The Natural Selection Tour aims to be the highest echelon of competitive snowboarding, and its focus is on the backcountry.
The newest competition in the wintersports world — the Natural Selection Tour — will embrace the toughest, most varied, and most difficult backcountry terrain across three worldwide locations. A brainchild and dream of pro snowboarder Travis Rice, it’s the world’s first backcountry-based competition.
Aside from the Burton U.S. Open, Freeride World Tour, and FIS World Snowboarding Cup, there aren’t that many major pro-level snowboarding comps. And none so far have had such an emphasis on the backcountry.
Sixteen men and eight women will ride in the inaugural tour. Half of the riders were announced this week; the rest will be announced in January. It’s not known why there is a gender disparity in the number of competitors. The Natural Selection Tour committee handpicks each competitor, which includes Pat Bridges, editor of Snowboarder Magazine, and pro snowboarders Barrett Christy Cummins and Travis Rice.
The opening event in Jackson Hole will air on Feb. 3-9, 2021, on Red Bull TV for free. You can watch a teaser below.
Natural Selection Tour: The Terrain
The three locations on the tour are Jackson Hole Mountain Resort in Wyoming, Baldface Lodge in Nelson, British Columbia, and Tordrillo Mountain in Alaska. At each location, the competition will rely on how well riders tackle natural backcountry and inbounds terrain.
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