Olympic Snowboarders visit Valdez Schools
Amanda Jones - CRR Staff
The Natural Selection Tour, featuring 24 snowboarders from around the world, finished their competition in Valdez on March 28th. Among competition finalists were Olympic Gold Medalists and X-Games finalists and medalists.
The day after the competition all snowboarders and much of the crew for the Natural Selection Tour came to Valdez City Schools to promote hard work and determination in setting and following through with goals among the students.
This is the Natural Selection Tour’s third year of competition. Co-founded by Liam Griffin, Circe Wallace, and Travis Rice, the Natural Selection Tour was described by Travis as “the next needed evolution in snowboarding sports.” The competition combines back-country snowboarding with freestyle and freeride tricks customary in groomed snowparks.
After years of being a professional snowboarder and athlete, Rice explained he wanted to “create an event that lets snowboarders express themselves artistically and creatively on a backcountry canvas.” According to Rice, part of the mission of the tour was also to bring snowboarding to a more international audience and to make community connections where the competitions are taking place.
The snowboarders in the final event spent the morning at Hermon Hutchens Elementary School and were hosted at a combined assembly for Gilson Middle School and Valdez High School in the afternoon. Snowboarders from New Zealand, Norway, Canada, and the United States spoke to students about the importance of hard work, avoiding distractions, and being dedicated to things that are important to them.
Hailey Langland, a snowboarder from California who competed in two Winter Olympics as well as medaling in the Winter X-Games, spoke to students about the mental preparation needed for snowboard competitions and compared that to preparing for academic tests in school. “It is important to make your study and preparation fun, even though you’re really just putting your head down to do the work.”
Rice spoke about making your own opportunities and not waiting for a golden moment. “If you see a need or wish for things to be different or to improve, you can’t wait for someone else to do it. No one is going to create your next step for you.”
Elena Hight, the overall champion from the Natural Selection Tour last year and competing again this year, shared that she didn’t ride snowboards in the backcountry until she’d been snowboarding for 15 years. She had a successful career in snowboarding halfpipe competitions but felt the need to continue growing and being challenged and so moved to backcountry riding. “Changes are hard and scary, but they can be the catalysts for the best things in life.”
The Natural Selection Tour has included Alaska mountain ranges in its event all three years of competition, but this was the first time Valdez was featured. The tour is unique in that men and women riders compete against each other. The event this year featured twelve “duel” locations where two boarders would compete against each other at each location. The winner of each duel qualified to compete at the main events featured in Revelstoke, British Columbia, and then Valdez, Alaska.
According to Liam Griffin, operations manager and co-founder of the tour, along with the twelve competitors on-site in Valdez for the competition, there were 30 support personnel on the slopes, including film crews, helicopter pilots and guides, drone pilots, safety officials, etc.
Rice and Griffin also used the good weather opportunity present during competition week to capture drone footage of the Chugach Range. According to Rice, this is hoped to be used in an artistic video project they’re working on and showed a clip of during the assemblies. The release date is to be determined.
During the assembly at GMS and VHS, students were invited to ask questions. Questions ranged from queries about worst athlete injuries, longest slopes ridden to which athlete was the best dancer.
When asked what you have to do to become a professional snowboarder, Rice shared that while all the athletes had started at an early age, skill had little to do with success. He stressed the importance of showing a willingness to focus, be helpful to others, and engage with others socially and creatively as the impetus for successfully working in any team in any job.
“If you’re helpful to the ecosystem around you, that’s way more important than how talented you are. You have a lot of distractions today, maybe more than any other kids before you.”
Many athletes shared that they were not necessarily the best students in school but now realize that school did teach them skills they regularly use, even as professional athletes.
When the assembly ended, athletes greeted students, took pictures, signed hats and hands and shoes, and encouraged students to set goals and work hard for them. With the competition over, several athletes planned to stay a few extra days and enjoy more of the backcountry without the pressures of the competition.
A video of competition highlights is expected to be available for viewing online by the middle of April.