TTR and Protect Our Winter

Innsbruck / Austria, December 18th, 2008: Swatch TTR and Protect Our Winters (POW) have developed a long-term partnership to raise the level of environmental responsibility at all TTR events amongst spectators, riders and resorts.

SWATCH TTR AND PROTECT OUR WINTERS PARTNERS TO
RAISE LEVEL OF ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY AT EVENTS

Innsbruck / Austria, December 18th, 2008: Swatch TTR and Protect Our Winters (POW) have developed a long-term partnership to raise the level of environmental responsibility at all TTR events amongst spectators, riders and resorts.

Take a second to consider the following facts:
47 ski resorts in the Alps did not open in 2006 due to climate change.
A ski season that is now four months long could shrink to less than three months in 20 years
Utah resorts are predicted to see 84% snow pack loss between 1976 and 2085.
Winter is in trouble and it’s up to all winter sports participants to stand up and make a conscientious effort to reduce our carbon footprint on the world, ensuring that snowpack remains deep for generations to come. Being a rider-based organization, the TTR believes that we all need to protect the soft white stuff for years to come or we’ll have nothing to shred. This new alliance with Protect Our Winters (POW) aims to educate riders and event organizers, ensuring the message is heard and acted upon by an international audience.
POW was founded by riding legend Jeremy Jones who realized that the entire winter sports community needs to join forces against the threat posed by global climate change. Protect Our Winters is a non-profit organization uniting the winter sports community against climate change by investing in educational and renewable energy programs.
As rider driven organizations, it is appropriate for POW and Swatch TTR to pool our collective energies and put forward a focused effort to protecting our mountains.
TTR will assist POW in gaining awareness at events on the Tour and in the long term ensure that event organizers are aware and active when it comes to reducing their carbon footprint. Furthermore, the TTR will work closely with POW in educating riders and the public by providing information at events.
The time is now for riders to sit up, take notice and take action to protect our winters. The changes needed are small, but the consequences of our actions will have effect for generations of riders to come. This alliance is only a small step in the right direction, but we must continue to go from strength to strength in order to protect our winters.

ABOUT Protect Our Winters:
Protect Our Winters (POW) was founded in 2007
by pro snowboarder Jeremy Jones. Our mission is to unite the winter sports community and contribute funds towards renewable energy and educational initiatives that help reverse climate change. Since then, POW has gained support from thousands of individuals and corporate partners such as the Evergreen Alliance (Rossignol, Dynastar/Lange, Roxy), Burton, Dakine,Vans, Kombi, Grand Targhee Resort and Teton Gravity Research. www.protectourwinters.org

ABOUT SWATCH TTR:
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 exposed 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 based on an average of their best seven results of the season is crowned SWATCH TTR World Snowboard Tour Champion.