Announced today, The Natural Selection Tour – where 24 of the world’s top snowboarders from throughout the sport compete in dynamic, natural venues, returns with three stages and two live events in 2023.
The Tour ups the ante in its third years with head-to-head live competition in all-new Canadian and Alaskan venues and with a brand new first stage format, DUELS. Natural Selection DUELS are designed to bring out riders’ creativity and highlight new zones and snowboarding’s diverse styles.
“The Tour’s mission is to inspire people to forge a deeper relationship with the outdoors. The Tour continues to evolve in ways that put snowboarding and the natural wonder of being in the mountains front and center,” said Travis Rice, the 2022 Natural Selection Tour men’s overall champion. “We are grateful to the riders, venues and partners that are coming together to ensure that snowboarding has a platform for progression fitting to the incredible talent and boundaries being stretched. Help us to envision prime conditions and this winter. The Tour is going to another level, great to have you with us!”
The 2023 Natural Selection Tour pre-qualified riders include eight of the men and three of the women who competed at the TAE Natural Selection Baldface in 2022: Mikkel Bang, Dustin Craven, Jared Elston, Ben Ferguson, Marion Haerty, Elena Hight, Torstein Horgmo, Mark McMorris, Blake Paul, Zoi Sadowski-Synnott and Travis Rice. Hana Beaman, winner of the 2022 YETI Natural Selection Alaska, is out for injury. Thirteen invited riders hand-picked by the Natural Selection Nomination Committee will be announced starting in late November.
The action kicks off in rider-selected freeriding venues worldwide for Natural Selection DUELS that will showcase varied terrain, as the dozen riders who have pre-qualified from the 2022 season including Olympians, big mountain icons and rising stars go head-to-head with 12 challenging riders from across the global snowboarding spectrum. The full edited and scored runs from each DUEL will be broadcast globally with select media partners starting in February 2023.
The eight men and four women to come out on top of Natural Selection DUELS will converge for the YETI Natural Selection Revelstoke based out of Revelstoke Mountain Resort. Live-streamed globally within the contest window, March 4 through 11, Mother Nature picks the day when riders will compete in brackets ending in a crowning of a winner in a dynamic venue within the Selkirk Tangiers Heli Skiing tenure. Known for diverse, big mountain terrain, Revelstoke is a natural fit for the event with high quality, light snow and consistent, reliable snowfall.
All 12 riders, who compete at the YETI Natural Selection Revelstoke will move on to Natural Selection Alaska in an all-new Natural Selection Tour super final venue outside of Valdez. During the window from March 25 through April 1, riders go head-to-head on the iconic steeps and spines of Alaska’s Chugach Mountain Range. Look for riders from every aspect of snowboarding to put together film part worthy runs in one take in an effort to make the final and claim the crown in Alaska.
