Did the Burton Snowboard team find your city cool enough worthy of a stop on their epic 200-stop tour?  I mean 200 stops is quite a lot so there you’re sure to at least catch the team somewhere in between.  If you’re fortunate enough to catch the team on one of their stops, be prepared for a bunch of free goodies and the opportunity to try out the revolutionary new EST binding and Channel snowboard technology. 

The Burton Super Demo Tour brings you free Burton Snowboard demos, thousands of dollars in product giveaways, and rocking après parties at every stop. Burton would like to thank Volvo, Paul Mitchell, Nature Valley, Emergen-C, Snowboarder Magazine, R.E.D. and ANON for sponsoring and supporting the Burton Super Demo Tour.

2009 Burton Demo Tour Super Stops
January 2–4                        Copper Mountain Resort – Copper, Colo.
January 9–11                      Northstar-at-Tahoe Resort – Truckee, Calif.
January 17–19                    Bear Mountain Resort – Big Bear, Calif.
January 23–25                   Keystone Mountain Resort – Keystone, Colo.
January 30–February 1   The Summit at Snoqualmie – Snoqualmie Pass, Wash.
February 6–8                     Park City Mountain Resort – Park City, Utah
February 20–22                Spirit Mountain – Duluth, Minn.              .
February 27–March 1      Mountain Creek Resort – Vernon, N.J.
March 6–8                         Stowe Mountain Resort – Stowe, Vt.
March 14–16                     Waterville Valley Resort – Waterville Valley, N.H.

“IT’S ALWAYS SNOWING SOMEWHERE” drops August; starring Shaun White, Terje Haakonsen, Gigi Rüf, JP Solberg, Heikki Sorsa, Nicolas Müller, Tadashi Fuse, Frederik Kalbermatten, Jeremy Jones, Jussi Oksanen, Tadashi Fuse, DCP, Mads Jonsson, Trevor Andrew, Keegan Valaika, Kevin Pearce, Danny Davis, Kazuhiro Kokubo, Mikkel Bang, Mikey Rencz, Peetu Piiroinen, and the Smalls Team.

Just last week we saw a cool feature on Etnies founder Pierre Andre Senizergues’ home in Newport Beach on LA Times.com.  And as we discovered, with proper perseverance and enough initiative, you can make a lot out of yourself even if it is in skateboarding, or as you will see now, snowboarding.  

The U.S. News & World Report did a nice feature on Burton Snowboards and CEO Laurent Potdevin.  You probably know this, or you might not.  But Snowboarding is an almost half a billion dollar industry and Burton is one of the largest takers in that stake.  So check it out and be inspired. 

Now since you couldn’t be there because airline tickets cost too damn much, then go ahead and watch the highlights in the video below.

RESULTS
1 Torstein Horgmo NOR DC 90.33 $7,500
2 Danny Davis USA BURTON 81.50 $3,000
3 Eric Willett USA VANS 79.50 $1,500
4 Chas Guldemond USA DC 79.00 $700
5 Kevin Pearce USA BURTON 78.00 $350
6 Mason Aguirre USA BURTON 77.67 $175

The men were first to drop into the pipe this morning under cloudy skies, where 14 men were boiled down to six. Sage Kotsenburg (USA) took the top spot in men’s halfpipe qualifications by putting down a solid run that started off with a frontside 900 melon into a backside 540 mute, followed by a frontside 720 indy, into a switch frontside 720 mute, finishing with a stylish melon to fakie. Aussies Scotty James, Samuel Murphy and Charlie Steinbacher, in addition to Chris Sörman (SWE) and Marco Grilc (SLO) advance on and will be competing against invited riders Mason Aguirre (USA), Danny Davis (USA) and Kevin Pearce (USA), among others.

1 Sage Kotsenburg USA QUIKSILVER 90.00

2 Chris Sörman SWE BURTON 85.17

3 Marko Grilc SLO BURTON 80.17

4 Scott James AUS — 74.50

5 Samuel Murphy AUS — 73.67

6 Charlie Steinbacher AUS FORUM 55.67

It looks like VBS is coming out with some major online programming for this fall, as the lineups of TV shows seem to keep piling on.  Check out the press release below for all the details.

“On August 25th VBS.tv, Vice magazine, and Burton Snowboards invite you to dig out your old hot pink neoprene gear from your parents’ attic and get ready for our snowboarding show “Powder and Rails.”

The series will delve through the storied history of the sport with an emphasis on how it transformed from a novelty for yuppie two-plankers to something bored skateboarders did in the winter to one of the most anticipated events in the Olympic Games.

This VBS series begins with the legendary Fall Line Films releases in the late ’80s, particularly The Western Front. The videos shifted the focus of snowboarding, inspiring a whole generation to forget about contests and focus more on tricks and mountain exploration. They also helped, plant the seeds for the proliferation of professional snowboarders over the next two decades.

