Freeskiing
Skiing joins Natural Selection Tour – and the results will blow your mind
The countdown is on for Natural Selection's first ski event on Red Bull TV. To bring skiing into the tour, the NST crew went full send. Here's what you need to know.
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At long last, skiers rejoice because 2025 marks the official debut of skiing in Travis Rice's groundbreaking YETI Natural Selection Tour. Now in its fifth year, the NST has become a benchmark for progression, creativity and jaw-dropping moments. This season, the tour expanded its winter vision beyond snowboarding by inviting a hand-selected crew of elite skiers to join the action and bring their own brand of boundary-pushing to the inaugural Natural Selection Tour Ski.
When it came to integrating skiing into the tour, the NST team went full send. They assembled an athlete advisory committee of hero-status pro freeskiers – Candide Thovex, Sammy Carlson, Chris Benchetler and Michelle Parker – while the godfather of freeskiing, Mike Douglas, stepped in to direct the event.
Douglas says this opportunity has been a long time coming: "Skiers have been watching Natural Selection since the first event in Jackson and they've always thought it like the coolest thing – they've always wanted a chance to do this."
After years watching the snowboard comp, freeskiers now get own their NST
© Chad Chomlack/Natural Selection
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The competitors – a dream team of freeskiing's finest
The inaugural YETI Natural Selection Tour Ski roster features 12 of the world's top skiers – eight men and four women – each known for redefining the sport. With a lineup mixing freeride legends, underground chargers Olympic medalists and Freeride World Tour heavy hitters, the field represents the pinnacle of modern freeskiing and is set to shake up the game.
The women's field features skiers from across a range of disciplines: rising freeride talent Manon Loschi from France, big mountain veteran Michelle Parker of Tahoe, California; Olympic slopestyle bronze medalist Maggie Voisin from Montana and Norway's Hedvig Wessel, a FWT champion.
The depth continues in the men's field with Italy’s Markus Eder, known for his unmatched versatility including FWT podiums and iconic film segments. Young gun Kai Jones, raised on the steep terrain of Jackson Hole, brings fearless big mountain style. From Nelson, BC, Sam Kuch has built a name through standout film parts and massive backcountry sends. New Zealand's Craig Murray is a rising FWT competitor with a high-risk, high-reward approach to skiing. Canadian icon Kye Petersen brings a legacy of big mountain domination and FWT success. American Olympian Colby Stevenson adds slopestyle and big air podiums to the mix and countryman Parker White transitioned from East Coast roots to become a backcountry film standout. Rounding out the roster is Sweden's Max Palm, known for blending slopestyle tricks with freeride terrain in jaw-dropping exploits.
Manon Loschi and Michelle Parker get down to the task of scouting lines
© Chad Chomlack/Natural Selection
We took who we consider to be the best skiers right now and put them on ultimate terrain – the kind of lines that fuel your dreams
At just 18-years-old, Kai Jones is the youngest competitor at the inaugural Natural Selection Tour Ski event and he couldn’t be more excited at the opportunity to compete. "Being invited to the first Natural Selection Ski event in Alaska is a dream come true,” said Jones. "To have the chance to compete with the best in the world, blending big mountain lines with freestyle, is the ultimate stage for pushing my skiing. It's the perfect mix of everything I love about the sport."
Event director Mike Douglas echoed the excitement and explained why this roster was a perfect fit for NST: "We took who we consider to be the best skiers in the world right now and put them on ultimate terrain – the kind of lines that fuel your dreams – and we gave them multiple chances to show what they can do."
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Alaska's Priority 1 – the setting for iconic film lines, now a contest venue
From the start, Travis Rice knew the ski event had to take place in Alaska. While the Natural Selection Tour has hosted unforgettable events in iconic Alaskan locations including the Chugach Range and the Tordrillo Mountains, he had a specific destination in mind – one tied to some of his most memorable lines from the 2016 film The Fourth Phase. The reference for the ski community is legendary skier Jeremy Nobis's first known descent in Teton Gravity Research's 2007 release Lost & Found.
