The final round of this year’s Natural Selection Tour saw 12 of the best snowboarders in the world head deep into British Columbia’s Revelstoke mountain range’s Selkirk Tangiers – more than half a million acres of backcountry terrain best accessed by heli.
Unlike Montana Bowl’s backcountry and the naturally enhanced terrain used for qualifying in Revelstoke, the final’s Mosquito Bowl location was completely raw: an expansive and open field that paired huge natural features up top with technical, tree-dense drops towards the bottom of the course. Riders were treated to a bluebird day and fresh powder on the course.
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with the sun’s daily climb towards ape spring opens the door to the back country and it calls to us for one final send in our wake the selector venue in Montana bull at Revelstoke Mountain Resort where 24 Riders went head-to-head for a chance at finals day we witnessed shocking upsets and Timeless highlights for those that sees the day the dream venue awaits mosquito bow an imposing Massif with nearly infinite ways a rider can paint it an Alpine Big Mountain start Zone that gives way to a series of benches all draped in a perfect gradient of Rebel Stoke powder amongst the half million Acres of the Selkirk Tangier heli tenure the variables of terrain snow and weather have found coherence on this day of [Music] days in the end Prestige and respect await those on top of the podium as well as one of the biggest prizes in snowboard history however the magic of this event lives in the Riders their dedication to the craft and culture they would spend their entire winter here just for this opportunity y even if none of us were here welcome to the final day of the 2024 Yeti natural selection tour [Music] this is the beauty of snowboarding absolutely massive the stage is set one of the most breathtaking competitions he stops IT history is being made here and he is not slowing down rice lacing a giant double wi welcome to the yeti natural selection finals 2024 where a blank canvas awaits 12 of the world’s best Riders here at the Selkirk Towners heli tenure in British Colombia joining me in the booth are the sideways Savon Todd Richards and our Mary Mother of snowboarding Mary Walsh a pleasure to have you both here Todd a lot of pressure on these riders today yeah I think you know today being a finals day this is the best of the best and we are looking at some incredible terrain here and there’s going to be some big airtime out there today Mary I think one of the biggest challenges for the Riders is the fact that they this is the first time they’ve had boats on the mountain yes usually the Riders get significantly more study time and they get on sighting a both to look at the venue from the bottom perhaps some Billy Goat Trails this is an entirely new venue that they’re all getting like you said boots on the ground right now I think that’s going to be a big factor in today’s competition and scale is always an issue Todd yeah you know when these Riders are looking down all they see is basically features with little Shadows surrounding them and they don’t know whether whether it’s a 40ft launch or 140 ft so that’s for our pleasure okay it’s time now to go up to the top of the hill where our correspondent Stan levier is waiting with the Oakley weather check beautiful sunny day in the cirks definitely a day for the dark lenses -6.6 de C and I talked to patrol beforehand they dug a couple pits we do see that March 8th layer down a little bit he says it shows up in different ways as the aspect changes but everything is looking good all the Riders just made it up here more excitement than I expected honestly I expected a little more nerves but I think when you get out you see this beautiful picturesque view you’re ready to get into finals it’s going to be a hell of a day t- bird how are things looking down there we’re down here in the Finish Corral the Riders are just starting to arrive they took their warm-up laps and we are about to start day two of the Yeti natural selection out here in the cell Kirk Tangers heli skiing range 500,000 Acres of absolutely ridiculous terrain out at this tenure I don’t know if a lot of you have seen The Art of Flight but a large portion of that film was shot in this area so we’re about to kick things off Eight Men Four Women a champion will be crowned here today let’s go thank you very much Tom thank you Stan boys looking resplendant in that arcx gear now it’s time to cast our mind back and take a quick recap of day one of qualifying which took place in Revel Stoke yesterday it was an intense day of competition 24 of the world’s best going head-to-head and it means that there’s no light matchups Todd no it was it was Heavy punch outs from the beginning and the venue itself there was no shortage of features to get busy on and we just saw I mean there was everything there was kickers there were steep sections blind rollovers and then also we had that whole wow factor of yeah this whole thing could slide at any second I mean it was like you said very intense and I think too we see in this year the culmination of the evolution of the last few years of contest with those strategies that the Riders are employing and how they’re going up against one another in these brackets I mean we really saw everyone put their feet on the gas pedals collectively and a lot of different styles as you can see from these highlights you’ve got back sevens from Red Gerard you’ve got Kevin Backstrom trying to put those Butters in there double backies but then it’s twinned with these big pillow Stacks at the bottom of the venue that’s kind of how it goes like you want to wow you need to combine everything you can’t go out there and treat this like a slope style you’ve got to use the whole terrain yeah I mean I think this venue typifies the kind of Relentless perspective that you need to keep going and succeed in a national selection contest with the highest score on the women’s side Haley langland is taking home a brand new Summit 850 Turbo congratulations highest scoring qualifi for the women Haley on the men’s side it was sage kenberg and that had a lot to do with it absolutely Sage went wild our men’s highest qualifier of the day Sage kenberg is taking one of these home [Music] no question there were some big Scouts taken in the men’s and women’s on the men’s side Blake Paul Mark McMorris ml bang Dustin Craven all out on the women’s side all three previous Champions Robin van Jin Elena height and Zoe Sadowski Sino did not progress through but there was some incredible moments that saw them pushed to their limit these were the boowa dialed in moment of the day this this one incredible from Hana be yeah and I think by virtue of Hana opening up that East venue I mean no one else really wanted to step to that by virtue of the Avalanche conditions you can see right there a little slide but Hana you know this is what natural selection is all about taking those risks and you get rewarded and of course on the men’s side Nils you know his triumphant return back to the head-to-head brackets and natural selection I think he really delivered um he opened up new train as well with Beggar’s Canyon and had that just gorgeous Switchback sment right there Nils was just you know riding switch wiggling around this whole scene here taking those big risks off cliffs but blending the technical and that that drone angle didn’t actually show just how incredible linking those noses was there well we have on the women’s side we called it a blank canvas here it is a clean slate on the women’s side there will be a brand new natural selection tour Champion for 24 taking home that rivan r1t at the end of the day this is the format that’s uh facing us though talk us to it okay we got eight Riders and three rounds we have the quarters the semis and the finals it’s head-to-head so someone leaves it is a Thunderdome matchup situation okay and on the women’s we’re one round more advanced Mary yes we’re kicking it off with semi-finals for the women and they will need to advance through that to make it to finals to Crown the overall T Champion okay fresh legs are what will be required on a venue of this size though it is gigantic 1,600 ft or just over 500 M of vertical couple of benches a couple of flat spots and this is how they will be judged lots to unpack here but you talked about it earlier on Mary it’s it’s about pushing from start to finish yes the judges definitely want to see the red line pinned you know this is really complicated we talked about it earlier everything is going to be on sighting none of the writers have written this but no one wants to see a layup the judges are going to be looking for that Progressive Technical and you know decisive riding okay this is how they line up you can see what went down in men’s qualifiers and that leads us into some mouthwatering matchups torstein hogo goes against Sage kotenberg Austin swen Mikey cicerelli two very different styles of riding there Jared ston and Nils mindick I think that one’s going to be close and then two powerhouses at the bottom of the draw to you know you look at this and it’s like what what video part do you want to watch right now and this is like the who’s who of having the sickest video parts of all time this is such a treat to get to see this go down in an actual competition form okay which of these matchups stand out to you Mary yeah Mary give us a name oh man this is hard they all do really but I think looking at that first match up T versus Sage is so compelling because they both have that very heavy slop outy background and are dominant in the back country you know I think this is where that experience in competition plus time in the mountains is going to come into play being able to onsite and actually scale these features so you get what you need okay this is the women’s side of the draw much more compact but no shortage of heavy hitting matchups Haley langler Maran hay totally different styles there to totally different styles you have one that’s really comfortable in the unknown and that’s Maran and Haley is the one that can read transition and features the best so it’s going to be a technicality the slope style prowess of Haley up against the you know just having the wherewithal in the back country of Mary and that’s going to be a really interesting matchup and it’s definitely no different with Jamie Anderson and Mary Ren oh completely Mary has been putting in time and effort in the back country for years she’s spent time in Alaska she’s used to having to ride things that she hasn’t been on before and Jamie of course one of the most accomplished competitors who brings this explosive ability to the back country she was in incredible form in qualifiers as well can’t wait to watch that one go down okay uh if you scan the QR code at the bottom of your screen there you can download the sendy app that’s where all of the natural selection merch is this year we’re going to take a quick break we’ll get the action underway when we come back [Music] [Applause] [Music] a different breed that’s how we describe our new sleds and that’s how we describe you who rides them you to whom what comes after the storm is definitely not the Cal you who knows that there’s a big difference between gray and Monument gray you who knows what this feels likey [Music] you ready it’s good [Music] how are you [Music] welcome back to the yeti natural selection tour finals here at the cerk Tangers heli tenure in British Columbia a brand new venue for you today and as we always say on natural selection Mother Nature is the main character and this bowl is quite spectacular we’re going to take a closer look at it now thanks to the onx back country Maps this is exactly the resource that the Riders used to site this venue because they didn’t have boots on snow you can scan the QR code and you can download the app now Mary this couldn’t be more different to yesterday’s venue oh completely whereas the first venue was a dog fight from future to Future mosquito bowl is absolutely expansive you can see those massive benches the space between these enormous hits and rolls of terrain is just completely different scenario yeah the peak up there at 7,500 ft or 2,300 M the finish at 5,800 ft or 1,800 M so a lot of vertical to play with and no shortage of features Mary completely and we got word from Travis race that it was 10 out of 10 conditions of the snow to ride this and that’s also a big thanks to the selker teners crew whose Avalanche mitigation has really set the venue up for today okay we can take a closer look now with the Pro course preview courtesy of the GoPro 12 look at this so you’ve got guidelines on the outside of the venue there but you kick off you come straight into these beautiful fluting spines I mean it’s really kind of dream terrain right I mean this is the kind of thing looking at how beautiful the day is like everyone’s got to be absolutely frothing up there to drop in and you know that this is actually part like cirk Tangers hel have this open to the public so if you go up there you can actually ride this you can go get some scale on the hits that people are going to be taking this one one of the big noses beautiful Landing off the back of that and now we start to hit the tree line so it starts to get way more technical down at the bottom here and you know from this view you can really see some of that snow activity and the Avy mitigation that has been performed in this area to make it ready for today as Stan mentioned that March 8th storm did come through obviously this whole Arena but a combination of uh natural activity that slued off some of the snow as well as the cell Kirk Tangers crew has really created the canvas in the best and most safe way possible for today okay it looks absolutely beautiful and we’ve got this incredible Clear Spot in between some rotary Cloud which is holding for now Perfect Light perfect snow and the world’s best Riders so let’s get stuck into the quarterfinals and what a set of matchups we have here torstein hogm Sage kotenberg Austin swen Mikey cicerelli Jared ston Nils Minnick and then those powerhouses down at the bottom I really like the look of Toria berrim Travis Rice oh yeah you know that toir berrim is coming into this a lot of momentum from his previous season’s filming and of course you know Travis has never won to back down from a good matchup yeah there is no way of laying up here every single one of these Heats is a final and both torstein hogo and Sage kotenberg will know that better than anyone torstein one of the more experienced Riders on tour nine Heats five wins he made one final against Travis in arguably some of the best riding we’ve ever seen at natural selection in Alaska in 2022 20123 didn’t go tour Stein’s Way Sage took a year off tour back for the first time now this one could I feel like this one could go either way Mary I completely agree both of these Riders they do have a similar pedigree obviously very unique styles for each one of them but they came up riding very heavy in the competition scene you know both very dominating slope Riders and then when they transition to Back Country they found fairly immediate success because they are both true ATVs with just a lot of strength in their boarding okay so torstein repping narona Oakley and capita part of the industry Alliance narona and cap o looking after our weather check he drops in after that customary meditation that we always see him do he’s so good at on sighting I think it’s a skill that a lot of people didn’t give him credit for in Alaska and he proved a lot of well surprised a lot of people oh I completely agree I think you know his type of writing really shines in this and his ability oh just a beautiful front 360 is landing that like he’s ridden this terrain before right there there’s not many times I think sex is appropriate to use in commentary but that was a sexy bit of snowboarding yeah oh butter to switch back wa that was so nice Okay this is a way to open up the venue wow just effortless graceful snowboarding from torstein hogo through the top section of this course across this bench here and that snow looks absolutely perfect just glistening in the sun oh it’s just Sparkles isn’t it unicorn Princess Snow okay look at this convex roller now that is a crazy intimidating thing to snowboard over and he doesn’t even like buff any speede yes just held on to that tow Edge heavy as he landed but turned it St right into a cve trying to keep some speed here as he heads over this next roller I mean I think that tors just riding a really great uh double drop there little double pillow line the confidence just to roll into that at that speed wow he’s making this look much easier than it actually is a really really be I think beautiful is the word like his economy of movement there really quiet style from top to bottom yeah I think that was very authoritative and he made things look very very smooth very melodic and for the first run on a face that none of these Riders have ever been on before he made that look effortless look at him he’s so Zen down at the bottom isn’t he totally meditated his way through a natural selection run that was pure magic there you have it right from the horse’s mouth we knew the snow was going to be good but torstein hogo a man who’s had way more than his fair share of powder turns calling it pure magic what a way to open up natural selection here in the cirk tanes heli Tenya it is now the turn of sage kotenberg to drop in let’s hear a little more from the man who won Jackson hle in 2022 yeah on K2 for four or five seasons now and they’ve been really supportive of everything uh the board that I’m going to be riding most likely going to be the antidote looking at the course yesterday we made it actually for the 2022 tour of national selection the Jackson Hole bald face in Alaska year and we just looked at the terrain and broke it down and what board could really hammer out all of those events and that’s what we came up with it was a really fun process and something special to me and and yeah I really enjoy riding it’s one of my favorite boards ever now having K2 natural selection ponying up together is rap because I I like doing the events and obviously R&D a lot with K2 so big things to come for sure yeah if you want to go and do cab nines of booters and land 40ft cliffs in the back country and get yourself anti do uh Sage kenberg coming in hot after the highest score in qualifying and that okay that’s uh no wasting no time oh look at that nice method pulls it out LS a little bit on his tail and just rides right through that was a beauty so out into the flats now got to get this measured looking for another maybe angle off the side there crossing across by torstein he just has his foot on the gas right now wa it’s you’ve got to make sure that you don’t get bogged down here this is powder snow and really flat terrain wow that really just gives you an idea of the expanse of mosquito Bowl that’s incredible popping a front side three off that keeping his speed into this next hle just popping over taking a little look back at his spray there as well enjoying that one and here we get into this big blind roller area heading down a new track which of course that’s something that the judges definitely reward oh and it looks like he’s heading right to no hesitation