 How about this Mary off the top. Oh, how about a little tap on the pillow on the back side three that we did not see. Oh my goodness. And look at that. I think that this run is an exhibition of what a natural selection run should be. Ben Ferguson just hit it out of the park on this. Indeed. I mean the backside 180 into this absolutely perfect cork switch backside five. Who wants some. Oh my goodness. This is Ben Ferguson doing what Ben Ferguson does on scary. Sherry. I mean this is this is a moment for sure. One for to another Ben Ferguson versus Austin. Sweet and then Ferguson of course coming in to Jackson. I've been wrestling with the knee injury was kind of questionable whether or not he would come but feels like he's he's just there and is excited to see if he can take it to the top. Yes, so last year actually last summer I had to get surgery on my knee. Just like a little meniscus repair I was on crutches for like six weeks this summer and spent a lot of time like in the gym actually Red Bulls got like really great facilities and they took really good care of me coming in with really good PTs and trying to get the. Trying to get the knee back up and running and it's feeling really good right now. It gets sore every once in a while still but I think it'll be ready to go for me personally to win this thing. I think it just got to like stay consistent, ride good lines, try to mix it up like don't get trapped in the same run over and over again be able to be fluid and yeah just have fun and hang out. Credible second place performance last year. I saw he got to spend some time with Ben this past summer as he was in Southern California at Red Bulls doing the rehab he was diligent coming to California for weeks at a time making that knee a priority. And you're going to see how strong this kid is now if you've never seen Ben Ferguson ride before this is what he's all about starting things off the big old method into a huge frontside three. Unbelievable. Well and what's got to be going through his head after seeing his brother lay down the third highest score of the day just for kind of dipping into the trees there. This is a unique line. I don't know if we've seen this line before. Ben was talking about how he's going to be very strategic coming into this year's event second place in Jackson second in Alaska. That is a backside seven. One of the best we've seen today. Ben Ferguson came to win. I thought I was landing on rocks. He saw what Austin was capable of just really missed putting together a full pull. Oh absolutely with what Austin Sweeten is capable of on any given day if I'm Ben Ferguson my foot is on the gas and not coming up until I'm in the finish ground. But I kind of think Ben's always got his foot on the gas regardless of where he's sitting. Yeah you're right in that. A lot of switch here. Switch back five. Ben Ferguson came to play. That was unbelievable. That was incredible. Those trees up there are so tight too. They are not spaced out very far. Well he just saw what happened to his brother with sage and he does not want to open the door to Austin. And let's not lose sight of the flow that he's putting on somehow now that through this death snow making it look like he's riding fresh. If there's one thing these conditions are doing it's showing how powerful this is on his snowboard. Backside seven and he goes down. But that was an absolutely incredible run from Ben Ferguson. How was it Ben? That was exciting. That was a fricking rowdy run you just had there buddy. Leg burner. Holding on for dear life the whole time. It's great. Yeah well you killed it. That switch back five off the top was one of the most beautiful things that I've ever seen. Were you able to watch Lil Bro's run? I was. I was hyped. He was very close to nailing it down but he left the door open a little bit. He was just down here. He said he's got two goals. One beat sage and then beat big bro. Yeah. What do you think of that? A little nervous. I'm not going to lie. It's rad to have you both out here. Ben Ferguson's nice run. Best of luck. So close. See you man. Ben Ferguson is here to win. I think the first couple runs people do with the snow being the way it is will be pretty off the gas pedal. Like last year after doing that contest and seeing like what you could do if the snow had been the same coming into this year I think the level would have just like skyrocketed because everybody would have known the speed and it would have been dialed but this year since the snow conditions are a little more rough it's going to be a little bit more rowdy getting to and fro in the course like getting feature to feature and riding away clean from some of these landing so I think it'll be a little less technical but who knows what will happen man. Jared Elston said that this round this heat right here is an unstoppable force versus an immovable object. Frontside five off the toes. Look at the pop on that. Ben going down in the landing. You heard him say the first runs everyone's going full gas including him. And what's interesting about how Ben approaches this course as he throws a massive backside 360 off a booster shot is it's what Ben does in between how he looks in between the features. He is very fluid and sure on his feet. Straight air to the bottom little butter back three out there. That was a nice little correction. Save. Save? Yeah. Absolutely. That frontside five at the top. That's high stakes over his neck. He's going to pose himself as he comes up for the next round after that. You can see what he's trying to do. We're going to see if we can force some more free snowboarding into our lives. With the conditions changing Ben does have the power. Front five off the toes. Went for it again. Not able to ride out clean but continuing on backside 360 as he dips down into that tree band there. There's that signature Ben Ferguson method. A more iconic method in snowboarding right now. That's where there is already. We're on board with the drone and that go for a 10 perspective. I thought that he's getting more and more talented. Frontside 360 and yeah he just landed in a little bit of chunder. You know when you see those landing you see someone like Ben go down. He's got the power and the ability to suck up pretty much