Featured Picture: Courtesy of Pure Choice
This isn’t a drill. I repeat, this isn’t a drill. NATURAL SELECTION IS COMING TO THE WORLD OF FREESKIING! We’ve been ready for this second for an extended, very long time, as has any skier who has witnessed the unimaginable surprise that’s the Pure Choice Tour (NST) over the previous couple of years. With skiers like Chris Benchetler, Markus Eder, Michelle Parker and sure, even Candide Thovex selling the announcement and becoming a member of the NST Ski Advisory Council, the thrill has permeated all through the ski group.
The place will the occasion be? What is that this mysterious NST Ski Advisory Council? Who’s competing? And what the hell is Pure Choice, anyway? Let’s dive into all the knowledge we all know as of now.
Pure Choice has been one of many biggest current successes in snow sports activities. Spearheaded by legendary snowboarder Travis Rice, the occasion stands as a defiant darkish horse amongst a sea of regulated competitions. The closest comparable occasions can be the Nendaz Backcountry Invitational and the Freeride World Tour. There’s no higher or worse on this state of affairs when evaluating construction and scoring, as every of those occasions has its strengths.
Rice introduced Pure Choice to many locations round North America over the previous couple of years. To call a couple of, they’ve hosted competitions in Jackson Gap, British Columbia and Alaska. Image huge mountains layered with snow and complex options that function a rider’s pure playground.
The entire concept of Pure Choice is to evaluate freeriding; an extremely troublesome factor to do for causes that vary from viewing logistics to opinions on scoring. However via considerate pondering, the workforce has created a technique to rank rivals’ runs.
Utilizing exact drone footage to livestream the occasion, judges are in a position to watch the riders and rating them. NST makes use of a head-to-head bracket system that pits one rider in opposition to one other, thus making it simpler to check and distinction matchups.
The riders are scored on:
Creativity – Specializing in the individuality of a skier’s line alternative and maneuvers.
Threat – How consequential the tips are and what part of the course they’re executed in.
Execution – A skier’s fashion, together with grabs and turns, and the way cleanly they experience out of maneuvers.
Issue – Will depend on challenges within the run and complexity of tips and rotations, together with taking off or touchdown change.
General – That is decided by taking a look at parts of their circulate, pace and physique management all through the run.
There are some phrases above which might be loosely outlined, equivalent to “maneuvers,” however general that is about as technical a rating sheet as you’ll be able to have for an occasion equivalent to this. It has been aptly utilized to snowboarding previously, and it’s cool to see the similarities and variations on the ski facet.
Pure Choice Ski might be held in Alaska
The occasion might be held in Alaska with a listed climate window of mid-April 2025. There aren’t presently many different specifics on NST Ski, however the official press launch talked about that extra particulars might be coming within the early phases of winter.
As for rivals, we don’t know who precisely might be partaking on this unimaginable second of freeski historical past. There are a lot of names being thrown round, and one solely wants to have a look at the feedback part on Instagram to see that loads of the perfect skiers on the earth are chomping on the bits to get a spot.
We do know that the NST Ski Advisory Committee is made up of a number of esteemed legends of our sport, together with Chris Benchetler, Colby Stevenson, Michelle Parker, Sammy Carlson and probably a really irrelevant flying Frenchman who occurred to put up in regards to the announcement on his Instagram.
“Snowboarding in these unimaginable landscapes and discovering new methods to strategy the mountains is what it’s all about for me. This Tour’s mix of showcasing the pure magnificence and problem of snowboarding, however on a contest platform might be utterly recent. Wanting ahead to seeing what everybody brings to Alaska.” — Michelle Parker, NST Ski Advisory Council
General, there’s nonetheless a lot within the air. Nonetheless, this announcement is an thrilling one. There’ll absolutely be an ensuing dialog about which of the ever-popular freeride contests is the perfect, however we discover that time irrelevant. The extra athletes, filmmakers and photographers get an opportunity to share freeskiing with the world, the higher. Pure Choice Ski is simply one other means for the enjoyment and fervour of this sport to unfold, and we will’t wait to see what comes subsequent.
Keep tuned to FREESKIER for additional updates on Pure Choice Ski, together with rivals, venue location particulars and extra.
