Lake Wanaka, New Zealand
The Burton NZ Open represents the pinnacle of snowboarding in New Zealand and the Southern Hemisphere. From August 11 - 15, Olympic gold medallists and world champions in the field will converge on Snow Park NZ, Wanaka, competing in halfpipe, quarterpipe and slopestyle events.
Cardrona Alpine Resort is the home to the only 22’ superpipe in New Zealand, which is the same size halfpipe that will be featured at the 2010 Winter Olympics. This year’s New Zealand Open expects to draw Olympic hopefuls fine-tuning their runs for Vancouver.
Destined to be the most spectacular snowboarding showcase of the season, the New Zealand Open is the first stop of Burton’s Open series before it moves on to Australia, Japan, Europe and the USA.
A first for this year’s event are the Gravis Open Sessions - four nights of New Zealand’s finest musical talent. The beats of urban roots, rock, hip hop and drum ‘n’ bass will rock the Lake Wanaka Centre from August 11 - 15.
With events scheduled year-round and in five countries, the Burton Global Open Series boasts the most lucrative cumulative prize purse in snowboarding. All five Burton Global Open Series events offer riders the chance to earn points towards male and female championship titles, which are awarded at the US Open in Stratton, Vermont.
The event also brings exciting off-snow entertainment to Lake Wanaka with a launch and wrap party planned, as well as the Gravis Open Sessions featuring top Kiwi acts.
Cost: Free to spectators
About the Burton Global Open Series
The Burton Global Open Series events are the pinnacle snowboarding events of the season. Founded by Jake Burton, the Opens have grown from grassroots events to global spectacles attracting tens of thousands of spectators and riders from around the world. Since the beginning, the Opens have been driven by riders, for riders evolving with snowboarding and riders’ needs over the years. With events held in New Zealand, Europe, Canada, Japan and the United States, the Opens set the standard for snowboarding events around the globe. For more information, visit www.opensnowboarding.com.
