Skatepark slalom

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Hans Koraeus
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Skatepark slalom

Post by Hans Koraeus » Fri Nov 22, 2002 8:16 pm

Imagine the following scenario:

Your hometown wants to do something for the kids in town. They have decided to build a "top of the art" skatepark. The money for it has been approved. They have found a person to design the pool(s), streetstyle and freestyle areas. Now they have heard something about slalom and asks you if this is possible to implement into the skatepark.

You have like 60x10 meters to work with. They want to be able to arrange important contests here for special (hybrid), parallel, giant and banked slalom.

What do you propose?

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Post by Brian Morris » Mon Nov 25, 2002 7:13 pm

I am in a similar situation, the town wants to build a skatepark for the kids in town. But...... There isn't going to be a seperate piece of concrete poured for the park, it will be built on tennis court surface. How can I work slalom into that? I have a few political ties in my town so I will most likely end up on some sort of designing committe. How do I design a park that is new school friendly but also ideal for some sort of slalom events.

Regards,
"Brain"
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Post by Vlad Popov » Tue Nov 26, 2002 6:19 pm

Hans, here’s some brainstorming for you:
  • 1. Have them make a slightly slanted surface if possible and/or if their budget permits.
  • 2. Install a permanent standard start ramp with removable (arm) poles/handles.
  • 3. Build removable banks on the side of the 10-meter lane, so that more space is available for parallel SL and GS events.
  • 4. Ensure safety of run-outs (not specified if 60 m includes them)
  • 5. “Separate” slaloming area from the rest of the park to ensure safety of slalomers (stray boards, out of control ramp riders)
  • 6. Ask for more then 60 m, as 60 m can only fit max of 30 cones at 1.7 m not including the run-out. A minimum run-out will take another 8-10 cones out and leave little for the actual slalom course.
  • 7. Have it on the side of the park (within the park) where it is visible, but is easy-access at the same time.
Man, if we really had a chance to do something like this, we would have probably been drunk on the very idea for days!

Vlad.

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Post by Hans Koraeus » Sun Dec 01, 2002 5:16 pm

I have some nice ideas but it's difficult to contribute in a good way. It would be great with a 3D modelling program. Anyone into CAD/CAM or knows an easy to use program for this task?

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Post by Hans Koraeus » Tue Dec 17, 2002 7:54 pm

Yes, yes, yes! It works!

After a quick look at the CAD/CAM scene on the web I very quickly lost my enthusiasm. It's a jungle and totaly another world. Since I'm a programmer myself I thought I would be able to understand such a program. But the one I tried was like rocket science to me.

The same night laying in my bed I was thinking what a complete "no brainer" I must be not being able to understand that 3D program. And expensive it was as well.

That's when I got this excellent idea. I have this golfing game "Links LS" and I recalled that they had some kind of a tool to build golfcourses with. I said to myself that if it's possible to create a 3D golfcourse with this program why shouldn't it work to create a slalom skatepark.

Next day I had a go at it and it looked promising. Apart from all possible surfaces of grass, earth, sand and stones, there it was... concrete and asphalt. That's my boy! My first tries didn't work very well though. I couldn't do square objects. Everything just took this natural shape that works very well for golf courses but not for my skatepark ideas. I took a last chance for help on the web. It seems like there are several forums for this program used by people creating golfcourses as their hobby/work. I aimed high. I found an english guy doing really beautiful golf courses. If he can do this so well he will probably be able to answer my novice questions. And he did. The day after I had his response in my mailbox with the promising intro... "Everything is possible with this program, almost (he, he, he)".

With his advice and some more head banging on my screen and keyboard I think I have now got the hang of it. And yes I think it will work very well to present skatepark ideas.

See below my first version of a slalom skatepark. It's not at all finished. Only a first step. This example is 10m wide not counting the banks and 70m long inlcuding the start ramps at the top. The lower part is 40m and is slightly downhill. The upper part have to different "hill angles". One for normal slalom and the other for GS. The idea is to have enough angle on the lower part to keep the speed from the initial hill.
After the 70m there is now a bank but the idea is that this should continue into a freestyle area surounded by banks (like the one in Del Mar). So that would allow another 20m of length when needed. And also by aiming for a freestyler to knock down at the end you will be able to efficiently slow down your speed. :wink:

The idea is also that this area can be used by beginners (by just standing on the board and rolling/turning down the hill) and by street/ramp skaters like a "snowboard halfpipe" kind of a thing. The bank are now the conservative straight ones but the idea is to have them slightly rounded. They should'nt be vertical but close enough to being able to do airs/ollies/flips over the edge. One could imaging having different types of bank along the course maybe. But they should always allow possibility for doing bank slalom. I will also try to do a bank on the right hand side of the lower start hill later. A question that I have for the moment is how wide the lower part can be (now 10m) to still allow for bank slalom. I get the feeling that 10m is too wide.

