LAKE WANAKA, New Zealand (June 23, 2008) – The beats of international and Kiwi musical talents will rock Lake Wanaka during New Zealand’s premier snowboarding event, the Burton New Zealand Open, next month.

The Gravis Open Sessions offer live music every night throughout competition week and includes two major concerts on Thursday and Saturday. Combined with daily high-paced action from top international snowboarders, the Burton New Zealand Open presents a full schedule of entertainment on and off the mountain.

Photos: Xiao Ba

Burton Snowboards Makes an Impact in China with the Opening of Beijing’s First Indoor Terrain Park

Beijing, CHINA (June 14, 2008) – The Chinese snowboarding landscape was reshaped forever as Burton and Mellow Constructions China unveiled their brand new indoor terrain park in the Qiaobo Ice and Snow World just outside of Beijing.

While most locals were left in hot and humid conditions in the city, China’s snowboard community had better things on the agenda: to escape inside to the giant refrigerated snow dome which is temperature controlled to a cool minus one degree for a shred session, free demos and the music of three-time DMC Champion DJ Wordy.

BURLINGTON, VT. and WALNUT, CALIF. (June 5, 2008) — Burton today announced that it has established a new distribution center in Southern California with Menlo Worldwide Logistics, a leading logistics and supply chain management specialist. Based in Walnut, California, the new distribution center will enable Burton to expand product availability and provide faster fulfillment of orders for its retail customers on the West Coast.

Beginning next month, the new facility will handle the distribution of ANON sunglasses, Analog, Gravis, Burton Apparel and Channel Islands non-surfboard product lines. Burton will continue to distribute ANON goggles, Burton outerwear and snowboards from their existing North American and Asian Distribution Centers.

By selecting Menlo to provide the warehouse facility and distribution support services, Burton will be able to fulfill product needs for West Coast retailers as quickly as possible through more cost-effective transportation and shorter delivery times.

Burton’s first indoor terrain park in China will be unveiled June 14th, 2008

Beijing, CHINA (May 12, 2008) - In one of the most exciting strategic moves in the Chinese snowboard market to date, Burton has signed as the title sponsor of The Burton Qiaobo Mellow Park, a brand new indoor year-round terrain facility.

With the country’s top park firm, the snowboard industry’s most recognizable name and a state-of-the-art indoor snow dome, the landscape of Chinese snowboarding will be forever changed this June 14th when Qiaobo Ice and Snow World unveil their brand new Burton Mellow Park.

Burlington, VT (May 29, 2008) —Burton is proud to announce the “Because of Snowboarding” grand prize winners, selected from among 6,000 applicants who were asked to complete the sentence, “Because of Snowboarding…”. The stories were submitted through the Burton’s magazine partners Missbehave, NYLON, Transworld Snowboarding and Snowboard Canada, and through Burton North American Sales Reps, who hosted one or more women’s events in their regions.

Each magazine chose a finalist who won a full set-up: R.E.D. helmet, ANON goggles, Burton outerwear, first layer, gloves, snowboard, boots, bindings and board bag. Those finalists were then presented to the Burton’s marketing department, and finally the winners were chosen by Burton women’s global team riders.

“It was very moving to see what a difference snowboarding makes in people’s lives, and we were overwhelmed with the response as well as the range of stories,” said Debra Friedman, Global Director of Women’s Marketing. “Based on the stories we received, snowboarding not only provided some of the most fun and crazy situations, but also brought families closer, helped people get through cancer treatments and gave people a way to make the most out of life.”

Click It's Always Snowing Somewhere to check out the teaser.

BURLINGTON, VT (May 13, 2008) – The Burton Global Open Series announced dates for its 2008/2009 international snowboard competition series, which will kick off in New Zealand this summer. Below are final dates and locations for all 2008/2009 Burton Global Open Series competitions.

Burton New Zealand Open / July 29 – August 2, 2008 / Snow Park, New Zealand

Burton Australian Open / Sept 2 – 6, 2008 / Perisher Blue, Australia

Burton Canadian Open / December 1 – 7, 2008 / CODA’s Canada Olympic Park

Burton European Open / January 9 – 16, 2009 / Laax, Switzerland

Nissan X-Trail Nippon Open / February 24 – March 1, 2009 / ALTS Bandai, Japan

Burton US Open / March 16 – 22, 2009 / Stratton Mountain, USA

The all new BGOS website is launching this week and will include new features such as rider profile pages featuring rider snapshots, bios, current BGOS standings and event results per rider. Riders can now register for both the New Zealand Open and Australian Open, visit opensnowboarding.com to check out the new site and for more information about both of these events.

THE CHILL FOUNDATION HOSTED ITS THIRD ANNUAL WEST COAST CHARITY GOLF TOURNAMENT AND FUNDRAISER

As this year’s epic winter season has slowly come to an end, more than 100 industry friends and athletes set aside their boards for the day and enjoyed a day off in the sun and had the chance to support a deserving cause. On April 30, the Chill Foundation hosted its third annual west coast charity golf tournament at the Monarch Beach Resort in Dana Point, California. This year’s event brought out some of the industry’s best and raised over $25,000 for Chill’s North American learn to ride snowboard, surf and skate programs for under-served youth.

WORLD-CLASS SNOWBOARD ACTION GUARANTEED BY BURTON NZ OPEN

LAKE WANAKA, New Zealand (April 21, 2008) – The world’s top snowboarders will once again return to the giant superpipe and slopestyle courses at Snow Park NZ in Lake Wanaka for five days of world-class snowboarding action during the Burton New Zealand Open Snowboarding Championships from July 29 to August 2.

The Burton NZ Open is the pinnacle of snowboarding competition in the Southern Hemisphere and attracts the world’s top professional riders including X Games champions, Olympic gold medallists and world champions, all competing for the largest title payout in snowboarding. The male and female cumulative-points champions will each collect US$100,000 after competing in the New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Europe, Japan and USA events, and New Zealand is the first port of call on the international circuit.

Dingo and Jake Carpenter

Photos: Burton