Swatch TTR Changes

The Swatch TTR board members met in New York City, USA on May 19^th through May 22^nd to devise some changes for the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour 2008-2009 to try and increase the progress snowboarding has been making. Given below are some of the notable changes that have been made.

In the Tour of 08-09 the last 6STR events will consist of two events to determine the Tour Champion. There will be Burton US Open for the men, and Roxy Chicken Jam for the women. Whoever wins the Tour Champion events will receive a 1000 Swatch TTR points. The 25% bonus will be removed.

The prize money will be distributed to all the winners after identifying their rankings at the end of the Burton US Open and the Roxy Chicken Jam. The Top 10 men of the Burton US Open and the Top 5 women of the Roxy Chicken Jam will receive prize money.

Swatch TTR ranking points received by the riders ranked on the final Swatch TTR ranking list at the end of the tour (April 30^th) will be carried over to the tour of the next season, which will instantly be taken as the first result of the new season’s ranking list. The average of eight results will determine a rider’s final ranking. If the rider carries his/her last season’s points, then the average of only seven results will be required to determine the rider’s final ranking.

The number of Swatch TTR points available at each STAR level has been changed to provide a clear distinction between the 1-2 Star, 3-4 Star and 5-6 Star, while still maintaining dignity in the different levels.

Swatch TTR (Swatch Ticket To Ride) was founded by Terje Haakonsen and industry innovators in 2002, and is a non-profit, rider-driven organization. They have the goal “to create the highest quality competitive snowboard environment in the world, using authenticity, accessibility, innovation as guiding principles”. They are one of the most well-known snowboard organizations present today. And they have all unanimously agreed on the above changes at the General Assembly held on May 22^nd, 2008.

Let us hope these changes bring the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour of 2008-2009 even more success.

British Ski Cross Series

For the first time ever, the British Ski Cross series will be on tour this summer. They will be show-casing five events all through the United Kingdom. The Cross series has already visited the SNO!zone in Castelford, and is now getting ready to take on Sno!zone, Scotland. They will be seen in Scotland on the 15^th of June.

This tour has brought a lot of attention towards it since Ski Cross events are rarely held for British skiers. The kinds of skiers on tour are extremely versatile. On one hand there are the racers, and on the other, the freestylers.

The main advantage of this tour is to allow skiers to try out new events. This way they will be able to realize their talent and potential, giving them a chance to further their career and possibly ski at the international level. Snowsports Great Britain will be present at all five of the events offered on tour. They will be there to distribute the prizes to the winners who may have an opportunity to be a part of the British Ski Cross Team.

Emily Sarsfield, Britain’s No. 1 cross skier has been sponsored to ride, and has become a champion for this fairly new event. Sarsfield has a number of titles under her name. She came 2^nd in the Swiss Champs 2007, 6^th in the World University Games 2005, and is a five-time British Ski Cross champion.

So for the entire month of June, we can watch the British Ski Cross series take command of the United Kingdom.

Indoor Terrain Park

In the Olympic city Beijing, China, Burton has signed on as the sponsor for the new indoor terrain park. Touted as one of the most strategic moves in the Chinese snowboarding market, Burton will be the key sponsor of the Burton Qiaobo Mellow Park. This terrain will provide year-round facilities to all the riders.

Burton was first started in 1977 by Jake Burton Carpenter. He found it out of his barn in Vermont. Since then it has boosted the growth of snowboarding around the world. Along with a group of top notch snowboarders, it has made snow sports widely accepted in a number of resorts. In 1996, Jake Burton began expanding by starting a group of brands for board sports and apparel. Burton, which is privately-owned by Jake, has its headquarters in Austria, Australia, California and Japan.

This June 14^th, the snowboarding landscape of China will forever be changed when the new Burton Mellow Park is revealed by Qiaobo Ice and Snow World. This part of the country has one of the most identifiable and highly-reputed indoor snow-domes.

Steve Zdarsky, CEO of Burton Qiaobo Mellow Park recently commented, “The drive behind the project is to get more people on the snow riding and having fun. With Burton as our partner and their LTR program in effect, the new park is really going to draw the crowds. Besides, we are all just super stoked we can now ride in Beijing year-round!”

The Mellow Park which is located right outside the city center, comprises of a kicker line, wallride and rail and box combinations. The designer of the park, Marco Huang has said, “The park will be as sick as we can make it. The snow in Qiaobo is surprisingly good, and the management is stoked to have a new Mellow Park, so it’s going to be a fun area for all levels of riding.”

So apart from the summer Olympics up ahead, one can look forward to the unveiling of the first indoor terrain park in Beijing, China.

Snow Surge Forums Launched

Hello

We have been working behind the scenes recently at Snow Surge and are proud to announce the launch of our Snow Surge Forums.

For a few weeks now we have been working on setting up the forum with full integration and it is now up. You can find a link in the navigation at the top of all pages and you can also bookmark the page www.snowsurge.com/forum

We will be doing heavy advertising of the forums over the next few weeks and recommend that you start posting right away to get ahead of the game. You can talk about skiing and snowboarding in great detail on the forum and when you get bored you can lay back and talk about anything in the lounge.

Make sure that you read the forum rules, then get prepared for some serious talking

Regards

-The Snow Surge Team