Pointless Pics. This is Gabe Stoltz transferring from roof to roof. Does that count as street skating? I just noticed he’s got two different pant legs. Click to enlarge.

I lifted this from Earthwing Skateboards where they have a larger version and no information other than this is a guy named Adam Auger, who apparently rides for Rayne. That’s the Montreal Olympic Stadium. There are lots of shots eslewhwere, but this is the only shot I’ve seen of it from this angle. It almost looks as if there is a half pipe at the bottom where the roof meets the ground in the, uh, foreground. Pretty clever, actually. The snow melts and funnels into a collection pond. Previously, the only skateboarding I’ve heard about associated with this stadium is Big O. Getting back to Adam Auger, I don’t know anything about him, but there’s a video after the jump and some random Big O vids too.

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Since the early days of riding in pools, the object has always been to try and make over the light, or death box, or some other obstacle. If an obstacle doesn’t exist, the impetus is there to create your own. This looks like a fun little spot. Jeff doesn’t say where it is, but methinks it’s in or near Charleston, West Virginia.

This week’s Shot of the Week is a spot in the Boston area that was known as the Black Hole ditch back in 1986 when the photo was taken. If I recall correctly, the reason it had that name had something to do with the temperature of the asphalt ditch in the hot summer sun. Nothing fancy, just one of those nostalgia shots. This is on my Boston trip negatives, but for all my lack of geographic knowledge of the area and memory loss, this might have been in the outlying burbs. Check it out.

I skate pools because Thrasher told me I in so many words that I was supposed to. I can’t remember the first time I read it, but I know the idea occurred to me originally because I would read about it Thrasher in the Mid 80’s. Each new issue of Thrasher used to be an all encompassing event for me. There simply was no other way to connect with skaters across the country, and across time. Reading Thrasher left an indelible imprint in my mind that roots skaters, real skaters skated backyard pools. As a result, I skated some pretty crappy pools in central Illinois. These weren’t exactly backyard, but more like municipal pools and hotel or apartment building pools. None of them were anything to write home about, and yet we pressed on.

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Here at Skate and Annoy we hate to reinforce stereotypes, like say, I don’t know, picking one at random, Australia is not a backwards country where the skateparks are made out of stone (literally) and you have to watch out for marauding fruit bats, kangaroos and other, uh, nightlife. Oh wait…

But seriously folks, tip your cocktail waitresses… Negative Ion has a massive photo essay and travel journal of a trip Australia. Aside from the naturally occurring rock skateparks, there is also the more commercial fare of Wold Cup contest at Bondi Beach with lots of names you’ll recognize. As with the rest of the Negative Ion site, the journey is half the fun of getting there. Pay attention to your scroll bars and be prepared to do more than a little exploring. It can be easy to get lost in there. If you come to the end of the line tweak those scroll bars a little, there might be something hiding nearby. Give yourself at least 45 minutes. Now go there.

Who says vert ramps don’t occur naturally in the “street?” (I smell an idea for one of MC’s skatepark terrain comics.) This must be one of those elliptical transitions that were all the rage for about a month in the late 80’s. Actually, back in the 80’s these support structures for the upper level at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport (or ORD) were totally skateable, or at least I was never busted there. Unfortunately, I don’t have any actual skate photos of this spot, as I only rode here while waiting to be picked up. I never made a “skate specific” trip to the airport. These pictures are from when I was traveling back to Chicago in 2000, at which point some sort of skate stopper devices had been added, for how long I don’t know. I remember these being as fast as regular U-shaped slides. Do you have any action shots from this spot? Send ‘em in!

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The minor crisis in journalistic integrity is over. The person who sent me the photos had not meant to imply that they were his own, which was why he couldn’t provide any additional information. I did find the original source, which was a link on NCDSA.com from a Swede named Toby:

It’s an old timber trench/ditch that isn’t used today. All you need is a broom to clean it out in the spring and you’re good to go. It’s about 450 yards long and made out of metal. If you ever are in Umeå, Sweden, mail me and we’ll take you there!

Toby has two photos and videos of the ditch/pipe mixed in amongst three pages in an incredibly slow gallery. They are more atmosphere shots than gnarly skateboard action. Same goes for the video. Looks like a really fun spot.

Photos 1 - Photos 2 - Videos.

A skate buddy of mine from a different life (Bob Mechtly) sent me these pictures of this old metal timber pipe/ditch in Sweden that isn’t being used today. He said it’s about 450 yards long. What he didn’t say, was how it rode and what he was doing there. Dang. Looks like Michigan. Was this a timber waterslide? Good luck wading through the internet trying to find that information. It seems like a track would have made more sense than pumping water, unless they were able to divert a natural water source. But then the downstream… oh right. This is a skateboarding web site and not the Bureau of Land Management. Looks like a lot of fun. Rarely do we see something skateable that is so long… Enlargements after the jump.

UPDATE: There was a little bit of a mix up. These Aren’t Bob’s photos, I’m tracking down the originals.

Chris from Old School Skateboarding went on a group mission organized by Josh Burt for what was originally supposed to be the Portland Roll-in Challenge, but ended up being “let’s find the jankiest and roughest shit in Portland and try and skate it or roll over the top of it.” Looked like it was a good time. I would have liked to cover it if I had known about it. It’s almost as if there is some sort of diverse skateboard community in Portland with other web sites besides this one. I know, it sounds crazy, but I might have to investigate. Check it out on Old School Skateboarding, or watch the video after the jump.

[Source: Sleestak]

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