While we wait...

I have some ramps that I definitely want to post about, but either waiting for clips/photos or to speak to some of the owners... But in the meantime, check out this sick footage of Dave Bergthold's ramp and some of the dudes from $lave shredding!  Transworld posted this feature on the ramp a few months back which you can check out here.  If you remember our post on the Threesixteen ramp, then this bowl should look somewhat familiar.  In any case, this clip is what backyard skating is all about - sick shredding, some brews, and good times.

* Photos by Mike Sinclair at skateparkoftampa.com

Korchock Bros Backyard Ramp

I met these guys while skating the Mack Park Skatepark in Indiana, Pennsylvania (if you're ever in western PA, check out the park, it's definitely worth going to). These dudes both rip and have a pretty dope backyard setup they were willing to share with the blog. Unfortunately I haven't got to shred it yet, but it looks like a lot of fun, and it has a fun looking Euro gap with and a long wooden ramp leading to a really sick quarter-pipe. If you ever happen to be going through Western PA near the Saltsburg area - right between Pittsburgh and Indiana - shoot these guys an e-mail. During the school year they can both be found ripping Mack Park as well.

"My brother and I always wanted to build a miniramp, so we decided to save up some money and convince our parents to let us build it on our driveway in the front yard area. We had prior experience in building ramps so all we needed was to draw up the design and make a few models (pictured below (euro)).
The miniramp is 24 feet long by 12 feet wide. 3 foot 8 inch tall transitions with a 4 foot cantilevered deck on the one side and 2 foot deck on the other. We built the miniramp in the summer of '05, and replace the tempered masonite at least once every year.
This past summer we decided to add on to the miniramp and built a 7 foot high quarterpipe with a euro gap going up to the miniramp. The euro gap to the miniramp is 3 feet long by 3 feet wide, and the total lenght of the ramp is 30 feet long running perpendicular to the miniramp. It is 6 feet wide by 8 inches off of the ground. The quarterpipe is 8 feet high total from the ground. There is a tight 2 foot deck to drop in from, so we had to build a railing because of how sketchy it is up there. My brother and I designed and built everything from the miniramp to the entire euro/quarterpipe combo. It took us about 2 weeks to build the miniramp and 1 week to build the euro/quarterpipe combo.
If anybody is interested on shredding our ramps, we live just outside of Saltsburg, PA. My email address is zxxp@iup.edu. We are going to change the wood this spring so the ramps will be in great shape again for summer.You can contact myself (Keith Korchok) or my brother (Kevin Korchok) at byxp@iup.edu
Here are a couple pictures and videos from our ramps." - Keith Korchok

These guys do some really good film work so the videos are definitely work watching and also check out the snowboard videos these twins put out - there is some INSANE footage including a double backflip at 4:17 in Part 2 of their video (below)

Check out their snowboarding in "Lost in Loyalhanna"

The ThreeSixteen Bowl

Sorry for the delay since last post, but this ramp is definitely worth the wait! If you are from anywhere near SouthEastern PA and you haven't skated this bowl, you're missing out big time.  Jon Crans and the guys at ThreeSixteen had this 1,200 sq ft monster built starting in 2005.  Team Pain, the company responsible for some of the biggest and most well-known ramps in skating built this beast, and it is no doubt one of the best built ramps I've ever ridden.  The ramp is located in Brandamore, PA, which is about 45 minutes or so outside of Philly.

If you are ever in the area, you should make it a point to come to one of the Thursday night sessions - you will be happy you did.  Jon and Bob Barndt, who run ThreeSixteen and the ramp, are two of the raddest guys I've ever met and definitely have a heart for skateboarding and the camaraderie of skate culture.  Jon talks about the bowl and why it was built in an awesome short video located here (video by michaelfernandezphoto.com).  The one thing I love about the bowl is that every Thursday, you get the chance to skate with guys from all over PA and NJ, who range in age from 6 to 60.  The location is also amazing - the bowl is overlooking an awesome little river and a brook and is located on a beautiful piece of land at The Camp at Old Mill.  There's a basketball court with some boxes, ramps, and rails for those who want to mix it up a little as well.  ThreeSixteen also puts on a few really fun contests each year that get backed by some big names, including Black Box Dist., Osiris, and Bones to name a few - a few years ago Ray Barbee and Chuck Treece came to skate and play live music for the Bowl Jam which was really awesome.

