Natural Reflections

1. The Only Thing Better Than A Live Steam? Spectating In The Flesh

NST is undoubtedly changing the way backcountry events are showcased. Helmed by COO Liam Griffin, the production team deploys experienced snowboard filmers across umpteen angles, futuristic FPV drones, and a shit-ton of expensive and complicated broadcast equipment to beam the feed from the backcountry just outside of Revelstoke Mountain Resort to southern California. From there, angles are pieced together, enhanced or tarnished with commentary (depending on who you ask), and sent worldwide. The end product, from the opinion of this self-admitted mega-fan who’s seen every stream, is pretty damn good. However, even the best live stream pales in comparison to watching the event live. At least it does in Revelstoke. I tried to watch the Jackson events live back in the day and you were lucky to catch a glimpse of Gore-Tex screaming through the trees.

Montana Bowl, on the other hand, lends itself to spectating. A sloping bowl peppered with natural and manmade features up top rolls into a precipitous amphitheater of spines and totem pole-like pillow stacks. While the upper stretch of the course is difficult to see, NST set up a JumboTron so the live audience could watch the top hits. However, the meat and potatoes of the course—the big dog lines, monster drops, and most puckering pillow stacks—all are in full view of a surprisingly big crowd gathered below. 

Watching riders navigate seemingly unrideable tech-gnar, lace doubles and triples at full-throttle, and spin into space live was truly incredible. That’s an overused adjective, but the definition of incredible is “impossible to believe,” and that’s exactly how I’d describe the vibe down at the base. Event organizers, filmers, photographers, media, Revy locals, and random blow-ins—even fellow competitors watching their peers show up and show out—all of us were constantly in disbelief. As fantastic as the broadcast and drones and camera angles all are, the scope and consequence of these death-defying lines and aerial backcountry wizardry cannot be translated to a screen. I know I sound like an acid-addled Woodstock attendee, lamenting how the grainy footage and muddled sound could never do the psychedelic scene and the muddy orgies justice, but shit man, you just had to be there. 

Another aspect that makes spectating the move? The zone sits just outside of Revelstoke Mountain Resort’s boundaries, looker’s right of the aptly named Stoke Chair. To get there, you can follow a slog of a cat track traverse or, if you have avalanche safety gear, you can bootpack or tour in, scoring blower pow en route to the event. Both days, I scored deep turns and fun poppers on my way to Montana Bowl, which enabled me to focus on the competition instead of lamenting my own lack of face shots. I imagine it’s a bit like watching a live-taping of Iron Chef—you don’t want to come on an empty stomach, unable to enjoy the culinary mastery on display due to the gurgling in your gut.

2.   If Mother Nature Is The Star Of The Show, What Does That Make Dustin Craven?

“Mother Nature is the star of the show” is a classic NST marketing tagline, one repeated consistently throughout the broadcasts. I suppose if Mother Nature is the star of the show, Dustin Craven and his band of chainsaw-wielding theater nerds are the set designers. 

These gnarchitects spent the summer lumberjacking off in the nooks of Montana Bowl, sculpting and enhancing the already stunning venue into a masterpiece of backcountry freestyle potential. 

Compared to last year, the venue was significantly improved, with more hits and man-made features. Crow’s nest-like pillows, butter pads, and even a log jib purportedly nicknamed Lieutenant Dan all spiced up the competition this year, and provided more options and variety. Perhaps most importantly, more trees were cleared out, giving the riders more room to operate. 

All that to say, much respect to Craven and co. Thanks for the summer of hard work. And shout-out to Craven for yet again representing Revy and stepping to some of the most unrideable pillow towers on the venue. It probably helps that he built those bastards boulder by boulder.

3.   Brin Alexander—From National Treasure To International Spaceman

When Brin Alexander, one of the lesser-known names in the fray, drew first drop at the opening ceremony, the entire theater erupted. If there’s one thing I learned at NST, it’s this: Canadians fuck with Brin. He’s one of their own, born and raised in Whistler. And, as his countrymen will tell you over and over again, he’s dripping with style, unbelievably talented, and criminally underrated. (Reference his instagram @betterthanpolice for evidence).

