After a solid few days of powder, powder and more powder at Jackson Hole the sun is set to pop it’s head out on Tuesday (Mountain Time).
Just as our minds started to drift away from the insanity that is Natural Selection and back to normality, they announce finals days and we’re instantly drawn back in the vortex. The vortex that glues you to a screen, instigating the feeling we all love so much … the dire need to go snowboarding.
They’ve had over 120cm of fresh fall since day one ran. The course is completely reset, and is absolute perfection. We’ve been asking the past few days…Doe’s Travis Rice control the weather? He probably has been studying maps and forecasts for years and pick this week. Don’t question Trav.
First things first. For the Aussies, we’re 17 hours ahead of the folk in Jackson. So the finals day kicks off 9:30am Tuesday Feb 9, so you will need to tune in live at 3:30am on Red Bull TV. Click here to bookmark that shit.
Now for the heavy finals match ups! 12 riders made it through and they are set to put it all on the line to take out the first Natural Selection event.
The men’s head to head heats are kicking things off and they’re mind melting. We’ll be up at 3:30am as this is snowboarding history happening before our virgin eyes. First up is Austen Sweetin vs Blake Paul. This is a must not miss. Austen is the master shred lord that had us repeating his runs on day 1 – effortless and incredible snowboarding, untouchable in our eyes. Blake Paul is the prince of Jackson Hole, local knowledge and a bag of freeride maneuvers that could see him standing on that podium.
Next up are two fellow freeride kings. Ben Ferguson vs Sage Kotsenburg. Hard call, both will blitz the shit out of every feature they steer their boards towards. Again, a must not miss. Two of the best to ever, ever do it. At it. Heated battle. Game on.
Ummm…could this pairing get any more mental. Mark McMorris vs Travis Rice. These two guys are super human, breaking boundaries in both their fields and owning it. Leading the charge with grace, style and whole lotta shred. McMorris is looking to prove that he’s the best all-round snowboard to grace this snowy earth. Travis, well…this is is bread and butter – no one fucks with Trav.
Another one for the history books. Pat Moore vs Mikkel Bang. Both these dudes put down two of our favourite runs from day 1 and they both come from a similar snowboarding background. This will be an incredible one to watch. Two of the best to do it in the backcountry, now have an amphitheater to show who’s boss. We got out money on Mikkel for this one.
There’s four females competing on finals day for a chance to take out Queen of Natural Selection stop one. First up is Hana Beaman vs Zoi Sadowski-Synott. Both of these girls had the best runs from day one, so this is one to watch. Hana’s background is dominating it in the backcountry where Zoi comes from a competitive slopestyle and big air background. But, she proved on day one that she’s a force to be reckoned with. Our money is on the Kiwi for this one.
Final heat is a banger. Elena Height vs Marion Haerty. Watch the Olympic and X Games legend turned backcountry queen battle it out against the three-time Freeride World Tour Champ. It’s gonna get competitive…
Stay tuned for more updates. We’ll be covering the event live and providing on the ground behind close door insights into the lead up and during finals day. The anticipation begins…
