If Natural Selection is the most unpredictable, creative, and downright rowdy event in snowboarding, this year’s Revelstoke stop just proved that’s an understatement. Spencer O’Brien (CAN) and Ståle Sandbech (NOR) walked away with the 2025 YETI Natural Selection Revelstoke titles, but not before Mother Nature cracked open a weather window just long enough to let riders turn a massive, cliff-laden face into their personal playground. No perfect lines. No pre-scripted runs. Just raw instinct, big drops, and even bigger sends.
NEW FACES, SAME CHAOS
A fresh crew of riders has injected new life into Natural Selection, pushing progression in ways no one saw coming. While the veterans brought their signature heat, the rookies flipped the script, proving that this event belongs to no one. Sandbech, usually seen throwing down in slopestyle, took his talents straight into the backcountry cauldron, adapting his comp instincts to a course that couldn’t care less about perfect landings or predictable trick sets. His Cab 540 Melon and massive backside 360 over a cliff face locked in his first NST win—and a serious mic drop for the Norwegian shredder.
His final battle with 2022 Freeride World Tour champ Blake Moller (USA) was a true freestyle-meets-freeride showdown. Moller, known for taking sketchy lines and making them look too easy, threw a huge corked backside 720 to close the event but just couldn’t stick it. The NST rookie podium was sealed. “You don’t get to practice here. You visualize, you trust your instincts, and you send it,” Sandbech said post-win.
SHOWMEN STEPPING UP
On the women’s side, O’Brien came in as a Wildcard, walked away as a champion, and left a cliff drop that will be replayed for years. With a textbook Cab 540 up top, she set the pace early, navigating Revelstoke’s stacked terrain with the kind of confidence that separates legends from the rest. Her biggest competition? 2022 NST champ Elena Hight, who threw a massive frontside 720 and a high-stakes cliff drop in an attempt to steal the title. In the end, O’Brien’s line had the edge. “I’ve never seen a more insane display of snowboarding than yesterday,” she said after the event. “This is the stage where people push it.”
2025 NATURAL SELECTION TOUR PODIUM
Men:
Ståle Sandbech (NOR)
Blake Moller (USA)
Gigi Rüf (AUT)
Women:
Spencer O’Brien (CAN)
Elena Hight (USA)
Šárka Pančochová (CZE)
Natural Selection isn’t just a comp. It’s the snowboard event—no rules, no formulas, just pure progression. And this year? It hit even harder.
