Ignition TV has recent (I assume) footage from the grand opening of the Mission Valley YMCA’s new (to them) vert ramp. A bunch of vert dogs were there, Bucky Elastic, Bony Hawk, the French Canadians… There were other people present on deck but they didn’t make the cut, perhaps due to space limitations. Although posted on Metacafe, the clip’s producer is Ignition TV, who is the, uh, leader in action sports fro you mobile phone. You can chose by sport and brand on their web site, so you know that’s Extreme™! Mission Valley’s vert ramp was donated to them by the X-Games. We had one of those X-Games retired ramps in a suburb of Portland for a while, where it mostly sat as a platform for kids to practice flip tricks off of the flat bottom onto the cement. There was a small community of vert riders who would session a couple times of week and chase the kids off the flat. Ask MC about it. They banded together to meet and talk with the park district to ensure and volunteer upkeep, but the district wasn’t interested. As more and more concrete parks opened out here, the already underutilized vert ramp saw less and less use. It eventually started to rot, and so it was removed. Now, if you want to skate a vert ramp you need to go to California. The New York Times has an article about how most of the X-Games competitors and vert enthusiasts in the US tend to live in one area of California. If you think it’s all old men, SignOnSanDiego.com has an article about the aging base of X-Games competitors and a young up and comer named Alex Perelson. [Source: Skate Daily] If you still need to get your vert fix, you can watch the video after the jump. Those guys are doing some amazing things, but to the general skateboarding population they are kind of like the freestyle skaters of the 80’s – most people wonder why they bother to still have contests.
Clash at Clairemont
Clash At Clairemont – A funny movie is a click away
13 comments
dk
Vert skating might get most of the TV coverage, but unless you are lasek, plg or one of the top crop..your not making SHIT for money. a top name street dog can lay on his couch party and reel in the checks because of the “image”
Concretin
Every wall shown was kickass… I can’t even drop in on vert, and I absolutely love to watch it…
Conahan
What the hell? Did you see Hawk’s one-footed invert to fakie. That was the raddest thing in the video, that and how much air time Ueda still had after that flip trick.
The Doctor
Where is my 50$ bucks choppy. How long will the World cup of skateboarding keep backing this jag? I tried real hard for my 50$.
The Doctor
First time Ive seen hawk whee he didn’t rule the session. Dufor wins.
Conahan
It
cap'n crabby
im the typo king. im really not as stupid as that sounded.
cap'n crabby
vert skating is awesome….because kids hate it unless its tony hawk. and since i dislike both kids and tony hawk, i love vert.
and big vert trannies are fun.
i wonder too why coverage/money is so unbalanced..
the only thing i can figure is that its purely “visual impact” related. the average goon watches vertramp skating and see’s something he can relate to via snowboarding, big airs and spoinning about crazily. when that same mt dew consumer watches the street qualifiers, he only see’s dudes jumping up and down some stuff, and since he cant comprehend the differences between F/S, B/S, switch, nollie, ollie, fakie or any other technical aspect just see’s guy’s do a board flip and land on something, slide along, and roll away. if you dont understand the difficulty involved all you have is the “big factor”, which is why i think mega-jumping has taken such hold. maybe thats why the prize money is so wonky.. CEO’s put money behind whatever new idea is big, and whats bigger than a 70 foot snowbro launch?
Kilwag
Not condemning vert, just commenting on how it commands the most mainstream media attention and competition dollars while being out of vogue with the vast majority of the general skating population.
dk
tighten up … skateboarding is about good times. vert street or park.
nweyesk8
and honestly, vert skating best enjoyed while standing on deck waiting to drop in.
nweyesk8
i hear there is a newly resurfaced vert ramp in hood river?
bobcat
get 10th in the Xtreme Marines Mt Pepsi Xbox games and get a cool 1000 bucks. Get 1st place at the Trifecta and get 300 bucks.
hmmm