Game on. Stop number one of the Natural Selection tour is here. Snowboard and freeride mecca, Jackson Hole is playing host to the best male and female riders from around the globe for the next week. Cancel any tentative plans and witness snowboarding like never before.
The event is being dubbed “the highest echelon of competitive snowboarding”. We think it will be this and so much more. Who’s shown rolled into Jackson to throw down this week? Best of the best…
Elias Elhardt, Ben Ferguson, Sage Kotsenburg, Nils Mindnich, Mark McMorris, Chris Rasman, Travis Rice, Gigi Rüf, Werni Stock, Victor De La Rue, Blake Paul, Mikkel Bang, Pat Moore, Bode Merrill, Eric Jackson and John Jackson for the guys and Jamie Anderson, Robin Van Gyn, Elena Hight, Hana Beaman, Marion Haerty, Anna Gasser, Mary Rand and Zoi Sadowski-Synott for the girls.
How’s it going down? There’s a 7 day event weather window. Word flying around it is most likely is going to kick off Thursday 4 Feb. It’s a head to head battle format.
“To really see riders going head-to-head in a live scenario… well, you don’t get three tries at a trick off a natural feature. So I think one of the most exciting aspects of this event is seeing some of the best backcountry riders in the world going against each other, stomp-for-stomp.” – Travis Rice
How to watch? Unlike X Games which was like trying to solve the matrix…Natural Selection and Red Bull have gone above and beyond to make life so easy for us snowboarders. Click of a button and your on. Click here to tune in and watch. On the go? Click here to download the app to stream live.
Stay tuned here on transfermag.com for all details surrounding live timings, event updates, results and more.
We couldn’t get over to Natural selection, but we found the perfect man on the ground to cover the action, vibe and scene beyond the actual event – The Surf Journalist, WSL & Stab agitator and Moncler wearing Chas Smith. Chas is the co-founder of popular surf satire platform beachgrit.com as well as it’s snow stoked counterpart lodgegrit.com.
He will be dropping daily on the ground updates covering everything that is Natural Selection. Deep questions, for the deepest event.
“When someone wins a Natural Selection event, I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to call that person the best rider in the world. Because to ride these venues well, it draws on a lifetime of experience. You can draw on it from street, riding transitions in the pipe or doing tricks on a slopestyle course. You can also draw on it from riding backcountry, whether it’s how to ride variable snow or how to pick a line, visualise it and then execute.” – Travis Rice.