Mark McMorris feeling the burn of the vignetting in this epic screengrab...

Right this is awesome. Yeah it’s a wrapup of the video highlights from the pipe and slopestyle at the Burton NZ Open, but even better… VOICEOVER GUY IS BACK!

Don’t ask how, don’t ask why, but somehow the times we were given for the live stream of the Burton NZ Open we were trumpeting about last weekend all went to bollix. Ok, do ask – we’re sorry to report we have no idea what happened: we were given times that we were told that the action was to kick off and it seems that this info was shady to say the least.

Whatever, all we can do is apologise profusely for our mistake on someone else’s part and as a weak way of trying to make amends present you with highlights from the pipe and slope, where Mark McMorris, Jamie Anderson, Ryo Aono and Kelly Clark ripped most awesomely.

SLOPESTYLE WRAPUP

HALFPIPE WRAPUP

Tyler Flanagan at the BNZO Slopestyle. Photo: Pablo Azocar.

The sun blazed down on the 2011 Burton New Zealand Open making for a perfect day of Men’s and Women’s Slopestyle Semi-finals. 32 men and 18 women were culled down to 16 and 8 as they faced each other down on the challenging course that included MINI’s Creative Use of Space feature, a double cannon over a gap jump.

The women were up first with an exciting semi-finals showdown where we saw Charlotte Van Gils (NED) come out on top in first place with an impressive score of 87.33. Her run consisted of a Frontside 360 Nosetap, 50-50 to Noseslide, 50-50 Nosegrab, Backside 360 Melon, Frontside 360 Indy to Frontside 720 NoGrab. Right on her heels was local favourite, Shelly Gotlieb (NZL) scoring a 81 on her second run that included a Frontside 360 Nosetap, Backside 50-50 to Backside Lipslide, Boardslide to Fakie, Cab 540 NoGrab, Backflip Melon and Backside 360 Melon. In third was Jamie Anderson (USA) with a score of 78. The top 8 that made it today will advance to the exciting slopestyle finale on Friday August 12th.

Following the ladies, the men kept things cooking as GoPro enthusiast Tim Humphreys (USA) took first place with an outstanding score of 91.33 in his second run of the day. His winning run started out with a Cab Miller Flip leading into a GapCab 50-50, 50-50 Backside 360, Frontside 900 Tail, Switch Backside 720 and Cab 1080 Double Cork. Stale Sandbech (NOR) was close behind with a first run that included a Backside 540 Tailtap, Gap Hardway Frontside 270, Frontboard 450 Out, Cab 900 Melon, Backside 1080 and Frontside 1080 which earned him 91 points. Seppe Smits (BEL) made the top three with a second run of 89.83 while other top riders that made the cut included Sebastian Toutant (CAN), Tyler Flanagan (USA), Christian Haller (SUI), Mark McMorris (CAN) and Gjermund Braaten (NOR).

Women’s and Men’s Slopestyle Finals will be going down at Cardrona Alpine Resort tomorrow Friday, August 12th (well, actually tonight at 11pm CET) followed by the Men’s and Women’s Halfpipe Finals on Saturday, August 13th.

Here’s the full list of men’s and women’s Slopestyle finalists…

Slopestyle Finals Women: Miyabi Onitsuka, Jordie Karlinski, Tomoko Kikuchi, Silje Norendal, Kjersti Buaas, Jamie Anderson, Shelly Gotlieb and Charlotte van Gils.

Slopestyle Finals Men: Christian Haller, Aleksander Østreng, Simen Neraker, Ulrik Badertscher, Roope Tonteri, Fredrik Austbø, Mark McMorris, Gjermund Braaten, Tyler Flanagan, Torgeir Bergrem, Sebastien Toutant, Charles Reid, Brandon Reis, Seppe Smits, Ståle Sandbech and Tim Humphries

You can watch all the action from the Burton NZ Open pipe and slopestyle finals live by clicking that there link. It all kicks off around 11pm CET.

The Burton NZ Open is rocking out down under and you can watch the Semis and Finals of the halfpipe and slopestyle unfold right here on this live stream from 11pm CET.