When Brin dropped into the blank canvas of a venue on day one, he lined up the most glaringly obvious (and outrageously mammoth) drop. We’re talking an absolute annihilator of ACLs. The kind of cliff that gives you time to write your own eulogy mid-air. He blasted off this proud prow, this diving board into hell, grabbed melon, and floated through space longer than those NASA astronauts who just made it back to earth. Unfortunately, this defiance of gravity resulted in Brin crash-landing in a crater-sized bombhole. But the tone was set, and Brin stamped his name forever on that venue. They’ll call it “Brin’s” now. For viewers not previously familiar with his proclivity to send, can you imagine a better first impression?

His second impression was just as fucked. Brin returned to the cliff, and this time floated a massive, styled-out frontside three. I was standing next to last year’s Natural Selection champ and fellow Canadian Mikey Ciccarelli at the base, watching this go down, and Ciccarelli was calling for Brin to go slower. “Slower, slower, creep off it!” he murmured, clearly wanting his homie to put it down to bolts. But Brin didn’t hear him. Brin didn’t creep off it. Brin sent it to the fucking moon. The laidback cosmonaut failed to put down the landing gear, and Ciccarelli and the rest of the crowd simultaneously groaned at the miss and cheered for the balls-to-the-wall bravery required for such an attempt.

Unfortunately, Brin couldn’t make it through the day one rounds, but this introduction to a broader audience proved what his fans already knew: that he belongs on this stage and deserves the spotlight. He seems laidback, humble, and content to let his riding do the talking. That doesn’t always pay off in this business, but with an undeniable performance like that? Hopefully, this is a tipping point in his career, and the DocuSigns and heli budget come flowing in like the cascades of Brandywine come spring melt. 

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4. Ticker $BMO Just Skyrocketed

Another under-rated ripper who made his presence felt at Natty Select? Blake Moller, AKA BMO. If you pay attention to the Freeride World Tour, BMO won the overall title in 2022. Instead of sticking around to defend his throne, which would no doubt require more pedal-to-the-metal shredding in subpar and tracked competition venues, he dipped out to film in powder. “Camp Robbers,” his recent flick with Keegan Hosefros, showcased what BMO can do out of the bib. Clearly, it caught the eyes of Natural Selection top brass, as he got an invite to battle Gabe Ferguson in a banger of a Duel. 

BMO was the last one to make finals day, dropping last in the third round. Back against the ropes, he dropped a three-piece combo that could’ve been in any video part (One of Natural Selection’s ultimate goals is to do just that—facilitate backcountry freestyle shredding in competition that could go clip-for-clip with a top-tier shred video). BMO tossed a massive back seven, straight to a laid-out backflip, zigging into a boosted front five. Style points were through the roof. The ultimate buzzer-beater. If anyone questioned if a Freeride World Tour champ had the freestyle chops to go toe-to-toe with the big dogs, BMO gave ‘em an answer. (Although, to be fair, Nils Mindnich has been giving ‘em that answer for years.)

On finals day, BMO shined, as the venue was steeper and more technical, lending itself to his brand of creative and stylish freeriding. His first run of the morning kicked off with a smooth back three, then he navigated to the top of The Brick, a gargantuan double-stager, that he greased like a diner chef ladling palm oil onto a piping hot griddle. As he sped out of the double line, the crowd below already going wild, he redirected off a pillow, throwing an equally gargantuan cross-court front three. Sandwiching such freeride antics between stylish freestyle? No doubt about it, he’s the complete backcountry package. If NST were a video game, it seems like BMO has the cheat code engaged. 

The above run got him through last year’s champ, and into a heated battle with Gigi Rüf. Digging into his competitive background, BMO laced together a smart, strategic run, dropping tricks up top with a clean pillow line down low, earning a spot in the finals against NST rookie and style savant Stale Sandbech. Sandbech was looking sharp and hard to beat after scoring the highest run of the event with a run packed with three 540s, a suave triple drop, and a method to top it off.  

BMO didn’t play it safe this time, biting off some of the biggest and baddest features on the venue. On his first finals run, he bailed on the runout of a well-sniped, enormous, and puckering double stack. On his second run—the last run of this year’s event—the door was open. Stale had an 80 on board, well within range of a BMO safety run. Instead, the kid went huge, going with a double backflip and a gap-to-pillow tapper up top. At the bottom of the course, he threw a corked seven off a beastly cliff, putting it to his feet, skittering at speed and bouncing like a bad check through a rowdy landing. For a moment, it seemed, he had his fingers wrapped around the first-place trophy, but it slipped away. He got bucked, and had to settle for second—not bad for a rookie on tour. 

