The world’s best riders battled it out and pushed the progression of snowboarding this week in Nelson, B.C during the Red Bull Supernatural.

Out of a field of 18, Travis Rice came out on top proving he is the best all around snowboarder on the planet. Read on for an in- depth view of the contest from Snowboarder Mag’s Editor- in-Chief.

Words: Pat Bridges

There are those rare tipping points that only come along so often where everyone realizes that the game has changed. In snowboarding, Ingemar Beckman’s Richter Riksgransen method, Johan’s TB5 part, and America’s sweep of the Olympic podium in Salt Lake City are but a few of these watershed moments. In a seven day period that saw the legitimate debut of a triple cork in competition and the first five-peat in the X Games halfpipe, undoubtedly the most crucial occurrence for real riders took place in the high alpine above a subdued town in the interior of British Columbia.

The 2012 Red Bull Supernatural was spawned from the multi-talented mind of two-time X Games gold medalist and current SNOWBOARDER and Transworld Rider Of The Year Travis Rice. Building upon Travis’s endeavor to bring freeriding to the forefront that began with The Natural Selection and continued to the next level with The Art Of Flight media blitz, Supernatural is a one of a kind event two years in the making. With Supernatural, Rice intends to bring a new side of snowboarding, the world of film and freeriding, to the masses. With the involvement of Red Bull and NBC, the inaugural Supernatural is poised to become the ultimate counterpoint to one-sided saccharine snowboarding showcases like the X Games and Olympics, which currently monopolize the mainstream landscape.

While most riders would be content to sit back and rest on the accolades accompanying a season like Rice is coming off of, trust me when I say that Supernatural is much more of a passion project for the protagonist of The Art Of Flight than anything else he has ever been involved in. From finding the ultimate venue and securing resources, to championing the Supernatural cause in the press, the only part of this event Rice has left to chance is the weather which is why he chose Nelson, British Columbia’s Baldface Lodge to hedge his bets.

Head here for the rest of this Snowboarder Mag exclusive.