Words: Red Bull

Red Bull and Travis Rice today announce the 16 snowboarders who accepted invitations to compete at the inaugural Red Bull Supernatural at Baldface Lodge outside of Nelson, B.C., Canada. Invites were sent to riders on the forefront of bringing freestyle snowboarding into natural terrain.

On one day between February 3rd and 8th, riders from seven different countries will compete in a first-of-its-kind backcountry competition designed to challenge, then crown the best all-around snowboarder on the planet.

The invite list is partially made up of the top finishers from the Quiksilver Natural Selection, such as Mark Carter, DCP, Nicolas Muller and Wolfgang Nyvelt. Travis Rice and a panel of experts next extended invites to established pros and freeride contenders including Jake Blauvelt, John Jackson, Mark Landvik and Terje Haakonsen. To round out the freestyle contingent of the field, Scotty Lago and Kazu Kokubo, along with two wildcards who are deeply involved in contest-based slopestyle snowboarding, were invited.

Wildcard invites will go to the X Games men's slopestyle gold medalist, to be crowned on January 28th in Aspen, and the current top seeded slopestyle rider on the TTR World Tour, Canadian Mark McMorris. If Mark McMorris wins slopestyle at X Games, the second wildcard spot will go to the silver medalist.

Red Bull Supernatural's judging team will include some of the most recognized legends of snowboarding including Tom Burt (Head Judge), Andy Hetzel, Temple Cummins, Shin Campos, Bryan Iguchi and Mel Simmons (Assistant Head Judge). The overall impression judging system will be used taking into account the line's risk, flow, amplitude, creativity, tricks and control.

Overall judged scores will look at the riders' use of the course as a whole, navigating the steep upper tree section, two cliff bands, a 300' wide jump and a lower powder park section. All competitors will receive two complete runs with a bonus third run going to the riders who finish in the top eight after the first two runs. The best single run score of the day will win.

Red Bull Supernatural Confirmed Rider List:

David Carrier-Porcheron CAN
Devun Walsh CAN
Eero Niemela FIN
Gigi Ruff AUS
Jake Blauvelt USA
John Jackson USA
Kazu Kokubo JPN
Lucas Debari USA
Mark Carter USA
Mark Landvik USA
Nicolas Muller SUI
Eric Jackson USA
Scotty Lago USA
Terje Haakonsen NOR
Travis Rice USA
Wolfgang Nyvelt AUS