With a $45,000 prize purse, the largest big mountain snowboarding tour in North America returns for its third year

Salt Lake City, Utah—January 6, 2010— The much-anticipated first stop on The North Face Masters of Snowboarding (TNF Masters) big mountain snowboarding tour arrives at Snowbird Mountain Resort, Utah, January 23-24, 2010. Big-name pros, along with up-and-comers from around the globe, will battle it out for the $15,000 prize purse on Snowbird’s impressive North Baldy amphitheatre finals venue.

Registration is nearly sold out for TNF Masters at Snowbird. The competition, in its third year, attracts the world’s best big mountain snowboarders including Clif Dimon, Rob Kingwill, Ralph Backstrom, Ryland Bell, Michelle Locke, Shannan Yates, and Susan Mol.

The North Face athlete Rob Kingwill, who finished third at Snowbird last year, is looking forward to another fierce competition. “Last year Travis Rice threw down a rodeo flip in the mid-section and an insane backside 3 off the 50-foot cliff at the bottom,” said an enthusiastic Kingwill. “I am really looking forward to the progression of freeride freestyle in the runs from some of the young guns like Ryland Bell, Aaron Robinson, and Kenny Jones. The Snowbird venues have countless opportunities for the riders to throw down. I have been charging at Jackson all season and I am feeling super strong and ready to charge in a couple of weeks at the Bird.”

“Snowbird has hosted this event for several years now, and we’ve watched the caliber of riders and level of competition improve each tour,” said Snowbird President Bob Bonar. “This event is sure to be a quality pairing of talented athletes with some of the best big mountain terrain offered anywhere in North America.”

Daily uploads of videos, photos, and stories will be available throughout the weekend on www.thenorthfacemasters.com, tour media partner SNOWBOARD magazine’s site, www.snowboard-mag.com, and Snowbird Mountain Resorts site, www.snowbird.com.

Designed to cater to the motivation, talent and skill of world-class big mountain riders, TNF Masters serves as a qualifier for the Freeride World Tour’s Nissan Tram Face at Squaw Valley, California. The top male and female winners of each TNF Masters tour stop qualify for the event.

The North Face Masters is a three-stop tour of competitive big mountain snowboarding. Big mountain snowboarding challenges a snowboarder’s creativity, athleticism and personal limits. Competitors at Snowbird will face tight chutes, steep powder stashes, and variable snow and weather conditions.

TNF Masters attracts big mountain snowboarding competitors from all around the world. All male and female snowboarding competitors above age 18 are invited to participate. Registration is open at thenorthfacemasters.com.

The North Face Masters of Snowboarding Presented by Primaloft is supported by The North Face, Primaloft, Subaru of America, Comcast Sportsnet, Snowboard Magazine, Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort, Crystal Mountain Resort, and Kirkwood Mountain Resort.

The North Face Masters of Snowboarding 2010 Series Schedule
Stop #1 - Snowbird, Utah – January 23 – 24
Stop #2 - Crystal Mountain, Washington – February 9 – 12
Stop #3 - Kirkwood, California – February 25 – 27

For media registration please go to thenorthfacemasters.com press on the registration button; create your own user account. Any time you want to sign up for an event, you can simply go to your user account info and click on the event you want to sign up for.