Benchetler, Leskinen Comment on Upcoming Natural Selection Ski Competition

"We have an opportunity to do something completely unique and special with the type of skiing I've always done," said Benchetler in a recent Instagram video. "This isn't an alpinism contest, this isn't your typical huck and pray situation. I wanna see skiers pushing their limits with tricks, and creativity, and transfers, and landing on their feet."

Although we don't have much information about whose judging or competing yet, I have to think if Benchetler is in either of those positions, that we'll see an incredibly creative use of terrain. It sounds like he's got high expectations for competitors to really go above and beyond and push the status quo of what's possible in that kind of terrain.

Freeskiing pioneer Kristi Leskinen shared her thoughts about the women's competition in the video below:

"What I hope to achieve in this first year of competition with four girls coming to Alaska— we are so remote, we are in the absolute middle of nowhere, people are gonna be snow camping, this is the real deal. What I hope to see is that this really motivates the women's field in particular, and next year, we have to bring eight girls along," said Kristi Leskinen. 

Despite how little information we have about competitors, I'm curious about the decision to only have four female skiers. I can think of more than eight off the top of my head that are super capable and I would love to see ride in NST. Showcasing women's sports at a high level is a great way to motivate more girls to participate in them and show them that that level is possible, but it's not like women who are incredibly capable backcountry skiers are few and far between these days. 

Leskinen also noted that she hopes the format and terrain of NST will provide a platform to see the sends we see in films in a competition format. Terrain that has been previously used in NST suggests that skiers won't be judged just on execution of tricks like in a slopestyle contest, but rather their ability to make line and trick choices that showcase the full scale of their abilities, and what's possible in the most advanced terrain.

While the terrain is akin to what we see in a lot of films these days, filming and competition are two fairly different environments, and I'm curious where the skiing from athletes who have done a lot of both will fall. 

Needless to say, NST has me on the edge of my seat eagerly awaiting more information, because whatever's about to happen is going to be epic.

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