Ok, if you’re in Europe like us then you’ll have to get the beers in and make a night of it as the stream will be live pretty late on Thursday, Friday & Saturday nights/early the next mornings. In fact, off the bat, here are the dates and times for various different live streams of the Burton NZ Open in various locales…

EUROPE – CET

Thursday, Aug 11/Friday, Aug 12
Men’s & Women’s Slopestyle Finals
11:00pm – 3:00am

Friday, Aug 12/Saturday, Aug 13
Men’s Halfpipe Semi-Finals
10:30pm – 1:00am

Saturday, Aug 13
Men’s & Women’s Halfpipe Finals
1:00am – 5:00am

New Zealand – NZST

Friday, Aug 12
Men’s & Women’s Slopestyle Finals
9:00am – 1:00pm

Saturday, Aug 13

Men’s Halfpipe Semi-Finals

8:30am – 11:00am

Men’s & Women’s Halfpipe Finals
11:00am – 3:00pm

US – EST

Thursday, Aug 11
Men’s & Women’s Slopestyle Finals
5:00pm – 9:00pm

Friday, Aug 12
Men’s Halfpipe Semi-Finals
4:30pm – 7:00pm

Men’s & Women’s Halfpipe Finals
7:00pm – 11:00pm

So set your watches and prepare yourselves for the hammers in this, the ninth edition of the BNZO. It’s also a 5-Star TTR event and the first stop on the Burton Global Open Series tour, where the riders list looks like a who’s who of contestular awesome riders. Look at this cut/paste list! Canadians Mark McMorris and Charles Reid; Americans Louie Vito, Jarret Thomas, Benji Farrow, Danny Davis and Jeremy Thompson; Japanese riders Kudo Kohei, Murakami Daisuke, Ryo Aono and Taku Hiraoka; Norwegians Ulrik Badertscher, Tore Holvik, Torgier Bergrem, Gjermund Braaten, Stale Sandbech and Torstein Horgmo; BNZO’s 2010 Slopestyle Champion Christian Haller (SUI), BNZO’s 2010 Halfpipe Champion Iouri Podladtchikov (SUI), plus Manuel Pietropoli (ITA) and Marko Grilc (SLO), as well as top local riders from New Zealand and Australia, including Mitchell Brown and Scotty James.

Wowzers! There’s girls too! Cut/paste again! 2010 BNZO Halfpipe Champion, 2011 BGOS Overall Champion and three-time Olympian Kelly Clark; 2010 BNZO Slopestyle Champion Jamie Anderson, 2011 US Open Slopestyle Champion Enni Rukajärvi (FIN) and two-time Olympians Hannah Teter, Gretchen Bleiler and Elena Hight, as well as Olympians Queralt Castellet (ESP), Soko Yamaoka (JAP), Sarka Pancochova (CZE), Ursina Haller (SUI) and Cilka Sadar (SLO). Also competing are Kaitlyn Farrington (USA), Spencer O’Brien (CAN), Silvia Mittermuller (GER), and New Zealand’s own Rebecca Torr.

In addition to the live streaming that you can get balls deep into right here, the BNZO will offer a live scoring service, accessible with any mobile phone or web browser. For iPhone users, the download the Efan iPhone app free from the App Store, or you can go to this place on the internet for start lists, results, live scores, live standings, athlete profiles and event details as available.

Another chance to check a different angle of iPod’s Double McTwist 12, Vito’s three back-to-back doubles and Taku Hiraoka’s fricking crazy height.

1st – Iouri Podladtchikov

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2nd – Taku Hiraoka

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3rd – Louie Vito

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Iouri Podladtchikov – 1st Men’s Pipe

Kelly Clark – 1st Women’s Pipe

Christian Haller – 1st Men’s Slopestyle

Jamie Anderson – 1st Women’s Slopestyle

Iouri Podladtchikov. Photo: Pablo Azocar

The final day of the 5Star Burton New Zealand Open went off on Saturday featuring men’s and women’s halfpipe finals at Cardrona Alpine Resort.

The weather cleared from the previous day and the sky popped blue making for a perfect day up on the hill for the event. The women took to the pipe first and Kelly Clark (USA), for the second consecutive year, dominated the field finishing in first place. The men’s competition kicked off after the women and it was a heated battle for a podium spot. In the end, it was Iouri Podladtchikov (SUI) who rose to the top and took home the title. Clark and Podladtchikov both walked away with 850 Swatch TTR Ranking points and a cool NZ$6,000 in their pockets.
Kelly Clark Wins Halfpipe with Untouchable Amplitude

The women’s finals featured some heavy competition and Kelly Clark was the rider to beat as she displayed her signature amplitude and smooth style. Clark set the bar high with her first run and was able to maintain her lead all day claiming the first place spot. She started her winning run with a massive frontside air into a backside 540 mute, frontside 900, method, frontside 720 and finished with a Cab 720 mute. Hot on her heels was up and coming Spanish rider, Queralt Castellet, who has been making some waves in the women’s halfpipe scene. Queralt put together a great run and took home second place leaving Japanese rider, Soko Yamaoka in third. Although Sina Candrian (SUI) placed 16th in today’s halfpipe, she moved into the TTR tour lead because she also placed 7th in yesterday’s slopestyle competition. Since not very many women competed in both disciplines, Candrian was able to nab the current tour leader position.

