CHER
three-foot tall spine up to a standard six-foot
tall mini-ramp lip and adjacent to an exten-
sion wall with six-feet of vertical. The man-
agement kindly kept the park open until the
skaters stopped skating. Omar Hassan finally
got tired and quit around 2 a.m.
Friday brought scheduled practice and un-
scheduled sessions at Vancouver's public
skateparks as more pros showed up at the
60 THRASH MAGAZINE
park. The facility known as North Van saw
particularly heavy action. High speed carve
runs were the rage and Wade Speyer hopped.
every hip with pinpoint accuracy. The locals
have the two cement bowls dialed at China
Creek, another public park. They launched
ollie variations out of the end of one bowl
and over an upright fifty-gallon oil drum.
Griffin Park is the newest of these public are-
nas, and it played host to a mass of visiting
skaters from the states. Omar. Wade, and
Christian took to the skies with big hip trans-
fers as the sun began to set.
Back at the park, everyone began to realize
how small the ramps actually were. Any slam
was quick and vicious due to the ramps'
punitive dimensions. Many skaters looked
cramped skating these ramps, but they all
adapted quickly and easily to the curves and
found a lot of transfers from the offset walls
and hips. That night a band played a party at
the skatepark. Lots of local talent showed.
along with undercover authorities to keep the
scene in check. Langley is a redneck town
with a redneck police force, eh?
Since there were only twenty-four skaters in
the contest, everyone got plenty of practice.
The competition was cut to thirteen on Satur-
day afternoon. If a skater didn't fall, he had a
good chance at making it. Dave Duncan was
announcing the start of the second heat when
the P.A. system went dead. He ended up
standing in the middle of the ramps atop a
deck, belting out the skaters' order and times.
No power meant no music to pump the
From left: The trick of 1991 was the
ollie-to-nose blunt. Danny Way has
got it dialed. Alley-oop frontside
ollie low to high, Omar Hassan rides
a magic carpet above the Great
White North. Burl buddy Mark
Lehtimaki blazes a high-speed bert
roll-out at North Van.