anything. When he goes down that casually on the three then yeah. Yeah line selection. Ben Ferguson second place in both Alaska and Jackson Hole last season. He loves scary cherry. He's someone who likes to go fast. Let's get his perspective. Yeah so pre event it was definitely like kind of shook the courses crazy. The first day we got a scope but there's so many options. It's a little bit overwhelming. But had a couple lines I was thinking about trying and then definitely like lots of nerves the night before was having crazy dreams. But yeah like super excited had a good plan and then I guess it got pushed. So chilling got to look at it again and feeling better now. This course is way different than the Jackson Hole course. It's a much steeper pitch up at the top kind of some blind rollers in there. You're not exactly sure where you're entering into the line. And yeah it's a different piece. It's steeper. It's bigger. It's probably longer. There are a bunch of hits in it. Maybe it's a little less freestyle a little more like line riding. But yeah I'm excited to give it a whirl. You don't get any like extra unnecessary flair or sauce from Ben when he's describing snowboard. No and I think that's just like his riding itself. It's powerful. It's strong. And it's beautiful in how it's economical. And you see him right here opening up with a half cab at the top of the course. He makes his way down to a second hit. Backside 360 and holding on to the landing in that little bit of packed snow up there. Love that the riders are mic'd so you get a sense of how they're feeling with a nice big method as Ben is flying into this left hand side of the course. Look at the speed. Just opening up an entirely new section too. Finding a really natty hit going deep. Back to back straight airs as he comes to the guts. Just like he said you know this was going to be a little bit less freestyle for him. As he goes down in that last hit he definitely treated it more like a big mountain line. Big bad Ben Ferguson. You know that he wants to make it into the semifinals. And to that end he starts things off with a lofty half cab right at the top of the course. And into a huge backside three. I think he held on to that one. I think he did too. A little shifty and he's heading down. Let me just chuck a mid-phase frontside three. Transfer that was dirty. The judges are making many annotations right now about that one. Oh a beautiful little poked out back one. And a really sick switch back five just corking that out right there going off axis. Oh the kid came to play a little stale fish to boot at the end. Wow you can see he is happy with that one. That was a very solid run from the man from Bend, Oregon. A pure flamboyant display of snowboarding. You know the mix of technical trickery with that just so loose. Classic Ben Ferg style never disappoints. Ben Ferg in visual mode. Frontside air poking it out off of that first hit. Sticking down to that center of the course. Backside 360. Getting a little cut up but holding on there. This becomes that part of the day where it's about surviving the landings. Oh beautiful frontside five. Just not landing it though. That was full Tommy Hawk right there. And this is where that body mic you can hear. He's out of breath breathing heavily. Reinforcing that strength that it takes and that endurance to get down this face again. And do it with such style like Ferg has. Yeah that ability to recover. There are a little late backside 180 there unable to make a landing but it still look pretty. But I'm guessing after Mikkel's run that for Ferguson he's going to be thinking about what to do in run two. Because run one definitely goes to Mikkel. Definitely I agree. Ferg's going to really want to pull from his reserves. He's going to need a great run. A little tranny finder up at the top right there. Picking his way down to this next spot. Whoa backside seven. Going down. Oh no. Oh my God. He looks to be OK. That was the heaviest ragdoll. And if you could not tell before just how critical this pitch is on Scary Cherry. We just watched Ben Ferguson just literally ragdoll like someone had thrown a toy onto the course. I mean so much respect and admiration for him first for sending a back seven like that. And then right now for the grace with which he is navigating the bottom part of that course after that situation. Good God man. And ragdoll at the end of my life. You kind of love that he can smile and be like that was the best ragdoll I've ever had. Yes. And run of the day goes to a natural selection veteran Mr. Ben Ferguson out of Bend, Oregon putting down his effortless and technical style on Scary Cherry. Highest score of the day with this backside three sixty with the nose tap on that pillow tower which we didn't realize until we saw it in slow motion. He absolutely attacked this thing ferociously. And that three sixty in the middle of his run I mean that was just phenomenal. Yeah, Ferguson was in the zone and this is when you get to watch you know a really talented rider with just pure joy. Totally this run showed us what natural selection is encapsulated in one top to bottom go. Standing next to that fluttering planet Earth flag the man out of Bend, Oregon a precision pipe rider Ben Ferguson. Getting on tour and coming to all the stops and making it to Alaska is you know feet in itself so I'm hyped to be here. Definitely like this kind of terrain like the big steep stuff and I think I got a pretty good chance up there. So I mean it's crazy it's this big scary place and you're flying around in a helicopter and you know the whole thing is like nerve gripping. You know kind of puckered up the whole time feel it in your stomach when the hell he starts chopping around and then you're like competing on top of that. So that adds a whole nother like element to the nerves as well. Yeah winning in Alaska I think it would just be like the most badass thing you could do. You know it's kind of like the beefiest tour stop it would be kind of the you know and I'll be all. You said it added Ben is one of the most experienced riders here in a cave but he's one of the younger riders to only 26 years old. What's interesting they're both on Burton as well. Mikkel's on that custom Ben opting for the one of the family