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My ramps
Having the opportunity to skate a full-sized, vertical ramp indoors, during the cold season, has been the key to successful learning. The first ramp was built in July 1991, by a group of professional carpenters. As 16-year-old I was designing the project and also taking part on the actual work. The “Kaukajärvi” indoor ramp was serving the purpose until January 2001. The skate facility was unsupervised, very cheap to keep running, and quite literally underground. Too good to be true. The local BMX club “Airtime” is taking care of the ramps still and enjoying the benefits these days. The dream is still alive in 2007.
The second, and quite recently destroyed, vertical facility was skated for 6 years inside the skatehall of Tampere. With a group of ramp-building specialists, we brought one of the biggest skateboarding structures in Scandinavia into reality in December 2000. Sadly, the local skate scene never understood the value of such ramp. The result of a huge effort in terms of voluntary work and private economical contributions were wasted, when the skatepark of Tampere decided to get rid of the vert ramp. Although, the ramp was not used by many, it was still representing the high level of skill in ramp building and vert skating, and the significance of the whole subculture of skateboarding in Finland.
The latest ramp is an independent backyard ramp, built in May 2005. The genuine idea was tested with a privately owned miniramp for a few years, before continuing with a more demanding project. The biggest halfpiperamp in Finland is hidden in the bushes by the lake Kyrösjärvi, Finland. Truly crazy, but very Finnish. It seems that this project has finally saved the existence of vert skating in the northern corner of Europe.
