Dear Athletes, Parents, and Coaches,

We appreciate your patience awaiting The North Face Park and Pipe Open Series (PPOS) 2015 season news. We have been hard at work listening to athletes, evaluating our competitions and creating a program, which will continue the PPOS legacy of providing high-level competition experiences for up-and-coming freeskiers across North America. It is with great excitement that we announce a new virtual competition format for the 2015 winter season in partnership with both Freeskier and NewSchoolers.com.

This season, international halfpipe and slopestyle competitive athletes across North America can now "virtually" compete with one another by submitting videos of their best park and pipe runs. An array of prizes will be awarded, including a cash purse of $10,000, The North Face gear packages, GoPro cameras, the chance to film and ride with Tom Wallisch in his new project "Good Company," and more.

Registration will open in early January on TheNorthFacePPOS.com. Athletes must be 14-years of age or older to register. Additional restrictions and requirements will apply. See competition details and full competition rules available when registration opens.

"The North Face is deeply committed to the development and progression of freeskiing," said The North Face Sports Marketing Director Katie Ramage. "We are excited to make the PPOS competition accessible to even more athletes anywhere in North America, and look forward to more on-slope competitions in future years."

The North Face is a charter sponsor of the U.S. Freeskiing Team and is a supporter of the U.S. Grand Prix and Revolution Tours leading up to the Pyeong Chang Winter Olympics in February 2018.

Since 2010, The North Face Park and Pipe Open Series has provided a valuable platform for amateur athletes hoping to reach the elite competition level. The new PPOS virtual competition is designed to provide that same opportunity to freeskiers everywhere by filming their park and pipe runs at any local mountain, hill or ski area in North America.

Virtual competition submissions will be voted online by peers, then judged by a panel using similar criteria as past PPOS events, evaluating progression, amplitude, variety, execution, and difficulty.

Additional special awards including best trick, rail, air, personality, viewers choice, cinematography, and editing will be judged and awarded by The North Face athletes Tom Wallisch, Aaron Blunck, Maddie Bowman, and Devin Logan.

For athlete or registration information visit http://www.thenorthfaceppos.com or contact Courtney Leonard, MSI athlete relations manager at cleonard@mtsports.com or (801) 349-4616.