One of Skiing's Biggest Competitions Coming to Palisades Tahoe, California, This Winter

The finals of one of skiing’s biggest freeride competitions, Natural Selection Ski, is headed to Palisades Tahoe, California, for the first time this winter, creating a new opportunity to watch heavy-hitting athletes in person.

As is common with off-piste throwdowns, Natural Selection’s looking at a weather window spanning February 17 to 23, 2027, instead of a specific date. Organizers will run the competition whenever the conditions look best.

The announcement marks a departure for the skiing side of Natural Selection, which hosted its finals events on far-flung Alaskan slopes in 2025 and 2026. For those events, the series showed the stops online after the fact using an “as-live” approach. The general public couldn’t see them live.

In another change, Natural Selection will also stream the competition live before uploading it on demand to YouTube. 

Palisades Tahoe, as any die-hard skier can tell you, is a natural fit. It’s a sprawling hotspot for serious skiing with countless steep lines and deep freeskiing roots. Natural Selection hosted a qualifier, the Super Sessions, there last winter.

“There’s a reason Palisades has produced so many influential skiers. The terrain gives you room to be creative, to take chances, and to find your own way down the mountain. Having Natural Selection here is going to be special,” said Michelle Parker, a Palisades local, pro skier, and former Natural Selection competitor, in a release. 

The release didn’t share which venue organizers had in mind, but it noted some returning competitors, who include Finn Bilous, Colby Stevenson, Astrid Cheylus, Craig Murray, Manon Loschi, and Sam Kuch.

The rest of the field is being determined by the Ski Advisory Committee, led by newly appointed director and all-around ripper Sage Cattabriga-Alosa. The final roster of 14 will include eight men and six women. 

To the uninitiated, Natural Selection shares some similarities with the Freeride World Tour but occupies its own lane, with a different judging format, multiple runs, and a bracket.

It’s shaping up to be a big season for freeride in the U.S. With an event now planned in Snowbird, Utah, the Freeride World Tour is returning to the lower 48 this winter for the first time in years.

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