Had he stomped, though, it would’ve been one of the greatest moments in Natural Selection history, and, in turn, perhaps, the history of competitive snowboarding. Regardless, his performance was phenomenal from start to finish, and like Brin at this year’s competition, Mikey Ciccarelli last year, and Jared Elston a few years back, this should be a major milestone and tipping point in his career. As Travis Rice commentated during finals day, Blake’s equity is rising. If $BMO were a ticker on the stock exchange, now would be a damn good time to buy. A couple of weeks ago? Well, that would’ve been even better.  

5. The Kids Are Alright

Backcountry riding isn’t typically a grom’s game. The classic path to film pro is coming up in the competitive realm before bringing that bag of tricks to the backcountry. This requires learning how to manage avalanche terrain, how to land in powder, and how to pilot a 600-pound snowmobile—a process that takes time. 

At 24, second-place finisher Blake Moller was the youngest competitor on the men’s side of the draw. The women’s side of things, however, was bursting with young talent. British Columbia’s 21-year-old Estelle Pensiero and 17-year-old Tahoe ripper Ellery Manning both showed up and showed out. While neither could make it through to finals day, the pair of up-and-coming rippers displayed moments of brilliance, and the future of freeriding seems bright.  

6. Robin Van Gyn’s RND Event Proves Itself The Perfect Qualifier

Both Ellery Manning and Estelle Pensiero earned their spot in Revy based on performances at Research & Development (RND), Robin Van Gyn’s women’s backcountry event that took place for the second time at Whitewater Ski Resort earlier this year. The event seeks to give up-and-coming riders a chance to learn, compete, and grow. It’s a mix of two film days and one backcountry freestyle comp day, with riders battling it out for a pile of cash, prizes, and a pre-qualified spot at NST.

Manning won the inaugural event outright last winter, earning a direct track to NST.  This year, 16 riders had a chance to win a potentially life-changing invite to NST (beyond cool, especially when you consider only four women were invited to Duels this year). Four-time Olympian Šárka Pančochová won this year’s event, after losing in a Japan-based Duel to Aya Sato. Estelle Pensiero got second at RND in back-to-back years, a performance that helped her get an injury wildcard when Marion Haerty had to bow out. 

While Pensiero and Manning both held their own, Šárka was an event standout, making finals day and landing third on the box after throwing a boosted switch five in a hard-to-call semi-final against Elena Hight. It was, apparently, the first five stomped by a woman in Natural Selection history, and it was a spark that turned the women’s final into a full-on barn burner. “It’s been a while since I sprayed champagne,” said a breathless and soaked Šárka after hoisting the ornate and beautiful NST trophy and enjoying the subsequent champagne shower. “But you don’t forget. I fucking love it!”

“RND was amazing prep,” said Pensiero in an interview before the NST event in Revy. “I know Ellery used RND as a preparation and practice for Natural Selection, and I guess I unintentionally did, too. It’s the exact same thing, on a bit of a smaller scale.”

Robin Van Gyn, for one, was immensely proud of all three riders. “I’m so excited to see the girls throw down,” she said at the base of Montana Bowl in the moments just before the Madison Blackley dropped first for the women on day one. “Honestly, it’s crazy seeing those girls coming from RND to [Natural Selection] almost immediately. I’m super confident they’re going to do well. The best practice they can get is more competing. I’m a little floored to see it all happen in real time, and just so pumped for them.” 

Keep in mind who this is coming from—an OG of women’s backcountry riding and the winner of the 2021 Natural Selection Tour. Her co-sign, mentorship, and advocacy all carry serious weight, and watching her give back to the culture and do everything in her power to get so many rad riders into the limelight is the definition of putting your money where your mouth is. 

Congrats to the riders. And toques off, Robin. 

“Gigi Rüf, ladies and gentleman. The legendary Austrian 43-year-old was called in as a last-minute wildcard and rode all week like he’s been taking HGH (Human Grom Hormone).”

7. The New Day One Format Works

One of the most electrifying aspects of NST’s format has been the head-to-head, rider-on-rider carnage. So naturally, when I learned that the day one format had changed from head-to-head to some other nonsense, I was outraged. 

Instead, day one featured three eight-rider heats (two men’s, one women’s), and three rounds of riding. For round one, the top two scores from each heat booked a ticket straight to finals day. For round two, the remaining riders in each heat took one run, with only the highest-scoring rider going through. For round three, the last five riders took a run, with the best-scoring rider getting the final spot in finals.