Kelly Clark. Photo: Pablo Azocar

Iouri Podladtchikov Takes Halfpipe Title Moving Into World No. 2

The men dropped into the pipe in the afternoon and perfect weather conditions continued for the men’s field. Iouri Padladchikov (SUI) had a little trouble on his first run but came back to take the top spot with his second drop putting down a huge crippler, double McTwist 1260, frontside 1080 tailgrab, and a Cab 720. With today’s result, Podladtchikov moved into World No. 2 in the Swatch TTR Rankings sitting behind current leader, Gjermund Braaten (NOR). Japanese riders were out in full force and young 14-year old ripper, Taku Hiraoka, gave the men’s field a run for their money. He threw down an excellent run to take second place. And, American rider, Louie Vito, stepped it up with his second run to take home the third spot on the podium.
Snowboard Live Scoring (SLS) Judging System Debuts in the Halfpipe

Today’s halfpipe competition marked the debut of the new Snowboard Live Scoring system (SLS), which takes a new approach to judging halfpipe runs. Instead of looking at a rider’s overall run like the Overall Impression system, the new SLS system scores each hit in a rider’s run which are then combined with an overall flow score in order to provide a clear definition of how the judges arrive at a final score. The SLS system was a success in today’s halfpipe competition and seemed to be well received by the riders.
With the Burton New Zealand Open in the bag, the TTR Tour will head across the Tasman sea to Falls Creek, Australia for the 4Star Stylewars competition which will kick off on August 22, 2010.

The tour will then head back to New Zealand for the 3Star Billabong Bro Down, scheduled for September 11, 2010. The TTR Tour will then take a quick break before winter returns to the Northern Hemisphere. Check out ttrworldtour.com for new videos, news and photos from New Zealand and head over to GO211.com for a replay of the webcast from the New Zealand Open.

“Yeah dude, they gave me half a movie part.”

New Teasers, New Riders, New Zealand.

What was it our German editor said the other day? “Wettest summer since invention of water.” With our vacations long over and dismal weather every day there is nothing better for us to do than wait impatiently for the upcoming winter. No wait, This Week in Snowboarding is actually better. Once again we’ve selected the ripest fruits of snowboard journalism and put them into a single internet basket. Figuratively speaking. This will no doubt get you stoked on snow and shred fun. Here we go…

SATURDAY

Chris Brewster tells us how to learn lipslides. Don’t spin your backflip until you leave the lip, kids! Chris Coulter & Co. shred some gnar lines in Argentina. The Garbage Gang posts yet another thugged out Les2Alpes clip. StackUp Films brings us a bunch of French Canadians repping it hard in the Tha Money Teaser.

SUNDAY

The Illicit Snowboarder dissects Hollywood’s take on snowboarding. The ÄtschBätsch teaser is some mellow shredding from Austria. Jeremy Jones doesn’t post edits. He posts shreddits. Someone tries to kill himself gapping a rail. And someone else did kill himself sitting in a sauna. Be careful in there, Finnish people.

MONDAY

Chad Otterstrom resurfaces in the excellent I’m with Stupid teaser. Seb Toutant, Pat Moore and Wojtek Pawlusiak perform very well at the Red Bull Performance Camp day 3. Jamie Anderson looks none-too-shabby either in this Superpark edit. The Windells Camp finished its sixth session, and Cocard, Hironaka, Owen, Kotsenburg and even Eddie Wall showed up. A Japanese website posted a shitload of 2011 dealer catalogs. Not much happens at the Baw Baw’din episode 4. An unknown mentalist slams at the Superpark event, and Bjorn Leines has a nice scar.

Sadly for him, style was more than just a combination of gangsta hoodie and sick balaclava.

TUESDAY

We post the Maverix Snow Camp trailer. A rail jam shakes downtown Queensland. LNP and Lazz play a great game of SHRED. Jonah Owen teaches the world how to do a switch ollie. Whitelines post Alex Broussard‘s clip from last season at Bear Mountain. The Helgasons ride beer and drink hard (warning: awful music). The Handmade trailer comes straight outta Montana, the UK scene says hello from Morzine, while We Are 2012 hails from Mother Russia. Two new Jussi Oksanens are in the making. And finally, the Rumorator sees The End of Snowboarding, again.

