Travis Rice - © Tim Zimmerman

Travis Rice in First after Day One of the Inaugural Quiksilver Natural Selection Competition in Dick’s Ditch at Jackson Hole, Wyoming

The Quiksilver Natural Selection, a Swatch TTR FOUR(4)STAR event, kicked off on Saturday in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Riders were greeted with tons of fresh powder for the first day of competition held in an area of Jackson Hole Mountain Resort known as Dick’s Ditch. The course is a 2500-foot long natural halfpipe with 18 natural hits for riders to choose from. The Natural Selection is such a unique competition with deep, fresh powder landings making things super fun but also challenging for riders.

The riders braved snowy conditions in the morning making visibility a bit difficult, but everyone was riding strong and put on quite a show launching off the lips in Dick’s Ditch. The course looked more like a filming session setup then a contest venue with hits that sent riders through trees and over trees and the shape of the gulley made for a run that really flowed well. It was a great vibe on the hill and all the riders were having a great time hitting the course, hanging out and looking on as others took their runs.

DCP - Tree Bonk - © Tim Zimmerman

Hometown hero, Travis Rice, had the home court advantage and took the top spot in the Dick’s Ditch competition with huge airs. Travis kept it together in the deep powder landings stomping a huge FS 3 with a tree tap on the first hit, into a large BS 7, a mute air over the cat track hit, a FS mute on his fourth hit finishing things off with a clean FS 5 and stylish FS 180.

Mark Landvik threw down a flowing run to take second place. He started things off with a smooth FS 7 on the Terje hit, into a cranking method, threw a straight air into the mix, had a FS 180 to butter, into a switch BS 3 ending his run with a switch BS 180, and a FS 3.

Mark Landvik - Tweaked Method - © Scott Sullivan

Another Wyoming native, Mark Carter, took advantage of his local knowledge taking the third place spot. He had a fluid run through the ditch throwing a super stylish FS 7 tail on the first hit in between a couple of trees, into a nice BS 3, a sick method over the cat track hit, cranked a nice pow slash and finished off with a switch BS 180.

Mark Carter - © Scott Sullivan

On the TTR side of things, current World No. 73, Gigi Ruef, finished 8th and had this to say about the competition, “The Natural Selection has definitely been an experience of it’s own. The riding was great and it turned out to be a really good session. It was like a day out snowboarding with great friends. And for me, the Natural Selection being part of TTR really shows that TTR is purely for riders.” If Gigi has a good result in the Casper Bowl competition he has the opportunity to move into the TTR Top 50.

And Nicolas Mueller, currently at Swatch TTR World No. 21 finished just outside of the Top 10 claiming 11th place. Nicolas was stoked on competition in Dick’s Ditch, “The Natural Selection is already my favorite contest of all time. Dick’s Ditch is like a natural halfpipe with super good hits all over. It doesn’t get any better than this.”

The final day of competition is scheduled to go off on Tuesday, February 5th in an area of Jackson Hole called Casper Bowl. Check back to www.ttrworldtour.com for more updates and videos from the Quiksilver Natural Selection, and hit www.quiksilver.com/naturalselection for complete event coverage and daily webcasts.

Results of Day One:
1. Travis Rice
2. Mark Landvik
3. Mark Carter
4. David Benedek
5. Samuel Luebke
6. DCP
7. J.J. Thomas
8. Gigi Ruef
9. Rob Kingwell
10. Colin Langlois
11. Nicolas Mueller
12. Kyle Clancy
13. Wolle Nyvelt
14. Austin Smith
15. Hamous Mosesson
16. Bjorn Leines
17. Romain De Marchi
18. Bryan Iguchi