Oh okay little ski cut there getting a good chunk of snow breaking loose above that pillow stack this angle really shows the size of that so wow okay oh little butt check comes out just swung around to switch so you breaking up a bit of the flow of the line there so you compare it you’ve got this really really clearly marked Traverse track as well making sure the Riders don’t blow past the finish so scan the QR code at the bottom if you want to get involved in that K2 giveaway win a full setup so this is a really interesting one is that snow oh my gosh so good so this is a I mean obviously solid match up exactly what we were expecting Torin came in hot and he wrot a very considered smooth line I mean beautiful front side three off that spine right there but then you know Sage’s run at the end he was taking a massive chance on that Cliff I think you see it from that angle that butter to switch back one that is really big he’s covering a lot of ground off that and I think yeah that is just massive and beautiful and the landing he touches down so perfectly so this first method from Sage it’s beautiful but he just back seat he doesn’t quite make the landing transition he’s looking for totally not as clean but also the speed that he’s going the fact that he’s actually had a back seat and he’s still doing about 40 mph he comes through this bottom section really nicely but it’s getting hung up on this section I think is where the score is going to come unstuck did world to stay up there yes when that broke off I mean that view right there is so gnarly like that is a massive Cliff right there could have got dragged off quite easily but just on his heels as he comes out reverts so we expect this score to go the way of toin that is okay coming in now 77 for torstein hogo 57 for sage kenberg exactly as we thought and I I think Let’s ignore sages for now I think toin being rewarded for attacking those bowling balls those blind rolls there was Zero hesitation yes exactly and those are such incredibly intimidating features when you’re on the mountain and I think the ease with which he navigated them is really shows a finesse that doesn’t even necessarily come through quite enough okay I think we’re going to get lessons in that all day though Mary uh next quarterfinal between the men is Austin sweeten versus Mikey cicerelli a classic content versus contest battle although the last two years with Arc and the sun came out for Mikey cicerelli have proved that he has got the credentials in the film world to mix it with anyone but Austin swen going to drop first and we’re going to watch highlights from his run see how he got on in his first taste of the mosquito bow Austin Austin Sweden of course a rider who we know to just send it from the beginning and we see that here with this incredibly consequential start just marking down the face but oh looks like he kind of wheelied out a little bit out of control at that end all four line up top there just couldn’t keep it under control and from there on in he’s unfortunately at a disadvantage hey buddy how’s insane rollers go out okay so not the score that Austin s will be looking for from that first run but we go back up to the top now with Mikey cicerelli The Whistler local who the mentors that he’s had access to making that transition from slop sty contest riding into the back country is just immense well he just nestled in this sweet spot of you know Canadian royalty in the back country and so many teammates of his um on the Burton crew obviously you mentioned being in Arc I mean he’s really has a pedigree that has been groomed in those mountains he’s in that very small Club of riders who can lay down 1260s off back country booters and he makes his way out onto this big fin at the top of the course and we see him navigating uh the same line that torstein went to earlier you know using that Intel a little bit for a big backside wait just held on to that his toe tail was doing all of the work there wow okay and now losing a little bit of speed as he comes through probably just you know figuring out where he’s heading off to that looked bigger than it was from the this angle I think he thought he could get a bit higher up on that hip as well so he’s got a nice blind roll coming up just looks for a little skip off that and this again where the Riders kind of have to keep speed you know making sure that they way finding is going exactly where they plan and you can see Mikey really utilizing the Intel via tracks from previous runs skipping over that little roll and see he’s waiting to laid out big front three to marry with that back three at the top and then heading over to this convex section little bit of a pause the top and then dropping the cliff band rides away very clean beautiful little heel jam on that double just to slow himself down and make sure he found transition and made it to the goat path yeah picking up that Traverse down into the Finish area strong opening run from Mikey cerelli how F was that insane oh I went so far off the top I just went way too fast how was your run that front three at the bottom looks so good dude this snows insane dude it’s so good it’s going to get sick like with the Trap like cuz the flats will like will get hits and so Mikey cerelli out in the first round in both Rebel Stoke and Alaska in in 2023 finds his feet he’s into the finals here big backside three tail grab way bigger than Torin and it it actually looked a bit Messier on that replay yeah little uh I reverted a little bit on that touch held it together but uh probably not as clean as he would have liked it of course you know I think it’s worth noting too that you know he’s really utilizing kind of the mapping of those tracks that have come before him you can see how much there might have been a little release there from tors line as well he’s got a great High Line there I still think it wasn’t quite the line he was looking for off that second feature yeah he mentioned down at the bottom that there was a little bit of root finding there that he wasn’t expecting and then that Cliff drop at the end wasn’t the hugest Cliff drop but I mean still navigating that in addition to the tricks that he put down that’s a very solid run dude unreal man all right we’re ready for scores at Finish okay scores coming in score for Austin 72 for Mikey cerelli 66 for Austin Sweden so work for Austin to do in run two but there’s one thing you know with Austin SW is more than capable of delivering in this type of terrain with this kind of snow Mikey cicerelli far from safe with that score okay back up to the top again for the third of our matchups and this one to very similar Riders Nils Minnick up against Jared Elston and I love I’ve loved watching Jared ston mature into a bib Mary because I feel like he’s really got the bit between his teeth and he’s one of the competitors that you don’t want to face I totally agree he’s very much a dark horse and he has such a strong game face and just like he likes to psych people out okay repp in dragon and Nitro on the industry Alliance and of course he’s one of AR main men highlights from his run I’m going to call that a crippler because it was out of transition yes no I think that’s accurate I think you know Jared often or always really taking very consequential and risk-taking lines doing nice oh coming wheelie pulling the back three together right there that was nice but coming straight into that wall that we saw Sage kotenberg hit on his first run so Jared Elston big slaming there for him just struggling to put that top section down he wasn’t happy with that was he okay back up at the top Neils Minnick he had that b dialed in award for taking on Beggar’s Canyon 360 on the east side of the venue in quales and then that perfect switch back seven we saw him take on Chad’s Gap with a switch back seven didn’t quite make it last year but he’s won one of those Riders who could really employ switch riding to impress the judges here at the moment though taking on this fin that’s already had a bit of work put through it yeah taking that that known line but a new takeoff and a beautiful back one right there that was just picture perfect he looked like he was picking up some cheese and biscuits the way he grabbed the tail didn’t he it was so precise and cheese and then great switch backside three and he continues down the line switch right now now I mean such a powerful Rider on his non-dominant I mean how much powder have you got a ride to be prepared to waste it learning to ride switch like this he’s actually on that Salamon assassin Pro 159 which is a directional twin it’s got a little more lift on the front switch back one to comeb back round to goofy nice little method right there that was Picture Perfect the judges are going to be twisting their mustaches to this one aren’t they Absol connoisseurs of Back Country technical Freestyle right now and again you see him taking that similar line as others have taken before but now diverging to that Rider’s right side of this Cliff band this is starting to get heavy big finish from Nils mck stay on your feet just manages it off his heels navigating down through the trees at the bottom look at this he’s this is that was Adventure boarding there’s no no way he knew where he was going down there not that blind fantastic run from Nils mindick little bit of everything in their Mary uh yeah completely I think the switch riding we saw at the top was really beautiful his Landings were really clean and little Cliff drop at the bottom okay let’s see what the judges think of this one build oh yeah one thing I think about Nils is that he’s another Rider that makes things look much more effortless than they actually are in terrain like this and I do I give him credit too he’s utilizing the Intel as you know like Mike he did before him and then also kind of taking a different land uh taking different takeoff you know maneuvering a little bit out of the way which is something the judges really do want to see well so far we haven’t seen anything bigger than a three and already Nils has got a switch back three in there yeah his the technical prowess you know ining that going to be good for his Mark okay this is I for me this feels like the first big range finder for the judge is testing where these scores can go 88 for Nils mening a real indication that they like what they’re seeing there 70 points for Jared Elston plenty of work you do where tourin went and switch back three switch back one to like method nice and kind of just had one of these like you saw you saw Jared’s heart sink as he was telling him that didn’t you know back to work well I think one thing to notice too is that the Riders from their finish Corral have no view of what’s going on Hill they can’t see anything from down there totally blind looking up into those trees okay fourth of our quarterfinal matchups this one I this is my pick of the bunch I think Toria berrim versus Travis Rice two very similar and at the same time contrasting Styles oh yeah toir I feel like really put his stake in the ground with his movie this past year Temple of the Dog and is basically saying I’m here to stay and what better way to build on that momentum by going against Travis Rice in natural selection yep Travis with one of the best records in the natural selection matchups incredibly difficult to be especially in a venue like this but if one man can do it it could be the Norwegian so again looking for Rich pickings down this fin such a good nose here they’re loving this one oh Beauty backside 360 maintaining so much speed in the landing right there the judges will be celebrating that because they’re getting to judge back to back backside 360 tail grabs back seven and there we go opening up the big spins big statement there from toia bergam as he makes his way out into the flats he’s got a little bit of time to think about what he’s going to do down at the bottom here and make sure that he’s in the right place because you’re going to get that bowling ball effect now when everything everything is blind beautiful method signature of the Norwegian I love a course that allows us to see a excellent 720 into a floaty method what more do you want it’s all right there okay so he knows there’s tracks here he’s just slowing himself down a touch he’s really close to that slab that Sage took out just above it okay looking for a new cliff to drop over here executing perfect riding away yep he’s got it all there a really nice solid run oh and he’s blown past the Traverse tracks by miles it’s just where are you going oh he’s just realized how he’s look back up oh I’m down in the flats hey enjoy him while you can yeah it’s epic down here the snow’s good couple more powder turns call for a pickup yeah I think that’s what it is isn’t it there’s no skido here that is going to be a long trudge back up to the Finish area for to belgam okay your reigning natural selection tour Champion Travis Rice getting ready to drop for the first time here in mosquito bowl and he is a formidable competitor in this situation he’s the one man you do not want to face okay starting off right there popping around a back 80 back 180 in to switch huge cab five right into that pocket how many times have we seen him open up jumps like that and crazy I mean you know heading to this area of the whole venue oh my God what what wow double back flip out of that wind lip oh my God okay so much speed it looks like he’s on the moon right here wow wow okay that was a that was a statement Brown by couple of switch powder turns cab five into a double back flip and you can see him he’s mind riding already he knows what’s coming wow let’s not waste any time right now okay Travis warming up for what’s about to come he’s had his paws between the top and bottom sections of this run it’s time to get stuck back in now oh beautiful backside 180 right there that was stunning I mean okay this is a benchmark run right now switch back one with a little in there and now navigating his way back toward that Corral that was a massive run imagine taking a rider of toia Berg’s caliber and taking him to school that’s exactly what Travis has done there to’s run was epic you talked about it what more can you ask for a backside 720 and a method toward the Finish yes you did all in good fun he’s still waste deep in some British Colombia powder oh wow how brilliant you know I think when we watch Travis ride in these things he is so strategic his riding just seems like you don’t want to say planned out because obviously there’s extemporaneous that’s happening in there but like so nailed to a tea on what he wants to do to show that he’s here to play well if you ever needed proof that no one’s laying up here that everyone showing all of their cards from the offit in these two runs to Burg and big back three tail grab that angle is just awesome it really shows the scale and just such a beautiful Lenny you see his back leg Just Adjust right there downhill takeoff leaning towards his toes he had so little purchase to get the traction into that back seven but somehow he manages it of course kicking the foot letting the H breathe there just awesome and into just some proper turns before little bit of paw on top of the cliff band it’s a it’s a beautiful feature but just exactly what you said there Mary he slowed it down Travis is pinned top to bottom that’s what’s so hard is like even those those are tiny windows that open up the door for your competitor windows and open up the door that’s a great phrase right there but it’s what it is well there it is holds on to that cab five so close to losing this one but again if anyone’s going to save it it’ll be Travis and now he’s just pinned and the double backflip I mean that was just like you know why why go for a single but oh he missed the grab I don’t think that’s going to hurt him too badly to be honest Mary you know that he’s not going to be happy about that backy first track double backy and then a big beautiful backside 180 melon wow and then of course into a switch back one and it wasn’t that big but he’s he timed that grab and the Poke he made it all fit yeah finish ready for scores how about you back three into the panel back seven to berrim 82 Travis first man into the 90s 93 for rice that is 11 points for toar to make up and it’s not like toar fell anywhere no he had one of the highest scorers of the round so far he’s going to he’s going to need something special he’s that’s backing toar into a corner is probably the best thing for us as it is yes that’s something you never really want to back any Norwegian into a corner think it never goes well um so we’re going to see some I think really explosive riding from you’ll see that Alter Ego with the axe and the pointy helmet come out okay working in the back country safety is always Paramount and that is why natural selection have teamed up with Back Country access take a look at this on snow safety probably my favorite place just now word in the world is the BC back country and it’s got everything coastal ranges big glaciated benches that kind of connect range to range and then as you get more into the interior you have these steep Jagged Mountains with Boulders and pillow Fields everywhere and that is Rebel [Music] Stoke whenever you’re going up in the back country we have a list of things that can hurt you and those include first and foremost Avalanches a close second would be tree well hazards the difference between the back country and a traditional ski resort is that when you’re at a resort the ski patrol has done a great job of marking all the issues that can come up and where to go and how not to get lost for anyone that wants to get into the back country the first thing I would say is just take an as1 which is an entry level Avalanche course that’ll get you the basics it’ll teach you how to use your gear it’ll teach you how to rescue someone from an avalanche it’ll teach you how to R terrain safely As you move through the mountains the more you know the more places you can go I’d say the first most important thing you should do before you go into the back country inspect everyone’s gear everyone’s transceiver should be on inspect the probes inspect the shovels your gear needs to be dialed it’s really important when you you go out with the crew that everyone there is Keen to learn you might be the most experienced person on the crew but at least that way you know if you’re the one in an incident you can rely on those other people to do the right thing and to get you out of there safely it might seem like a long road but it’s worth it to some people it’s everything remember that we’re all True to this we’re all obsessed with this because it’s awesome take the necessary courses Avalanche courses first aid courses you need but I would highly recommend experiencing the back country if you have EV there is simply no way that natural selection could happen without the support of backcountry access all of their gear especially the float Avy packs are supplied to the crew who are out here for weeks before the event takes place making sure that these venues are safe and ready for competitors so here are the women’s semi-finals Haley langland versus Marian hay and then Jamie Anderson going up against Mary Rand and I feel like these could go either way on the strength of per like obviously on paper you have favorites Mary but on the strength of