This was a similar format to the one NST debuted in the surf contest (which, if you haven’t seen, went down on a cavernous, carnivorous, board-breaker of a barrel and is well worth a watch).  It worked on snow, too. Safe riding wouldn’t get you through, so riders were forced to send it from the jump (hence Brin charging out of the gate). “There was no warming up,” said Mikey Ciccarelli, who made it through on the highest score of the day in round one. “I felt like I had to go for broke.”

For the statistics nerds out there, the first run is technically the easiest, with 25 percent of riders getting through, followed by round three, with 20 percent getting through. Only 16.6 percent got through on round two, making it the most competitive.

8. Making Finals Day Means Everything

The pressure is on day one, and not just because of the new heat format. Making it into finals day means you’ve done the hard part, and you’ve got a chance at a podium as well as pre-qualifying for next year’s event. Riders who don’t make the cut will most likely spend a year off tour unless they get called in as a wildcard or win RND. 

“I was lucky to get a run done in the first round, so I didn’t have to go through the second and third hail mary rounds because it looked pretty gnarly,” said a relieved Torgeir Bergrem after a stellar performance in the first round of day one. (His cab five to backflip to consequential pillow line was a crowd favorite of day one—a precisely threaded line with a brawny and styled-out combo of freestyle and freeride.) “Super excited. A lot of weight off the shoulders. It’s all fun from here.”

Madison Blackley also qualified in the first round of day one with a clean backflip up top and a pillow bonk down low. When asked how it felt to earn a spot in finals and an automatic bid for next year’s NST, she replied, “There’s no better feeling in the world, honestly. It hasn’t set in.”

9. Age Is Just A Number

Gigi Rüf, ladies and gentleman. The legendary Austrian 43-year-old was called in as a last-minute wildcard and rode all week like he’s been taking HGH (Human Grom Hormone). 

Old enough to be Blake Moller’s dad, Gigi clashed with the two Salomon samurai, Nils and then BMO, on finals day, looking loose and stylish as ever. His line choice was a treat. The spry 9191 star made use of tricky bonks, butter pads, and pillow-topped platforms. You’d think he won the Ultra Natural at Baldface on Scary Cherry 13 days ago, not 13 years ago.

Equally as impactful as his riding on the course, at least to me, was his general attitude. His riding was locked in, sure, but he was chilled out, genuinely stoked, and always with a smile on his face. He seemed to be relishing every moment, whether that was watching other riders between his heats, dapping up his competitors, or even linking up with local groms at the NST Snaked Banked Slalom. 

I got to take a few laps with Gigi and a crew of powder-hungry youth in between laps on the banked slalom event a couple of days before the NST kicked off. With a massive competition looming, Gigi could’ve been laser-focused on his own prep work. Instead, he made time for groms, leading them off side hits, talking them through trajectories, breaking down exactly how to snap off a certain feature. As a matter of fact, he looked a bit like a grom himself, milking every vertical meter and sliver of transition. He made these kids’ seasons. He made mine, too, to be completely honest, although my childhood dream come true was momentarily tempered when I followed him off a side hit, smashed my femur into a log, and watched him wince at the prospect of having maimed a hapless journalist. Alas. But my own bruised ego and extremities aside, watching Gigi climb the box was fucking awesome. Simple as that.

10. Women’s Backcountry Freestyle Is Experiencing A Tangible Moment Of Flux 

The women’s final was a match-up between Tahoe’s Elena Hight, who scored the highest run of day one with a baffling, no-fall-zone double drop, and BC’s Spencer O’Brien. Both Olympians-turned-powderhounds (Hight in the ditch and O’Brien in slope), lifelong friends, and teammates on Arc’Teryx, the final was special from the jump. 

Following Šárka’s lead, the finalists went all in, spinning beyond standard-issue threes. Spencer tossed a beefy cab five in her winning run, and Elena went for a frontside seven that she slightly over-rotated. 

“I came into today really wanting to do a cab five, that’s why the first run I did a switch back one to get a feel,” said the new champ. “When E dropped that front seven, I was like, ‘OK–We gotta go.’ Stoked she did that, it really set the tone. She’s just such a game changer, that woman, and it’s really a pleasure to ride with her. ” Hight echoed those sentiments. “Making it into the final with Spencer was already a win,” she said. 

