Exciting New Freeride Competition Coming to Palisades Tahoe: "Super Sessions"
The Natural Selection Tour is coming to Palisades Tahoe, California, this winter.
The event, which is separate from the upcoming finals showdown in Alaska, is a new addition called Super Sessions. It serves as a qualifier. During the competition, two skiers—one male and one female—will punch their tickets to Alaska.
Four men and four women are set to compete, but the Natural Selection Tour hasn’t shared their names yet.
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“The launch of Natural Selection Ski Super Sessions allows the Tour to open a wider funnel of opportunities to riders on the front lines of freeskiing progression,” said Mike Douglas, the head of Natural Selection Ski.
“I’m stoked to see what these skiers can do as they feed off each other’s energy at one of the most hallowed grounds for our sport. Palisades Tahoe was made for an event like this,” he added.
Palisades Tahoe, indeed, is steeped in big mountain skiing history. It’s the birthplace of the legendary Squallywood big mountain guidebook and is home to plenty of mettle-testing terrain. More than a decade ago, the Freeride World Tour hosted a competition there, delivering memorable highlights.
“We can’t wait to see how these eight athletes interpret the landscape and write a new chapter in freeride skiing,” said Amy Ohran, Palisades Tahoe’s president and COO.
The date for the Super Sessions hasn’t been confirmed yet. When it debuts, footage from the competition will stream exclusively on Red Bull TV. The Alaskan finals are set to stream on the same platform in April 2026.
The brainchild of professional snowboarder Travis Rice, the Natural Selection Tour is a long-running event where athletes compete on unmanicured venues as they jump off cliffs and throw tricks. The format is similar but not identical to the Freeride World Tour.
Given Rice’s background, the Natural Selection Tour has spent much of its history as a snowboard-only event. That changed this past winter when the Tour welcomed skiers to a competition in Alaska. Craig Murray and Manon Loschi won the men’s and women’s ski fields last year, respectively.
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