That spot? Priority 1, a striking, sheer face deep in the Alaskan backcountry, accessed via a 20-minute helicopter ride from Eleven's Winterlake Lodge outside Anchorage.
"With good conditions on this face, it's as good as it gets in Alaska," says Rice.
Markus Eder has plenty of Alaskan experience but Priority 1 was next level
© Leslie Hittmeier/Natural Selection
Markus Eder, who's filmed many significant lines across Alaska, says he had seen the face in a previous trip and has always wanted to ride it. The competitors were given a scouting day ahead of competition, he says: "I lost myself scoping the lines there. I just couldn't stop checking it out."
When asked about his approach to the competition he said: "I don't really like to do the most obvious things. I want to hit things that nobody hits, trying to find those special unique features. That's my approach."
NST is next level. In the middle of nowhere in the Alaska mountains, the most dreamy face you could ever imagine
Timing is everything in Alaska. To capitalise on the final stretch of winter conditions, the ski event was scheduled in late March, immediately after the Natural Selection Tour snowboard competition in Revelstoke, Canada, setting the stage for a seamless transition north.
The terrain features a 500m vertical drop, with steep slopes up to 55°, averaging 40°–45°. Part of the magic of Alaska is that snow sticks on those steeper faces unlike anywhere else in the world and, of course, the massive scale of these mountains. "To put it in context, it's double the size of your average film line," said Douglas, explaining that the scale isn't conceivable until you’re standing on top of the lines looking down on the people below, who "look like tiny ants."
Word is that the skiers took full advantage of this opportunity, putting down the ultimate film lines in a contest setting, flowing fast down the mountain and throwing tricks – the stuff that fuels dreams.
With such a huge and pristine face, there was a lot of studying going on
© Chad Chomlack/Natural Selection
And that's exactly what the judges are looking for. The judges panel included longtime judge Dion Newport and two freeskiing trailblazers: Sean Petit and Kristi Leskinen. The judging system, dubbed CREDO, considers Creativity, Risk, Execution, Difficulty and Overall Flow.
Douglas shared: "One thing that separates NST from other events is that mistakes are overlooked if the great moments are that great." In other words, the CREDO judging criteria encourages risk-taking. "The judges would rather see people taking some risks, pushing themselves and making a mistake along the way than someone who just skis a really safe run – that's less interesting."
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The proven NST format delivers – now for skiing
Natural Selection Ski follows the tour's updated competition format, first introduced during the snowboard event. The contest is divided into two rounds: qualifiers and finals. In the qualifier, eight men and four women compete in heats, with the top half of each field advancing. From there, it's head-to-head battles in the finals to crown the first-ever NST Ski champions.
The result? A three-and-a-half-hour spectacle of boundary-pushing, creative skiing from start to finish. Or, as Markus Eder put it: "NST is next level. In the middle of nowhere in the Alaska mountains with the most dreamy face you could ever imagine and an awesome group of riders coming together? Yeah, amazing."
The inaugural NST Ski marks a landmark moment for the Natural Selection Tour—and a massive leap forward for the future of freeskiing. Tune-in on April 17 on Red Bull TV to catch all the action and see which skiers rise to the top of this history-making debut
18-year-old Kai Jones was the youngest competitor at the first NST Ski
© leslie Hittmeier/Natural Selection
Freeski icon Michelle Parker had to be included in the women's lineup
© Leslie Hittmeier/Natural Selection
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YETI Natural Selection Ski lineup
Women
- Manon Loschi (FRA)
- Michelle Parker (USA)
- Maggie Voisin (USA)
- Hedvig Wessel (NOR)
Men
- Markus Eder (ITA)
- Kai Jones (USA)
- Sam Kuch (CAN)
- Craig Murray (NZL)
- Kye Petersen (CAN)
- Colby Stevenson (USA)
- Parker White (USA)
- Max Palm (SWE)
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