WEDNESDAY

Our friends from the Pirates Crew release their epic ‘Hooked’ teaser. Think Thank release two more of their not quite as epic mini teasers. The NZ Open kick off with the slopestyle qualifiers. Iikka Backtrom talks about the spelling of his name and wife swapping with our Photo Ed’s bro. The Mica minute #15 is a great edit of the Videograss crew at High Cascade. Snowboarder Magazine posts an equally awesome highest halfpipe air video. Ever heard of Skylar Thornton? He is a good rider.

Invisible Girl: Heavy Petting.

THURSDAY

The day kicks off with the NZ Open halfpipe qualifications. Then the rookies go nuts at the Red Bull Performance Camp. Unbelievably, Onboard is looking for contributing writers. You’re into sneakers? Then head over to TWB for their Spring 2011 footwear previews. You fancy fridges? Peep this Bispingen Summer Feast edit. Here’s a clip of the World Heli Challenge in NZ. And there’s a clip of Arbor teamrider Forrest Schmidt oozing with style. And check these banger POV scenes from The Storming, and Celtek‘s Superpark 14 edit.

FRIDAY

Anderson and Haller win NZ Open Slopestyle. We post the TWS In Color teaser and the banging HCSC Session 6 recap. Jeremy Jones rides a bonkers couloir in Deeper episode 10. And last but not least: Is this the solution to crammed resort apartments?

That’s all folks. Have a good weekend and keep coming back!

TTR Movers and shakers after the NZO results, plus an interesting breakdown of the new Snowboard Live Scoring system (SLS).

As you’ll have read elsewhere, the NZO Slopestyle finals went off today at the 5Star Burton New Zealand Open at Cardrona Alpine Resort in Wanaka, New Zealand, where despite bad weather Christian Haller and Jamie Anderson stood above the rest to bag the titles, a wad of cash and 850 TTR points.

Men's Tour leader Gjermund Braaten. Photo: Pablo Azocar

Jamie Anderson Takes Over the TTR Tour Lead
The New Zealand Open was the first major competition for the 2010/11 season for the women, so the pressure was on for riders to get a good result at this early season event. Jamie Anderson powered through the bad weather to claim first, which bumped her into the World No. 1 position. Anderson won the women’s competition with a boardslide-to-tailpress on the down bar, a frontside 180 out on the up box, switch backside 180 mute, backside 360 mute, and a backside 180 mute. Local New Zealander, Shelly Gotlieb, had a good day and finished in second place while Kjersti Ostgaard Buaas rounded out the podium in third place. With their podium finishes today, Gotlieb moved into the World No. 5 spot and Buaas is now sitting in the World No. 2 position in the Swatch TTR World Rankings.

Snowboarding Live Scoring System in Full Effect
The New Zealand Open used the new Snowboard Live Scoring (SLS) judging system for slopestyle finals and will also use the system for tomorrow’s halfpipe semi-finals and finals. The SLS system was well received by riders today and seemed to run smoothly for the judges, as well. The new system can be viewed in action during the live webcast on GO211.com during tomorrow’s halfpipe competition.

Check back to ttrworldtour.com for some fresh videos from the New Zealand Open and be sure to check out the new videos explaining how the new SLS judging system works. And, don’t forget to tune into GO211.com to check out the halfpipe finals live from Cardrona Alpine Resort in New Zealand.

Christian Haller uses the Force to take him to first in the NZO slopestyle. Photos: Pablo Azocar

Despite bad weather Jamie Anderson and Christian Haller hold it down to take the top spots in the slopestyle at the Burton NZ Open.

The Burton New Zealand Open Slopestyle finals took place today at Cardrona Alpine Resort with Burton rider Christian Haller (SUI) taking first place in the men’s event and Jamie Anderson (USA) winning the women’s competition.

Women's winner, Jamie Anderson.

Haller and Anderson both walked away NZ$6,000 richer for their performance on the challenging Slopestyle course which was even more tricky with today’s variable weather conditions. Due to the snow conditions and morning delays, the competition format was condensed, with all 37 men and 19 women semi-finalists going straight into a single final round, where the riders took two runs, best of which counted for their final score.

Tore Holvik hits the post.

The low visibility and variable snow didn’t seem to hinder the best riders, with some amazing runs being thrown down regardless. The first feature of the course offered a choice between a down-flat-down round bar or a round down bar, the second feature was a choice between an up box or a gap to flat box, followed by three jumps measuring in at 45-feet, 55-feet, and 75-feet, then finishing with a quarterpipe to goalpost / hip.