the riding yesterday it’s anyone’s game oh completely I already feel like I’m scooting toward the edge of my seat right now I think this is a heavy lineup I’m very very excited okay Haley langland uh is up first she’s going to drop in going up against one of the shaman Lo Marian heti former Free Ride World Tour Champion tells you everything you need to know about her style of riding did come through border cross racing though from her home Resort of sham Rose and you can see that beautiful edge control but she’s worked so hard over the last few years to get those freestyle smarts in but Haley repping the Oakleys you can see a little bit of that cloud sat in the valley but it’s not touching the mosquito bow haly so Haley going over the edge first of the women to drop here at the yeti natural selection tour finals Haley coming off such momentum from yesterday’s quarterfinals you know she had the highest score of the day won the new sco and she’s just gaining momentum overall I think the back country every year look at her navigating this spine with so much grace right there it’s beautiful there’s not much difference between the way torstein rode that opening line and the way Haley’s ridden that just so smooth yeah that was incredibly authoritative and I think that’s something that really is going to win points with the judges because this is such an on- sighting heavy event today and there’s a lot of talk about the fact that at many venues you can watch everyone else go down you get a feel for it the Riders at the top can’t see the because of that bowling ball effect they can’t see what’s going on further down the face you just pop out on spots like this so very very blind riding oh oh my gosh almost getting that five around but then then just she was going through and she snapped it to she had the aerial awareness to snap that to five but couldn’t put it down that’s her experience riding slope style being so well versed in finding Landings and her air awareness for sure way way bigger than I I think she was expecting I think you’re totally right the thing to remember though even though that was a consequential fall the Run beyond that was so authoritative it’s that classic really fast purposeful riding she’s kept her flow going top to bottom there apart from that single fall it’s a really really strong run and Credo is our judging system creativity and risk are those top two categories exactly and an element where you’re going to take a big risk even if it doesn’t go exactly as you planned is not going to necessarily go unrewarded because it’s going to be taken into consideration for that full appraisal of the top to bottom and she really rode authoritatively during that Maran ha te up at the top won’t know it yet but this is a chance for her the door is open and Marian can put a score on the board here potentially but wow and I think as you mentioned you know with her roots and Shaman you know blood nose oh goodness she really took that hit still smiling I feel fine did you hit it what did you do I need myself in the face oh wow langland she is pint siiz I think so but she’s taken that slam like a heavyweight champ maybe my lips a little bit but I think it’s just mostly my nose your lip and your nose yeah yeah incredibly calm about that yes judging from the way she came down after the rag doll you would not have known that she had just done one of the things that is could be the most one of the most painful ways to injure yourself well we saw it last year with Travis you remember he took he said one of the biggest hits of his career yeah he had a proper ragd doll Haley langland taking a huge Digger and getting straight back up and carrying on the run now we talked about it there is that instability and it was a big one so it will affect the score but still Maran hey easily one of the most experienced when it comes to on sighting lines on the Free Ride World Tour you get no on snow inspection so out of the women field she’s got the most experience when it comes to riding a place blind like this I was just thinking the same thing Ed I think you know I’d wager that she has some of the most uh finesse experience on the tour in that sense and then interestingly she’s actually taking a time she’s not as fast so all of the Riders using the onx back country Maps last night after qualifiers to get a feel for this lovely back three taking some speed off of that Landing into this next bench section coming out right out to the Rider’s right hand side of the venue okay opportunity right here oh but she kind of just uh goes over that did you see that speed check on the top there she second guessed herself at the takeoff point and didn’t get enough speed but as we mentioned you know with torin’s riding and the the complexity of convex rollers and how it doesn’t even come across necessarily to the screen quite quite as much as intimidating they are when you’re actually riding them when you can’t see what’s over that next Bend it’s quite a gnarly situation so Marian ha’s 2024 invite coming from that injury wild card from 2022 she sat out 2023 nice method right there so she’s got to find something down here I feel like her top section was quite light she was a little bit hesitant she needs a big feature here to really make the judges sit up yeah it felt a little bit bit of a rangefinder you know getting getting your feet under her on this bow okay she’s on top of that Cliff we saw Sage struggle with we know that there’s a bit of Punchy sporty snow on the landing under this one and there’s not much of it left but she puts it Down clean there we go kicking a turnout so yeah definitely navigating a consequential consequential cliff line right there taking a little bit of hesitation at the top to but cast you mind back and compare apples for apples how smooth and direct Haley was through that top section I think this is a definite nailbiter because you have uh like you said the smooth and directness of Haley but then you also have the meticulous uh navigation that Maran did which was quite effective so what’s going to weigh more heavily in their favor from the judges how was it so sick huh it was so sick it turns are nut oh wow I’m not in the competition I’m in a video part you know this is so sick how many of the Riders have we heard say that epic snow epic terrain and I feel here Haley and Marian each playing each other at their own games haly has this Epic Big Mountain Spine line to open that literally is a video part shot right now like that is incredible beautiful and then coming into this I think backside three yes definitely over rotated still got together and perhaps if you hadn’t landed in those tracks she might have been able to ride it away adjusted her shoulders incredibly and then watch the heels get stuck in there and that’s where she gets the punch in the face from the kneecap I think I give her props for being able to continue the run after that too because that’s a really gnarly thing to do beautiful beautiful light feet through that section and then Marian gets straight onto this big nose here and goes for the 360 uses the freestyle yes and definitely a beautiful 360 um a little bit of hesitation you know off the top there but really using a meticulous approach that you know rewards The Landing in that situation nice method right there you know finding the popper and you know really finding a nice line down the face and she got that little drop in there at the end so two kind of you know similar philosophies but totally different approaches I thought there was a little more speed a little more purpose and intent at the top of haly’s run but I think that fall is going to cost her we’d say that that those don’t come into it but highrisk move as well that three up at the top for Marian 65 for Marian 60 for Haley so bit of work to do for Haley langland in run two all right so we’re here with Haley langland and Mary and hery Haley little bit of a scare there how you feeling I’m good I just uh Kiss My Face my knee yeah but um it was so fun like just the turns have been like insane the snow is moving so good and yeah I’m super psyched right with Mar and she’s making it real fun and Marion you came down and you were just absolutely elated you said it feels like you’re in a video part yeah it looks like a game you know it’s not a competition I don’t feel like I’m in a compet in competition right now right not at all so nice it’s beautiful teren the view is beautiful the sun is here friends life is good Stoke is high up here thank you W thank you Tom for a little bit of insight there from Marian hay and Haley langland phenomenal conditions and that is backed up by the runs that we’re seeing here from the Riders up at the top we’ve got arguably the most well one of the most experienced competitive snowboarders of all time in Jamie Anderson up against a woman in I think one of her first ever competitions there may be some banked slums and a couple of smaller rail comps from back in the day definite rail dams back in the day that she just dominated but now she is a back country Powerhouse okay Mary Rand versus Jamie Anderson and Jamie repping canoe and Union from the industry Alliance and you can see very clearly there on the Oakleys as well she has ridden so beautifully through the qualifiers the women’s quarterfinals in Revel Stoke and now she drops in for the cirk teners heli Tenya finals here gorgeous top run just really beautiful turns and again keeping confidence and speed down that terrain opening up this new line and that is way steeper than it looks there just opening it up and pointing it at Travis’s double back flip hit okay can we just also mention how exciting it is to watch Jamie back in the back country after having her daughter Misty I mean so sick beautiful tail grab there fingertip control of that air she looks quite at home in this run right now so so comfortable when Jamie’s relaxed and having having fun that’s when she rides her best you knew in the start gate at a slop sty comp if she was dancing and singing you were going to get the best Jamie and that’s what I feel like she’s dancing through this run right now oh this is so cool opening up this entire new section of the bowl right now look at this no hesitation absolutely glorious Back Country snowboarding here with Jamie Anderson butter across the side of that nose Okay so the one thing I will say is that was just glorious turns but there it was a large of area where there wasn’t any opportunity to hit have any freestyle hits in it so she’s going to get up on top of that Cliff band that we’ve seen almost everyone getting drawn into it’s like a tractor beam sucking them into this lip Okay virtually no hesitation looking like that was just the most casual walk in the park to drop that Cliff that she does look like she’s walking the dog she’s out with Misty in the buggy isn’t she I thought she was going to do a t gear then and blow through the Traverse line Jamie Anderson with the most beautiful relaxed run yes it just you’ve got no sense of the tension and pressure that we see in Riders like Jared ston for instance who’s deep in the heart of a competition wow Jamie just super relaxed out there free riding for the day all right we are here here with Jamie Anderson Jamie you just took your first run on that ridiculous Zone called mosquito how do you feel about your run and how’s the snow oh I feel good about my run good to uh just dabble and feel it out it’s actually amazing and yeah uh snows all time I think of all the NST events that I’ve done in the past I don’t know if I’ve ever seen the Riders this hyped what’s the vibe between all the Riders I feel like the vibe is pretty chill um it’s like I would say maybe a little bit on the more friendly side which I think just brought the nerves down for everyone pretty straightforward still some convex role but it seems like everyone is rolling into their line pretty confident nice congrats Jamie thank you it’s one of the things we’ve heard from the top Mary a lot of the Riders sharing data about their runs so fun well with this course being so blind uh from the top you get a couple hits of who drops before you from the bottom you see absolutely nothing that beta and sharing of info is so valuable well confidence is at a premium today the most valuable currency up at the top Mary Rand had it in Spades in qualifiers but it didn’t quite go her way on her first run let’s take a look at the highlights Mary Rand of course was so dominant during that first day of quarterfinals in women’s side and looks right now just is using that Backcountry experience she has to really power through that top first line broke a bit of fresh Trail down on the bottom section got hung up but navigating the rest of that those pillows right there with a plum oh good snow is so good hey yeah you can turn your GoPro off yeah yeah that that like okay let’s take a look at Jam’s run so heading far Riders left here off that little POA and then just straight lining into this so I think Jamie rode so well it was just you know Immaculate riding to watch big tail grab right there but I do think that there was a large area of her run where she was opening up new territory but there weren’t a lot of opportunities for her to really get those freestyle hits in and that’s going to open up opportunity for Mary on her second run okay judges scores coming in yeah we’re ready for scores Jamie on a 74 Mary on a 67 so that 74 it’s an infinitely achievable Target for Mary Rand on the strength of the riding that we saw in qualifiers in Rebel Stone oh completely I think that you know in Mary’s highlights we saw attacking more of that freestyle line and so I think that that was rewarded and there’s really not that much room between them wo okay plenty of pressure remains for the second runs in the men’s quarterfinals and the women’s semifinals here at the yeti natural selection finals 2024 take a breath Mary that was it’s pretty impressive startup considering it was first runs for everyone oh completely I think going into the next runs it’s anyone’s game and I know we tend to say that but for real now everyone has a little bit more experience on this face whereas it was all blank before and I think we’re going to see people raise it up to 11 even more than already yeah the one person I I felt like he might be slightly Out Of Reach of toia berg and was Travis Rice but we’ll see how that plays out in the second run right now though we’re going to take a look at the origins of this great land that we are competing in this is our first nation pieace it’s crucial that we learn the origins of our lands in order to honor those Nations who’ve lived off it since time and Memorial we would like to acknowledge the land on which We Gather is the territory of the Sines nation and is home to many diverse indigenous peoples we honor their connection to the land and rivers and respect the importance of the environment to our strength as a community located at the Confluence of the Columbia River and its adjacent tributary the sil e river Revel Stoke was originally inhabited by this mighty nation this land is considered unseeded or unsurrendered territory meaning that it was never formally given away by the Sines Nation nor did they willingly abandon their territory and is still owned and occupied by them today each Nation across our continent known as turt is speak their own language and is culturally unique but each believes deeply in the connectiveness of the environment and all living things the spiritual connection with snowboarding and the mountains is undeniable for centuries these First Nation peoples sent their young into these same mountains to connect with nature Bend for themselves and to learn to live off to land for over two decades the indigenous life sport academy has been using this ideology to connect indigenous youth with their natural environment through the life sport of snowboarding the natural selection tour represents another opportunity to bring our community together to grow both spiritually and culturally as we Forge the path ahead it is vital that we look to our past and respectfully acknowledge those that came before safety is our number one concern with these events and Onyx gives a number of tools that help keep our Riders production crew and staff safe in the back Onyx Back Country also makes it really easy for all of the teams within natural selection to share information rather effortlessly with like literally a click of the button we can share an entire project file brings everyone up to speed I think it’s an amazing tool to facilitate safe Adventure [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] radio check yeah I got eyes on you [Music] hey what’s up everyone it’s Travis and cam here you might have already heard but we dropped an amazing Marketplace app called sendy last year it’s buy sell or rent adventure sports gear anywhere in North America I’m super honored and excited to join ride snowboards it’s a team of mentors close friends and amazing snowboarders that I look up to so I’ve been testing all the boards in the line working on some subtle tweaks to get the right technology that I want to ride this year and it’s been awesome to switch things up and have some new energy under my feet yeah for checking the course today I think what I have I got like couple boards in the Arsenal that’ll work well and maybe switch from one to the other depending on how it goes but yeah definitely excited you want something pretty stiff and easy to land on but also floaty and fun to ride Blake PG’s riding’s actually been described as a melody so building him a snowboard is a bit like creating a strative area so I imagine yeah how do you make a snowboard for a guy that has uh bird bones you know it’s definitely a challenge you make it heavy okay before we get stuck back into the action we’re going to take a quick recap of jewels and the road to Revel Stoke with rivan we had four matchups in the men’s two in the women’s which saw six Riders advanc to the qualifiers and there were some fantastic battles oh another one first night in Tokyo got into Japan today just got a couple of the crew going to roll out to [Music] Mio Dr going up that was fun yeah oh yeah made it to Switzerland here we are super fired up to see what these guys do with the terrain cheing on your m [Music] 3 2 one drop it’s a big morning here in Crest of Colorado we’re in downtown crest of at the beautiful scarp Bridge Lodge we’re about to load up in the Tucker this is beautiful country [Music] dude choking on it we are here a crested but Mountain Resort we did the Austin sweeten versus red Gerard duel now they want to come up and help the girls out so we got a crew up here it looks awesome fun look at this are you kidding me [Music] hell yeah finally on site in Durango Colorado we’re expecting a ton of snow so good to see this is like so amazing Purgatory treating us [Music] well super deep [Music] wow we got an incredible matchup here at Red Mountain it’s one of the most anticipated DUS because of the Riders who are involved [Music] we are packing up right now NST duels we done going to Rally this up to Yeti natural selection Rebel St and we’ll keep it rolling okay the Jews took us to Revel Stoke and then Revel Stoke brought us here to quarterfinals for the men’s torstein hogm Sage kotenberg that one a lot of work for sage to do a lot closer