Check out some of the pics below and the videos and for more info on the bowl, location, and Thursday night sessions go to the website for ThreeSixteen and click on "316 Skate Night Bowl Session."

photo: Shanti Snyder

photo: Shanti Snyder

photo: Shanti Snyder

photo: Shanti Snyder

* I claim no ownership to the photos and videos above. They were found on the 316 website and YouTube. I will remove any material upon request of the owner.

hidden gem in syracuse

My friend Sean has a pretty dope little ramp in his garage.  Don't let the pics fool you, this bad boy is kinda tricky to skate.  Once you get used to how quick this thing skates, it's a ton of fun.  Sean sent me some of the info on the ramp which you can see below.  There is a ton of amazing art surrounding the ramp, including a dope ass mural (see pics).  The coolest part about the ramp has to be the log coping on one side.  There's about a 3 foot section of coping on the one side that is made out of a log - it's super fun but if you get caught up on it you'll end up slamming to flat so be careful.  I also found a video on youtube of the ramp that I posted.

 "When I was about to turn 30 (and ole man winter was aound the corner), I decided that I and my friends needed a mini-ramp. So my carpenter buddy Kurt was like " I can build it for you pussies! let me measure out you garage" actual words. He did the measurements and we came up with a plan. The ramp only costed about $500, so I dropped $350 on kurt for him to start. The rest of the money came from donations. The coping came from a local lady who I will not expose, because she is rad. In the end we have a ramp that was in my backyard garage for about 5 years now that has had many talented skaters come through. Its a sanity haven for chosen locals who are just down to skate and also totally illegal. I also used the garage as canvas for painting, wrapping art around the whole ramp.
We have definitely will and have had to refuse certain drunk college long boarders and posers from entry if they actually figured out where it was. Like I've encountered some of these posers in my driveway being like I heard there's a ramp here, and look at them and laugh, and tell them they must be talking about the hyperbowl,then send them there, in which is a almost unskateable spot these days and is in the middle of nowhere. Anyways at no time this spot will be treated like a public park. I just recently moved to Ithaca, NY. So I now have to drive to go visit the ramp where my longtime friend Thomas is still living in the house and holding it down. And when he moves away we will make sure a more skaters will assume control of this lil beauty." - chilson

 If you are not a drunk college longboarder or a poser, then get ahold of sean at howl@chilsonart.com to shred this puppy, also check it out his art - drawingtheworld.com

The Thunder from Down Under!

The homie Max Bayko came through big time and hooked it up with some dope pics and a crazy video of him and his crew shredding this true backyard beast!  This bad boy is located in Thunder Bay, ON  Canada

He dropped about $3,000 on ramp last fall and got about $500 worth of donations from his crew.  He tells me it's still not done yet and once spring comes around he'll be extending the decks. As it stands, it's 6 feet, with 6.5 foot transitions, 20 feet wide, 7.5 foot extension and a death rail. Get ahold of him at baykoooooooo@hotmail.com if you're in Thunder Bay and want to shred.  For now, check out the pics and video

4fourteen Halloween Ramp Jam 2010 from Bayko on Vimeo.

Build it, and they will come... and shred.

Okay.  I'm going to start this out simple and show my own backyard ramp.  I built this ramp on my own in the summer of 2005.  It is 4 ft tall, 12 ft wide, and 24 ft long. The ramp is located in Coatesville PA, which is about 40 miles west of Philly.  It has a deck on the top with benches made for maxin out and enjoying PBR while the homies are shredding.

We broke this ramp in with a huge banger for my brother's graduation party and had this bad boy lit up all night til 2 am.  Needless to say the party got a little out of hand, but that's a story for another time.  Now the ramp is barely skateable - but very much repairable.  Unfortunately I am 5 hours away from the ramp now and simply can't fix it up right now.  Maybe the youngest brother of the family, whose 14 and shreds, will take over and make this ramp his own - it still has a lot of potential.

if the ramp was still in good condition I would give people info for how to come and skate, but since that's not really possible, enjoy those pics from the years of good shredding we got out of this puppy.