The snowboard contest season has started, Europe finally got some snow, and preparations are in full swing for the 13th annual Burton European Open (BEO) presented by MINI, taking place from Feb. 25th – March 3rd, 2012 at LAAX in Switzerland. To make sure all riders have plenty of time to register to compete at this world-class snowboard event, the BEO has extended the online registration process until January 14th, 2012.

To register to compete, snowboarders should head to www.opensnowboarding.com and look for the BEO page. Registration is open for juniors, men and women in the pre-qualification rounds for both halfpipe and slopestyle.

At the BEO, snowboarders who make it through pre-qualifiers and qualifiers will have the chance to take home a piece of the $125,000 prize purse, in addition to valuable points towards the TTR and Burton Global Open Series (BGOS) ranking lists. Also at the BEO, riders will compete for the second generation of the Creative Use of Space Award, presented by MINI. This season’s Creative Use of Space (CUOS) Award once again draws on the MINI philosophy of utilizing space intelligently. Prize money for the Creative Use of Space Award will go to the male and female riders who throw down the most progressive tricks in the halfpipe and slopestyle competitions at the BEO. In addition, the resort crew that builds the most creative CUOS slopestyle feature during the BGOS series will win $5,000.

Below is the latest BEO competition schedule:

Saturday 25th Feb, 2012 – Slopestyle Junior Contest
Sunday 26th Feb, 2012 – Halfpipe Junior Contest, Slopestyle Pre-Qualification Men
Monday 27th Feb, 2012 – Halfpipe Pre-Qualification Men/Slopestyle Qualification Women & Men
Tuesday 28th Feb, 2012 – Halfpipe Qualification Women & Men
Wednesday 29th Feb, 2012 – Slopestyle Semi-Finals Women & Men
Thursday 1st March, 2012 – Slopestyle Finals Women & Men
Friday 2nd March, 2012 – Halfpipe Semi-Finals Women & Men
Saturday 3rd March 2012 – Halfpipe Finals Women & Men

Check out this teaser below for the Burton European Open 2012!

Can’t go to the event…..? Then the BEO will also feature a live webcast from Feb. 29th – March 3rd, 2012 on www.redbull.tv and www.burton.com so everyone can watch the action.

For more information on the BEO, head to www.opensnowboarding.com, www.facebook.com/BurtonEuropeanOpen and www.facebook.com/BurtonEurope.

Are you ready to hit up the O’Neill evolution 2012? Once again this 6 star event for Men and Women’s TTR World Snowboard will see some of the most progressive riders from around the planet gather at the base of the Jacobshorn in Davos, Switzerland, to take to the revolutionary Big Air, and renowned Halfpipe. The event starts on the 02.01.2012 and goes on to the  07.01.2012, giving you 6 days of snowboarding paradise. Can’t go to the event? Then why not watch it on the live webcast which is available on Facebook on the 6/01/2012 @ 19:00. The URL is:

http://www.facebook.com/ttrworldtour?sk=app_221460014534454

Who will win the O’Neill Evolution Big Air 2012?
Get involved and join in the fun with the chance to win a prize by answering the above question, the competition starts today.

Prizes: 2 Seb Toots jackets, 2 Bend Headphones
Location: All O’Neill Facebook pages and partners
Start: 22nd December
End: 5 January 2012
Winner announced: Monday 9 of January

Excited for this event then check out this teaser and see what is in-store for you!

For videos on last years event click here and check out the O’Neil Evolution Facebook page

Head over to the Nike 6.0 Facebook page to get updates on the project.

For 2010/11, major events on the Swatch TTR World Tour have agreed to work together to expand and implement the Snowboarding Live Scoring System (SLS) for all halfpipe, slopestyle and big air competitions for the upcoming 2010/11 season.  The Live Scoring System is planned to be introduced across all 6Star TTR events in an effort to break down barriers posed by the current Overall Impression system and to improve the presentation and understanding of competitive freestyle snowboarding as a whole.

To read more about the system read the interview done by TTR’s media partner Method.tv with Dani Kiwi Meier, one of the main persons behind the development of the project.

TTR VIDEO INTERVIEW ABOUT THE SLS SYSTEM

At the 5Star Burn River Jump, we met up with current World No. 10 on the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour, Christian Haller. This young rider from Switzerland just had competed in the Olympics and now puts his focus back to the rest of the TTR season aiming for one of those popular spots in the TTR Top 5.

TTR: Hi Hitsch. You just got back from Vancouver. Please tell us your first impressions when you arrived there.

Hitsch: Arriving in Vancouver, we only really had three days of training at Cypress because they had problems with the pipe. Everyone had problems the first two days and it seemed that Shaun White was the only one really being able to cope well with the conditions. The training is strictly planned. First the Warm- up and then straight into the comp. I like it better when it is a bit more chilled out to be honest. No one got there and warmed up really, because everyone already knew what run he’s gonna throw down and just tried to stick it.  At other contests you have a look at the pipe first and then watch the others. It is just more spontaneous, but at the Olympics everybody has his set program.

TTR: Snowboarding is a sport that brings riders from different nations together. You ride with your group of friends no matter where from. Sometimes the sponsor is a divider but not nationalities. How was that at the Olympics?

