The dates for the 2009 Burton New Zealand Open have been annouced. It’s set to go down in Cardrona’s 22 foot Olympic-size superpipe  from the 10th of August (well actually that’s the opening party, the event doesn’t start until the 12th). Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you will have heard that the Australia Open has been merged into the New Zealand Open this year. Not to worry, if you’ve watched the event in years passed, you’ll know Burton, TTR and Go211.com do a great job with live webcasts and heaps of updates, so even if you’re not going to be in New Zealand, it’ll be worth watching. We’ll be sure to bring you all the updates here to, so don’t worry about missing out. Full press release under the cut if you want specifics.

2009 Burton New Zealand Open Announces Event Schedule

BURLINGTON, VT (June 10, 2009) – Some of the world’s best snowboarders will once again return to the land of flat whites and the All Blacks for the sixth annual Burton New Zealand Open Snowboarding Championships, taking place from August 11-15 at Cardrona Alpine Resort. At this year’s New Zealand Open, spectators can expect to see Olympic hopefuls fine-tuning their halfpipe runs for Vancouver in Cardrona’s Olympic-size superpipe.

The first stop on the 2009/2010 Burton Global Open Series and a Swatch TTR 5Star event, the New Zealand Open will include slopestyle and halfpipe competitions, offering riders the chance to earn a piece of the NZ$50,000 prize purse and gain valuable points towards Burton Global Open Series championship titles and the Swatch Ticket To Ride World Tour championship titles.

The festivities will kick off on Monday, August 10 with a free opening party featuring Sunshine Soundsystem in Queenstown, NZ at the Skyline Gondola, followed by an after party at Rattlesnake Bar.

Competition will get underway on Wednesday, August 12 with men’s slopestyle prequalification and qualifications, followed by the women’s slopestyle qualifiers.  On Thursday, August 13, the men’s halfpipe prequalification and qualification rounds will go down, followed by women’s halfpipe qualifications. The Gravis Open Sessions will also kick off on August 13 with music from Black Sun Empire (NL), State of Mind and Truth at the Lake Wanaka Center, followed by an after party at Postoffice Lane.

All eyes will be on the slopestyle course on Friday, August 14 for men’s and women’s slopestyle semifinals and finals. Later, the action will move to Wanaka for the first annual “Fight Night” at the Lake Wanaka Center, where riders will duke it out UFC-style for the title. An after party will follow at Postoffice Lane.

The 22′ superpipe at Cardrona Alpine Resort, the same size halfpipe that will be featured at the 2010 Winter Olympics, will be the locale for the men’s and women’s halfpipe semifinal and final competitions on Saturday, August 15. In the evening, Tiki Live and DJ Reno will wrap up the week’s festivities with the final act of the Gravis Sessions, taking place at the Lake Wanaka Center followed by an after party at Postoffice Lane.

If you can’t make it to New Zealand, watch the semifinals 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.

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.

About the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour

Founded by Terje Haakonsen and industry innovators in 2002, the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour is a non-profit, rider-driven organization with the mission to create the highest quality competitive snowboard environment in the world, using authenticity, accessibility, innovation as guiding principles. Since its foundation, the Swatch TTR Tour has been developing into the most respected snowboard tour worldwide featuring global grass root and key independent freestyle snowboarding events over a ten-month period from Southern to Northern Hemisphere locations. Events are rated via a 1-through-6Star system, with points allocated accordingly, a 6Star event holds the highest (1000 Swatch TTR points). Any rider participating in these events, from up-and-coming to professional talent, earns ranking points and a position on the Swatch TTR World Ranking List. The top male and female rider is crowned Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour Champion.

About GO211.com
GO211.com is the leading community and video site for lifestyle sports created by and for action sports athletes and enthusiasts. It’s the place to hang with the pros and friends to get behind-the-scenes video, blogs, photos, webcasts and podcasts from featured contributors along with other action sports fans.  GO211.com offers a broad range of exclusive content submitted directly from the athletes.  The current GO211 Pro Team roster includes Keir Dillon, Keegan Valaika, Danny Kass, Hannah Teter, Kevin Pearce, Kelly Clark, Jack Mitrani, Ben Watts, Donny Robinson, CJ Hobgood, Christian Hosoi, Holly Beck, Sarah Burke and Mike Losness, among others.

About Cardrona Alpine Resort

CARDRONA is located in the Crown Range between Queenstown (57kms/60mins) and Wanaka (34kms/35mins) in the South Island of New Zealand.  With consistently good weather and reliable snow conditions Cardrona offers superb terrain suited to all ability levels. Cardrona is renowned for its wide open, undulating terrain that is perfect for beginners and intermediates, whilst the Arcadia and Tulips chutes offer extra challenge for more advanced riders.  Cardrona is home to New Zealand’s premier terrain parks, with up to four half pipes, a gravity cross and a range of beginner freestyle features. For more information, visit www.cardrona.com