“Powder and Rails” will kick off its first season with 10 weekly episodes, which will air every Monday. The show will feature some of snowboarding’s most noteworthy personalities, including: Damian Sanders, Jeff Brushie, Tom Burt, Trevor Graves, Steve Graham, Todd Richards, Mack Dawg, Jeremy Jones (jib), Dave Seoane, Pat Bridges, Mike Hatchett, and tons more.

Moving forward, the show will explore the popularization of snowboarding in the ’80s through today, the ever-changing trends of snowboard culture, and the sport’s incessant technical progression. Think of it as a giant avalanche of blinding white knowledge that will blanket your eyes with every single relevant factoid and point of interest that has ever happened in snowboarding.

VBS is an online broadcast network that carries a mix of domestic and international news, pop and underground culture coverage, and music from all over the place. See you on the mountain.”

Photographer Adam Moran shoots a lot of photos — and while he is one of Burton’s go-to guys, his work also shows up in Transworld Snowboarding.  They just published a bunch of photos from the last year in which Moran follows around White and a bunch of other snowboarders (Jeremy Jones, Danny Davis, Kevin Pearce to name just a few) all across the world — and captures them in action, having fun and, well, otherwise.

You really should check it out here.  I have snagged one photo just to promo it above (credit, of course, to Moran).

Jamie Anderson is one of the best women snowboarders in Slopestyle but she’s only starting to make her mark in the halfpipe.  Saturday at the halfpipe finals at the New Zealand Open she came through with her first major victory in that discipline, and it came over one of the top hp riders in Kelly Clark.

Meanwhile, the Japanese dominated the men’s final with four of the top five coming from the island nation, with Kazuhiro Kokubo taking the win.

For a more detailed breakdown of the action, keep reading for the official release and check out the official site for more.

ANDERSON AND KOKUBO TAKE BURTON NZ OPEN HALFPIPE CROWNS

LAKE WANAKA, New Zealand (August 2, 2008)  – New Zealand’s biggest international snowboarding event saw a field of 40 men and 21 women to step up and compete for the overall title of Burton NZ Open champion at Snow Park NZ today.

In the women’s competition Kelly Clark (USA) again ruled the roost in the semi finals, showing why she has dominated this event for so long with the highest score of the day – 86.50.  Hot on her heels was 16-year-old Jiayu Liu from China making her first appearance on the BGOS while yesterday’s slopestyle champion, Jamie Anderson (USA) scraped into the finals by the skin of her teeth in eighth place.

All was to change when finals time came round. On Anderson’s first run she pulled out an amazing 84.25 score which also earned her best trick with an inverted backside 540 and allowed her to hold her lead throughout the finals. Clark never quite found her form from the semis and while her amplitude was huge, a couple of missed grabs and a fall saw her slip into third place. Meanwhile Liu tenaciously held on to her second place with her phenomenal amplitude that has been present throughout the competition. A talking point of the Open has been the emergence of some huge talent from China. This is the first time they’ve had a team at the Open and the level of riding displayed promises an interesting future for this emerging snowboarding nation.

The Japanese contingent were super strong throughout the men’s semi finals taking six of the finals spots including Ryo Aono in second. Janne Korpi (FIN) took the top qualifying spot with fellow countryman Markus Malin in third. However, only Malin was to make it to the podium. Kazuhiro Kokubo (JPN) and Daisuke Murakami rose up the field with strong high amplitude runs to take first and third respectively.

The top three riders were given an additional chance to improve their scores in a fourth run superfinal. The women’s superfinals didn’t alter the rankings with Anderson holding onto first and a double NZ Open title. Daisuke Murakami put together the run of the day but a fall on the last hit allowed Kazuhiro to hold on to first with a score of 92.50. However Murakami got best trick with his frontside 1080 tailgrab.

Said Kokubo of his win –“I tried to create my own style of riding; I didn’t just want to win, I wanted to do it in style!”

Top ranked NZ male, James Hamilton stepped up his riding from last season to take eighth place. His overseas training showed in his performance during the Open and his riding is now on a world level, to the point that his performance has put him as number one in the BGOS Ranking and third on the Swatch TTR rankings. Top placed NZ females were Juliane Bray in fifth and Kendall Brown in sixth.

Other Swatch TTR ranking changes include Chas Guldemond earning enough points to take over the number one spot, despite not making it through to the finals. Mikkel Bang went down eight ranks to World No. 9 and Janne Korpi takes second. Jamie Anderson defends her title while Kelly Clark moves into World No. 5, up three ranks since yesterday. Sina Candrian climbed the rankings into second followed by Ellery Hollingsworth in third.

For those who were unable to make it to Snow Park NZ, highlights of the competitions are available for on-demand viewing at www.go211.com.

