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2025 YETI NATURAL SELECTION FINALS, RESULTS, AND REPLAYS

  |   Patrick Bridges

Photo: Mike Yoshida Rider: Blake Moller

It has now been 5 years since Travis Rice manifested his vision of what the ultimate competitive arena for celebrating and fostering backcountry freestyle progression could be.

In the half a decade since Austrian Gigi Rüf pointed it out of the Temple Of Stoke at the 2021 YETI Natural Selection at Jackson Hole, WY to start the inaugural showdown many things have become evident. Not the least of which is that, much like the ever changing hand of cards that Mother Nature deals at each iteration, you never know what to expect from a Natural Selection Tour stop. Yet perhaps even more apparent is that while this is a one-of-a-kind competition, it is still a contest which means that those riders who have the most experience donning a bib and doing what it takes to wow the judges, have a clear advantage. After all, setting down a superlative run when it counts is still the most important skillset. This is why the vast majority of NST podiums are populated by Olympic, X Games, US Open and even Freeride World Tour veterans. The 2025 YETI Natural Selection at Revelstoke was no exception. 

Revelstoke, British Columbia is an ideal host for the Natural Selection Tour. With rugged sidecountry, an abundance of vertical, and some of the best lift-accessed conditions in North America, not to mention the cesars and poutine, it is a wonder that every rider doesn’t have it on their bucket list, And despite the world class terrain and Ikon Pass affiliation Revelstoke is still an under the radar hometown hill like Jackson Hole or Whistler were back in the 90’s.

Photo: Mike Yoshida Rider: Brin Alexander

It is arguable that the earliest rounds of each Natural Selection stop are the must watch portion. This is due to a couple of factors. First is the field. On Day 1 of the 2025 viewers got to see all 24 of the competitors who were vying to advance. NST Newcomers like Stale Sandbech, Ellery Manning, and Brandon Davis strapped in alongside returning contenders such as Sage Kotsenburg, Mikkel Bang, and Mary Rand meaning that there was a plethora of pro’s to appease every pallet. In turn, all it takes is one insane send to shift allegiances and right out of the gate on March 14th, 2025, Brin Alexander became everyone’s new favorite Canadian rider with a fifteen meter melon poke to finish the very first run of this years contest. 

Photo: Colin Wiseman Rider: Elena Hight

Then there is the drama of watching the course and conditions reveal themselves. Unlike other events, like halfpipe and slopestyle spectacles, where the courses are familiar ground by design, Revelstoke’s Montana Bowl is ever changing from season to season, month to month and as was the case in 2025, run to run. There are no practice days or warm up runs on the official NST course. Scouting, scoping and multi-media dissections yield some rudimentary beta but not enough to provide participants with any clear advantage. This means the viewers get to watch in real time as the riders realize if their instincts and assumptions from afar bear fruit resulting in quick calculations, finite corrections or in some instances blind faith, go for broke, top to bottom hell rides. One bobble or backseat landing creates a deviation and with so many runs being put down on the same slope, everyone needs a plan B for if/when their line gets snaked by another. Backup plans, upon backup plans is a necessity. 

Photo: Chad Chomlack Rider: Spencer O'Brien

I could wax about Torgeir Bergrem’s three story send into the pocket and Austen Sweetin’s sixty foot vault out of Bar Fight on Day 1 or Blake Moller and Stale Sandbech’s double fall line face-off at the bottom of High Beams on Day 2 but words won’t do any justice to what took place at the 2025 YET Natural Selection at Revelstoke. Rather, watch the replays of both days, check the clips flooding your feed and then watch the replays again and congratulations to all the riders who rode, put on a show and survived the event, especially Spencer O’Brien and Stale Sandbech, the newest NST tour champions!

Photo: Chad Chomlack Rider: Stale Sandbech
Photo: Mike Yoshida Riders: Elena Hight(2nd), Spencer Obrien(1st), Sarka Pancochova(3rd)

 

Photo: Mike Yoshida Riders: Blake Moller(2nd), Stale Sandbech(1st), Gigi Rüf(3rd)

The Results:

Men

  1. Stale Sandbech

  2. Blake Moller

  3. Gigi Ruf

  4. Jared Elston

  5. Dustin Craven

  6. Nils Mindnich

  7. Mikey Ciccarelli

  8. Torgeir Bergrem

  9. Brandon Davis

  10. Travis Rice

  11. Sage Koptsenberg

  12. Ben Ferguson

  13. Austen Sweetin

  14. Severin van der Meer

  15. Brin Alexander

  16. Mikkel Bang

Women

  1. Spencer O’Brien

  2. Elena Hight

  3. Sarka Pancochova

  4. Madison Blackley

  5. Mary Rand

  6. Estelle Pensiero

  7. Ellery Manning

  8. Aya Sato

Watch Day 2 Replay

Watch Day 1 Replay

 

 



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