Image

Image


P.S. This might be something to put down into your christmas sockings to give Santa an idea of changes to your backyard.

And sorry for this long post. I'm just so happy I got it to work.

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Post by Hans Koraeus » Wed Mar 12, 2003 1:27 am

What do you say about this as a possible ground for a slalom skatepark? When I saw it the first time it was like a sign from God. And it seems like he's a cool dude. There's no other explaination after this finding.

And it have a completly skatable surface as well. At least half way down where it's concrete. The lower half is a mixture of dirt and grass right now.

Image
<font size=-1>Imagine this with banks on the sides and I think an international slalom arena is born.</font>

I have been testing rolling down on a skate at the top and the pitch seems ok. Especially if you later imagine a perfect concrete surface and a respectable startramp at the top.

When the snow is gone I will have a try to see if the pitch is good enough for giant slalom. I think it could work even though it won't be the fastest in the world I'm afraid.

Image
<font size=-1>This is taken from the top. Hey, look! There's Jani halfway down the slope.
Notice also the very tight dual slalom course that is already set to be used on the upper level to the right.</font> :wink:

According to Jani it will not be too steep for doing tight slalom. But he agrées that it will be fast. Very fast.

More pictures and exact measurements to come soon. Bye for now.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Hans Koraeus on 2003-03-12 08:49 ]</font>

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Post by Chris Eggers » Wed Mar 12, 2003 8:19 am

Hey Hans and Jani, this place looks like it is abandoned, go rent a concrete truck, buy some pavement and go for it during a night session.
No honestly, it looks very very cool!
From seeing it in the pics it looks perfect, o.k. too steep for Janis pumping abilities, but.....ok for me.

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Post by Pauli Saastamoinen » Thu Mar 13, 2003 8:42 am

hej hans !
det var ju inte illa pinkat eller...???
var ligger denna "hemliga" lilla goding ?
när blir det shape-up dax ?

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Post by Hans Koraeus » Tue Mar 18, 2003 12:32 am

Here are some more pics at this possible future slalom hotspot.

Image

Image

The last photo from the distance showing the side of the slope reveals another nice feature with this place. There is a huge parking lot right beside the slope with absolutly flat, perfect asphalt. A dream for flatland slalomers and freestylers.

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Post by Jani Soderhall » Wed Mar 26, 2003 2:12 pm

This place is so cool. It could become the best slalom spot. The hill is just the right kind of slope, it's wide enough to do parallel races. With banks on the sides it could be even more ultimate as it would allow all kinds of riders to cruise down the hill. This is a great way to revive slalom racing. The kinds will discover that larger and softer wheels roll so much better than the tiny little wheels they are currently using.

Keep working on this project! Let us know any kind of support you may need to get it through.

...and when it is ready you can count on us all to come and race there!

/Jani

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Post by Hans Koraeus » Wed Mar 26, 2003 7:14 pm

It was time to test the hill with cones. I set up an easy slalom course and went for it. We had our digital camera with us and my girlfriend took some photos. She even took a small video sequence. The quality is not the best but when using it on the web that doesn't matter anyway. I edited a small film with it and here is the result.

It will take 5 minutes to download it (2Mb) the first time with a 64kbs connection. Then you can run it as much as you want. :smile: The film is almost 1 minute long. Wow!
Now there is a quicktime version of my little slalom clip as well. Much bigger though but better quality. Making Quicktime as 2Mb gave me too poor quality. So if you don't have a fast internet connection don't load the quicktime.

Skate spot test movie (Real 2Mb)
Skate spot test movie (Quicktime 7Mb)

Note! You will need to have a "Real media player" to be able to look at the real film and a "Quicktime viewer" for the other.

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Post by Jeff Goad » Sat Jun 19, 2004 1:21 am

anything new with this spot?
<a href="//www.pavel-skates.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p153 ... nquer2.gif" border="0"></a>

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Post by Hans Koraeus » Tue Jun 22, 2004 12:09 pm

I don't live in Malmö anymore (moved up to Stockholm early this year) but still have contact with some of the skaters working on it. They have come a long way and a lot of different sections of the community is involved in it. They have come a long way and they will soon start building a part of the skatepark. Seems like the first part of the park design is done. It will be a street, bank and pool park. Not clear of how they will use that "big wedge" in the future. It is not included in this first step of this huge skatepark project. Let's hope slalom skateboarding continues to grow so that I can put in a reasonable vote for using it as a slalom spot. Sadly enough there are no slalomers in Malmö now after I left. That is not good. Why build something for slalomers if there are none? If this project was up in Stockholm things would have been a lot easier.

Stefan Hauser from Portland, Oregon, USA is the one they have trusted to help out planning and building this park. Read his interview. It's one of the few things in English I'm afraid. But the site could be worth having a look at anyway.

