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Inaugural Quiksilver Natural Selection: All-Mountain Freestyle Invitational at Jackson Hole


JANUARY 30 THROUGH FEBRUARY 5, 2008

Forget Parks, Rails and Pipes: Travis Rice To Host

17 of World’s Best Snowboarders in Test of Skill on Natural Terrain

Huntington Beach, CA (November 28, 2007) – Quiksilver, the leading brand in boardriding, today announced that the inaugural “Quiksilver Natural Selection: All-Mountain Freestyle Invitational at Jackson Hole” snowboarding event will be held from January 30 to February 5, 2008 in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

This innovative event is the brainchild of Quiksilver athlete and one of today’s most versatile and accomplished snowboarders, Travis Rice, who envisioned a competition that removes the constructs of snow parks and half-pipes, and instead uses a natural-terrain course to bring out the best in riders’ style and technique.

Travis, who is also an avid filmmaker, has posted a personal video announcement about the event on Quiksilver’s website: www.quiksilver.com/naturalselection

To ensure fresh, untracked snow, the event extends over a seven-day “holding period” beginning on January 30, with the two days of actual competition to be determined by natural forces. The idea is to hold out for the best possible powder conditions so riders can carve fresh tracks.

“We’ll leave the course design to Mother Nature and let riders express themselves in an unpredictable measure of true, raw talent,” said Travis. “To succeed here, riders must embrace the mountain on its own terms and get after it with respect, grace, artistry and fun. This is the return to the soul and roots of riding.”

According to Quiksilver CEO Bob McKnight, the event’s goal is more than to simply showcase riding.

“This competition is about stripping away anything unnecessary, and exploring the basic, instinctual and powerful balance between mountain and rider,” said McKnight. “Travis and the riders hope the Natural Selection will emphasize this aspect of the sport and return an organic, soulful approach to competition.”

17 Riders - Seven Days - One Mountain

While the event will feature an exclusive field of 17 riders handpicked by Travis coming together to test their skill in an all-natural setting, it’s also an opportunity for the leaders of snowboarding culture to congregate in the name of fun.

“The event is less about ‘winning’ and more about the world’s best riders pushing each another in a setting that requires each to be at the absolute top of their game,” said Travis. “But this is also a chance to stop in the middle of the competition season, get together and have fun. Plain and simple – just like we all used to do before turning pro.”

Details of The Quiksilver Natural Selection

    - Features an exclusive field of 17 riders handpicked by Travis Rice, one of the most respected top-tier competitors in the world and winner of multiple X-Games medals

    - The week-long event places equal importance on the community aspect of the gathering of riders at one of the nation’s most storied mountains

    - Big mountain invitational with Freestyle and Slopestyle elements

    - Seven-day “holding period” to ensure fresh powder, snow quality and conditions

    - Two full days of competition in two areas: Dick’s Ditch and Casper Bowl

    - $75,000 in prize money with creative contest bonuses and payouts

    - The event will be aired on a special webcast on Quiksilver.com

List of Event Riders

Travis Rice, DCP, Danny Kass, Gigi Ruf, John Jackson , Bryan Iguchi, Nicolas Müller, Kyle Clancy, Roman De Marchi, Hampus Mosesson, Mark Carter, Devun Walsh, Mark Landvik, Bjorn Leines, Andreas Wiig, Sammy Lubke & David Benedek

The Quiksilver Natural Selection is made possible by a network of partners: Jackson Hole Mountain Resort, SoBe, and Hotel Terra

Jackson Hole Mountain Resort: Uniquely untamed and renowned as one of the most challenging mountains in North America, Jackson Hole is a year round adventure outpost, with incredible skiing and snowboarding in the winter and amazing National Park access in the summer. “The Big One” combines incredible terrain for all levels of skiers and snowboarders, amazing on-mountain fine dining including the new Bridger Restaurant complex at the Gondola Summit and a full service resort at the base. Coming in December 2008 will be a new 100 passenger Aerial Tram that will operate from the base to the summit of Rendezvous Mountain, an amazing continuous 4,139 vertical feet, which will cement this destination resort as the top ski mountain in the US. JHMR offsets 100% of our energy with renewable energy and is third party ISO certified as a "green" company, the second of only two ski resorts, and one of the smaller companies in the US, to achieve this recognition. www.jacksonhole.com

SoBe: South Beach Beverage Company makes refreshing beverages marketed under the SoBe brand name. SoBe is a separate operating unit of Pepsi-Cola North America. For more information, visit the SoBe web site at www.sobebev.com or call the Lizard Line at 1-800-588-0548.

