Since its inception in 2021, Travis Rice’s Natural Selection Tour has grown into the most interesting event series in snowboarding. A combination of raw backcountry venues, livestream coverage and legendary athletes have made Natural Selection a uniquely captivating experience for fans and riders alike.
For years, skiers have been heard to lament: “Why can’t we have something like Natural Selection for skiing?” Now the day has finally come: Natural Selection Ski will make its debut in 2025!
The Natural Selection Tour
The Natural Selection ball first started rolling in 2008 as the anti-contest brainchild of Travis Rice. The concept was simple: Gather some of the best riders from around the world and simply go snowboarding in Jackson’s finest powder.
In 2012 and 2013 the concept evolved and in true T-Rice style, it changed the face of snowboarding. At the legendary Baldface Lodge in British Columbia, Travis created a man-made backcountry freestyle utopia. Before the snow fell, huge wooden features were built into a steep face, awaiting winter storms to stack them with snow and create perfect take-offs and pillows for the world’s best to progress the sport. These two events, Supernatural and Ultra Natural, did nothing short of redefining competitive snowboarding.
The Natural Selection Tour, which launched in 2021, took this concept even further. Travis selects the world’s best snowboarders to compete over three iconic tour stops, ambitiously crowning the winners as the “best freestyle backcountry snowboarders on the planet.”
Not only is the riding groundbreaking, but the way it is broadcast is revolutionary. High-speed drones chase riders down the courses, giving a video-game-style perspective, drawing the viewer into the action, all while being livestreamed from remote backcountry locations.
The competition format is also pioneering: a head-to-head battle pitting riders directly against one another. Viewers can follow riders going trick-for-trick, with the most impressive run taking the heat and advancing to the next duel.
Judges reward creativity and progression over putting together a totally clean run. Inconsequential falls are not punished like they would be in other forms of competition, promoting the riders to push the limits of progression without fear of failure.
This whole ethos creates a contest that feels far from a regular competition: riders who are directly competing with each other end up cheering on the success of their counterparts in the name of advancing the culture. The whole event feels more like a live look into the behind the scenes of a backcountry film.
Natural Selection Ski: What we know
First off, skiing isn’t the only new ground Natural Selection is breaking. The event series is also moving into mountain biking and surfing.
Details are still forthcoming on the structure of the events. But at this point, it looks like each sport may get one Natural Selection event per season, with Alaska hosting the first ski event.
One thing’s for sure: the head-to-head format that’s at the bedrock of the snowboarding event will be carried over to skiing and the other sports. It looks like the event is debuting with a women’s contest as well, with freeride legend Michelle Parker involved.
“Skiing in these incredible landscapes and finding new ways to approach the mountains is what it’s all about for me,” writes Michell. “This Tour’s blend of showcasing the natural beauty and challenge of skiing, but on a competition platform will be completely fresh. Looking forward to seeing what everyone brings to Alaska.”
Just as it has done for the female snowboarders, the inclusion of women in the event creates a promising opportunity for athletes on the filming side to exhibit their skills to a wide audience in a contest format.
What we’re hoping for
What Natural Selection has done so well is to bring snowboarders from different backgrounds, at different stages of their careers, together to compete against each other.
Skiing is a diverse sport with many different facets and disciplines. However, the level that skiing has reached today requires the riders to become specialized. Contest riders rarely have time to film backcountry parts.
Hopefully the list of riders curated for Natural Selection Ski brings skiers from across the spectrum of skiing. If it’s anything like we’ve seen at previous Natural Selection snowboard stops, we can hope to see iconic film legends who haven’t donned a competition bib in decades competing against Olympic medalists. Anything is possible.
The fact that the news is being shared by Candide Thovex, Sammy Carlson, Markus Eder and Chris Benchetler already goes some way towards answering the question as to who will be invited. This is a question that’s already been discussed by skiing fans around the world while dreaming that this day might come, and already, this short list is mouth-watering.
Whatever the insanely-driven Travis Rice puts his mind to typically results in something remarkable. With countless era-redefining films and groundbreaking contests under his belt, it is fair to say that no one has changed snowboarding more since the late Jake Burton. We will have to wait until mid-April to see if he can do the same for skiing.