There are other plans growing up here in Stockholm to try and work for a place where you could build a skate area for both downhill, longboarding, slalom, street and vert. We will see how that will develop.

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Post by Jeff Goad » Tue Jun 22, 2004 1:12 pm

thanks Hans.
<a href="//www.pavel-skates.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p153 ... nquer2.gif" border="0"></a>

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Post by Hans Koraeus » Sun Jan 30, 2005 7:41 pm

Corky June 22 2004 wrote:There are other plans growing up here in Stockholm to try and work for a place where you could build a skate area for both downhill, longboarding, slalom, street and vert. We will see how that will develop.
This Stockholm project has come along very well among community people and politicians. We will next week have a public meeting with locals (ordinary people), community people, politicians and others interested. Each working group will present their ideas and visions for using this specific and extraordinary park area. I'm working on a Powerpoint document for the skateboard working group presentation. I will soon start a new topic for this very interesting and unique project which goal is to create a skate park for the whole skateboard family: Downhill, Slalom, Flatland, Street and Vert.

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Post by Hans Koraeus » Mon Nov 19, 2007 2:34 am

Ha, ha, feels almost nostalgic already reading this topic from the start.

Things are moving ahead slowly in Stockholm but much time have past since last update. Things have come a long way for a world unique skatepark including all skateboard disciplines: Downhill, Slalom, Flatland, Street, Transition/Vert. Now Stefan Hauser, who made the park in Malmo (www.stapelbaddsparken.se) and now have got a green light for the Gothenburg park, has started planning the Highvalley Skatepark in Stockholm.

Here is the proposed ditch for the park. Will be used for slalom, banked slalom, cruising, sliding and street skating. It would be nice to get some input from you, the international slalom community, on this. Since this will host the World Championships at some time in the future. ;-)

For slalom the idea is going from the top for GS / banked slalom. Moving down a little for Hybrid and Tight. It is quite steep in the beginning and slightly less steep step by step until almost flat at the end. The total length is 154 meter from the top. There is a rounded quarter pipe at the end so that you don't need to stop by footbraking. You just carve the quarter pipe and get right back up the slope. A little bit at least. Plan is also to have a cable ready to connect for timers built in into the ditch.

So...
- Is the length alright?
- Is the width of flat in the ditch ok for paralell slalom?
- Is the steepness alright?
- Is concrete a good surface for slalom? Are some concrete better than other concrete formulas?
- Is it ok using banks in a GS race? Just a little... :-) or not at all?
- Is this going to be the best F#ing skatepark in the world? Yes, I think so.

Have a look at the current ditch drawings:

http://www.slalomskateboarder.com/image ... etails.pdf

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Post by Marcus Seyffarth » Mon Nov 19, 2007 1:18 pm

How steep is steep? I dunno, and I don't even know how steep 8 degrees is.

But I do know that if you're gonna run a 100 cone race you need about 200meters so if you'd ever wanna do that this is to short. I'd say 150m is good for special and hybrid but too short for GS. Also you gotta remember that this is 150 from the startramp to the start of the transition of the bowl. Probably actual maximal usable length is about 135-140m depending on runout and such.

I haven't been involved in this, and I understand that its asking for a bit much, but if you're building the best ever perhaps adding a few meters is a good idea.

I think concrete sounds fine, although I've had some discusisons with Michael Dong about surfaces and he stated that asphalt is faster than concrete, at least for cyber. But perhaps it does not last as long I don't know.

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Post by Hans Koraeus » Wed Nov 21, 2007 2:17 am

Steepness

Have a look here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slope ;-)

Or let's make a home made explanation:
8 degrees is steep.

Well, let's do it a little bit more understandable.

45 degrees is 1 meter fall on 1 meter length so...
22,5 degrees is 1 meter fall on 2 meter length so...
degree = 45/length so...
45/degree = length to fall 1 meter.

Let's try it. How steep is 8 degrees?
45/8 = 5,6. I.e. 1 meter fall on every 5,6 meters.

How steep is 7 degrees?
45/7 = 6,4. I.e. 1 meter fall on every 6,4 meters.

How steep is 6 degrees?
45/6 = 7,5. I.e. 1 meter fall on every 7,5 meters.

How steep is 3 degrees?
45/3 = 15. I.e. 1 meter fall on every 15 meters.

This works just as well with feet or any other choice of part of your body.

100 cone race
It was not in my calculation to try and get in a 100 cone course. But if it is ok to bend the course a little at the end you could pass to the left of the quarterpipe and you could get another 30 meter to the 150. And maybe even more if you find a way into the street area. :-) Maybe this hill will have to settle with the 75, 50 and 30 cone records.

No problem for our std slalom courses.

A short GS course will work. A banked slalom course will work.

If we want a really long GS course it is no problem either. Then we will hijack the Downhill slope.