between Austin Sweden and Mikey cicerelli Jared Elston was some work to do to catch up with Neils mennick who had a near perfect first run but Travis Rice put a heavy Dent into toia berrim first run yeah the the the way that things shook down and especially Travis I mean that was a huge showing of how good he is at uh reading terrain but Torin horgmo this kid you know he got his chops in the slope style of courses but he’s transitioned to the back country with someone that is very precise on his Landings and he knows how to seek out terrain to get his board in the air okay toin dropping in for second run with a 20-point lead on Sage kotenberg surprised a lot of people in Alaska with his ability to read terrain first time threw down some big sevens there and he knows I think he knows with sage he can’t rest on his Laurel’s here here he goes torstein nice 540 to set up here as a million mph ride out switch into this saddle so already he’s got a nice 540 and then he’s looking to butter into a nice back three floaty torstein horgmo style harking back to you know the Devon Walsh when everyone just wanted to copy Devon Walsh’s style torstein over here in the flats and this is this is the the time the reflection time of the run where you can kind of just Cruise well it gives us that lovely idea now that those first runs were rangefinders and this is the business end they’re a little 180 to 180 back through torstein setting up here this one Runway that he put in before nice little method and then down here is kind of where I think there is still some I guess I would say like additions to their runs in technicality those Cliffs they’re not very big but you can get buttery technical on him as torsin finds his way to This Little Goat path right here but I I think there’s opportunity there on that Cliff face I mean they’re not very big but if you bring in some technical buttery tricks that you know Torin knows how to do that stuff easily that’s it isn’t it it’s the first run very very light he chucked in a couple of features where he knew he was going to be able to get work done just having the blackout syndrome as as soon as you dropped in and just you know that that big front side 540 to get that run started Landing switch and powder going that fast is just a recipe for a violent ragd doll in displacement of anything that isn’t strapped down on you what for anyone except the very best riders in the world toson a phenomenal run there this this is shaping up it’s got the same recipe the same ingredients that we saw for Alaska in 2022 great Riders incredible rain and perfect snow Sage kotenberg dropping in didn’t quite go his way in run one though let’s see what he’s got for runto and you got to remember this is a this is a matchup of two slope style Champions Sage obviously the winner of the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi but look how big that Indie transfer was and just this is too much speed he didn’t make the same mistake as first time where he came up too short but then he’s overshot and overcooked it hi out so a big big fall up at the top there costing Sage colenburg wo oh man that run is so fun I mean it really is about reading the terrain here as well you can launch off of something and then suddenly you know you’ve gone twice as big as you think you’ve gone and you’re just running into an uphill so it’s there’s a lot to take in you can see right here here just the senses just going over time here as that combo Crossing Track switch as well then that half C butter to back [Music] three to go was good kind of scratched up top a bit1 so 81 for toin he’s added another four points to that first run score Sage nothing doing so very cut and dry in the first of these quarterfinals torstein hogo has a place in the semis very centered torstein horgmo as well Sage is over there panting and Torin is just very very centered very comfortable with where he is okay Torin waiting to see who’s going to join him in the first of those semi-finals will it be Austin sweeten or will it be Mikey cicarelli sweeten again another one of those who didn’t get his first run down so the pressure is heaped on the Mount Baker local what I can say about Austin knowing him really well it’s hard to contain his Stoke which in a situation like this that means it’s easy to blow past where your optimal Landing zones are but Austin’s got some of the best landing gear in the business video part start there back through into that beautiful Drop here’s sweee sets up with a front side 180 switch back 180 highp speed butter he’s he’s a he’s a little uh bouncing up and down like they call him the froth Goblin it’s no joke he’s ABS you can see the joy radiating out of his snowboarding right now he’s having so much fun he’s looking for another opportunity back seven somehow wheelie bars out of that actually gets the grab as well so Austin Sweden having a great run here from top to bottom okay so versus Mikey Celli’s first run really really smooth really beautiful but nowhere near as technical nowhere near as many features as we’ve seen from Austin and he’s not done yeah and I think sweetie too like you just watch the way that he flows through the line right off the top of that drop as well throw the brakes on before it becomes a pine tree hood ornament and then down here through the last couple mushrooms before gets to the Goat Trail that heads back don’t blow past that sweeten those little legs will have to post hole you’d be post hoing up to your neck how tall is he h waste okay he’s definitely missed that Traverse track oh he’s found his way in with a method though yes but it was just the comfortability up top I mean he’s he’s really found his way in snow he started off as being like this slope style rail trip kid and then he just went to Baker and put in his time and he’s very comfortable with terrain that’s high speed and huge well think of velvit Castle the standout descents from him and Travis in sequencer released at the start of the winter and those runs are so long and you saw that in that last run like you didn’t let up the intensity was there from top to bottom okay it’s the turn now the Whistler local Mikey cicerelli one of Canada’s finest I think Mary said he’s been mentored by Canadian Royal Back Country royalty absolutely little bit different line for cicarella here this is nice I like to see a little bit more of an open approach he’s going for that cab five hit from Travis uh more like a backside 270 but doubles that with a huge oy he went twice as far on the rebound didn’t he here he comes into this big launcher back seven melon perfectly clutched all the way through cicarelli looking like he’s putting together some nice Combos and into the open section here and that side hit becoming a magnet for the freestyle Orient Travis Jamie and now Mikey hitting that so there’s a good Highway into that hit now we find him Meandering in the flats as he’s looking for this next opportunity here to Chuck himself but you can see right there some of the tracks below there is a feature coming up here and he’s telegraphing where he’s going I don’t know who he’s telegraphing to imagine how much time is expanded here for him now he’s like the judges want me to do something beautiful front three nice front side 360 gets the grab and there here’s a little backside hip for him a little method gets about 7even in off the ground but still it’s all about that overall run little butter 360 this is a little bit of the icing on top of the C work’s been done up top that’s exactly it he got so much done up top but then that run just Peds out on the left hand side at the bottom hey that back that backside 720 that Celli did up top was no joke that was clutched all the way through but sweeten this Alle 360 right here he comes off that little wind lip and the way that he comboed that into the next couple features that was huge because that’s reading terrain switch back 180 that wind lip just looks like a dream I would love to rag doll off that we said it at the start this is actually part of cook Tang’s heli tenure you can come and ride this look at that little sweeper back seven and then comes in a little bit hot into that pocket and has to throw the brakes on because there’s a fullon tree right there watching that I I just think there’s too many features in there we’ve got that back three and then Mikey bounces it’s not that clean to open the back seven as you said is beautiful yeah that was money gets the swing around and that last rotation fully clutched all the way through points it out I’m going to do a front front side 360 off that diving board nails that and that was essentially the meat and potatoes of that run he kind of threw together a couple little Alys and a little 6-in high method there but damage was done up top it’s for me it’s three features versus five and really the overall reading of that run I will give the advantage to sweeten there being able to read that terrain up top okay tip from the first scores Austin looking to overhaul Mikey’s first run Austin repat Mikey repeat the back seven working super hard for Mikey sisi I think that was a good call though it was pretty tight it wasn’t like a huge span of points three point separ them and I think that was about right and what is telling us as well both of those score better their first run scores so as we get the tracks in as we see the confidence the speed and the tricks increasing then we’re going to see bigger scores okay back up to the top Jared Elston under the pump he has to get some work done here uh Neils Minnick comboing him with that first run score and 88 so Jared ston has got to put down a big big run here Jared could be nils’s worst nightmare on this run AR Ryder coming in switch here and lining up same hit as Travis and Mikey see how much speed he carries into this goes into the Barrett roll dumping it over 540 and coming out with a lot of speed the chicane I think it was called back in the ’90s when we saw it a couple of times straight out Travis is play but with the double backing wild double back flip Jared just letting it breathe out here so that was two moves in seccession very rapid seccession up top well he’s seen Travis’s score he’ll know that Travis got a 93 on this side of the course he kind of has studied uh at the University of rice I mean it’s definitely like they both have the same intensity in their riding Jared is is unapologetically coming for the win out here he made finals against sage in 2022 and he’s been fighting hard ever since coming in here to the bottom section so there’s a lot going on in this run Jared he knows that he’s got to stack it up because I mean Nels will come through and just it’s possible that Nils could throw a switch back nine he’s just so comfortable hitting stuff switch Dan in powder well we’ve seen three very big scores for Mikey Jamie and Travis come out of this line Jared needs a big score here so he’s gone to the well yeah and it’s look this battle is setting up like the uh the quarterback of the football team in high school up against the physics nerd like that’s literally what we have set up here and it’s two completely different approaches to riding Nils being much more technical much more precise oh man but that was a solid beat down of the course I don’t think I’ve seen a chicane at Natural Selection before I definitely haven’t seen one to set that and just dump it off all it’s kind of a faith fall really well you can see from up here Nils Minnick would have had a perfect view of Jared ston falling into the abyss he would have seen very little else of that run so a lot of pressure on him for the second and clutch run so as we see here in this highlight highlight meaning that Nils probably had an aggressive fall at some point in his run back five up top into double cork back 10 to full hot tub but that hit right there is beginning to form itself perfectly for those huge consequential moves a switch back five up top into back double 10 you got to do so not we can assume as you said Tod that Nils isn’t going to better his score so it’s an 88 for Nils is the ceiling IED like do did Jared manage to milk more than 88 out of that left hand side that is going to be the big question here and these judges have their work cut up two completely different styles of riding there’s that come in switch dump it over forward it’s a 540° rolled out move into this wild double back FP huge out into the flats just holds on to it as well crosscourt front three and goes Ali back three down there at the bottom so Jared’s run top to bottom Superior than nils’s all right we’re ready for scores good job so an 86 for Jared ston but the 88 from run one fors Minnick will see him throw a very very tight battle in the end Todd right way I’m watching the face on Jared ellon right now definitely frustration you can see they they’re competitors there’s there’s some heat some spice right there but hey this is competition ooh there it was that sideways glance yeah it’s I mean it’s rough when you think you’ve nailed it in a run and the judges don’t go your way well that’s competition for you yeah we’ve seen it a couple of times I think probably most prominently with uh The Duel against gigy Ruff Jared Elston really took that one to him but take it out in your video part back up at the top these two leviathans toio berrim and Travis Rice under pressure let’s take a look at their second runs so toir dropping first absolute Norwegian Powerhouse his first run insane run kind of gets looks like he got hooked up on the takeoff then throws a big gnly front down here towards the bottom but up top it just started off poorly well you know as well he knew he was up against a 993 pointer which is close to Perfection so you got to go for it yeah zero pressure on Travis for his second run that meant and it’s you know that Travis is just collecting data with a run like this yeah and that’s dangerous is rice being in a position where he can go out and just do some spelunking on this course but you see right here Trav just Landing so flat so even Superman do fall from time to time I often think though with Trav the time that he makes a mistake is when there is no pressure a lack of pressure is his tonight he needs diamonds are created under pressure and that’s the way it is with Travis’s best runs he look for a second like you had it yeah I like cuz I was going to try and go this way maybe I should have tried to go Jared chane might have been a better move see my front foot though yeah it kind of looked like she landed oh the second front fo oh no I didn’t see that one I went in front with off the off the corice off the top there copy what’ you do went down I tried to put in a new line and oh to the very top to the corners yeah yeah yeah and I got there but like there is some off that Cornus right but another 50 ft maybe now there’s a track in there’s a track in now it’s ready for scores yeah to okay judges scores coming in those second runs both scratch for T and Travis so the highest score of the day so far that 93 will see Travis into the semifinals where he will face none other than Nils Minnick that is a mouthwatering prospect oh we are here with Travis Rice Trav highest score of the day 93 you just eliminated Tor gear bergam you’re heading to semifinals yeah really didn’t think that it was going to run like that this morning uh I mean I’m psyched to get another run uh vu’s running so good right now um yeah I mean t is one of the best that does it uh psych to be moving on yeah you’re going to be paired up head-to-head going against Nils Minnick how much does that worry you I mean the guy’s a surgeon I know that uh it’s going to have to still be all gas get past that guy he’s he’s a Savage and how’s the course running with more tracks in it now can you still find some fresh out there yeah I I really don’t think the tracks are are that big a deal at this point um if anything some of those tracks are pretty ful on the on the long traverses but yeah Nels is a formidable Rider one of the better switch Riders there is so better do something cool well congrats brother well done study up get back up there appreciate it thank you T-bird thank you Travis and as we heard there Travis using that second run as data Gathering just adding to the library of hits he has right now we’re going to take a look at how arcx has kept the natural selection crew safe and warm in the back country the natural selection crew is a collection of professionals who are passionate about snowboarding in the outdoors our work is extremely physical taking on all the elements that mother nature provides which is why we are so fortunate to have ARX as our official outerwear partner ARX is inspired by the mountains it’s their birthplace and reason for being as a result AR’s products have proven performance and durability embraced by our natural selection crew as well as some of our Riders such as Elena height Jared Elston and Robin van Jen furthermore ARX is committed to sustainability through its rebird initiative that promotes a circular economy versus a linear production model with natural selection Mother Nature is the main character we are so grateful to have aric support us on our Outdoor Adventures AR some of the best gear in the business now it’s time for the women’s semi-final second runs that first match up Haley langland versus Marian hey Marian with just a tiny bit of an edge there but that one it feels could go either way same with Jamie and Mary Todd yeah and I think you know Haley had some kind of mistakes on run number one and now she has that Intel and maybe we’ll dial it down a little bit so she can find some of the transitions in The Landings so very very close after those first runs it’ll be interesting to see which lines each of them choose here haly and Maran little fist bump up at the top there let’s take a look at the highlights of their second runs and that’s interesting you know where are they going to go because obviously on Haley’s first run she did that back three that was a little bit too big and it ended up tossing her into a 540 but her air awareness from her slope style runs definitely kind of kept her from really getting mangled but you can see here opens up a new line gapping over some open open features oh and right there Marian going back to that back three that she had on her first run but unable to stomp it this time bit of a belly flop up top so it’ll be interesting to see how these judges shake this out yeah both scores almost certainly sitting lower than those first run scores which will mean that Haley’s lack of a second run score will hand the victory to Mariam but we’ll wait for confirmation from the judges 56 yep so 56 and a 53 respectively which means that the highest score is Marian heti she will progress to the finals H yeah go get gold difficult one for H you wonder how much that need to the face shooker from r one I mean it was probably enough so that she you know she was second guessing maybe just launching into Oblivion off of some of these hits okay time to find out who is going to join Marian heti in the final and this one again can swing either way way Jamie Anderson looking supremely confident on her first drop I mean Jamie is just so casual with the way that she approaches it’s very much her personality comes out in her riding probably more than any other Rider that I’ve actually ever seen I mean it’s just she’s just