Hotel Terra Jackson Hole: The first in a worldwide collection of green hotels, Hotel Terra Jackson Hole adopts an evolutionary approach to hospitality, where luxury and environmental responsibility come together to create an exceptional guest experience. Located slopeside to the

legendary Jackson Hole Mountain Resort and at the gateway to Grand Tetons National Park, Hotel Terra incorporates modern design with a western sensibility. For more information please visit www.hotelterrajacksonhole.com or call 800-801-6615.

About Quiksilver, Inc.
Quiksilver, Inc. (NYSE:ZQK) is the world's leading outdoor sports lifestyle company, which designs, produces and distributes a diversified mix of branded apparel, wintersports and golf equipment, footwear, accessories and related products. The Company's apparel and footwear brands represent a casual lifestyle for young-minded people that connect with its boardriding culture and heritage, while its wintersports and golf brands symbolize a long standing commitment to technical expertise and competitive success on the mountains and on the links.

✠™ Holy Sh!t . .

This will be off the sickter scale

AWESOME.

This may be the best idea for a comp that I have ever heard of. Even better than the The Artic Challenge.

Travis picked some awesome riders (love to see Devun got the invite), the terrian at Jackson is so sick, and the format is amazing.

Some of my questions though...

Do you think they will have to set up some kind of jumps, whether they place one on the edge of a cliff, or somekind of pillow run, so that there is equal judging?

I love the format because I think this is going to judge style more than any other comp. Think about it, some lofty frontside 3 off of a huge cliff is going to be given a higher score than some 1080 off of a table park. This is a sign of the times and a sign of the progression of snowboarding right now.

Some of the riders I wish were invited and those who I dont think should be there.

Wolle Nyvelt: his part in Optimistic is amazing, and some of those first shots when he is launching 5's and 7's off of those spines is crazy. He should be there

Austin Smith: his part in WP2 was amazing, and he is a baker shred, so most likely he would excell in this kind of terrain.

Travis Parker: i just want to see more of his riding, i feel like he has fallen off.

Who is Mark Carter and why is he taking someone else's spot? If he is a local shred, and he is sick, then i apologize, I have just never heard of him. But I like that Clancy is there, I have always loved his riding and his part in Community Project was short and sweet.

Overall, im so amped for this comp. Shit, maybe ill make the trip up from SoCal. It sounds AMAZING.

Right on Trice!

✠™

http://www.quiksilver.com/events/Detail.aspx?evntid=173&id=377&tabId=3&assetid=2730

now that...

...is good shit. great link...

Mark Carter...

...can be seen in "The Community Project", "The Constant Struggle" and various TGR films. Mark is a Ten Sleep, Wyoming native that lives his winters in Jackson. The reason you haven't seen him is because he realizes that snowboarding belongs in and on mountains. Basically, he rides and films pow. With this contest being developed by Travis himself, he included Mark in the event. T. Rice has his back...

Righty-O

I look forward to seeing his stuff...I dont know why I missed him on the Community Project.

I also think Terje would kill in this comp. He has the "sprocking cat" style, and it may not be that fluid anymore, but his freeridestyle is dope. He would probably win the entire comp with a giant method anyways. Actually, I think Nicolas Mueller's methods look alot like Terje's.

///™ Sleeping Giant

mark carter rips the holy hell out of the scarriest lines.

those jackson dudes are cut from a different piece of material-straight up moose balls.

...

It's about time something like this is going down.That's a pretty impressive list of heavy hitters.I'm excited to see this.

Damn It!

Those fuckers get to ride pow while the rest of us are stuck at the cirlce bar in Vegas. Maybe SIA moving to Denver isn't such a bad thing after all.

Fight for the little guy - Read SNOWBOARD Magazine!

http://snowboardermag.com/vid

http://snowboardermag.com/videos/flash/travis-rice-interview-thatsit-thatsall/

Any word on a DVD, web vid, o

Any word on a DVD, web vid, or footage of this in That's It That's All? I'd like to see how it all goes down.

thats it thats all

Click here.

teaser right here. i was almost in tears

myspace.com/codylee_199

✠™ Holy Sh!t

.

ho

ly

fuck!

fuck!

wonderland

NICE.

...

quiksilver.com has a teaser teaser.If that makes any sense.they are also posting event videos as it happens.

Lack of White

did anyone else notice that Shaun White is not in the list of invited riders? Personally I do not think he belongs among those riders on that kind of terrain but, I must admit I would be curious to see how he would do. I can't decide if he would break out of his only-concerned-with-winning- shell and show some well rounded, backcountry style or if he would completely flop outside of the traditional contest environment. Anybody else have thoughts on that?

Shaun Who? Dan Gerous

Shaun Who?

Dan Gerous

✠™ Hes a clothes designer . .

For Target

oh, riiight

I thought he was some kinda veggie for a minute there..

Any J-Hole folk hear word of

Any J-Hole folk hear word of results on this yet?

check...

http://www.quiksilver.com/frames/naturalselection08.aspx for results.