Featured Image: Leslie Hittmeier, Courtesy of Natural Selection | Skiers: Max Palm, Sam Kuch, Maggie Voisin
The moment we’ve all been waiting for is right around the corner. Yes, it’s almost time for the Natural Selection Ski comp. It seems it was only yesterday that we skiers sat huddled around at the aprés party, watching Natural Selection (NST) highlights wondering if there would ever come a day where we could watch some of our own compete. That day has come.
In the coastal mountains of Alaska, 12 of the best freeride and freestyle skiers on earth have come together in the name of skiing the steep and deep for the world to watch. As the brainchild of snowboarder Travis Rice, NST has gained the reputation of being an athlete-driven event, which would explain why social media exploded with pros looking to get in when the announcement that a ski comp would be added was made this fall.
With the insanely high level of talent present for this inaugural ski send-off, judging will be no easy task either. The panel consists of living legends Kristi Leskinen, Sean Pettit and Dion Newport. This one’s truly stacked in front and behind the camera. But at the end of the day, we’re here for the skiing. Check out a few “warm-up” clips below, if you can even call them that.
Ski Women’s:
Manon Loschi (FRA)
Michelle Parker (USA)
Maggie Voisin (USA)
Hedvig Wessel (NOR).
Men’s Ski:
Ski Men’s:Markus Eder (ITA)
Kai Jones (USA)
Sam Kuch(CAN)
Craig Murray (NZL)
Kye Petersen (CAN)
Colby Stevenson (USA)
Parker White (USA)
Max Palm (SWE)
While we don’t have a ton of information on course location or aspect just yet, stay tuned as FREESKIER will be bringing you all the updates you need from the 2025 Natural Selection Ski.
The YETI Natural Selection Ski event showcases an unprecedented combination of athleticism and creativity, with athletes being judged on both their technical skiing and artistic expression in a single run using CREDO, which is NST’s criteria across sports and stands for Creativity, Risk, Execution, Difficulty, and Overall Flow. The stunning terrain provides a true test for these world-class competitors, challenging them to execute video-part-worthy runs while on-site navigating some of the most difficult natural features found anywhere.
The event will premiere exclusively and worldwide on Red Bull TV starting at 12PM PT/3PM ET/8PM CET on April 17. Fans can tune in to see some of the world’s top skiers compete in a groundbreaking format that showcases the melding of athletic skill and creative artistry into a single run. Stay tuned for more updates and behind-the-scenes coverage of YETI Natural Selection Ski on @naturalselectionski, as the competition heats up and the weather window continues to unfold.