flowy it’s just like things are happening naturally she’s not forcing anything as she comes in here for her second run is she going to take that hit that we’ve SE seen Mikey Travis and Jared Hit N coming around the side on this another fresh spine look at that she’s just looking for some powder ride so Jamie cleaving that spine to bit high speed as well she’s coming over here into this big backside hit for her going to put a fresh track on it as well front side 360 So Jamie another they’re just really really relatable runs aren’t they I’d say relatable but it’s beautiful snowboarding the kind that you want to do when you mind ride something yeah and I mean you made a good point earlier in the broadcast is like this is all accessible if you want to go there you can hel to this terrain and I mean you don’t have to go 80 ft on a double backflip but you can definitely experience this and watching Jamie come into some of these features like these are all the features that we would want want to hit little stalish tail tap don’t forget you can mind ride it on onx back country as well before you go save your pennies for the heli and then mind red it first beautiful back one off the corner of that mushroom backside 180 and now into the bottom portion of this this is kind of where the features run out a little bit decent switch riding as well it’s one of the things that we haven’t seen in the women’s side of the draw that often so a couple of big turns link switch there in to a half cab I will say that I think that she’s like her casual style of riding has maybe left the door open a little bit wider than she would have liked do you think I mean we often say that with Mel like it makes it look a little bit too easy sometimes I kind of feel like you know Jamie could have had something bigger as far as airtime goes in there because Mary Rand has got that backflip on Lock and if she finds a place to have like a spectacular air show it may be enough to sway the judges in her favor well we’ve seen it you know you’ve got that break glass in emergency run down the left hand side of the course with two big hits in it if Mary and Mary Rand wants to go there you she knows there’s a big Point run waiting yeah we’re going to see here straight away which side that she’s going to decide to take you know Jamie did open up we talk about The Credo the creativity and you know the overall impression that’s jimie kind of moved into a section that no one had really ridden so it does play to some of the scoring criteria however Big Air mayare can definitely bring some points you know and it’s just the wow factor and that goes into the overall impression okay repping The North Face is one of our industry Alliance she’s coming down into that hit is it the backy big backside 360 into the pocket holding on to it tail wheelie down and she is hauling and the intensity of this run is dialed straight up you called it Todd yeah it’s definitely it’s different from we saw Jamie Anderson kind of Meandering having a great time Mary is riding with a lot more purpose I mean she knows that she’s up against one of the greatest snowboarders that’s ever lived so she’s got we’ve said it on this side though the meat of this run is done so she’s got to make the most of the condiments and salad down at the bottom here yeah you don’t make no friends with salad I’m telling you right now so as you’re moving down here into the bottom there’s a couple more hits couple more opportunities left and you can just see you’re just following that goat path and it’s going to take her over into either where Jamie went off this little nub or there’s the diving board that’s a little further down the ridge here she goes little FR Montoya style tweak on that little pop there and like maybe one more hit than Jamie Gets in here too little drop so I’m going to say just by virtue of that backside 360 that kind of put her into that pocket that the advantage will be going to Mary right here as far as like airtime technicality now the overall impression of this run Jamie may have her there because oh and she’s found herself here on a little bonus feature as well a little two pack o nicely done bit of bit of hesitation up top though yeah you want to keep your flow going and that’s definitely where Jamie has the you know the strength in her run with was that she just kept it flowing from top to bottom didn’t stop didn’t take any anything in she just rolled with it okay let’s take a look at this beautiful spine and you watch the snow cleaving off the side of either side of that spine there that was very selfish uh Jamie Anderson riding as we saw that uh that GoPro view of her with the hero 12 you know she just wanted to do it first off wanted to go ride some pow right there she’s playing it her own way and that’s kind of always how she’s run her program let’s not forget as well if you’ve qualified through to this stage of the competition then your place on next year’s tour is secure so she’s you know you can’t discount the fact that she does a little 180 off of here and she stayed switch it wasn’t an instant revert but this backside 360 into this pocket and just the by virtue of how fast that run out was and put it into the judging criteria Credo the second category is that R is risk yeah she got very risky with that no risk it no biscuit here she goes Little Indie popping there and then she gets those little bonus features down here at the bottom yeah there’s no coasting she hasn’t given up on the Run has she she’s squeezing all of the juice out of the end of these features so you know she did pack the features in a little bit more densely than Jamie tough one to call this really tough where the hip is yeah we’re ready for scores my heart says Jamie my head says Mary jie So Jamie Anderson on an 85 Mary Rand just clinches it two points it’s change in the final numbers Mary Rand makes her first ever natural selection to a final at the first time of asking Mary Rand 87 on the second run a free R for that you’re going to the final against Mary and her you’re one step closer what’s going through your head right now Mary just fired up to ride again congratulations to both of you two we can’t wait to see your finals runs let’s get this thing going oh this go is on usually you’re getting clubbed over the head by Jamie Anderson but right now Mary joins an elite club of one of very few that say they’ve actually beat the queen of snowboarding okay time now to go up to Stan at the top of the hill what’s going on up there Stan after run two a couple things are clear one there’s a reason they call Mikey cicerelli Psycho Mike okay the kid just lived up to his Nam sake he’s moving on on Jared elson’s side when he came back up to the top he said well I guess I’m going to have to go balls to the wall he kind of did went chicane into that double Wildcat not able to really sneak ahead of that big nil score though torstein horo moving on I think it’s in the breathing personally and then of course you got Nils mck who at the top did a Matthew MCC impression and now I can’t get it out of my head one thing is clear he wants Travis’s throat Travis his first run standing up he’s moving on shaping up to be a heck of a day all right all right all right it certainly is thank you Stan okay now it’s time to take a quick look at the arct backyard selection uh we invited everyone to submit their own natural selection runs and this one came in from gnarly Curtis 11 years old she wants to be on NST one day this is so cool to see someone with their eyes on the prize at such a young age already into the splits I mean split Bardon at that age are you kidding me volunteering to walk up something when you’re that young is incredible to me and she’s look at this threading the needle yes girls got skills okay Tom time to go for a quick break when we come back it’s men’s semis [Music] he he [Music] [Music] [Music] when the perfect power exists it’ll be Fusion a NeverEnding River of energy to tap into at any moment it will be carbon free radioactive free and power everything on Earth and when that perfect power exists will’ll deliver it with the flip of a [Music] switch welcome back to the yeti natural selection tour finals here at the cirk Tangers heli Tena you want to get up into these mountains you can uh you can see the QR code down on the right hand side if you want to turn your your gear Into Cash you can buy rent or sell any kind of action sports gear on the sendy app just scan that QR code there’s also exclusive NST merch on there okay semi-finals time now this is how they line up torstein hogo got the better of sage kotenberg and he faces Mikey cicerelli and then we’ve got a great Clash down there in heat to Nils Minnick the switch technician going up against the reigning natural selection tour Champion Travis Rice sat next to me for these is Mary Walsh Mary which way are you swinging at the moment it is impossible to say honestly I mean I think we have two kind of different Generations represented here in both of these matchups but these Riders are cut from very similar cloths we have Precision we have conscious experience with all four of these Riders and none of these gentlemen are afraid to go big yeah and Mikey sarelli you might say he’s got the least onsite experience but his film parts of the last couple of years mean that he’s definitely got the pedigree I think he’s he’s spent enough time out here I agree I mean I think especially his second run of U men’s quarterfinals he looked like a natural in natural selection check you out okay kicking off with these first runs and torstein will drop first and we’re taking a look at the highlights of both of these runs so torstein breaking trail out on the right hand side butter into that bter and then dropping down quickly you know look at that blind butter back 180 into that uh off that roller right there I mean that was just mental it’s again seeing him ride with just the authority and the you know the knowledge of scunny time in mountains like this but then I’m fortunately going to the ragd doll that’s why we’re watching The Highlight back five to ragd doll nice front three at the bottom there though and Mikey of course as you mentioned Ed like he spent less time in the back country so far but he’s really having no problem at all going toe-to-toe with these Heavies gigantic bite out of that top Cliff but he wasn’t able to put it down just bounced out deck chairing love to see what he’s doing though I mean he’s not holding back from any risk-taking and there’s a calculation and a deafness even though he’s not putting the landing gear down right there he wants to but we saw it with Travis if you’re smart you know that it’s going to take your best riding to beat someone like torstein so you can’t hold back exactly you have to swing for the fences there’s no other option in this situation I got work to way yeah oh yeah I I was I just ripped off my gogg me too I can’t see anything that was fun nice to go down a little bit the GoPro is a little than we’re ready for scores okay so scores from first run 50 points for torstein 40 points for Mikey both of those are academic when you consider the talent we have at our fingertips looking forward to seeing both of these two get stuck into their second runs they’ve had their rang finders no excuses second R yeah try that for a change I went so fast off the top I mean that’s you know that’s what it is it’s when you’re on train like this I think every run that you take obviously builds up that that Cadence that you have but there’s no holds bar and so there is a bit of range finding throughout you know even the the semis uh situation okay nsman Nick versus Travis Rice I’ve got to say this is first like Nils mck went toe-to-toe with Ben Ferguson in the jewels in 2023 and it was one of the most compelling of all of the jewels that year he didn’t get his chance but this time he’s got his shot and he’s going up against the biggest dog in the pack in Travis Rice so we’re going to look at a highlight from his run and the thing again as you said you can’t hold back at all right there so if he’s going into just throwing that five right there and then just getting out on the landing kind of overcooking a little bit but you have to put it all out on the table here we saw it with torstein he went in front five on that and he bossed that switch run out and the fact that Nils mck struggle with it tells you how hard it is yeah opening up some new terrain there and just kind of getting bogged down yeah he’s lost his mojob at this point hasn’t he luckily though one more run obviously but um you know you don’t ever want to have Travis dropping behind you in this kind of situation so he’s just going to have to turn it up for run number two yeah we saw what to giving Travis a free run ended up doing for him so Travis with two runs now to put the pressure on Neils Minnick and the thing too I mean Nils Minnick you know he came up through competition he came up riding the packed powder slopes of Vermont he is someone that has an incredible mental game as well so I don’t think there’s any reason to Discount him with only one run to go against Travis he’s certainly got technically he’s brilliant so and I think that’s what will scare Travis in this battle but Travis highest score of the day so far a 93 dropping down the left hand side of the venue it’s lore of diminishing returns though if he goes back there we’ve had a lot of riders through there we’ve even seen a repeat of the double back flip that he opened from Jared Elston so look at this you know you’re getting something special when Travis starts psyching himself up and gets in visualization Zone okay going to a new zone right off the bat backside 360 oh catches it double hit I mean that was almost a combo wasn’t it the turns link the rotations oh I’m putting down oh just coming off of that Rodeo not quite scking the landing so good up top though so smooth again it’s the advantage of that terrain read he’s seeing lines that he knows he can string together he’s got that level of experience yeah and again it’s it’s rad watching Travis knowing the competition he’s up against with Nils who is such a doctor of precision and knowing that he also cannot hold back and taking these risks okay again hitting Fresh Tracks over here so we’ve seen a lot of people on the other side of this null Travis coming down the sunny side of it see where it is you know I’d like to wager a guess right now that oh beautiful kick out with the method right now you know we talk a lot about the door being left open for Riders like Travis when they are coming up behind you in the competition lineup but I think right now also the doors open for either of them Nils has Nils has an opportunity here to capitalize on as well lovely bit of classic riding here we saw that little crossbone Indie we’ve seen that method snapped out and he’s coming up on top of another big stack now he is really capitalizing the terrain opportunities well it’s you know with Travis he knows exactly where he is threading the needle to a very particular stack of pillows right here redirecting across you get the sense he may have ridden this before maybe in like his dreams or something like his familiarity with terrain that he doesn’t know is really incredible to watch look at him he enjoyed that well this is an absolute Joy isn’t it going back up here so the back three straight onto his heel Edge sets him up for that beautiful front three drop yeah that was just an beautiful double line right there so extemporaneous looking just like a a beautiful song there’s that Rodeo bounces out of the landing on that one the thing with that three to3 combo from Travis is how easy he made it look the judges have to reward it though there was the method we’ve skipped past the Indian now it’s on the pillow stack I was is blown away by his root finding to get to that point of the course I really feel like he capitalized and really squeezed all the juice from that run well it’s one of the things that I think we always forget about when we’re looking at the scores potentially against Dustin and Revy in 23 against red is the speed and flow that he carries he just he may make those mistakes but he doesn’t let up yes prove of concept Pro of concept that’s what news is it was pretty sweet uh sat down on a back Rodeo to Flat in flatl hey somebody’s got to do it nice work we’re ready for scor at finishs 52 Nils 52 Travis 75 so a lot of room for movement there even on Travis’s score yeah that’s the thing is I think with these two Riders the door is open for both of them I I don’t think that a 23 Point differential is any sort of concern for NS right now I think he could rise the occasion I also think that Travis could easily add 20 more points above his score yeah both of them are C we’ve we’ve seen them Nels has already got an 88 in his back pocket Travis has got a 93 yeah with landed runs these two can go right up to the top of the judge’s scale yes and they both function very very well under pressure okay so Travis with the upper hand for now tending to throw away n keep an eye out there Jared thanks Dad Jared Elon actually got his beanie over his helmet there I don’t think that’s a actually certified uh hat helmet um although Travis is Travis’s is the anti- ordinary uh if you’re interested in winning a full ride setup scan the QR code at the bottom of the screen now we have a full ride setup up for grabs we’re going to take a quick break when we come back we’ll have all of the action from the second runs of the men’s natural selection tour finals [Music] [Music] [Music] here the snow is deep the Friendship deeper the work the thought and the desire to innovate that went into our new 2025 models deepest [Music] believe for [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] I have been on ride snowboard team for about 15 years now which is a long time I feel super privileged to be on the team we have an amazing team right now and it’s really special that they stepped up and became one of the sponsors for NSD and are supporting this because this is such a big event for our type of snowboarding I just have a great quiver of all different kinds of boards that help me prepare for any kind of conditions so that really helps for stuff like natural selection just having whatever options I may need for whatever conditions present themselves I’m Ben Ferguson I’m from Bend ororon and I’m a professional snowboarder the seat taken brother all you bro all right let’s go howd y’all chy here reporting from the beer Lodge up in beautiful Mall Idaho Ben what’s your favorite part of snowboarding I think my favorite part of snowboarding would just be being out there in the mountains with your buddies man [Music] dark go [Music] HB bear cheapap fun as evidenced by Ben Ferguson 10 Barrel Brewing actually ran some sick days during qualifiers you could call in sick and go and join in a viewing party at the 10 Barrel Brewing pubs in the Pacific Northwest uh they’ve also made us a special natural selection beer called sick day so go and find that wherever you buy your beers now second runs of men’s semi-finals to get stuck into Torin hogm Mo narrow lead over Mikey cicerelli but expecting big things from both of those Riders and same in the second heat Travis Rice 75 over 52 but we know both Neils and Travis have got huge runs in the tank if they can land them Mary yeah there’s