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  "path": "/keeping-big-mountain-freestyle-riders-alive-is-a-lot-of-work",
  "publishedAt": "2026-03-27T15:37:59.000Z",
  "site": "https://defector.com",
  "tags": [
    "The Great Outdoors",
    "fl",
    "natural selection tour",
    "Snowboarding"
  ],
  "textContent": "**BRITISH COLUMBIA —** Staring up from the base at the high walls of the Montana Bowl, a backcountry ski zone in Revelstoke, British Columbia, feels like gazing upon a deadly cathedral. My eyes naturally gravitate to the dangerous bits, but I realize they're pinballing around wildly, because it's almost all dangerous bits. Front and center is a zone they call Bar Fight, a series of increasingly terrifying cliffs and choke points. The terrain to the west is more inviting, but it's riddled with huge man-made jumps, some of which require a perfect landing in order to avoid becoming mush on a tree. There are two fresh debris fields, evidence of small, naturally occurring avalanches.\n\nMy overwhelming thought is that I can't believe they're about to hold a snowboarding contest on that stunning monstrosity.\n\nThe Natural Selection Tour is the brainchild of Travis Rice, one of the world's most prominent snowboarders and one of the major pioneers in the discipline known as Big Mountain Freestyle. There are two main types of snowboarding: Freeride and Freestyle. Freeride takes place off-piste (in natural, un-groomed terrain), often in the backcountry, usually in steep, cliffy, rugged faces. There's often an element of alpinism mixed in, as the majority of freeriders have to summit peaks under their own power, and wayfinding while riding down is extremely important to prevent getting hung up over an unmakeable cliff. There's an annual Freeride World Tour that's been going on in various forms since the mid-'90s. Freestyle, on the other hand, is what you see at the X Games and Olympics. It's much more famous, and it takes place within ski resorts, on carefully manicured runs. It includes events like Big Air, the Halfpipe, Park, and, of course, Slopestyle.",
  "title": "Keeping Big Mountain Freestyle Riders Alive Is A Lot Of Work"
}