Everything You Need to Know Ahead of Natural Selection Ski 2026

Featured Image: Chad Chomlack | Skier: Hedvig Wessel

Natural Selection Tour brought freeskiing into a new age last year with the advent of NST Ski, a freeride event the sport had spent years longing for. For winter 2026, the powers that be have blessed us with a follow-up, ensuring that last winter's epic competition was not just a one-off. In addition to the throwdown in Alaska scheduled for April 2026, we are also getting a new chapter in NST Ski; the Palisades Tahoe Super Sessions.

Super Sessions will serve as a qualifying round ahead of finals in AK. In the world of snowboarding, the Natural Selection format included DUELS, which pitted rider against rider at different locations and faces. While incredibly entertaining, this format had its limitations, and Super Sessions will be superseding DUELS (no pun intended), in both skiing and snowboarding.

"Born from DUELS, Super Sessions updates the concept with a more collaborative session-style competition," the NST website explains. So what does this new and improved event entail and how will it work? Let's dive in.

VENUE

Super Sessions will be held at Palisades Tahoe this March, with the weather window yet to be confirmed. So far, the iconic resort has had a rollercoaster of a winter. A rainy and warm December led to operations being postponed, but luckily things have since turned around. The ski area has clocked 118" in the last 15 days according to OpenSnow, allowing them to open 81% of their terrain.

Massive storms like this are far from uncommon in the Sierra Nevada mountains. The NST Ski crew will certainly be banking on a few storm days come March to allow the mountain to achieve its full potential.

A specific venue at Palisades Tahoe has yet to be announced, though the crew has been hard at work scouting, even hiking around the mountain to begin the search back in October. There are so many legendary zones at Palisades, and the snowpack can determine which faces are in, so we can't say for sure where the venue might land.

“The launch of Natural Selection Ski Super Sessions allows the Tour to open a wider funnel of opportunities to riders on the front lines of freeskiing progression,” said Mike Douglas, the head of Natural Selection Ski. “I'm stoked to see what these skiers can do as they feed off each other’s energy at one of the most hallowed grounds for our sport. Palisades Tahoe was made for an event like this."

FORMAT

There are different ways Super Sessions could be structured. You could give riders the chance to ski mulptiple zones in the day, or give them access to an entire area—say everything accessible from top to bottom on the iconic KT-22 chairlift. We'll have to wait and see, but whatever the case is, rest assured that there's no better resort on earth for this than Palisades Tahoe.

Judging by the press release, we can assume the competition format will be different from the bracket setup utilized in Alaska. "Super Sessions [will] embrace a collaborative, session-style format that prioritizes progression, creativity and freestyle expression on natural terrain," the statement reads. The phrasing of session format is a bit open ended, and could mean that it will be peer judged without major time constraints on runs, similar to X Games Knuckle Huck.

It's worth noting that the event will be streamed on Red Bull TV, though the streaming might be similar to last years Finals, which included pre-recorded event footage with announcers who, like us viewers, watched the comp and learned of the results during the broadcast.

The grandeur of Alaska on full display at last winter's NST Ski

Photo: Leslie Hittmeier | Skier: Parker White

ROSTER

Despite people's best efforts to crowd source invites via Instagram comments, the roster will be selected by the Natural Selection Advisory Committee. This group includes some of the most legendary names in the sport including Chris Benchetler, Kristi Leskinen, Markus Eder, Mike Douglas, Candide Thovex, Sammy Carlson and Michelle Parker.

There's a list of skiers a mile long that we'd love to see here, but only four men and four women will be selected when the time comes. One has to wonder if any Tahoe locals will be given preference, and though it would be incredible to watch skiers like Ross Tester, Britta Winans and many others compete on their home turff, it's safe to assume local favoritism will not be at play here.

There has also been no word yet on whether or not last year's competitiors will be allowed to return. Perhaps the Advisory Committee prefers a one and done world, giving space for new skiers to rise given the limited number of spots available. Either way, the plethora of talent out there is a sure sign that the eight skiers who are selected for Super Sessions and Finals will be wildly entertaining to watch.

FINALS - ALASKA

Once Super Sessions has wrapped, the stage will be set for the YETI Natural Selection Ski Finals in Alaska. The return to the motherland couldn't come soon enough. Finals will be structured like last year, using a bracket format that groups riders together, pitting them against one another. This post on Instagram explains the finals structure utilized in 2025.

Choosing the right location in the towering peaks of AK is an impossible task. Last year's venue, Priority 1, is an iconic face that's been featured in segments since 2007. Unpredictable weather delivered mixed conditions on the mountain, with riders working into better snow as the day advanced, leading to bigger and bigger sends.

It's unclear whether or not NST Ski will return to Priority 1 this winter. The list of options where you could logistically pull off an operation like this is not limitless, but of course, the riding in Alaska is expansive to say the least, so there are certainly other options.

Finals will be pre-recorded and later streamed on Red Bull TV April 10, 2026.

FREESKIER will be covering Natural Selection Ski every step of the way, so be sure to tune back in as the winter rolls on.