no safety in them ski ball right now everyone is on high alert okay this northeasterly face got a tiny bit of win but 10 out of 10 the snow conditions we’ve heard it time and again from the Riders at the bottom so great terrain incredible snow there is nowhere for these Riders to hide a place in the finals is at stake torstein hogo has been in this position before in Alaska in 2022 he and Travis shouting across the fences at each other from either side of the draw and it feels like we could be repeating that here as he drops in switch going similar to that line from earlier but breaking into new territory especially switch right now switch in terrain of consequence wow okay and oh just sneaking out that back one but ragd doing the landing oh his toenails were driving through the foot beds in his boots he was clinging onto that one I thought he was going to make it and that was a late 1802 popping a oh back five right there holds on to it heavy yeah it was a heavy land he bounced through it but he still got it okay this is a strategic run though of course you know getting navigating this whole part switch to set himself up for something potentially on this next uh segment yeah he’s lost that top feature but the back five has kept him in the hunt I feel o oh a revert okay just couldn’t make it through these flat switch ah yeah you got to keep that speed and it’s it’s so tough isn’t it if we notice it the it’s a giant red flag to the judges as well totally totally okay regaining momentum here and now we’re going to see a oh oh front side five gets that Landing do you think he was going for seven there and spotted he with torstein there’s very good chance he spotted that landing and thought I can’t bring this round to seven yeah I mean Tor has incredible air awareness he’s definitely like a cat it’s it’s a difficult one isn’t it he knew he’s under pressure but there’s no big score behind him right he’s got a really long nervous weight down at the bottom here he might be able to sque no no more features I was going to say there might be one more we’ve seen Travis pull a pillow stack out of that before no one else seems to have found but but again that’s the interesting part too is that Mikey you know doesn’t know what just happened on that run so he’s kind of working off you know that blind aspect of how much he needs to push it in his run that first hit under the ridge 100% isn’t it doesn’t know what he he’ll have seen torstein launching into switch back one okay Mikey final preparations tying down that Dakine vest making sure he’s locked in Mike amazingly when you look at the Burton roster ml Mar m Morris Zoe Sadowski sin Ben Ferguson Mikey the only Burton Rider left in the finals this year very unusual yeah think that’s never happened before I don’t think okay going back on that Ridge line and he’s taking look he’s coming from the right hand side so he’s going to get some speed into this I think big back three that was bigger than he went in yeah that was huge I’d love to see the other angle of that that was massive he said that after the quales didn’t he that he went absolutely huge and he went even bigger on that hit as well beautiful absolutely gorgeous floaty front three right there Mikey cicarelli has got a little bit of heat and pressure that he can apply to torstein hogo now you know I really feel like similar to when Jared elon’s first season when he was competing natural selection and you were just watching what you knew was a force just kind of like you know a shark swimming under the water and Rising I feel like watching Mikey is the same thing you’re like oh no where is he going to go with this okay Mikey cicerelli with a place in the finals in the palm of his hand as he flicks around to switch nice little half cap there ooh brings it back around and just gets taken down by a snow snake in those tracks it looks like o that’s a really interesting one yeah I mean when you’re looking at Falls right tlin made it a long way out of that switch back one before he went down you’ve suddenly got quite a sort of it looks like a gentle mistake there totally I I do think that it’s not the most consequential part of your run to have that happen and obviously you know lower down back up right away okay let’s take a look at this huge consequence incredibly technical opener for torstein going for that switch back one and just got his nose buried didn’t he yeah it looked like he was going to hang on to that one too and then beautiful backside five right there he managed to get a bit of squeeze a bit of flavor out of it with the stalefish as well didn’t he and really utilizing that roller to its full potential I think and getting a lot of nice pop on that five as well I I stand by my comment I do think he was looking for seven on that when he spotted The Landing he realized he didn’t have enough time big this is the angle you wanted Mary yeah oh that’s so big and he has so much speed coming out of that like I said I think that cicarelli is just a shark in the water right now he’s just every every time you see him compete you’re just like okay this guy is gunning for it the grab on that front three nearly landed on his face fingers and then just heavy on the tail after that little half cab yeah you know they both had strengths in their run um I think this is a a you know a tough one but can’t this I really can’t I fell in the last no yeah dude no yeah I got greedy I was trying to do like C five and I got stuck so I did like a butter back to switch yeah I fell on the top too so I don’t know what going happen both of them running out of air time tostone on the seven and Mikey on that half cab that should have been a cab five neither do we toin no again though it’s so interesting watching the different styles of competition and you know tourin is such a focus competitor but he is so common collected on the outside SC so 50 for they’ve both improved their scores 100% Mikey cerelli takes it by just two points over torstein Hog Mod so Mikey cicerelli he competed in reel Stoke and Alaska last year and he went out in the first round both times now here in reel Stoke and then cirk Tangers he makes it into the finals huge inspiration go get it thanks buddy I’m I’m getting a bump up so I can watch this Mikey cerelli dude your first natural selection tour final how are you feeling right now a little shocked for sure but uh feeling really good now I got to try to Channel that I mean I I didn’t T is such a good Rider so I was just like take it as it comes so I can’t believe it honestly so in the finals you are confirmed you’re either going to face Travis Rice or Nails Minnick is there a rider you prefer honestly the way both of them riding right now nether oh you know me I’m not going to pick how’s your strategy going to change for finals are you going to stick to the runs you were kind of going for in semi-finals you’re going to try to open up some new terrain yes so I tried to open up some new terrain on my first run in their semis there and it didn’t really line up so I honestly think I might just go back to what I’ve ridden I know that works and just try to like up my tricks it’s kind of the plan I think dude this is a big day for Mike it’s a huge day congratulations buddy thank you proud of you appreciate it holy Mike Mikey Mike Mikey Cella oh look sage cotson has gone for the uh beanie over the helmet there it’s becoming a thing by the looks of it Mary you know I absolutely loved I think Mikey we caught him saying you’re an inspiration to torstein that was such a cool moment to witness definitely Mikey cicerelli in Dreamland right now but we find ourselves second runs of the second semifinal more of a nightmare situation just kidding guys cuz you both are so good at snowboarding so Nils Minnick he knows he has to deliver here he’s up against the best in the business first couple of turns you know I’m really wondering what we’re what we’re going to see him put now he’s back on this Ridge line and what is the trick he’s going to do on the end because he knows he needs to up the ante so coming into the very tip of the this shark fin and a giant 540 that was just an enormous back 540 the engineering him wanted to go back to that trick and make it right he fell on that first run he makes it second run huge switch back three oh muscles out the landing aever a little bit but now he’s pinning it dropped it down a cog and giving it a handful there absolutely flying across the flat okay keeping his speed into this next section he goes back to switch right now switch straight air beautiful switch front side air you you don’t see many switch straight airs and a decent hack on that yeah I mean a a switch a hack like that that’s not easy okay coasting through these turns like the back arm like usually people have so many Tails when they switch yeah that will show you that they’re riding they they look a little bit awkward they shoulders are a bit closed but Neils at the moment making short work of this and he’s riding it all switch yeah he looks positively ambidextrous on his snowboard and he’s coming up to a big bit of exposure here there’s a stack in front of him okay this could get really interesting okay navigating this and he’s does the drop beautifully executed and done in his switch stance that was so impressive there are so many riders who would struggle with a technical piece of terrain like that forwards to do its switch is truly breathtaking you know he did that so well I almost forgot that he was Goofy there like that was so perfect go he looks good he’s dry he’s dry here the rider starting to light up down there now judging by how well he did by how much snow is on his person that’s the time of the day time time time time okay so Nils M with an incredible run under his belt there is no question that that run is going to put pressure on Travis Rice now and Travis won’t know it up at the top he just knows that he’s got to lay down the best run he’s got in his bag sure yeah such an interesting point for this venue and particular with not being able to watch your competitors’s runs you’re basically going to Blind strategy but you know you know that every run is a final yes exact 100% okay so Trav again following that first run we saw from the semis this is where he did his threes okay oh my God that like a transfer double drop essentially that was beautiful well in the same space he packed two 360s in and then he’s just done a lovely little tap drop in the same amount oh that’s phenomenal wow just picking out that option in the terrain that is so R and then just kicking out a method quick off of that null and and another fresh hit yes so difficult for the you’ve got that super technical run from Neils and then you’ve just got fresh terrain that Travis is unwrapping run by run yeah the she acreage that he is kind of cracking open is really impressive what’s what’s fascinating we’ve seen this left hand side of the venue look quite dead in spots for some of the Riders who’ve come out here but Travis something about he’s got this gift of being able to create terrain like that he’s got beautiful backside 180 that was so floaty so perfect heading into this switch switch back three just putting it down very casually so a huge chunk at the bottom of this run switch just reverts it back around there a little back Shifty to hop over and we’ve seen Travis Conjuring features out of thin air on this bottom section was that a little claim there he just gave it the fist yeah I think you’re right he’s okay making his way across back around to switch again I think in the back of it’ll be itching the back of Travis’s mind knowing how much time Nils will have spent switch little ho ho PL there on the final drop and coming back into that Billy Goat Trail now wow okay that was a heavy second run that look at the size of that drop that angle is so sick I mean that was a thing of beauty and he tips forward a tiny bit but he holds on to it this is this is the one little hole in this run yes I actually thought he was going to bring around to five then um and then of course you had the revert okay so this is crazy okay let’s look at that from that bigger angle massive double stack executing it like perfect if you were a regular stance and he’s switch stance so you go to G out onto the side of that mushroom and then nail that hit on top of the pillow Travis with that how beautiful was that that was so great ah both of those those clips I guess I guess not Clips necessarily but they play like video clips they’re both fantastic unbelievable the top all the way through Travis’s run those three big hits are just out of this world yeah that angle too on the 180 that makes it looks so big it’s a clean run kind like this post run interview super so Travis tell me how did it feel man it did not feel like rain my wedding day Nils sounds confident Nils M with an 87 Travis Rice with an 80 that is the first time Travis Rice has lost since I think Bal face in 20202 yes when Dustin Craven won Nils has broken his streak two more runs what do you guys think you ready NS mck dude let’s go congrats buddy coming up all the way from duels you beat Victor davier in Durango yesterday you plowed through the competition to get here the Coral’s going crazy and here you are in your first ever natural selection tour final you got to be riding high right now dude I’m so stoked blown away I feel like every time you take a run here you always look back and there’s like things you want to perfect and uh so you don’t really know until until you end up with a score and I’m I’m tripping did you know it when you came down were you like that that was probably enough no I didn’t think so like I knew it could be enough um but it’s like if Travis lands a Travis run then I would totally understand if it wasn’t there’s always room for improvement right so I’m just like oh I messed this and that up but I couldn’t have done much better I don’t think so what’s the strategy now any shift in how you’re approaching this event or are you just going to go up and figure it out I have no idea where I’m going to go riding now I feel like I’ve gone like a few different Lanes I might just try a similar Lane and maybe Step It Up um granted the consistency like hitting the same line might dock me some points but I’m I don’t know probably talk to my fellow cohorts and come up with a little battle plan well dude get the hell out of here you got a heli to jump in with Mikey cicarelli two more laps Nails men Nick everybody bu repping that sweet AR’s [Music] gear Neils mck has booked his place in the final up against Mikey cicerelli two Riders who have never made a natural selection toour a final Travis Rice receiving the traditional Battle Cry of those who’ve been knocked out one of us he hasn’t felt that for a while say he hasn’t joined that crew in a minute so that’s a exciting designation in itself okay we’re going to take a quick break but before we do let’s check in with skido who are one of the essential tools for anyone wanting to get into the back country the SC are just excellent workhorses we are able to move personnel and gear into locations that are otherwise inaccessible not only are they an incredible tool they also just plain fun there’s a lot of ways to access the that country but when it comes to production you need something that can get you there fast and with ease the unbridled power and performance they see saying is almost more fun on the way up than the vard is on the way down these sleds are Paramount to the success of these events all the way through from the first time we put boots Andor Sleds on the ground through event completion and and load out we couldn’t pull off Natural Selection tour without the support of skido hands down [Music] [Applause] [Music] explore the backcountry like never before use onx Backcountry to map your backpacking trips with our extensive out building toolkit search thousands of mountain bike trails and track your rides discover Backcountry ski zones with integrated guide books Avalanche assessment tools and up-to-date weather reports and find the CAG with ease in 3D to access climbing routes whether you’re a seasoned Explorer or heading out for the first time onx Backcountry empowers you to Adventure with [Music] confidence hey you ready that’s good [Music] [Music] how are you [Music] [Music] he [Music] it all comes down to this the yeti natural selection tour finals 2024 here in the cerk Tangers heli Tena we have two finals matchups that are worthy of the venue and the conditions let’s take a closer look at them Todd yeah this is going to be insane they’ve been battling out for days right now so for the men Mikey cicerelli up against Nils mindich and my gosh this is going to be two guys that I didn’t really see in the beginning of this thing popping into the final so this is going to be really interesting two underdogs taking each other on and look at the scouts they’ve taken along the way Nils has taken out Travis and Jared and Mikey’s taken out torstein and Austin sweeten like he’s in he’s in Dreamland right now absolutely and I mean it’s like look Nels is kind of like the Ned Flanders of snowboarding like he’s he’s got such a positive outlook and he’s all high diddly ho but he just took down the goat Travis Rice in his own event how do you think Travis feels about that not good not good at all no he definitely I mean we’ve said Jared and Travis both Fierce competitors but we’re seeing the same on this side I feel like Jamie Anderson almost let that semi-final slip to her fingers because she was so l a fair about it yeah you know Mary Rand is hungry and Maran played to her skill set which is bigger Backcountry style riding um of natural featur she’s not relying on her airtime but Mary Rand with that big backside 360 that’s how she found her way into this and like I said she is hungry and no doubt they are hungry to rivan R1 T’s up for grabs as we move into the finals the women are up first Marian heti out of Shaman going up against Mary Rand out of Mount Baker take a breath people this one is going to go to the fences you good okay QR code down at the bottom there if you want some exclusive NST merch you can scan that you can also turn your gear Into Cash bu rent or sale now though it’s the turn of Marian hey to drop in a year off in 2023 she’s come back and made finals in 2024 so if I was going to tell Marian some advice here on this final run she needs to play to what her strengths are taking the big drops and the untapped terrain she’s not going to beat Mary Rand at the air game so she needs to play to her strength that’s exactly what she’s doing here decent drop hammers out of that one she’s got a heavy bit of work done up top yeah she’s crising here through the midsection of the course coming in here’s a little roll over backside three nose butter holds on to that one so that was a little bit more freestyle than I kind of was expecting out of Marin but like hey you get ey of the tiger here in the finals she did actually ride a bit of slope at Europa cup level so she’s got she has got freestyle smarts in there it was just a case of dusting them off but that was really tasty yeah it was and it was very smooth so she has that big drop up top and now she moves into the lower part of the course here tail grab still kind of waiting for that big move she needs to find herself in some terrain that she can get a big drop to