Hood River skatepark

Hood River is a skateboarder’s tourist trap

I made an unexpected last minute trip to Hood River on Sunday afternoon. When I go there I recognized a few people from the Portland/Vancouver area, and as I was leaving about half the locals from Pier Park showed up. Hood River is turning into a really nice little park. They keep adding onto it and have plans for more. The new small bowl setup is fun and can be linked to the rest of the park via a couple transfer spots. I hear more street features are in the works for Hood River. (While in Hood River, visit IPS for all your skateboarding needs…)

Hood River, Oregon skatepark session

Just a small selection from one day. Not shown, the street section, a small bank with coping setup and of course, the big Mickey Mouse bowl. Click to enlarge.

Overview of the new bowl.
Hood River overview

Alex. (?)
Hood River - Alex

Shane Bell
Hood River - Shane Bell

Nicholas.
Hood River - Nicholas

Shane Bell transfer.
Hood River - Shane Bell

Alex.
Hood River - Alex

Blake – a local.
Hood River - Blake

Grover – backside sweeper or crail sweeper (creeper) ? Whaddya call that?
Hood River - Grover

Blake
Hood River - Blake

Kilwag, as shot by Grover.
Hood River - Kilwag

Grover’s vert ramp antics
Hood River - Grover

I believe this kid’s name was Isaiah.
Hood River - Isaiah

Grover does two Madonnas. Guess which one he landed.
Hood River - Grover

Kilwag mugs for the camera.
Hood River - Kilwag

Here’s Xavier. This shot is useless. He ollied up from the tranny into a smith stop, and then ollied back in.
Hood River - Xavier

Lastly from a different day, these are two shots sent in by Carl Warren from back in April. I believe the skater’s name is Graham.
Hood River -  Graham

Discussion

21 thoughts on “Hood River is a skateboarder’s tourist trap

  1. fastplant.

  2. Fast plant is an air. This is more like a… backside sweepr with a crail grab.

  3. Isn’t a creeper a “normal” fs sweeper with a crail grab… so this would be a bs creeper? (asks the dork who still believes in the fs indy) Does it really matter… I can’t do it.

  4. Wait, crail grab is with your trailing hand…

  5. …a fastplant doesn’t have to be in the air any more than a sweeper does, where do you get ideas like that? Lucero, et al took these vert tricks to curbs and the names stayed the same.

  6. That trick is called a “Jim jam” as credited to Jim Gray back in the 80s. any form of creeper or crail would involve grabbing the nose of the board with the trailing hand.

  7. Duh, of course that’s no crail grab. Must.. open.. eyes. But it’s no fastplant either, that’s for sure. Not even a slow plant.

    A backside sweeper is called a Jim Jam. Jim Gray… final ruling?

  8. Thanks for coming out to Hood River and giving props to our park and IPS Skate Shop.

  9. Fast plant

  10. Its a backside sweeper for sure, fun to do but you need to suck your upper leg in to your chest and rotate around quick in order to keep the momentum.

    That transfer is pretty hairy, the bowl is super mellow and fun with plenty of options (except the tit). That has to be one of my favorite new places to skate. There is something for everyone. Protip: when trying to skate up the bank make sure you dont hit one of those damn acorns beforehand.

    I took some stakbot photos of IPS, great history on the walls!

  11. Animal Chin on May 6, 2008 - Reply

    That trick is for sure called an eye sore by any one who has seen it…

  12. here’s some photos of Wallys cool stuff

    LINK

    remember: send your skate/whatever cellphone photos to stakbot@gmail.com

    have fun.

  13. Tom Miller on May 6, 2008 - Reply

    Jim has those on lock-down. He bounces his wheels off the coping on the reentry. Gnarly.

  14. A fastplant totally has to be in the air. I can do a footplant but I think a fastplant requires you to jump as you’re still going up.

  15. I think Grover is doing more of a backside tail dragger. 🙂

  16. I disagree. What is Grosso doing dorking in that ditch towards the end of Future Primitive? Its a fastplant, and just to tail in Grover’s case. Sweepers and fastplants are both named solely for the foot that is planted and the hand that grabs it; their names have nothing to do with “going in the air”. They can be done in ditches, on curbs, on flat, or whatever.

  17. oldfatjeff on May 7, 2008 - Reply

    Skate Park? Check.
    Full Sail Brewery? Check.
    Wally’s Shop? Check.
    Skatin’ with Swifty? Check.
    Hood River is a vortex of the good kind.

  18. A BS SWEEPER IS CALLED JIM JAM!!!!!!!!!!! and have you guys ever heard OF SOMETHING CALLED A FOOTPLANT ?? IT’S A FUCKIN’ “FASTPLANT” THAT YOU STALL ON THE COPING. PRETTY HOT BACK IN THE EARLY 80’S ALRIGHT LOL

  19. A fastplant is a variation of a footplant. Footplants are usually slower, or have a little stall in them. Mike is definitely doing a fastplant in that shot, it was like a backside air where his foot dropped down and briefly hit the coping.

  20. This is how I remember the progression of the footplant, which started back in the 70’s. The footplant started off backside,( plant your back foot, grab like a backside air and drop back in), can’t remember who, but Andrecht and Elguera come to mind. It seemed like a lame trick at the time,(kind of a way of pretending to do a backside air but with training wheels), but it was hard to do and it caught on.
    Then came the frontside footplant,(plant your back foot, grab like a frontside air, drop back in.)
    Then people tried to figure out these new fangled tricks and mixed up which foot to plant and gave birth to the Boneless, or the “Boneless One” as we used to call it.
    The fastplant came later and is definitely an air trick, and less more of a footplant. Now go learn backside boneless ones.

  21. I saw a skater do a coupla jim jams a few days ago. i have done them only on banks. It’s about the most awkward trick that I ever played arround with.
    Graham is the skater in the last two shots. I met him at this park about a week or two before this session. that graffiti appeared while I was there, and he was riding that board. he said he was one of the builders of that bowl, and he ripped it up!
    hood river is the best! once and awhile at other parks I see skaters over 30. I sessioned that bowl with about 10 local guys older than me who ALL ripped.

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