“The dream is to run finals in that perfect light,” Travis Rice said. “From 4 until 5:30[p.m.], in the west facing Selector venue, that light is so epic. And we’ve been chasing it…”

It was the day after qualifiers at Natural Selection 2026 at Revelstoke Mountain Resort. The comp had started at 1 p.m. and ran until 5:30. Despite opening the full venue for day one, incoming clouds had foiled any visions of perfect light.

Zoi Sadowski-Synnott pleasing the crowd on her last run of the day as the skies cleared and a little snow continued to fall. Photo: Colin Wiseman / Natural Selection

From double silver at the Olympics to a dream powder contest, it's safe to say Zoi's living well. Photo: Colin Wiseman / Natural Selection

We were at a media event down in town, resetting after a sped-up first few days of the contest window. Zoi Sadowsky-Synnott was there. So was Nils Mindnich. (Spoiler alert if you haven’t been on the internet for a few days: they’d go on to win the contest).

Despite battling a closed chairlift, qualifying day went smoothly—the 120 folks that it takes to make this thing go shuttled to the venue via snowcat and snowmobile. The hundreds of spectators onsite witnessed world class backcountry snowboarding that is often reserved for small crews in far-flung backcountry locales.

It just hits different in person—the size, the speed, the flow. It’s hard to explain. You’ve just gotta see it live. And that’s one of the things that makes Natural Selection special: anyone with a lift ticket can be there alongside the best backcountry riders on earth.

Nils Mindnich's technical riding only seems to have improved with a move to France, an office job, and recent fatherhood. Photo: Mike Yoshida / Natural Selection

A number of riders had their families in town. Nils pictured here with his mom Allison and brother Hans. Photo: Colin Wiseman / Natural Selection

Those hundreds of folks were perhaps surprised to find the hike a little longer than the professed 30-minute walk—I was lucky enough to get a cat ride, but reports from the ground suggested more like an hour-plus. Natural Selection Chief Operating Officer Liam Griffin said it was “maybe the best Jedi mind trick Travis has ever pulled, but he is known as the king motivator for a reason.”

Reports from those in the viewing area also suggested they were glad to have made the hike. Their presence, according to Liam, “spoke to the power of community, the love for the sport. Despite the limitations of having to hike to get there, I heard the vibe on the bootpack was awesome, and that translated to the vibe of the venue. Everybody was there with a sense of purpose. They earned it.”

Šárka Pančochová knows her way around a wedge. Photo: Chad Chomlack / Natural Selection

Mark McMorris, double cork 1080, but this time into a perfect powder run. Photo: Colin Wiseman / Natural Selection

Thankfully the Stoke Chair was running for finals day, making access much easier. Funny enough, it took a little longer for the crowd to fill in. Maybe they were too busy scoring the couple feet of powder that fell between Tuesday’s qualifiers and Saturday’s finals. But by the 1 p.m. start, the 1,000-human-capacity spectator area was wall to wall and vibrating. Everyone knew it would be a special day, including Zoi.

I’d spoken to Zoi a few days prior. Fresh off a pair of silver medals at the 2026 Olympics, she had certainly earned some downtime. I guess NST might feel like a vacation compared to hitting icy 70-foot booters. “Taking last year off, I really missed it,” she said. “The sickest thing about Natural Selection is that the team here makes sure we get to ride the best conditions. They use the whole venue, Travis consults with the riders, and it means we get to ride deep powder.”

Robin Van Gyn and Jon Oetken, aka DJDC, kept the crowd hyped for the duration of the event. Photo: Colin Wiseman / Natural Selection

Torstein Horgmo out the bottom after stepping up and stomping a very large double drop. He earned third place for his efforts. Photo: Mike Yoshida / Natural Selection

Who doesn’t want to ride deep powder? Zoi said her plan was no plan. “It’s so overwhelming looking at the whole course because there are so many features,” she continued, “so many opportunities to have fun.”

When was the last time you heard that at a mainstream contest? I don’t attend many slopestyle events, but the options are usually a bit limited. It helped that the course had been fully reset. After the athletes spun a few warmup runs, Mateo Massitti told me the snow was “deep, perfect, consolidated.”

Brin Alexander stepped up and stomped, landing in second place. Photo: Colin Wiseman / Natural Selection

It wouldn't happen without this dude. NST's COO Liam Griffin all smiles after a job well done. Photo: Colin Wiseman / Natural Selection

By the time Jared Elston kicked off finals day by centerpunching the venue, everyone was clearly having fun. Brin Alexander dropped in with his jacket flapping and jibbed the start shack in the semifinals. Torstein Horgmo opted for the steepest part of the zone instead of leaning into his freestyle prowess. Šárka Pančochová tossed a back 7 into a drop then milked every last turn out the bottom. None of the riders repeated lines more than once—there was too much powder that needed to be ridden. And Nils Mindnich, of course, rode the damn thing switch more than regular.

Despite the incredibly high level of snowboarding, there was one moment that stood out for me more than anything, and it was when the action paused. After the first laps of the finals, a snow squall moved in. DJDC cranked a few tracks and the bowl began to vibrate. Miles Fallon surfed the crowd. Pure energy, pure community, as one, from the rider’s tent to the spectators, connected on a common frequency, broadcasting from the valley bottom to the start shack.

A brief snow squall paused the finals midway, which made for an unforgettable moment. Photo: Colin Wiseman / Natural Selection

Šárka, Zoi, and an appreciative crowd. Photo: Colin Wiseman / Natural Selection

Ten minutes later, the sun cut back through the blizzard, revealing clear blue skies above a perfectly side-lit western face. Zoi dropped in amongst long, late afternoon shadows, flying into the finish corral, then Šárka, Brin and Nils.

A handful of us lingered late, admiring the amount of untracked lines still left in Montana Bowl, holding onto that pure energy, wondering how a snowboard contest could get any better than that.

Earlier, I’d asked Travis how he would take things further: “Do you feel like you can keep trying to push boundaries, or is there ever an end where you’ve completely nailed it?”

Madison Blackley enjoying one of the finest thing in life. Yeah, tricks score, but it's also hard not to appreciate a blower turn and bluebird skies. Photo: Colin Wiseman / Natural Selection

Mark McMorris, timeless. Photo: Colin Wiseman / Natural Selection

Travis saw no end. “The magic of what we’re doing is truly limitless,” he said. “We’re not dealing with a transition that we will just make bigger, or a course that we’ll just change and improve. We’re dealing with something that has such a huge, open playing field. What does it look like in 10 years? In 50 years? Even if something happens and we don’t get to continue to do this for decades, there will be an inevitable next iteration that builds upon what’s been done prior. We keep adding to the baseline, and every year, we try to further bolster the baseline. The tiny wins add up, and there are always ways to improve.”

It’s hard to imagine how to improve upon what went down in Revelstoke this past Saturday. But when you’ve got the King Motivator rallying a tireless crew who truly loves snowboarding, anything seems possible.

Women's podium: Zoi Sadowski-Synnott in first, Šárka Pančochová in second, Billy Pelchat in third. Photo: Takaya Sage / Natural Selection

Nils Mindnich, victory pose. Photo: Mike Yoshida / Natural Selection