tree line the hometown hero really aggressive taper on it. So it's definitely going to limit his switch capability on this face but he's coming in totally different intensity to Mikkel. But you can see the energy the drive he's putting into this. Yeah he was really energetic on that top section and then opening up this new riders left area. OK and now he comes on we called it before that bowling ball section and he's coming in with speed he knows where he is. There's got to be the benefit of riding this face in 2021. Good steep terrain and you can see him working over this spine now. Ben really has that combination of power and playfulness and I think it's it's very impressive to see that on his first drop heading toward that. A massive drop don't forget that the drone footage also kind of compresses things a little bit that that is very big and even steeper than it looks to us. And that second drop there straight off the nose and he's right up on the end of that one he has to get that speed right. He tranny finds perfectly. Wow. Beautiful backside 360. That was a phenomenal end to that run. I mean that really capitalized on that second section of his line. He came in very very strong. I mean that energy that explosiveness explosiveness excuse me that he entered into his run with. I expect we're going to see that and then some for this one. Okay same again heading out to the left hand side here and he's look at the speed he's carrying already like there's no brakes at all through this first section. Yeah he is just motoring method off of that first drop. But you keep in the back of your mind that that all of these riders now know since bald face that switch riding any combos of tricks that link 180s 540s are going to score really highly. And I'd love to see Ben starting to sniff around some of those combos. We know he's capable of it like his switch McTwist in his pipe run was a thing of beauty. It was the sort of crowning figurehead at the end of that run. Okay here he comes into that drop section. I mean that's a massive drop right there. Oh and he's carrying speed through there. Stalled a tiny bit but new nose opening up some fresh terrain. And that was a landing was a little bit too flat for the ambition of the jump. Huge back through. Wow getting that around that was enormous. So huge run a little bit loose but very very impressive nonetheless opening up fresh terrain as well. We know that that starts to max out the creativity bar from the judges completely they really want to see that. I mean there's also that risk challenge of that because no one has written that. You don't have a good sense of exactly you know what the landings are like what you're going to be dropping into in that situation. Okay so at the moment Ben Ferguson sat on a 78, Mikkel bang on a 70. Mikkel stepped it up but he did it in a line that he'd already tasted. 77 for Mikkel it's one point shy of Ben Ferguson. So the result is reversed from the finals last year. Ben Ferguson will advance to the semi-finals. Wow that was kind of the definition of a nail biter right there. And we saw that in bold face he pulled out that samurai sword of a frontside 360 mid-face. Interesting he's using that same endpoint that we saw from Marion and Dustin Craven. Easy backside 360 right there. Wind milled it didn't he just let all of the cadence carry him. So smooth and just effortless looking. So coming out right onto the left hand side of this venue working his way down spine number six. Looking light on his feet there. Just making a very technical spine look playful. As he rolls up to this crux point he's heading out right onto the edge here and make no mistake there is exposure off the backside of that. He is setting a flag right now. What an interesting and pretty incredible line choice. Yeah but we've said it so many times it's big mountain where's the freestyle there it is. 360 that was enormous. Big front three nose bone stale fish onto that transition perfectly. Just fine that landing just so perfectly. Oh and this is so graceful. Beautiful elegant riding from Ben Ferguson. Hacks into that big turn and lets out a scream of elation at the bottom. Wow I mean he is just looking over his shoulder Travis Rice right now saying hey it's on it's on. And there was that crouch you see that when he does his carve and butter runs through the pipe he got low. Looks like a sting ray in full flight. Wow and that's no sympathy cheer from the crowd at the bottom they're celebrating this one. That was classic bird right there that was a beautiful run. What that it's you've got to check yourself and put this run in context for a second. That was a contest run it's not a film run. Okay so it looks like he's going to take that same line in through that little shot there. Lovely transfer into a rock. Wow that was awesome. You can just hear the tail dragging down that rock. And just snagging a back three right there before heading into this long stretch. Well we know that Travis put seven tricks into this so that's exactly what Ben's thinking. I've got to up this trick count. Yeah he's got his work cut out for him but he you know is one that can really tackle that challenge. And it's so inviting when you look away to your right into the shaded side here but he knows if he gives into temptation and ends up on that side of the face then you end up in the gully and all the features dry up. So he's staying high up on this spine. Beautiful little poke off the nose of that rock. And front side seven putting that down just so well. Oh into a beautiful back one. And he just sat down I think. And had to revert that one out. What a run again. We've seen another breathtaking run. Just the level of consistency these riders are putting in. Look at that front side hack too that was awesome. Just a detonation on that last little feature there. And at the behest of the crowd down at the bottom he throws in a little butter. He fell back. Dustin Craven straight in with the high fives. That front seven heavy heavy hits in the backside 180 Japan down at the bottom. And now we are going to get into the men's top three. It was an unbelievable battle. Eight dudes three came out on top in third place. You just saw him win a custom MR surfboard from Bend, Oregon. Mr. Ben Ferguson.