2008 Burton New Zealand Open

Men’s Halfpipe Final Results
Rank     Competitor     Nation
1     Kazuhiro Kokubo     JPN – 92.50
2     Markus Malin     FIN – 90.25
3     Daisuke Murakami     JPN – 89.75
4     Kazuumi Fujita     JPN – 86.00
5     Ryo Aono     JPN – 77.75
6     Janne Korpi     FIN – 77.00
7     Keito Kumazaki     JPN – 73.50
8     James Hamilton     NZE – 68.00
9     Justin Lamoureux     CAN – 67.25
10     Stephan Maurer     SUI – 66.25
11     Xiaoye Zeng     CHNv-v64.25
12     Brennen Swanson     USA – 62.75
13     Luke Mitrani     USA – 59.25
14     Nathan Johnstone     AUS – 49.25
15     Kosuke Hosokawa     JPN – 46.75
16     Olivier Gittler     FRA – 34.75

Women’s Halfpipe Final Results
Rank     Competitor     Nation

1     Jamie Anderson     USA – 84.25
2     Jiayu Liu     CHN – 73.75
3     Kelly Clark     USA – 73.25
4     Shiho Nakashima     JPN – 68.50
5     Juliane Bray     NZE – 67.25
6     Kendall Brown     NZE – 64.00
7     Soko Yamaoka     JPN – 53.75
8     Charmaine Ironside     CAN

Mikkel Bang | cr. milesholden

Mikkel Bang and Jamie Anderson dominated the competition Friday at the Burton New Zealand Open to take the top spot on the podium in the Slopestyle finals.  Charles Reid and Chas Guldemond followed Bang on the podium, but in reality it wasn’t close, with Reid more than 10 points behind and Guldemond nearly five points behind him.

The women’s race was even more lopsided, with all three of Anderson’s runs strong enough to win the competition.  Cheryl Mass was a distant second with a 66.00 and Spencer O’Brien was third with a 65.33.

There was also a Quarterpipe Jam held, with Brennen Swanson winning for the men and hometown hero Juliane Bray winning for the women.  Kelly Clark did take highest air and best trick honors for the women while Fumiyuki Murakami took best trick and Daisuke Murakami highest air for the men.

Keep reading for a full breakdown of the day’s action and for more visit the official site.

INTERNATIONAL SUCCESS AT BURTON NZ OPEN SLOPESTYLE

It may have been a powder day in the rest of New Zealand but the attention was firmly focused on Snow Park NZ’s terrain for the slopestyle finals of the Burton NZ Open. With a field comprised of X-Games gold medalists, TTR leaders, and some of New Zealand’s best, the day promised some serious riding and it didn’t disappoint despite more testing weather conditions.

While the standard was high in both the men’s and the women’s, both winners were stand out in their field with Mikkel Bang (NOR) over 10 points clear of Charles Reid (CAN) and Jamie Anderson (USA) an incredible 24 points clear of her nearest rival, Cheryl Maas (NED).

Even though the weather deteriorated throughout the day, the riders kept stepping up and it was Bang’s final run that earned him the title spot.  “I didn’t have any expectations when I set out this morning, the weather wasn’t great but the snow was good and soft and it turned into a really good day!” he said.

His winning run featured a switch frontslide boardslide, Cab 540 nose tap, cab 720 mute, switch backside 900 mute, 270 on the rail, finishing with an alley-opp wallride.

In the women’s field head judge, Jason Grossi, said the results reflected Anderson’s outstanding riding ability. “Jamie dominated from the very beginning, from her amplitude to her spins. Her rail tricks were real clean and technical and she was riding stronger than some of the men including an alley-oop wallride on the final feature.”

It was also Anderson’s final run that achieved her highest score, starting off with a noseslide, frontside 180 nose bonk, Cab 5, backside 5, gap to tailslide, finishing with an alley-oop wallride. “The jumps were well built and the rails were fun,” she said. “If it had been sunny, it would have been perfect!”

Today’s results mean new top 10 TTR rankings with Mikkel Bang rising 13 places to take top spot in the men’s rankings. Chas Guldemond rose five places to second and Tim Humphreys rises nine places to third. In the women’s, Jamie Anderson hangs onto her top spot while Cheryl Maas climbs three places to second and Sina Candrian rises three places to third.

Today’s results also see two Kiwis enter the TTR top 10 – James Hamilton in seventh and Mitchell Brown in 10th.  However, it was Shelly Gottlieb (Queenstown) who took the glory in the Kiwi camp with a fourth place in the women’s comp with a strong first run that put her just three points behind third place winner, Spencer O’Brien (CAN). The highest placed Kiwi male was Nick Hyne in eighth.

