Now That's a Trophy!

At a press event for Jackson Hole, we chatted with Travis Rice (a JH native) about his upcoming Quiksilver Natural Selection snowboarding competition -- and this awesome trophy.

This is just second place.

Luxist: Now, the first place one is 24 carat gold, right?

Travis Rice: That's correct. The first place trophy weighs about 40 pounds and it's 24 carat gold. This one right here is silver-plated, and the third place one is polished bronze.

L: Do you know the value of these things?

TR: I do.

L: Can you tell me?

TR: No!

L: Shoot!

TR: It's definitely a very impressive number, like, our whole thing is like, I think a lot of contests just slack on trophies. I think a solid trophy is so important instead of just like "we have a little ribbon for you," and you get 10,000 bucks.

L: So, I'd imagine you have a closet full of those little ribbons.

TR: Yeah, and it pisses me off! I mean, you try so hard for something and then you end up getting this cheap, laser-inscribed piece of glass or something.

L: And the trophy's different every year?

TR: Yeah, this is our second year, and we wanted to do metal this year. And it's original artwork, you know?

L: So tell me about the event; explain it to me like I'm a child.

TR: The contest is called The Natural Selection for a reason. If you've ever seen a snowboarding contest before, for the most part they're man-made, they blow snow for them, they build up all the features, make jumps. This contest, however, is actually held on natural terrain. We let God do all the work. And, you know, we live in Jackson Hole, so the insane snowfall that we get there allows us to hold a contest of this type of scale.

L: Last question: Can it be worn?

TR: You know what? I think it COULD be worn. But it is gonna HURT.

L: Heavy, huh?

TR: I mean, I could try an put it on your head right now, but I think it's not gonna feel that good.

L: I feel like we might get in trouble for that in here.

TR: Yeah, it might just be a faux pas.

If you want to hit Jackson Hole for the Quiksilver Natural Selection competition, start here.