The 2009-2010 Burton Global Open Series (BGOS) is officially underway! The BGOS formally kicked off with next level riding at the New Zealand Open. Riders from around the globe converged on Cardrona to show off their new bag of tricks at this first major event leading up to the Olympics.

From there the series will travel to Laax Switzerland, Calgary Olympic Park in Canada, ALTSBandai Japan, and Stratton Vermont (see below for dates, or click on each event microsite for full event info). Each event will have a microsite here on Opensnowboarding.com with all of the latest info on registrations, schedules, formats, videos, photos, webcast/tv broadcast times, as well as info for spectators and media. Each microsite will come online as each event approaches, so be sure to check back often for the latest info.

New Zealand Open August 11-15, 2009 Cardrona Alpine Resort, New Zealand

European Open January 9-16, 2010 Laax, Switzerland

Canadian Open February 2-7, 2010 Canada Olympic Park, Calgary, Alberta

Asian Open Mar 2-7, 2010 ALTS Bandai, Japan

US Open March 16-21, 2010 Stratton Mountain Resort, USA

The BGOS is one of the most progressive competitive snowboard series in the world. With events scheduled year-round and in five countries, the BGOS boasts the most lucrative cumulative prize purse in the sport – over $800,000 – with equal prize money to men and women.

The BGOS is comprised of some of the best snowboard events around the world, attracting the world’s best pro riders and amateurs alike – all throwing down for top honors in the slopestyle and halfpipe competitions. Since the beginning, the Opens have been driven by riders, for riders evolving with snowboarding and riders' needs over the years.

All five BGOS events offer riders the chance to earn valuable points towards a male and female BGOS championship title and a piece of the US$200,000 cash purse. New this year, BGOS will pay the top 3 men and women finishers on the tour. Prize money will be awarded as follows:

1st place Male and Female: US$50,000
2nd place Male and Female: US$30,000
3rd place Male and Female: US$20,000

Earning points is simple: riders are awarded points based on their final ranking in slopestyle and/or halfpipe at each of the individual BGOS events. A rider’s top five results are then added together to create their final BGOS standing. The male and female rider with the most points will be crowned Global Open Champion at the 2010 US Open at Stratton, Vermont.

The Burton Global Open Series is also part of the Swatch Ticket To Ride (Swatch TTR) World Snowboard Tour, the largest group of independent freestyle snowboard events in the world. Swatch TTR ranks riders based on their results at participating competitions and crowns the Men’s Swatch TTR World Champion at the US Open. For more information on Swatch TTR, visit www.ttrworldtour.com