Rocky Horror Skatepark

Above: Brendan front rocks in an authentic Nathan Bartlett lumberjack costume, real axe and all.
The Edmonton Skateboard Association held a Halloween skate jam at Kaskitayo on Saturday, including a best trick contest, a game of skate, and pumpkin jumping.

Above: Jamie won the pumpkin long jump contest.

Above: I'm not sure what the winning tally was, but here Jamie jumps a bunch of pumpkins as well as Timmy and Bubba.
It took me awhile to figure out who Jamie was dressed up as. For the longest time I though he was just some sort of construction worker. Then he put the hockey mask on and became a perfect Jason Voorhees.

Above: The name of the game.

Above: Minor took 2nd in the pumpkin long jump.

Above: Mitch with the "Dead Eyes".

Above: Super Gonzo scarewalk. By far my favorite costume.

Above: Mr. Monopoly and The Hamburgler talk SKATE strategy.

Above: Hamburgler front blunt to best costume award.

Above: Penguin Kyle blunt slides.

Above: The peanut gallery.

Above: Where's Joe, switch flip. Joe won the Game of Skate with tricks that I'm not sure even have names yet.

Above: Joe is in four of the photos in this post. Can you spot Joe?

Above: This kid was so stoked when Timmy said he could have one of the pumpkins from the long jump contest. He grabbed one and immediately started shouting, "This is my huge pumpkin!".
A huge thank you to Brendan for basically organizing the event single handed.
This.
Stranger.
This for sure.
I skated a lot and had a lot of fun today. It put me in mind of this.

The Nate Skate

I've never been one to ever have more than one board on the go, but late last winter I got it into my head that I wanted to make a cruiser out of an old board. I'd work on it in fits and starts, but finally got it finished this week. I wanted it to be a fun way to remember my friend and have an 80's feel to it, so I borrowed pretty heavily from the first Gonz board.

I also thought it might be cool if I got all Nate's friends to skate it and film a little video. I'm not a big fan of getting behind the video camera, so we'll see how that project goes. Thanks to Showdown, Rumor, and Plush for helping me build it.

Lacombe skatepark

Above: Matt Mastrovito smith grind on a steep escalator bank.
I went and checked out the new Lacombe park with Mastrovito Saturday. The park is really good, especially if you've ever thought "You know, the Mill Woods park is fun, but I wish there were a few more bikes here." Well then, welcome to Lacombe. It felt like the skaters were out numbered 2 to 1.

Above: Local skater Gabe hits up a crazy long 50/50.

Above: Matt tail block. (Would someone please hook him up with a box of boards already. The stuff he's skating is ridiculously destroyed.)

Above: front blunt slide transfer thingy. Photo by Vito.

I was really glad to see that the park had a few weird obstacles I hadn't seen before.

However, you can spot these bowls and the accompanying foot high extension in the deep end from a mile away. This is by the far the best of these bowls I've skated though. It just felt like I'd skated it before.

Curved up ledges.

Hey Barkman take notes. Real steel edges - no coping. Yes, yes, yes. Finally!!!


I couldn't get the hang of this.

Yes, there are stairs to jump down.

Matt said he'd give the park a 7 or maybe a 7.5 because of the "new" factor. I'd have to agree. If the bowl was a pool, it would be pushing 10 for sure. Seriously, you know what kind of skate tourism a town would generate if instead of the typical ramp set up they had something more akin to a kidney pool? I think it's time we started plagiarizing a bit from some of the Grindline and Dreamland skateparks. Just a bit though. Some of those parks are beyond crazy.

If you're heading to Lacombe from Edmonton take the Hwy 12 exit. The park is right behind the ZigZag. Seriously.

Bombs away

Above: Sketchy drop-ins have always been a staple of skateboarding.
Get your costumes ready.
The end.

Front

Above: My new favorite photo.
The owner of the truck came up while I was taking the photo. I was scared that he would think I was messing with his truck, however, instead of bashing me with a tire iron, he told me about how he had wanted to make his truck ... uhm ... well ... lets say "atomically correct". He said he hadn't followed through on this plan yet because he was afraid a prostitute would discover the addition and somehow injure herself, and he didn't want to be liable.
Yerex goes to France?
Drehobl.
Yup.

Infinite Sadness

Above: Paul Kane
Went to check and see if Paul Kane was dry yet. It's not. As I looked for a better shot of the pond I happened to look down and spotted a syringe in a planter. I've always maintained that skateboarding is actually one of the least sketchy things happening in Paul Kane. In fact we should have a best "Sketchy Paul Kane Story Contest".
I remember skating there once while what appeared to be a crackhead bikini photo shoot was going down. It was crazy. I remember being a little concerned that at any moment they might drop the pretence of the photo shoot, and start filming some sort of horrifying amateur movie.
I could never tell it as well as him, but Nathan's story of taking a header into one of the ponds' putrid, water filled potholes, is another classic.
If you have a good story hit me up.

Spot popping *update*

Above: Vaughn with a wallie late shove-it.
The parks just keep coming. Most recently crews started on an addition to the Mill Wood's park. While not officially open, the park is skateable.

The 1/4 is super mellow compared to the one at Grovenor. Oh and the rollerbladers have already waxed the coping.

I have no idea what you even call this thing.

Jump ramps? Is this the 1980's? Beware the pump bumps in the background have a pretty huge kink in between them.

I was going to call this the "no fun box", but it's so messed up that it's actually kind of fun.

Bench.

Ledges.

Daewon style manual pads.

Bank.

The most ridiculous aspect of the park is the Berlin wall they built separating the new addition from the old park.
This.

Ibuprofen World Tour part 2

Above: Mastrovito goes up and around. (While Blogger sucks all the color out of the photo.)
After Legal we headed to Morinville, where Matt and Kevin took on the "Wizard Sleeve".

This apparently angered the Wizard as a spell of precipitation was soon cast.


Holy noseblunt.
Shecklenton. 0:55 and 1:44
Ha!!!

The Ibuprofen World Tour part 1

Above: Matt Mastrovito big ollie in Legal.
Headed out to Legal to check out their new park with the Ibuprofen Crew this weekend.

It's really small, but stuff like the magic carpet ride is pretty fun.

Not a big fan of the fake jersey barrier on top of a bank obstacle. If it were just a cemented jersey barrier I'd be pretty stoked.

The mini is fun.

Needs pool coping.
Cool.
Awesome song.