Lake Wanaka, New Zealand – Snowboarders from around the globe are making the annual pilgrimage to Cardrona Alpine Resort in Wanaka for the 2011 installment of the Burton New Zealand Open (BNZO).  The BNZO is back as a 5Star event on the TTR World Tour and will kick off with open qualifications on Tuesday, and wrap up with slopestyle finals on Friday and halfpipe finals on Saturday.  The New Zealand Open is the first major event for halfpipe and slopestyle of the 2011/12 TTR season where all competing riders will earn points towards the all-new TTR World Tour Ranking lists.

Riders from around the world will be competing not only for a piece of the NZ$50,000 prize purse but also valuable TTR World Tour ranking points that will count toward the TTR Halfpipe Tour Ranking, the TTR Slopestyle Tour Ranking and the TTR Overall Tour Ranking lists.  On the men’s side, slopestyle specialists, Eric Willett of the U.S., Canada’s Mark McMorris, Gjermund Braaten of Norway, Belgian rider Seppe Smits and Finland’s Roppe Tonteri will be among the favorites competing in New Zealand.  For halfpipe, three-time TTR World Tour Champion, Peetu Piiroinen of Finland will be up against the likes of Switzerland’s Iouri Podladtchikov and Christian Haller, Utah’s Louie Vito,  and Scotty James from Australia, all of whom took down some major podiums last season.

On the women’s side, slopestyle competition will be top-notch with reigning two-time TTR World Tour Champion, Jamie Anderson of the USA, up against a highly talented field of international riders including Finland’s Enni Rukajarvi, Cilka Sadar of Slovenia, the Czech Republic’s Sarka Pancochova, Spencer O’Brien from Canada and Norway’s Kjersti Buaas.  In the halfpipe, women will continue to play catch-up with West Dover, Vt.’s Kelly Clark, who won almost every single halfpipe competition she entered last season.  Clark will need to keep an eye out for some ladies who are hot on her heels like Spain’s Querault Castellet, fellow Vermonter Hannah Teter, Gretchen Bleiler of Aspen, Colo., and America’s Elena Hight and Ellery Hollingsworth.

The TTR World Tour has a fresh ranking system in place for the 2011/12 season that is designed to recognize the progression and specialization that has grown exponentially in snowboarding over the past 10 years.  The new ranking system features three separate ranking lists for women (Overall, Slopestyle, Halfpipe) and four ranking lists for men (Overall, Slopestyle, Halfpipe and Big Air) that will make for a clear way to follow the different disciplines on the TTR World Tour throughout the season.