The Burton NZ Open finishes tomorrow (Saturday) with the highlight event – the halfpipe finals. For further information and full results, visit www.opensnowboarding.com

For those unable to make to Snow Park NZ, watch the semi-finals and finals live on Go211.com, where webcasts and highlights of the competitions will also be available for on-demand viewing once the event is over.

Slopestyle Finals – 2008 New Zealand Open – August 1, 2008
Men’s Final Scores

Rank  – Competitor  – Run 1  – Run 2  – Run 3
1.  Bang Mikkel – 85.00 – 86.67 – 92.83
2.  Reid Charles – 82.67 – 56.33 – 46.67
3. Guldemond Chas – 68.83 – 78.50 – 75.00
4. Willett Eric – 74.50 – 75.50 – 53.50
5. Humphreys Tim – 72.83 – 67.33 – 74.17
6. Hulbert Sam – 70.83 – 73.33 – 62.00
7. Sörman Chris – 30.67 – 68.33 – 65.83
8. Hyne Nick – 46.33 – 67.83 – 56.83
9. Maurer Stephan – 11.17 – 42.50 – 64.83
10. Mitrani Luke – 41.17 – 57.00 – 46.17
11. Hamilton James – 24.17 – 47.17 – 54.33
12. Brown Mitchell – 54.33 – 40.17 – 39.00
13. Kleivdal Roger – 16.17 – 42.83 – 53.83
14. Toutant Sebastien – 53.00 – 34.50 – 31.67
15. Nakai Takaharu – 31.50 – 44.33 – 41.50
16. Zeestraten Stef – 37.33 – 38.17 – 27.67

Women’s Final Scores

1. Anderson Jamie – 81.83 – 85.83 – 90.00
2. Maas Cheryl – 62.83 – 66.00 – 26.33
3. O’Brien Spencer – 65.33 – 62.00 – 60.17
4. Gotlieb Shelly – 62.17 – 41.83 – 45.50
5. Conaghan Callie – 56.00 – 55.50 – 50.83
6. Candrian Sina – 51.17 – 51.50 – 55.17
7. Hollingsworth Ellery – 54.50 – 53.83 – 38.33
8. Mizuki Naho – 53.00 – 23.00 – 48.33

Quarterpipe Jam

Quarterpipe Men
Best Trick: Fumiyuki Murakami, JPN – McTwist
Highest Air: Daisuke Murakami, JPN
Best Overall: Brennen Swanson, USA

Quarterpipe Women
Best Trick: Kelly Clark, USA – Backside 540
Highest Air: Kelly Clark, USA
Best Overall: Juliane Bray, NZE

Weather was an issue, however, and while the men’s qualifiers did go down, the women will have to wait until Friday’s semi-finals where the 22 qualifiers will compete alongside the invited athletes.

For more about today’s action, check out the official site and read the press release below.

SLOPESTYLE BEATS THE ELEMENTS ON DAY TWO OF THE BURTON NEW ZEALAND OPEN

High winds and poor visibility delayed the start of day two of the Burton NZ Open but did little to dampen the spirits of a strong men’s field in the slopestyle qualifiers. Over 80 international riders from 13 countries took on Snow Park NZ’s new slopestyle course to earn a place in tomorrow’s semi-finals alongside some of the world’s best snowboarders.

The 800m-long course tested the riders’ skills with a variety of features, including a staircase, two massive kickers and an urban wall ride. Top scoring qualifier, Sam Hulbert (USA) went huge and stomped each of his landings, putting down a big and solid run that included back to back 900’s, seemingly immune to the testing conditions. He was just 0.17 points ahead of New Zealander Nick Brown who put down an equally impressive run.

New Zealand took four out of the 15 qualifying spots with Nick Brown (Queenstown), Nick Hyne (Queenstown), Connor Harding (Wanaka) and Neville Lapwood joining invited riders Mitch Brown, James Hamilton and Stef Zeestraten in tomorrow’s semifinals.

“The Kiwi boys killed it, said judge Ste’en Webster. “Especially the two Nicks with their usual precision rail riding and solid air. Nick Hyne actually took out the NZO slopestyle title three years ago and it’s good to see him back after his absence from last year’s Open due to injury.”

Due to the delayed start, all 22 women qualifiers will go through to tomorrow’s semi-finals, competing against back-to-back X-Games gold medalist, Jamie Anderson (USA).

The Burton NZ Open continues tomorrow (Friday) with the slopestyle semi-finals and finals followed by the invitational quarterpipe – historically a big crowd puller as some of the world’s top riders defy the laws of gravity getting massive air under floodlights to the tunes of top Kiwi DJs. For further information and full results, visit www.opensnowboarding.com

For those unable to make to Snow Park NZ, watch the semi-finals and finals live on Go211.com, where webcasts and highlights of the competitions will also be available for on-demand viewing once the event is over.