Hitsch: At the Olympics you did notice the separation into nations. The Americans for example had their own shuttle, wore a team outfit on the mountain, did not stay in the Olympic village. They did separate themselves from the rest. But they did not do it in an unfriendly way, it was just planned that way. The Fins were different although they had their own team outfits. And you were among so many people all the time, which normally is not the case at snowboard contests. There you have your coaches, physio therapists etc.  It is different.

TTR: What are you afterthoughts about the whole thing?

Hitsch: I think negative for me was that I did not get enough training. Good for me was that I had expected the whole thing to be way more hectic and strenuous and it wasn’t. As a rider you have the most important status there and you get everywhere. After the comp you have to pass by all that media and give interviews but you just have to deal with that. I didn’t think that was too bad.

TTR: Are you happy that it’s over now? So how does your season continue?

Hitsch: Every rider is probably happy that it’s over now. It was a busy program and the pressure was very high because of the new tricks and the high riding level.  Everyone said that this was the most important contest of the whole season that’s why expectations were so high. I think for a lot of riders the season is over now. My season will continue at TTR contests. But I am glad it is over because it was always in the back of your mind. It is like a countdown that started in summer with training and the pressure in the last weeks  just got really intense because of all the new tricks you still wanted to learn. That is hard and some people are stressed out about it. If the weather is bad then you move on and look for better conditions somewhere else.
In December we were in Laax and not at Copper Mountain like everyone else. After the BEO we flew to Michigan. There is that Golf Club – just a hill with a pipe. Quite some people were there and that guy just had invited everyone. He paid for accommodation and food and the pipe was always shaped. Unfortunately the weather was really bad. The conditions were perfect in Park City but we only had one week there. Then we had a bit of free time in L.A. before heading straight to Vancouver.

TTR: How was the Opening Ceremony and what did you think of Kazu?

Hitsch: The Opening was really cool although it sucked that we had 3 hours in a stadium before. But it was great because of the fans. 
I thought Kazu looked really cool but I guess the Japanese had a different opinion on that.

TTR: What do you think of the level of riding on the TTR Tour and at the Olympics?

Hitsch: It was pretty close in the finals at the Olympics. Everyone could have taken the podium. Canadian Open and XGames were similar. But the Olympics are special. You did see that with Shaun, too. He only showed his special new trick in his second run to play safe because he wanted to win. He knew that he would win without it, too. 
The pipe was not in good shape either. We had snowboarded the whole day and then it was soft and then icy again. Everybody just showed what’s necessary and still it was hard to figure out what you had to do.  One the one hand you want to show your best tricks, on the other hand you want to play safe. Scotty surely showed the run of his life. Iouri and Peetu also rode very well. I think it could have been everyone taking second to fourth place. That was a pretty close call.

TTR: Thanks for your time Hitsch and good luck for the rest of the season.

If you want to find out more about Hitsch, check out his video episodes “The Hitscher”.

One of TTR’s media partners, Whiteout.tv, and TTR’s partners Swatch, have put together this project that follows Christian “Hitsch” Haller to TTR events all around the globe  in his Olympic season and offers the chance for viewers to get to know more. With interviews from friends, family and other top pros, you’ll get a unique look in to the life of one of Switzerland’s most interesting snowboarders and current World no. 2 on the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour.

For more information on this young rider also visit his profile on ttrworldtour.com

Click on the link below to watch the two episodes of Hitsch:

The Hitscher Episode 1

The Hitscher Episode 2

The Swatch TTR 6Star Burton European Open Snowboarding Championships 2010 went down last week in Laax, Switzerland. 08/09 TTR World Snowboard Champion Peetu Piiroinen won the slopestyle with style and consistent runs, closely followed by Norwegians Mikkel Bang and Gjermund Braaten. Scandianavian podium dominance could only be stopped by Switzerland’s Iouri Podladtchikov. Check out the photos in the slideshow above and keep your eyes glued to www.ttrworldtour.com to find out what happens next at the 5Star Canadian Open, the last big TTR Event before the Olympic Winter Games 2010 in Vancouver go down.

Will Peetu with his huge points lead be able to hold on to the No. 1 position once the US boys get back on the Tour in the end of February? Right now, Finland and Norway take 1st and 2nd in the TTR top nations ranking, America in 3rd. That might be the first time ever. For the girls it’s equally, if not more exciting. Sarka, Sina, Lisa, Cheryl, and Cilka are only little points apart and double 6Star Slopestyle Champion 2010, Enni Rukajärvi is hot on their heals.

Gjermund Braaten hitting the 6Star slopestyle in Laax

All of TTR staff’s hearts are with you as well KP!

If you haven’t joined the facebook group ‘Well wishes for Kevin Pearce’ yet – here is the link: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Well-Wishes-to-our-Frend-Kevin-Pearce/232366118918

To watch some action from the qualification day you can visit our frends over at snowboardermag.com: http://fresh.snowboardermag.com/video/olympic-halfpipe-qualifier-2-mammoth-mtn-video/

Mammoth GrandPrix Snowboardermag Video

To keep up with the fast developing of new tricks in the halfpipe before the Olympics in February, TTR’s new brand partner for 09/10, Nike 6.0, invited some of their team riders there to join the Saas Fee Invitational Airbag Session. Among the riders were two TTR Tour Champions Peetu and Mathieu, plus some of Europe’s finest like Manuel Pietropoli. Check out the video below.