end this with she started off with a bang because she knows that there’s possibly some big back flips and rotations coming by her competitor yeah she needs a full stop on this run doesn’t she she goes looking for some exposure here you see that rock exposed slowing down a little bit I would have liked to seen a straight line into that but there she go so top to bottom full run I know what you mean about that hesitation but equally killing all of that speed meant that she found the transition was able to stand up on that Landing absolutely the judges will love it though if you go into it with a lot more speed and a little bit more Reckless abandon well it’s run one she’s going to get to see a score off the back of this and she’ll know well we’ve seen Marian do this before the first year in Jackson in 2021 she came in really really light and she actually waited for mistake stakes from other Riders to capitalize on she’s very smart super smart competitor she does just enough to see where she’s going to sit and how does she have to up it on run number two that is perfect strategy for competition especially in finals like this where you’ve got so much pressure this is the first time of asking for Mary Rand she’s just arrived at Natural Selection she finds herself in the finals against one of the most experienced women in the field and she looks pretty relaxed she does look relaxed she also looks really amped now I know like competitors sometimes get a little bit too over amped when they go into an event and that can come kind of sometimes bring on maybe flying past Landings or not really being you know paying attention as much as you probably should well adrenaline kills intuition it doesn’t seem to have had any ill effects though on that top section as she bounces over that spine I think she’s looking for that wind lip that’s down here nope actually took a different run line on this so now she’s kind of just out in the flats Meandering around it seems like maybe she gave up a couple opportunities to hit some stuff there well interesting she started off on the Shady Side of the face and she’s going out to find some sunlight now but yeah if you get that top section wrong then you’ve got a huge chunk of flats to get through haven’t you yeah you really do and there’s a lot of time and if you get in the wrong line you’re basically out of luck as far as getting your board in the air and really playing to what the judges want to see so now she kind of gets back into some opportunity little front side air off that little knob and she’ll head down here into this saddle same Zone that we saw Nels and Travis attacking in the semis Nels and Travis kind of peeled off to the right but it looks like Mary’s going right on top of this little bench here and I know that there’s a couple Cliffs over here kind of tic tacking her way through here trying to find herself on top of something that could possibly give her some points because right now I’m going to claim it that Marian’s got the advantage little drop little tail grab right there and that’ll basically do it for Mary’s run okay very solid top to bottom but we talked about there being a Crux in Marian’s run and I feel like there’s the same there both of them seem to have taken this slow and steady approach I think Marin with the drop up top and maybe you know that butter backside 360 I’m going to say that the advantage is going to her right now yeah that was beautiful really really strong trying to think who it was in the first round of the men’s I think it was Austin went back seven off there off his toes like so so difficult to spin downhill like that but she made it look easy yeah and you see from that GoPro angle you know just the amount of speed maintenance that has to come into this because the snow as the day has moved on it it’s gotten warmer and the snow is getting a little bit more Punchy where it’s chewed up so you need to really be on your feet actually see a crown line there a little bit of snow getting gone when uh you saw Mary’s GoPro so as Mary came down here I just feel like Mary ran out of features to really stack points on this run she turns this into a double low gets across onto that other little popper there yeah little hop out but if I have to be a j I got to wear the judge’s uh cap right now I’m going to say that Maran takes the advantage I think I got it What’s mar Looking ready for scores but she’s going to be selling nfts of the so Mar and ha t on a 74 Mary Randa on a 69 you called it Todd I think that’s it’s close enough you know that there is some wiggle room in there Mary has some work to do on run number twoo you can see the boys there beanie on helmets enjoying their po beers having a sick day behind the banners one of us is the cry that’s what you don’t want to hear when you’re competing in natural selection it means that you’ve been knocked out the losers Club I believe they call that okay back up at the top these two both in their first ever natural selection finals Nils menck going up against this man Mikey cerelli Mikey been so smooth so composed all day he’s found some great lines so I wonder if Mikey’s going to play to what got him here and take that line that ends up in the big wind liet Mikey’s background is also in slope style he knows how to get it done in the air Mikey coming in switch into this little knob roll over right here switch 540 stays up on his feet comes up a little bit short in the rotation but able to put the board back under him now he heads into this launcher into Oblivion sets it up backside Rodeo 7 kind of hand grenades into the landing oh that’s two Landings that hav’t like that one he stopped dead on he did absolutely so Nils up top is going to be licking his chops right now well he’ll have seen that one for sure he might not have seen the cab 450 but he will have seen that uh Rodeo 7 it’s kind of that Andreas wig kind of more just slightly off axis wasn’t it d The Dump over into an off axis backside 720 but he needs a little bit more air time to get that done so Mikey looking down here for a couple more opportunities down towards the bottom of the course and that’ll kind of wrap it up as far as the big scoring potential here’s that little diving board that he made short work of this morning oh kind of almost like front side board slide 270s off that little knob that was really cool he’s doing well now he’s in Salvage mode for this run at this stage remember the Falls don’t necessarily really count towards taking away from a score because just kind of like will hurt your flow score yeah it’s it’s points missed in terms of flow but it’s not you’re not getting penalized for the fall itself the judging criteria is Credo creativity risk execution difficulty and overall so so he would be taxed on the execution of that because he didn’t exactly land perfect actually both of those tricks but the top one that could have been you could have written that one off the 540 that didn’t come all the way around because he did combo that into that second drop just was a little butt check good that sounds like an natural selection to stomp hey easy come I know cude this is literally the the heckling crew that when you come down and they’re all in descending height order too that’s why I think is really important that they’ve set that up that way you could say there’s hierarchy to it as well very much so okay back up at the top it’s our second semi-finalist Neils Minnick he took down Travis Rice the first man to do so in almost two years now his task is taking on the Canadian Mikey cicerelli and he jumped him with some intent there yeah Nils is serious business I mean he grew up in Vermont and people that come out of the east coast of the United States are extremely motivated because they have a chip on their shoulder says the East coaster switch off the top there all the way in there are we going to see so I used the phrase mold when I described the way Niels took Victor davier to town in his jeel it looks like Nils might be laying down a full switch run oh no he’s back to forwards now out of that butter back three I’ve got say that when Nils rides switch and you were commenting on this before the way that his front shoulder sits it doesn’t look like he’s riding switch and that’s incredibly difficult to do to not make it just look like you’re going down the hill backwards nil does a Nils does a really good job of uh the body language of riding your opposite foot so he’s laid down a run that any of the other Riders would have been proud of the entire top section but it’s switch think of it like pinball the multiplying effect that has on the score right now is just huge well it it’s the it’s the eyes of an engineer as he’s just putting things together a little tree tap here and totally new train he’s he’s broken trail in the final when we’ve got so many tracks through this face he’s found a new corner to go and explore this is such a statement in his first run yeah there’s I mean there’s sections of this course that are completely paved meaning that there’s just so many tracks in them that it’s it’s really hard to find a soft Landing but Nils opening up a completely new section wow that was a great read from Niels that was a fairly devastating run for Mikey cerelli that was emphatic start to finish so Mikey cicerelli there’s nothing wrong with this run he comes up short on a couple of jumps but it’s a really strong pitch for him like he’s going for gold like he wants the win here he’s got some big technical tricks up top he’s taking risks you could have written that uh that 540 off right there but this is glaringly obvious that he just hot tubbed that Landing that slowed his momentum down he did try to make up for it here there’s that little front side board slide pop off 270 but this is this is just incredible this for me this is on a par with some of the runs we saw from Torin and Travis in Alaska 22 just watch his arms and how comfortable he is landing switch stance in powder it is crazy so the entire top section up to there the first 400 m like 12200 ft of the runner switch yeah very ambidextrous riding and then this was my favorite part almost of the run that little Olie out to tree bch Bonk and then into that untapped section of Steeps this is going to be a huge score for NS okay ready for scor at Finish 80 points for Nils Minnick 60 for Mikey cicerelli there is a void between them after this first run that is a big big deficit Mikey cerelli making a face like he’s going to work now remember it only takes one to get it done so these scores can all be thrown out all you need to do is be the highest scoring run and you will go home with the win and the rivan so second run of the women now and it’s Marian hay with a five-point lead over Mary Rand as they come to these second runs and it’s going to be interesting to see how Mary ran deals with that pressure I haven’t seen her in a situation like this before plenty of Mary said it earlier plenty of rail jams where you’ve got a very loose Jam format field to those rail jams it’s very different when you know that the eyes of the snowboard world are on you and you’re under pressure right and this is such a prestigious event too I mean just getting the invite to come here and compete is huge now you find yourself in the finals like it is a magnifying glass on your riding Maran heate drops in right up on the top of that shoulder similar line to what she took in the Run previous she’s looking to get into that Cliffy section up top needs to start pointing it over these Cliffs nice drop out a little bit lower came off the side of that Cliff band not quite as exposed she could be setting herself up for something else over here this is where she threw it into the backside three nose butter doesn’t get it this time though kind of missed the timing with the nose drag but now she’s kind of put over into the middle of the saddle in some fresh snow so it’s kind of zapping a little bit of her speed be I don’t think that she’s going to be able to build on this no she’s going to need something very special pretty critical down here to make a difference to this score and push it up and for me that a 74 that she sat on is good but it is far from safe no it’s not safe at all front side 360 Mary Rand is looking at this like okay where can I play to my strength she’s got that backflip she likes to bring that out and it does always get the Wows and the big points it’s really you know it’s not the hardest trick in snowboarding but it definitely always seems to reward it’s a crowd pleaser it is a crowd pleaser and the judges are part of the crowd and if you can do something that Wows the judges just a little bit more than the person you’re competing against that’s all it takes there’s a couple speed checks into that little drop off and that’ll do it for this run there’s not really much more scoring potential here down towards the bottom maybe a little mini drop but that’s it I think I think Marian’s run up top wasn’t nearly as good as her first run for me that’s a missed opportunity yeah she had a chance to build on that and put that out of sight she could have put it Beyond Mary Rand but she what was interesting you called it she needed to get earlier off that Cliff she just worked her way down off the side of it I think you know it’s it’s one thing for us to sit here and call this because we can see from a different point of view than the Riders it must just roll over and you can’t tell how big it is or how flat it’s going to be super shaded yes in that section as well now that the sun’s come around it all comes down to this for Mary Rand it’s been a Cinderella Story So Far here in British Columbia she turned up in Revel Stoke and took Hana Bean to town in the qualifiers and it’s it’s interesting too because you know you have Neils mind from the east coast and also Mary is from Rhode Island a state that you wouldn’t necessarily equate with big mountain riding but like I said East Coasters have a chip on their shoulder and they can put that to good use as Mary begins her Trek down that same shoulder that we saw Maran go down is she going to stay in the sun though or is she going to float off onto that shaded side I will be trying to stay in the Sun as much as possible because that’s where you get the definition looking for a little nose here on this Cliff so coming off exactly the the same spot as marry and they’re right off the corner of that now if I’m Mary I’m pointing it into this and I’m just going to toss a back flip right here this is probably one of the only places that she’ll have the opportunity to do it in this run goes to the backside three and stays up back three to back nose butter yeah that’s what you’re comparing they’re very similar top section and I will argue that the backside 360 nose butter may not have been on purpose I think that that was a it looked really cool it worked itself out but I’m not I think it may have been a pre- takeoff on a back three but any judge will tell you you judge what you see you don’t judge what you think it was supposed to be ex right so there’s a little front side air Mary needs to find her way into something new I would I mean I don’t know why they’re not going I guess they can’t really see where like Niels went or where Travis went over into that that Gully off to the Rider’s right it just seems to be there’s so much untapped opportunity over in there well it’s only got one track down through here keep the flow keep that pace up and that’s another thing too is we talk about the flow you can’t just really stop on top of things and assess as she comes to a stop right on top of this right here you kind of want to keep that flow going on full switch back here we go what has she got she’s got a drop over a little Bush right there she just needs to point it off of this and she could potentially take this thing home oh and she almost opts for going down the ridge line there we go oh lands on her back a little bit I don’t know I don’t know I think Marian’s got the Dr itself no but when you take that whole section together and you look for the judges she’s broken up the entire flow of the run with that with that I don’t think can recover from that she may have one more opportunity nope there it is there’s the the turn back on the goat path I think Marian’s got this I think that she by virtue of run number one and the flow that she had with that little Cliff drop and also that backside 360 nose butter and she stayed up on her feet and was smooth I think she’s going to take the advantage yeah Marian definitely not improving from that first run score so we know that there’s a 74 on the board for Maran let’s not forget these Riders would have been busting out of Rebel Stoke at around 6 6:30 a.m. yeah backto back days this is this is an emotionally taxing ride for any of these Riders not to mention physically we’re coming up on nearly 3:00 now 3:15 they’ve been up in the hills for more than 7 hours riding pretty hard so Mary yeah she she’s looking really good up to this point I think if she could have delivered in that final section there would be a question mark but yeah okay judges are ready where is this going to be9 it’s a 59 for Marian 62 for Mary which means the first run scores will count Marian heti is your 2024 Yeti natural selection winner here in the cirk Tangers hel ten Mar and her come on your Yeti natural selection Champion Marian you’ve stood on the podium of these events before but never on top how are you feeling right now I just can’t believe it it’s a a dream come true you know you know I wrote a message to Travis like four years ago to say hey can I come hung I would with you guys I’m really motivated to come and know I the dream is here so I can’t believe it yeah how would you describe today and your experience as a whole I was really in a kind of video part mode I was not thinking about competition I was like okay what is beautiful to do how I can be better on every run so yeah I was without the strategy just having fun and just happy to be here with all the friends and people here congratulations Marian well done you deserve it thank you so much wow what a Champion it’s been a long time coming for Marian heti she made finals in Jackson in 2021 and lost out to Zoe Sadowski sin she made finals this year though and she has taken the title now we switch our attention to the men though where Mikey cicerelli Trails Nils Minnick by 20 points Nils with a breathtaking first run tot yeah Nels just absolutely Came Out Swinging on run number one and you know nils’s personality and what his background is it it plays to his writing he’s very precise he knows exactly where to put tricks he knows how to find and Link them together and that’s I mean that is the mark of someone that is really Progressive in their field but in in essence especially with his tricks Mikey cicerelli is no less clinical no he’s definitely Mikey’s got Mikey’s got a couple tricks here that if he can nail both of these it’s going to be difficult here he goes coming in switch so much less Sun here though now really shaded side of the Hill switch five Indie and goes Gigantor on that that was probably one of the biggest tricks that we’ve seen done all day long setting him up here for this backside hit he wants that alleyoop 7 kind of a little bit of a tail drag on that but I’ll give it to him I like to call that the deck chair yeah exactly a little bit of