Scuol, Switzerland – The TTR World Tour is getting ready to kick off its 10th season of snowboarding with the 5Star Billabong Ante Up in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada next month before heading down to New Zealand and Australia for the Southern Hemisphere leg of the tour.  The Southern Hemisphere calendar is full of highlights including the 3Star Dew Hut Jam in July, and the 4Star Billabong Bro Down, 5Star Burton New Zealand Open and 4Star Stylewars all happening in August.  The 2011-12 season will feature an all-new ranking system, the 6Star World Snowboarding Championships in February and the return of the Tour’s regular schedule of elite events.

New Ranking System and World Titles in 2012

The TTR World Ranking system has been totally overhauled and will now be split into four separate world ranking lists: TTR Slopestyle World Tour Ranking, TTR Halfpipe World Tour Ranking, TTR Overall World Tour Ranking and TTR Big Air World Tour Ranking.  The 5Star Billabong Ante Up and the 5Star Burton New Zealand Open will be the first two major events where riders will be able to earn points that will count towards these new ranking lists.

A Packed Summer Calendar

The Billabong Ante Up will kick off the 2011-12 TTR World Tour season on July 1st in Whistler and will register the first results that will count for the TTR Big Air World Tour Rankings.  With big air specialists including Mark McMorris, Sebastien Toutant and Seppe Smits all slated to attend, Whistler is expected to host some intense action on the massive jump.  The cornerstone event of the Southern Hemisphere season, the Burton New Zealand Open, is back as a 5Star competition and will be the first major event where men and women can bank ranking points for the Halfpipe and Slopestyle ranking lists.  The New Zealand Open will be going down at Cardrona Alpine Resort from August 9th to 13th.

• 5Star Billabong Ante Up – Whistler, B.C., Canada July 1, 2011
• 4Star Billabong Bro Down – Wanaka, New Zealand, August 5-6, 2011
• 5Star Burton New Zealand Open – Wanaka, New Zealand, August 9-13, 2011
• 3Star New Zealand Winter Games – Wanaka, New Zealand, August 19-24, 2011
• 4Star Stylewars – Falls Creek, Australia, August 21-24, 2011
• 3Star Dew Hut Jam Mt. Buller, Australia, July 30-31, 2011

The Road to the 2012 World Snowboarding Championships

The inaugural 6Star World Snowboarding Championships (WSC) will take place February 10-19, 2012 in Oslo, Norway and will feature halfpipe and slopestyle competitions.  Riders still have the opportunity to qualify for one of the 240 spots available and can do so through the TTR World Rankings.  The TTR Top 50 men and Top 30 women on the Halfpipe World Ranking List or the Slopestyle World Ranking List as of January 16^th, 2012, will automatically be eligible to compete at the WSC.  Riders who are currently outside the TTR Top 50 men or Top 30 women still have the opportunity to improve their ranking position and can begin earning some major points at the Burton Zealand Open in August and by continuing to compete at TTR events up until the January 16^th qualification cut-off date.