 Look at how aggressively he just goes to town on the top of this course and starting things off with a big Half cab drop right there so fast in the landing. He's got a slough some speed Before he just drops that Mute so far into the landing in this this was one of my favorite parts of his run the high speed butter 50-foot nose butter. Oh my god And here kind of getting a bit off of his line You can see the tracks I think caught him up in the running for that jump We just sent him into that kind of you know cork that didn't match up the landing Mark McMorris from Canada You didn't see him in Jackson Hole because he was in China competing at the Olympics But his love for this event is proven by the fact that he made sure his first stop was here at Ball Face Lodge The atmosphere here is really good everyone It's more into big mountain riding in backcountry snowboarding But just nice to switch it up and enjoy the mountains Last season purple was the color for Mark McMorris now giving us a little bit variations on blue. I like it And opening up with a backside 360 as he finds his way to this second lip and hitting that pillow line Ooh back one off of that How in the world he was able to adjust and save for that because I don't think he meant to hit that so hard I think you are right. It almost looked like he kind of softened a little buck off of that The manner in which this This guy can adapt from a slope style course into the backcountry is seamless Yeah, his body awareness and air awareness is just unfathomable See there with that backside 360 and pulling left into Oh Can you go back to back? But it looks like he came a little short on the landing and got bucked right there That was incredible though. Just to go backside 360 and make that quick left hand turn It looked like you said he came up just short There was a little lip that sent him off of that landing that he came up showing on yeah, cuz I was very clean in the air I Played a little could play it harder left or harder right on that Thank you. You guys are over it. He's coming in with heavy desire here for the win So coming in switch this first hit Half cab to the bottom right there That takeoff was so technical because he can't jump he kind of has to float off it and suck it up. Oh, yeah This angle really gives you that perspective of just the speed that is being picked up on the landing look how fast He's like oh my gosh That was really rad Snowboarding is Especially when it's done at this level and a contest that can reward that can reward a high-speed butter like that switch back Cork three to face. Yeah to face slide somehow bounce out of it and just throw a backie He's not stoked, but we're kind of stoked because I've never seen that before no and just I think further evidence of his superhuman status Obviously winning in Alaska would be insane. It's not necessarily Something I feel That is out of breach, but the more time you spend up here the better chances you have and I haven't spent a ton of time in Alaska yet Sort of building my credentials if you will In due time and it could be this time it could be next time. I'm not sure but I'm gonna try and ride my best Mental game especially in gnarly terrain like this is so important You have to be able to keep your composure because you are riding these things on on site for the first time and he is Fantastically strategic you watch him in a slope style contest and he knows exactly how to play the game and he'll be doing exactly the same thing here lovely frontside 180 Setting up switch. He's been reading the rulebook And just a quick revert back to his regular stance it's interesting to see the Evolution of the riders kind of learning those ins and outs of what the judges are looking for and how to kind of navigate this terrain Within the contest parameters. Well, that's exactly what Matt Morris has done He's looked at dusting Craven scores from boldface and gone. He got put through the roof for those switch turns I'm pulling in there So I have to feel a little bit like mark is kind of like Familiarizing himself as you put it so well range finding the terrain right now. Yeah, he's working this spine Very similar line to Ben Ferguson up here And he's come on to this really scary nose You've got to get your speed right off the end of that a little bit shorter than Ben Ferguson there But he gets a lovely transfer. Is he setting up? Nice backside 360 is floating into that landing right there Beautiful butter out of the bottom as well clean set of heels on the face That was very very tidy Super tech up top he managed to get a bit of freestyle in down at the bottom Feels like he's ticking all boxes. I do feel that he's holding back a little bit though I think that you know, we saw him last year in Alaska really go full send and mark has a lot more in the tank I think that's him getting a rundown on his feet feeling things out and setting himself up for run number two And he had quite a clinical first run. I feel and he's definitely in the driving seat here Oh beautiful front side 360 to start things off looking very smooth at the top It's got that Classic all the front one so he's again We're seeing that big switch riding drawing out those turns riding as fast switch as you'll see a lot of people ride normal That half cab round again, so he's not Arguably he's doing that as lip service for the judges rather than a really really technical Moment where he's linking it into a big switch takeoff exposure with the transfer Finding a new line there. I mean mark looks very very collected in this run He looks really really comfortable in this terrain as well if you cast your mind back to 2012 at Supernatural Travis's first iteration of this comp and he looked he was so far out of his depth and now he's one of the the The big players essentially the heavy weights of this field Navigating a backflip off of that Second drop right there. I mean you see mark picking his way down after having done this once already You know he's got something in his pocket three here last time and he wanted to improve big back seven That was huge. He almost ran out of landing there. Didn't he? Wow, okay, so that's putting the pressure on Craven for sure Okay, it'd be good to take a closer look in the recaps at the landing on that seven to see whether the How hard the judges are gonna hammer him for that. I agree kind of pending really what happened that landing I mean that was a very solid run, but he's pushed a lot harder than his first run. It was an 80 point I think yes, and then yeah. Oh, yeah, definitely too much gas up there sparky There wasn't too much freestyle. He added the seven added the backflip and he's starting to ways He's only four points shy of Travis I mean, this is where fantasy leagues become a reality mark McMorris versus Tarsar and Hortmoe in the Alaskan backcountry That's insane. Okay, so mark getting in early onto this big plateau Just straight lining it pinning it down there. Oh Beautiful butter Just holding on to it ambassador you're spoiling us Look at that and then right out onto the nose of this Super technical Billy go to his way through that Right up on top again, but Morris has made a real statement about his big mountain credentials here Oh, yeah, he's navigating the spine so well right now and just popping a really easy back side 360 right there before going cross court and he did get the tailgrab on it We haven't had many big solid Confident grabs today, and I think that means a lot I think that's one thing definitely in going out into a front side three holding on no problem right there Is that in this kind of terrain? I mean usually you would see these riders in a video part in a contest really getting to kind of hold on and yank that grab for An extended period of time, but this kind of terrain makes that so much more difficult Oh My finally hold on he has to reverb out of it, but he held on through that the judges aren't gonna punish him for that I don't think okay, so this is a great run He has that top very technical section the crowd rejoices and then a litany of solid freestyle hits in the lower section That it that really was a tiramisu run wasn't it? It's got a little bit of everything in it some super super tech riding up at the top And then some spicy freestyle down at the bottom Definitely pressure put on Torstein now Like it's not like he was in the back country Reading himself for the natural selection tour. He had to worry about a whole other contest So this this is him shifting his focus and having really no problem at all doing that Okay, he's got to beat a 95 it is gonna take let's not make any bones about this a very very special run Huge butter up the top clicks round to switch so he's taking a leaf out of Torstein and Travis's book with the cab 5 On over the bars Travis and Torstein haven't they haven't it's not they haven't put a foot wrong They haven't put a hair out of place on those runs And it means that the cleanliness is next to godliness up here completely to have runs that are That clean. I mean this is just flabbergasting. It's it's immaculate It's a lovely wildcat Getting caught up a little bit right there on his toe edge look like he was trying to get barreled I'm going front three all doing it together. Oh not quite Imagine having the spatial awareness to be able to save something like that Oh, yeah, any mortal would have had their head in the snow on that one And somehow he gave it this rocking cat and managed to bring it round Pop in a half cab for the fans down at the bottom. Yeah, you get the feeling I think after that that hit on the cab 5 I think Mark almost let it go at that point Like, you know, I'm not gonna take him down