How do you feel?
Pretty good [laughs]. It is such a dream to win Natural Selection. The last time I was here, I didn't make it past the first round, and then I took a year off to focus on the Olympics. So, to have that pass and then be able to come here and just really enjoy it and ride this course in prime conditions, it's just such a dream.
Coming from the Olympics, I feel like it’s just such a different world. How did this feel compared to that? Does this even feel like competing?
It is such a contrast of competitions. It’s so structured in the Olympics. Doing slopestyles and big airs, you get practice on the course days before, and I thrive with practice. So, for me, this is such a challenge, and I really love being able to step outside of my comfort zone.
Are there any similarities between the two? Is there a strategy to this? Because I know there's a strategy for slope or big air.
For sure. The similar thing is having a plan and wanting to do better. I feel like when you're competing, you kind of enter this flow state where you can push past what you think you're capable of because you're kind of backed into a corner, which is sick. And I definitely—dropping him for my first run today, I felt more nervous than I've ever felt in a slopestyle contest.
Why?
I don't know. It's just... the crowd was so big. They were yelling, and I just wanted to land. So much anticipation between qualifiers and finals day, and conditions are so good, you’d just be mad at yourself—I'd just be mad at myself for not landing.
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How do you feel?
Dude, I feel so elated, so excited, pretty emotional. It's been six years trying to end up here. I did my first NST in 2021 when I felt kind of like an outsider and an underdog, and it went good, but I just didn't make the cut. And then in 2024, I got second, and I feel like I left something out on the table. In 2025, I made it to finals again, but it just didn't quite come together how I wanted, and I played it too safe. And then this year, I was just like—my mind felt right. Vibes were right. The conditions were great, and I'm just so grateful.
Is each NST a fresh start, a clean slate? Or, are you taking things from 2025, 2024, 2021?
I've been taking things since I started competing 20 years ago [laughs]. I take something from NST every year, and I think coming into this year, just where my head game was, the approach I had, and everything I wanted to do—I felt really clear. And the judging kind of lined up with where I wanted to bring my riding. I feel like I was being rewarded for doing what I wanted to do, and it just all lined up and worked out.
How, uh…how do you ride switch like that? How do you switch-back three into fucking powder?
[Laughs] Honestly, the switch thing, I was inspired by switch pipe riders when I used to ride pipe. So there was Elijah Teeter and then a skier, Duncan Adams, who was a friend of mine who did a lot of switch riding. It felt unique, almost like a loophole, so to speak. And then fast forward, I got into filming, and it was just really beneficial if I could confidently do a cab three, a switch-back three, a front three, and a back three. If I could do all four, that just opened up so much terrain to film. There was that, plus the fact that there are just so many days that I'll be traversing, cruising around the resort, getting from A to B, and you do it for 30 years, maybe it gets a little boring, and going backwards on your way home is a fun way to keep your mind occupied.