It felt, as we were watching this all go down, that we were witnessing progression in real time. “That was the best women’s final the NST has ever seen,” summed up Robin Van Gyn. “Compared to yesterday, the bar went up.”

Travis Rice, the man behind the tour, agreed. When I checked in with him between finals runs, he said, “The fact that these ladies are pushing themselves in finals, with no governor, all gas, trying things that are an all-or-nothing situation, it’s freakin’ gorgeous. This is how a final is supposed to play out.” 

11. Canadian Groceries Are Fucking Expensive

That’s it. That’s all. 

12. My Favorite Moments From The Week Weren’t On Course

This might sound crazy, but looking back, witnessing this jaw-dropping, historic backcountry freestyle competition wasn’t my favorite part of the week I spent in Revy. Yes, it was truly incredible, the most spectacular riding I’ve ever seen, bar none. This NST event was arguably the best one yet. It was inspiring and exhilarating and I loved every minute of those comp days. I plan to come back every year I can to cover the madness. But there were other moments that are burned into my memory banks as well. 

A couple days before the comp, I was in the singles line of the Stoke chair, and, as luck would have it, I got spat onto a chairlift with Elena Hight, Robin Van Gyn, and Šárka Pančochová. I ended up tagging along with them, Austen Sweetin, Harrison Gordon, and Mikey Ciccarelli, all following Dustin Craven around the powder-cloaked nooks and crannies of Revelstoke. Watching Craven take a side hit into the stratosphere, Mikey C and Sweetin trade back-to-back sevens on a natural hit first try, Robin drop just before me into a field of fresh pow as the sun came poking out of the mist—it felt surreal, as if I’d fallen headfirst into the pages of a snowboard mag.  

When I mentioned how sick that moment was to Elena (I could really give a fuck about too-cool-for-school stoicism, this shit is rad and I was having the time of my life) she affirmed that it feels special for the riders, too, not just journalists getting to ride with their heroes. “One of the coolest parts of these weeks is that you get to ride with all of these different people that you don’t normally get to ride with,” she said. In an interview later that day, Mikey C agreed. “It was sweet because that type of group would never get to ride together. It was awesome following Dustin off all the little gaps and everything–-one of those days that you don’t think is going to happen, and then you’re doing it, and you’re like ‘This is epic.’”

That kind of magic just kept seeming to happen throughout the week. That side hit session with Gigi and the groms (not a bad band name). A few exploratory powder laps through the fog with Brandon Davis. Trading first tracks with NST staff, Revy employees, and other visiting media. Randomly bunking up with a new friend, Chris Corbett, a photographer from Snowboard Canada, and meeting a shredder he had been planning to shoot, freerider-slash-rail-jam-regular, Natalie Allport. 

Chris broke his hand on scope day—and shot all damn week, the legend—so Allport and I ended up venturing out into the backcountry a couple of times together. Clearly inspired by the riding going down that week, we hiked pillow stacks and built little pat downs and had a ball. My exploits in particular were by no means epic—I was happy to land a little double line here and get a three there. I mention this here because the reason I love to watch the best snowboarders ride is simply because I love the act itself. I’ve built my life around it, dream about it, and care about it more deeply than I can explain in this 4,600-word novel. I guess this week just felt like all of the decisions and detours of my life had led me to exactly where I was supposed to be. 

That all culminated as Natalie and I were leaving the venue, slowly riding back into the resort on a lengthy cat track. I looked behind me, and did a double take. Travis and Gigi were right there—but then they were gone, dipping into the trees. I looked at Natalie and we did the only thing we could do: we followed suit. Soon we were hooting and hollering with them and a few of their homies, popping off little pillows and snow-covered logs, laughing as we got stuck in the tight brush, trying not to hit one another on luge-like traverse tracks and snow-covered mountain bike berms. 

Yes, these are legends of our culture, people I’ve looked up to for decades. I still remember meeting Travis at the Icer Air, a scaffolding contest in 2006, and getting a poster of his board graphic signed. It hung on the wall in my childhood room long after I moved out. But for a few wild moments in the trees of Revelstoke, none of that really mattered. We were all just snowboarders, unified by a fondness for gravity and hangtime and powder turns and sliding sideways. 

Did you miss the action and want to catch up? Or perhaps need to rewatch? You can view both days at the links below:

Natural Selection 2025 Day 1

Natural Selection 2025 Finals

Header Photo: Chad Chomlack