Emerging from the epic terrain of Jackson Hole, Wyoming, USA, Travis Rice is arguably the most important and entertaining rider on the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour. But while he is fun to watch, Travis is also one of the few riders leading the charge as snowboarding’s progression continues to skyrocket.

The 06/07 TTR season closed with a dramatic performance from Rice at the Burton US Open, a Swatch TTR 6Star World Snowboard Event, with results that placed him third overall in the tour. Rice was in heavy contention to becoming the TTR Tour Champion, competing closely in points with other sick riders such as Kevin Pearce (USA), Antti Autti (FIN) and Shaun White (USA). Rice would have won the World Title had he not suffered a shoulder injury during his final Halfpipe run after throwing down an impressive line and placing 1st in the Slopestyle event.

In 07/08 Rice was back in the mix and although he only entered three events, he managed to score two 1st places, at both the 6Star Nissan X-Trail Jam, and his own event the 4Star Quiksilver Natural Selection, the first event of its kind which saw some of the world’s best shredders take freestyle from the park to the mountain. The event took an entirely new direction from the traditional snowboard competition format, turning away from sculpted, manicured and man-made features, and returning to the roots of snowboarding with a freestyle competition using the natural features of the mountain, such as cliffs, chutes, trees and above all else, powder. The freestyle competition took place on Rice’s home mountain of Jackson Hole Wyoming, USA and is hailed as one the most progressive and sport defining competitions in history, bringing to the forefront the connection between mountain and rider and attracting legendary big mountain riders such as Nicolas Mueller and DCP.

In between comps last year Rice was also putting together what can only be described as the most ambitious snowboarding film ever made, “That’s It, That’s All” , which recently premiered around the world and is being hailed one of the greatest snowboarding films of all time. The film showcases super progressive riding in breathtaking environments, sparing no expense in getting the best shots and will be tough to beat on the quality of riding alone. So with the greatest snowboard film ever to his name and his own signature contest, there is now just one thing missing, and that is the Swatch TTR Title. Which begs the question, will this be the year of Travis Rice?