and modernized it, adding skicross elements for the reintroduction in 2009.

Now, the Banzai Tour and the Silver Belt's legacy are set for another comeback.

(The Silver Belt has also recently been reimagined as a separate event that combines freeride and slopestyle.)

The Banzai Tour won’t be the only competition Palisades Tahoe holds this winter.

For the second year in a row, the ski resort is hosting the Toyota U.S. Freestyle Championships between March 27 and March 29, 2026. The Town Race League, aimed at locals looking to have some fun, will go down every Wednesday night from March 4 through April 8, 2026.

Ski movie showings, the music festival Tahoe Live, and a ski camp led by professional skier Amie Engerbretson are also on the 2025-26 schedule at Palisades Tahoe.

This article first appeared on Powder and was syndicated with permission.

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