a jet ski how much speed was he ditching on the way in as well he knew how fast he was going yeah and you know sometimes those wind Lippy jumps that are really poppy like that they’re real fun to get yourself in the air but man are they flat okay coming across right on the outside of this I think only Travis has been out here this is the only track he’s following right now so we’re looking here this is where the little diving board is he went alop Style on this before almost like a front side board slide no pops out and backside three off finds that transition again now he’s hauling but I mean look the big meat and potatoes of that run little Melancholy there the big meat and potatoes of that run was the Indie cab 5 off of that roller it was way bigger than I thought that he was going to go and he came out of that thing just screaming it it looked like he under rotated on takeoff that’s what I thought I thought he was coming up 270 once again and wow what a great showing up top for cerelli Jamie Sage Jared Haley to Austin and Travis that five but it went way further like it got good Air Time Back Road Seven all the way around but I did a bit of a like Cy stomp you know what range you’re in right uh good yeah but we’ll see kind of did that little pillow back Mike one is the best I mean come on that’s that’s the best part of the the final like you don’t want to listen to us you just listen to those guys far more qualified to commentate on this okay one man left at the top of this Mountain Still to drop he currently leads the 2024 natural selection tour finals here in the cirk Tangers nsman Nick has a win at his fingertips Mikey cicarelli has just put down a big statement run we won’t know what the scores are until the end of this run so we have no idea how Mikey scored but we know Niels the switch King here in the back country is going to dig deep because he doesn’t know what Mikey did all he saw was him take off and then blast out into the flats so once again dropping switch from the top consequential turns and he’s making it look relatively pedestrian switch back three off that upper Cliff kind keeps it up just powers out of it switch stance now coming into yeah this is insane coming into this next roller what’s he got is he going to go switch front thre oh wow switch side switch stand front side 360 still are we going to see a switch run we talked about a switch run top to bottom bottom in the last time and he he swung it round at this point he’ done the whole of the top run but I think we might see a whole an entire switch run here God I would love that Nils just looking so comfortable here coming into this next little pop off section little switch frontside air kick out wow what a statement yeah absolutely just I mean he’s playing to the the the judge’s Credo he’s making it difficult he’s making the difficult look easy he’s taking a bigger Risk by riding switch Dan here well it’s an engineer’s approach to a judging criteria you’re going to load the points if I come down switch absolutely everyone else is coming at this thing like a high school dropout homeboy over here is honors program he’s doing switch powder turns that look so good and now he’s moving into the top of the saddle that’s got some exposure this is where he NOP he’s taking a different line here going to do this switch oh lift drop to in the back seat run out wow top to bottom fully switched this is the only time he’s going his natural stance is on the goat path on the way out so Nils mic wow this is going to be interesting to see how we do here I I’m giving it to now but that was gigantic that Indie 7 I mean that uh excuse me cab five with the Indie grab was massive look at this boom he is kind of inverted on that and just takes it way down the landing but you don’t whole L you don’t get it done with one trick though there’s a little bit of a back seat on the back Rodeo 7 didn’t really hampers flow too too much and there’s that redirect on the little snow Boulder but Nils switch back three above exposure yep yeah and that’s I mean he’s riding out of that out SP then the switch front side 360 the run out on that was Immaculate look at that he even gets the grab the switch switch front side grab little switch front side air switch Cliff drop to Flat that he has to just power out soak that one up go same line kind of same line yeah yes little left little right little left pop pop Bob he’s not giving he doesn’t want to demoralize Mikey at this stage Does He Man Yeah did the thing switch all right finish ready for scores what is this going to beik whoa Mikey ciseri an 85 for Mikey cicerelli and 81 for Nils Minnick so token gesture for the switch riding Mikey cerelli does it with some big big [Music] freestyle oh my God okay congratulations [Applause] nobody doesn’t like Mike mik oh my God you guys are so kind holy crap Mikey Mikey Mikey how we feeling bud I think I know I am ecstatic uh shocked again I feel like this whole day has been shocking so whoa yeah that’s all I can say is I feel like I feel like you took a break from competitive snowboarding to to get into the back country and today just now everything just came full circle for you because you just won the 2024 Yeti natural selection yeah that sounds crazy coming out of your voice there but yeah I honestly left the contest World wanted just to have more fun on my board and honestly today was just a lot of fun so that’s all I’m trying to do how were you feeling coming out of that last run just now when we saw you you looked a little confident but kind of like I don’t know how it went I was very unsure I knew I put some good stuff down but you know Nails has been shredding all day so I was like it was a tossup for sure well hey man enjoy the moment I’m proud of you [Music] [Applause] congratulations celebration at the top of the mountain the guides and the crew all enjoying themselves and two new Yeti natural selection tour champions for 2024 Marian hati and Mikey cicarella getting that Pub bear sprak done a great job there no shortage of things to chew over in the post show Tob no I can’t wait to talk about this I mean ultimately today was a day of underdogs and unexpected Brilliance on this course I mean look the last matchup between Nils mik and his switch riding versus a couple big tricks by Mikey cicerelli there is a lot to talk about in this posto yeah we’re going to uh chew it all over in the natural Reflections post Show sponsored by PB beer uh while we take a break I’m going to wash some of the egg off my face see you in a sec [Music] he [Music] he [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] I showed up in the peman valley in 1998 the backyard was was huge in the 2000s there were so many film crews out here and it was a real rat race the snowboarding was growing so fast it was about getting shots you know getting the Ender in the DVD or getting the open money that was being thrown at snowboarding was insane I only really wanted a free ride so I kind of didn’t really care what everybody else was doing I think those guys had their own little scene they were doing it because they L doing it there was a passion to it from the beginning and even still now was about like like living locally and kind of having a bunch of things in grasp over time you gain a familiarity with these spaces and I think that’s what it takes to have a life in the [Music] mountains welcome to the Natural Reflections post show we’ll be pulling apart all of the action in just a moment but first we want to give a shout out to our sustainability Partners Yeti have been on board since day one and committed to the tours mission for being plastic free we’ve also got Tae on board who are creating carbon Fury non-radioactive clean Fusion Energy let’s check it out elevating the conversation around sustainability has been a priority for natural selection from day one mother nature is our main character and we are proud to partner with inspiring companies who are dedicated to sustainability Yeti has been instrumental to developing natural selection sustainability strategy proving that you can do good business but also remain committed to tackling the impact of climate change Natural Selections use of Yeti drink wear thereby reducing plastic use is only one small example of how we continue to collaborate Tae is one of the most Innovative companies in the world developing commercial fusion power and the cleanest environmental profile Fusion is Nature’s preferred source of energy it’s the same process that powers the sun and stars and it’s what makes life viable on Earth natural selection road trip with rivan across Colorado during duels and up to Revelstoke showcasing e capabilities in the mountains rivan sets a great example for others to follow as we are seeing rapid advancements towards electrifying snowmobiles and helicopters for over 30 years ride snow wordss has been testing and employing new manufacturing techniques to decrease raw materials needed for production As Natural selection’s official snowboard partner ride gets our dedicated crew into the mountains to make the magic happen A New Earth project is an Innovative company that works with many outdoor Brands to employ sustainable packaging Solutions less packaging waste means less plastic pollution in places where we play both in the mountains and on the water lastly ARX is dedicated to making gear that will last a lifetime through its rebird program designed to care and repair the most durable outerwear on the market natural selection is stoked and ins ired to partner with Brands who have proven their commitment to Mother Nature showing that you can do good business while also being committed to our planet okay it’s time for the Post show joining me back in the booth are both Todd Richards and Mary Walsh no shortage of things to discuss here uh let’s start with the winning runs though and we’ll kick it off with the women’s final where Marian heti took the win Mary I think this is a huge day not only for Marian but also just for natural selection in general to see a rider that has been here since the very beginning rise to the very top of the podium it’s so exciting you know she took a year off last year to rehab an injury and came back just riding so strong bringing her her expertise in the mountains from sh like you have saided into this train well and also to we talked about this a little in the commentary strategic now she put that first run down I think she knew exactly what she needed to do set herself up well to anticipate what possibly could come from Mary ran and it actually worked out for her in the long run on the men’s side of things Mikey cerelli this was huge and I really think that was the differentiation between those two runs I mean yeah Nils went switch his entire run but it was this gigantic combo of moves for cicarelli although I would have liked to have seen that a little bit smoother it really was that giant cap five that got it done for him okay we’ll take a look now at the send of the day and in the men’s that belonged to Jared Elston same hit as Mikey cicerelli got his work done but a chicane the chicane is really a faith move basically what you’re doing is digging your toe Edge as you come in switch stance and dumping it over in basically a a sideways front flip you see it right there and it’s Faith because as you come around you don’t really know if you’re going to over rotate or not and to do it with that much speed and at that size definitely is the same Andy s of the day piece of living snowboard history there haven’t seen one of those for a while now women send of the day belonged to Mary Rand this backside 360 from the semi-finals against Jamie Anderson I think what we all learned here today is that Mary Rand is an absolute contest killer I mean a lot of the writers here have come up through SL style halfpipe things like that Mary Rand didn’t um but she did come from Rhode Island cut her teeth and small mountains mov to Washington and she is bred for the cont I think it’s really exciting watching her and this was a display of banner boarding Instinct you talked about it Mary and in the commentary she’s got that same fire that we see in Jared elster yes 100% and no doubt we’re going to see a lot more of that fire over the coming Winters now once everything had wrapped up on top of mosquito Bowl the rider shuttled down to the cirk Tangers heli staging area at Albert Canyon there’s no shortage of Pub beer and they were met by all of the Riders who have been knocked out on qualifying day two rivan trucks waiting to be given away as well the two r1ts well the 2024 Yeti natural selection Selkirk Tangers officially wrapped they say any good day in the back country is when every single person makes it back to the trail head and we got the whole Squad here we are just about ready to Crown a champion starting with the women today was a day of days blue skies super warm unbelievably blower poow and the riding was out of this world in third place from South Lake Tahoe winning $5,000 give it up for Jamie Anderson [Music] [Applause] thank you [Laughter] wow give it up for [Music] [Applause] Jamie moving on to second place she came up through the duels she beat Spencer O’Brien at Red Mountain came to reel Stoke in selker Tangers and officially staked her claim in snowboarding history from narraganset Rhode Island Mary [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] ran yeah Mary come on one more time she’s taking home $10,000 and then in first place she put on a hell of a show here in Rebel Stoke and cirk T Anders winning a rivan r1t these things were designed for adventure and caring about the planet for generations to come it’s a fully electric truck it’s the wave of the future from Shaman France Mary and [Applause] hary one more time for all three of these ladies they put on a [Applause] [Music] [Applause] show the day that these dudes had was absolutely unbelievable in third place winning $5,000 from Jackson Hole Wyoming you’ve probably heard of this dude give it up for Travis Rice [Music] [Applause] look at this Frozen in time just like Han Solo this next rider was a threat all day he posted the second highest score of the day Nails men [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Nick Neils is taking home a cool $10,000 for his efforts he also came up through du so we got two duelers in the finals and now our champion I think this place is going to explode he’s every snowboarder favorite snowboarder we are so stoked to see him on the top of the podium he rode like an actual champion today he is your Champion he’s Mikey cerelli [Applause] [Music] yeah miky is also taking home a rivan r1t let’s give it up for your three men’s [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Champions well that officially wraps the 2024 Yeti natural selection both in Rebel Stoke and cirk Tangers thank you all for watching thank you to the Riders thank you to the NST crew thank you to everybody at cirk Tangers and rebel Stoke as well as all of our supporting Brands we love you we’ll see you next year little bit of a backstory on these trophies they were created by Tom Ruth and the team at FYI design uh one of the most legendary product designers in all of snowboarding you can see on the side of them there a USB port you can actually charge these and then they light up this stunning glaz or blue color uh snowboarding routs go so so deep with this crew so a massive thank you to them for creating these now though we just have a bit of time to say thank you to all of our partners at Natural Selection my name is Carter Westfall I’m a co-founder and CEO of natural selection I want to take this time to recognize the partners um who are part of natural selection because without their support none of what you’re seeing would be possible you know our story goes back to the fall of 2020 when Yeti’s CEO Matt ryes visit Travis and I at Jackson Hole together we walked the course at Jackson and they could Envision what we were trying to create something super Innovative really taking a whiteboard and creating something special and new and they took a risk on us so now we’re in our fourth year and just working with Incredible Partners who are all playing a super functional role to how we execute the events Partners we work with are instrumental to getting a job done relying really heavily on the gear and equipment that we bring out with us to have a good day out there we work with some of the highest caliber athletes in the field and we work with some of the best PRS in the field and and there’s this expectation that our gear keeps up with us and our equipment keeps up with us and I’m really proud of the partners we work with I’m really stoked to work with the partners we work with and really grateful in what we get to do because of them I mean our whole outfit everything we do is supported by our partners and last but not least I want to give a special thank you to Red Bull they’ve been with us from day one they’re bringing all this content to a global audience and we couldn’t be here without their support and that draws to a close to 2024 Yeti natural selection tour it’s been emotional Todd you know this is the competition that everyone talks about they can’t wait to sit down and watch it and this year did not disappoint I can’t wait for the next one I think it’s clear watching the Riders carrying the co-founder of NST Liam Griffin just how much this contest and this event means to snowboarding and to all of us I mean this is a true snowboarders snowboarding contest and I can’t wait till next year yeah we can say thank you to all of you for watching but Liam and his crew what they’re able to do it’s easy to forget just how much of a privilege it is to watch snowboarding of this level in the back country live thank you all so much we look forward to seeing you in 2025 [Music] wait a minute this is not where I parked my rivan oh my God you can take off for the right too a little higher eh yeah [Music] oh my God [Music] Mar how is that snow is it insane yeah I got a little [Music] needed this is going to be oh baby talk dirty to [Music] me oh my god dude that was nuts come on here we go here we go holy yeah [Music] wor guys we can put the we can put the crowd noise in it’s [Applause] post mik [Music] wow oh I was on Photo mode hold on [Music] bring it home [Music] [Applause] [Music] brother clean yeah Marion wins with her first [Music] [Applause] [Music] run get on Yo nice work boys heavy clipping God wo yeah nice [Music] [Applause] [Music] work 85 85 81 81 [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] cheers conrat good St cheap on beer I was lucky enough to to win the thing and now I’m driving in a brand new revie an r1t which is pretty wild breaks for itself it’s very nice I think I’ll put it to the test as well there is something in this car that you feel good you know the handling is really easy I don’t know it’s so so nice easy easy peasy [Music] h [Music] he [Music]
3 Comments
Alright, lets cure those post season blues. LETS GO!
Who is this tool bag brit and why is he all over the coverage? He knows nothing about the sport or culture. Can we just get HiBeams and TR?? The experience is so much better with commentary from people who know what they are talking about.
Watching this first day recovering from ACL surgery from insufficient speed on a big jump. I can't wait to get back out there!!!!