Alaska marks the historic completion of the 2022 Natural Selection Tour where Elena Hight wins the Ladies Overall Title.
The Natural Selection Tour finals wrapped up this week an were broadcasted from Alaska featuring some jaw-dropping tricks and maneuvers from the best freestyle snowboarders in the world, performed in the giant, and unforgiving, arena of the Tordrillo Mountains.
After two successful stops in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and Baldface, British Columbia, the tour headed north to score deep Alaskan powder in the Tordrillo Mountains. When the dust (powder, rather) settled, Travis Rice and Hana Beaman emerged as the final event winners, and the Natural Selection Tour Overall Champions were crowned as well.
And after three full events of competition, Elena Hight and Travis Rice took home overall titles marking the end of season two of the tour.
Elena won the first event in Jackson Hole, finished second at Baldface, and was edged out by Marion Haerty at the semis in Alaska. Her strong riding all the way through the tour carried her to the well-deserved NST championship, decided in a “Triple Crown” format where points from all three events (equally weighted) determined the winners.
Action Sports Today sat down with Elena after the event finished and is the subject of this weeks’ “Behind the Action.”
AST: What are your post tour winning plans?
EH: I am actually still in Alaska where we are going filming. I am trying to utilize being up here the best I can and to get the most out of the season as it starts to come to a close.
AST: How different is a contest like the Natural Selection Tour different for someone like yourself who has a diverse competition and riding background than a standard halfpipe contest at X Games or Dew Tour that you competed in for so much of your career?
EH: Natural Selection is so unique in so many ways but having it be an actual tour with the three stops each with their own different challenges in terms of the terrain that you have to take on. Having the points accumulate throughout the tour allows riders to showcase their skills in more ways rather than knowing that one score can make or break your result. A scoring system like that allows for riders to challenge themselves and not be heavily penalized moving throughout the season. Coming from a contest background, having that a part of my skill set and knowing that contest day means go time, even when the conditions may not be the best. Preparing mentally for that is familiar to me and that lends itself to be an advantage. What is different is the change of venues and the creativity that comes from the riders that can change per venue. One of the best things about Natural Selection is the community of riders that it is building. For me, I got to spend the season on this tour riding with some of my favorite snowboarders that I do not usually get a chance to ride with. In a lot of ways, I feel like because of that my snowboarding progressed even more. Having this rider community being allowed to have an input on how the tour is run helps to shape the contest into something that we are all proud of and want to be a part of.
AST: This is such a diverse group of riders. How has the design of tour allowed for this diversity to progress the sport but retain a level of grassroots snowboarding?
EH: I think the way the tour was designed, this really lays a foundation for progression in a lot of ways. Natural Selection brings together a group of riders that in any other circumstance would not be competing or riding together. The energy that is created from the riders watching each other and the broad spectrum of riding styles creates an environment that cannot be matched where the riders feed off that energy and the level of riding goes up. Especially on the women’s side of snowboarding, this contest is paving the way for women. This contest allows another way for women to get into backcountry country snowboarding and I am excited to be a part of helping to create this new path for future women riders.
AST: Where does an overall win like rank in the accolades of your career?
EH: Right at the top. I have never won an overall tour title, so I am really honored and excited. It definitely ranks right up there with some of my greatest moments.
AST: As you look back at the tour this season, what was your favorite part?
EH: The variety of the venues. Having the opportunity to ride more of a slopestyle event in Jackson, then the freeride in Baldface and the big mountain features in Alaska, being able to have used so many different styles and elements of snowboarding and to be able to ride them all was fun. I have only been in the backcountry scene for a few years so competing on tour has really helped me develop into an even better rider. You have to be able to adjust and for me to have the skill set to ride all three says a lot about the snowboarder I want to be.