Rider: Travis Rice / Photo: Quiksilver / Scott Sullivan

Jackson Hole, WY (February 5, 2008) - Seventeen of the world's best snowboarders rode hard during the first round of the "Quiksilver Natural Selection" in the second most epic powder conditions January has seen in 40 years at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort. All competitors pulled off some amazing riding but only one prevailed in the lead: Quiksilver's very own Travis Rice. Rice shred his way to first place by pulling out a variation of tricks including 360s, 540s and 720s all in whiteout, knee-deep powder conditions. The Dick's Ditch contest is one of two runs in "The Quiksilver Natural Selection: All-Mountain Freestyle Invitational at Jackson Hole" held from January 30 to February 5, 2008. The overall winner will be determined by the best combined score from the two competition days.

Rider: Nicolas Muller / Photo: Quiksilver / Scott Sullivan

Because of the difficult terrain and visibility, the event's judges were forced to rely on a combination of first-hand viewing and footage from the more than 20 cameras perched along the Ditch as well as a 2,000-foot cable camera. After scrutinizing the footage and deliberating for more than a day, the judges announced the results last night.

Rider: Rob Kingwill / Photo: Quiksilver / Tim Zimmerman

This innovative event is the brainchild of Rice, one of the world's most versatile and accomplished snowboarders, 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.

Rider: Nicolas Muller / Photo: Quiksilver / Scott Sullivan

Mother Nature Is a Real Ditch

Saturday's competition was held in the 2,000-foot-plus long natural gorge known as Dick's Ditch. The run had been closed for more than a week amassing 58" of fresh powder on its hips, boulders and trees, creating an awe-inspiring natural half pipe for riders to attack.

Rider: Travis Rice / Photo: Quiksilver / Tim Zimmerman

Rice's best run scored a 431 out of 500 points. Travis kept it together in the deep powder landings stomping a huge frontside-360 with a tree tap, then a large backside-720 and a mute-air over the cat-track hit. He then hit a frontside-mute on his fourth trick and finished things off with a clean frontside-540 and a stylish frontside-180.

Rider: Wolle Nyvelt / Photo: Quiksilver / Scott Sullivan

"It was comedy, watching the snowboarders I most look up to riding nipple-deep kicker lines, just trying to hold a run together," said Rice. "It was super fun."

Runner up Mark Landvik threw down a smooth run to take second place. He started things off with a frontside-720 on the Terje hit, threw a straight-air into the mix, then a frontside-180 into a switch backside-360 and ended his run with a switch backside-180 and a frontside-360.

Rider: JJ Thomas / Photo: Quiksilver / Scott Sullivan

And in third place was local Jackson Hole rancher-turned-rider Mark Carter with a best run of 385 points. He had a fluid run through the ditch throwing a super stylish frontside-720 tail on the first hit in between a couple of trees, into a nice backside-360, a sick method over the cat-track hit, and cranked a nice pow slash finishing off with a switch backside-180.

Rider: David Benedek / Photo: Quiksilver / Tim Zimmerman

Videos:
Competition at Dick's Ditch Part 1
Competition at Dick's Ditch Part 2
Competition at Dick's Ditch Part 3

For more info, visit quiksilver.com/naturalselection

Related Article:

Travis Rice Takes Lead at Quiksilver's Natural Selection