Salt Lake City, UT – On the eve of a historic year for freeskiing, The North Face has announced the fourth season of its Park and Pipe Open Series (PPOS). The series will feature three stops during the 2013-14 winter including halfpipe at Copper Mountain, Colo. (Dec. 6-8), halfpipe and slopestyle at Whistler Blackcomb, B.C., Canada (Jan. 14-18), and Stratton Mountain Resort in Vermont (Feb. 22), which will feature a slopestyle competition and rail jam.

“As the sport of freeskiing embarks on its journey to the world’s stage at the Winter Olympics, The North Face is proud to offer this open-format event to the freeskiing community, and excited to see the sport growing and moving forward,” said The North Face Vice President, Global Marketing Aaron Carpenter.

Founded in 2010, The North Face Park and Pipe Open Series (PPOS) features slopestyle and halfpipe skiing competitions. As one of the only open-format event series in North America, amateurs have the opportunity to compete alongside top pros and advance their athlete rankings.

All three PPOS events are part of the Association of Freeskiing Professionals (AFP) competition schedule. The Copper Mountain stop will also serve as a last chance qualifier into the U.S. Grand Prix series, which is the Olympic qualification series for freeskiing athletes in the U.S., and will ultimately select the athletes who will compete for the U.S. Olympic Freeskiing team at the Sochi Winter Olympics in February. The Sochi Olympics will be the first winter Games to include freeskiing halfpipe and slopestyle. The Copper Mountain stop will also be a NorAm Cup event. Athlete registration for all three PPOS stops will open November 5 at 10 a.m. MST on www.thenorthfaceppos.com.

“The energy surrounding this coming event season is outstanding,” said Event Director Barb Hamblett of Mountain Sports International. “We are very excited to provide athletes the opportunity to participate in this premium open series at such a pivotal time for the sport.”

Slopestyle skiing takes place in a venue comprised of man-made features such as rails, boxes and jumps contained on a single slope. Halfpipe skiing takes place in a halfpipe similar to those used for halfpipe snowboarding. Skiers accelerate through the pipe to gain increased height jumping out of the halfpipe while simultaneously executing challenging grabs, spins, flips and other maneuvers. Skiers string together a series of aerials from the halfpipe in a single run. Judging is based on overall impression, including content, difficulty of run, style and use of park or pipe. The PPOS will work in conjunction with the Association of Freeskiing Professionals (AFP) on competition judging with Mike Atkinson serving as head judge for the series.

2013-14 PPOS Series Schedule