The Snow Troopers

Summit at Snoqualmie former athlete, Austen Sweetin checking out the course.

“The Natural Selection Tour” by Travis Rice will crown the top “All Mountain Freestyle” to make them the arguably top male or female in the world after this 3 stop, 2021. Stop number 1 is at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, stop 2 hitting the Super natural course at Baldface Mountain, BC, and the grand finale up in AK at Tordrillo Mountain Lodge.

The Natural Selection Tour will live-stream its events across global digital platforms with a priority on high-production quality and innovation.

“With the advancement of production technology such as drones, high-definition camera systems, and live-stream distribution infrastructure, the Natural Selection Tour will establish a new standard for how snowboarding and live sports, in general, will be captured and delivered,” said co-founder and CEO, Carter Westfall. “The Tour’s live and original content promises to be immersive, engaging and inspiring to a broad demographic of snowboarders, sports and outdoor enthusiasts.”

The Natural Selection Tour announces its launch after recently hosting a crew of the world’s top riders at Jackson Hole, including Rice, Austen Sweetin, Blake Paul, Bode Merrill, Bryan Fox, David Carrier Porcheron, Elena Hight, Hana Beaman, Leanne Pelosi, Nicolas Müller, Pat Moore, Robin Van Gyn, Sage Kotsenburg, and Werni Stock to test the Natural
Selection course, which is still in development, and to provide input into various Tour components.

“The Natural Selection Tour team has been in communication with professional riders of all generations in order to ensure that their voices are woven into the fabric of the Tour,” said co-founder and COO Liam Griffin.

The Natural Selection Tour will announce its roster of competitors in the fall through a combination of criteria currently in development. Updates on Natural Selection Tour dates, rider lists, broadcast partners, sponsors, and attendee information will be regularly posted at www.naturalselectiontour.com and via the Tour’s social media accounts (IG: @naturalselection, FB: @naturalselectiontour).
 

Carl always finding the untracked… First!

Here’s a fun POV vid from this past weekend up at Crystal Mountain as seen through the lens of Carl Simpon. Stoke to see him slashing away on the Moment Bibby Pros.
 

Matt Jones, new local rider out of CO, making the “Wet POW” look quite easy

This past Saturday (1/25/20), I decided to get a handful of laps in the backyard at Summit East. Even though the snow was super heavy, with a light mix falling, the snow seemed as if it would be fun… With the phat boards. The day was capped off with live music in the Summit East lodge by Jazz Cabbage – a project by our friend, Davin Stedman. You may know him best as being front man of the Staxx Brothers. Good times in the YakYard!
 

Tim Black on Nash

This past Friday (1/15/20), up here on Snoqualmie Pass, was a great day, start to finish from 2 base areas. The day kicked off at Alpental for a little sunny pow, then a nightcap at Summit West’s Wildside. Good ole times once again… Hope it sticks around as we all love the DEEP dayz.
 

Merbs finding late day depth on Sessel

Finally after a tough start to our Winter 2020, we had a legit powder Tuesday, without the crowd. It is the days like this I always wished we’d stopped more for shots, but sometimes you got to just get after it. Thankful for the helmet cam. 🙂
 

Adam in his super happy place.

3 years ago we lost our good bro Adam Roberts to an avalanche at his home mountain, White Pass. He is missed every single day by so many of us in the ski world, as our adventures always had much more than skiing. Mostly I remember us just laughing at the many runnels or bumps in the road on almost every single outing. Thanks for touching me, Adam, with your kindness and super sic lines!
 

Looking at Jay slash Snoqualmie Mtn., from Summit West Parking lot.

Merry Christmas! This past week provided a little high pressure system, that maybe gave some high pressure to get up to the deeper snowpack. This one is from Christmas Eve, 2019, where Jay Hergert, Andrew Eckels and Tyler Tran, worked super hard to get up onto Cave Ridge. At that point they hit the ski zone. I thought it was a little bit of a day for me, knowing how big of a day it is when conditions are perfect, and the lower zone was definitely a hike. After the boyz ski Snoqualmie Mountain, they decided to come out the Commonwealth Valley, which proved to be a big adventure as well, with a newby pup, that was pooped. Live to Ski Another Day, and always know your limits.
 

TNT enjoying a little time on the Wildside!

As we sit patiently waiting for the Snow Gods to smile down on our home base, Snoqualmie Pass, I had a little time to stack up the footy from last year’s snowmageddon where we got only, 1 day of lift serve skiing before the power went out and things go, I guess I’d say tight and out of site. Allison and I ended up bailing for the on snow show at Mission Ridge, for an excellent day of sun and fresh snow! Pray for snow as we know it may not be the best season, ahead, but being in one of the snowiest places on earth, we will get some great dayz!
 

Looking like mid-Winter on Oct 1, 2020. 🙂

Having started my year-round skiing 17 years ago, I am always thinking of where the pain will be found in Sept and Oct (always hoping to at least get a Nov. ski on the grassy slopes of Summit West – if it is a late season). Well, to kick of 17 years and 1 month of at least skiing 1 day per month, Jerad Merbs and I found ourselves rolling towards Mission Ridge a day after an apx 2′ dump on rock. As we skinned up, you could hear the ping of your poles almost every pole plant. However the snow settled to apx 18″ with a little wind packing, so with the phat boards it was almost like a mid-Winter day (as you’ll see in the video below). After a day on the snow with friends we found excellent mid-week apres ski in Leavenworth. Timed it perfectly, now if it’ll keep producing, is the question?