Mikkel Bang sending it.

Christian Haller put it all together in his second run to score 80.84 points with a backside lipslide on the down-flat-down bar, tailslide on the gap to flat box, switch backside 720, Cab 900, frontside 720 tailgrab. But the margins were tight with current TTR tour leader Gjermund Braaten’s (NOR) first run score of 80.64 points holding top spot until then. Gjermund’s run consisted of a frontside 270 gap over the down-flat-down rail, frontside 270 on the gap to flat box, frontside 540, Cab 720, and double back rodeo 900. Coming in third with 79.00 points was 2010 Burton US Open Slopestyle winner Mikkel Bang (NOR). Mikkel’s run started with a gap to switch backside lipslide on the down-flat-down rail, backside lipslide on the gap to flat box, backside 540, Cab 720, switch backside 900.

Women's podium.

In the women’s competition, Jamie Anderson (USA) took her third straight New Zealand Open slopestyle title and had this to say about her win, “I can’t believe it, I love the Burton Opens and winning this event three times in a row is amazing, so I’m ecstatic and so stoked to start of the year with a good result.” Jamie’s winning run earned her a score of 79.20 points and consisted of a boardslide-to-tailpress on the down bar, a frontside 180 out on the up box, switch backside 180 mute, backside 360 mute, and a backside 180 mute. Coming in second place behind Jamie was Burton rider, Shelly Gotlieb (NZL), who held it down on her home turf with a great second run earning her 74.56 points. Rounding out the podium in third place was Kjersti Buuas (NOR) who also had a good run that scored 73.60 points.

Men's podium.

The newly developed Snowboard Live Scoring system (SLS) was used today by the judges, which gives scores for each individual hit during a run that is then combined with a flow score to provide a more transparent final score. Viewers of the live webcast on GO211.com were able to see this system in action and watch real-time ranking changes, among other features of the site.

The live action at the Burton New Zealand Open culminates tomorrow with highlight event, the halfpipe.

Jamie Nicholls qualified for the semis in second place. Needs to work on his colour combos though. Photo: Pablo Azocar.

There was plenty of action on day one of competition at the Burton New Zealand Open with Slopestyle pre-qualifiers and qualifiers taking place under perfect blue skies at Cardrona Alpine Resort.

A field of 65 men and 18 women battled it out for just 16 and 5 spots, respectively, to join invited riders in the semi-finals, which will take place on Friday, August 13th. The custom built course was in pristine condition with the first feature offering a choice between a down-flat-down round bar or a round down bar, the second feature was a choice between an up box or a gap to flat box, followed by three jumps measuring in at 45-feet, 55-feet, and 75-feet, then finishing with a quarterpipe to goalpost / hip.

Leading in the men’s competition was Benjamin Farrow (USA) with a second run score of 89.67 points which he earned with a frontside blunt 270 out, tailslide 270 out, switch backside rodeo 540, frontside 720 double grab, backside 720 melon ending with a tail tap on the goal post feature. Jamie Nicholls (GBR) was only a fraction behind with 89.33 points, also on his second run, which started with halfcab-to-50/50, 180-to-switch 50/50 180 out, Cab 900, frontside 720 mute, and backside 1080 late cork. Rounding out the top three was Sam Hulbert (USA) with a score of 87.67 points. Others riding strong and advancing to semi-finals included Robbie Walker (AUS), Arthur Longo (FRA), and Adrian Krainer (AUT). James Hamilton finished in 13th and was the only New Zealander to advance.

Ryan Stassel. Photo: Pablo Azocar.

Women took to the course later in the afternoon with New Zealander Rebecca Torr coming out on top. Her score of 76.33 was earned with a run that consisted of a backside 50/50, 50/50 frontside 180 out, halfcab, backside 360 stalefish, straight air, and a handplant on the final feature. Second place went to Rana Okada (JPN) with 74.17 and Danielle Adams (USA) came in third with 73.67 points. The other two women to make the cut and advance to semi-finals were Megan Whiteside and Ty Walker (both USA) in 4th and 5th respectively.

In addition to the Slopestyle qualifier round, riders were able to practice in the 22-foot halfpipe in preparation for tomorrow’s halfpipe pre-qualifier and qualifier rounds.

The Burton New Zealand Open marks the first stop on the prestigious Burton Global Open Series and is also a 5Star event on the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour. Full details and updates are available via www.opensnowboarding.com and semi-finals and finals of the event will be webcast live on www.go211.com