Runout
Depending on how daring you want to get you actually don't need much runout. The idea is you carve the bent quarterpipe at the end to stop your speed. It's a large transition and very wide so it should not (hopefully) be a problem even for those who are not used to transitions.

But for a normal course of 40-50 cones it will be no problem. And for a maximum length GS course we will either have just a couple of meter before the quarterpipe or turn left and you have a 30 meter flat runout.

Length
The length of the ditch can not be made longer at the end beacuse that's where the skatepark starts. Cousres can be longer only if we find a way into the park which is not impossible but then this will not be very popular with the streetskaters. Can be done on special occasions. At the beginning of the ditch it might be possible to add maybe 10 meters or so but there is also a freesbee golf course to take into consideration. And costs. The ditch is already huge.

Width
I had a minimum of 4 meter as option. Now it is 5,46 meter flat between the banks and you can easily use a part of the transition as well. So the width is more than enough.

Steepness 2
The way it is now with steepest in the beginning and less steep further down is perfect. You can choose to start lower and lower down the ditch depending on what skill you have and what speed you want. A normal slalom course from the top will be scary. Probably you will want to start 30 m down the slope for a normal course. And maybe even further down for easier courses.

I'm afraid it will be too steep sometimes. And sometimes I think it will be ok. Would be nice to measure some known "steep" spots and compare. The degree of the Trocadero slope is probably known by someone for example.

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Incorrect math

Post by Pat Chewning » Wed Nov 21, 2007 3:20 am

Hans Koraeus wrote:Steepness

45 degrees is 1 meter fall on 1 meter length so...
22,5 degrees is 1 meter fall on 2 meter length so...
degree = 45/length so...
45/degree = length to fall 1 meter.

Let's try it. How steep is 8 degrees?
45/8 = 5,6. I.e. 1 meter fall on every 5,6 meters.

How steep is 7 degrees?
45/7 = 6,4. I.e. 1 meter fall on every 6,4 meters.

How steep is 6 degrees?
45/6 = 7,5. I.e. 1 meter fall on every 7,5 meters.

How steep is 3 degrees?
45/3 = 15. I.e. 1 meter fall on every 15 meters.
To find the grade of a hill, you need to take the tangent of the angle. You can't just take the ratio of the new angle to 45 degrees.

Angle Grade Length (m) in 1m fall
45 100.0% 1.0
30 57.7% 1.7
22.5 41.4% 2.4
15 26.8% 3.7
8 14.1% 7.1
5 8.7% 11.4
4 7.0% 14.3
3 5.2% 19.1
2 3.5% 28.6
1 1.7% 57.3
0.5 0.9% 114.6

I can tell you that 6% is relatively steep for skateboarding -- the maximum allowable steepness on USA interstate highways -- equivalent to the grade coming west out of the Eisenhower tunnel on I70 west of Denver. The same grade as you go east on I70 into Denver at Floyd hill.

10% is very steep for skateboarding, you wouldn't want to go much steeper for slalom on a hill that sustains a 10% grade.

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Post by Hans Koraeus » Thu Nov 22, 2007 12:38 am

Thanks Pat!

Can you calculate for the 7 and 6 degree slopes as well while your calculator is warm? :-)

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Post by Hans Koraeus » Thu Nov 29, 2007 1:08 am

If we get the 7 and 6 degree measurement that would probably catch all of the slalom hills we use. From flat to 8 degrees.

Are there any slalomcourses that have been used at en event with more than 8 degrees?

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Post by Hans Koraeus » Mon Feb 11, 2008 12:33 am

Now there is a 3D model of the propsed park.

Have a look: here

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Post by Dan Parrish » Fri Mar 14, 2008 3:54 am

WOW!

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Post by Dan Parrish » Fri Mar 14, 2008 11:30 pm

They talk of the "scandinavian standard of living..." you are really rubbing our American noses in it with that park! I'm gonna have to learn Swedish.

Ok before the 'crete dries, I would make the transitions on the chute 2.5 - 3m high with a sine-wave like transition, about 45 degree angle, maybe a bit less, on the top. This would leave the top a good "wall" for old-school reservoir style Burt slides and lip tricks but still have the pump for the bottom transition. I can only imagine what the banked slalom will feel like at speed!

So is this thing real? (I need to book my vacations early...)

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Post by Ulf Haag » Sat Mar 15, 2008 12:42 am

Dan Parrish wrote:They talk of the "scandinavian standard of living..." you are really rubbing our American noses in it with that park! I'm gonna have to learn Swedish.

Ok before the 'crete dries, I would make the transitions on the chute 2.5 - 3m high with a sine-wave like transition, about 45 degree angle, maybe a bit less, on the top. This would leave the top a good "wall" for old-school reservoir style Burt slides and lip tricks but still have the pump for the bottom transition. I can only imagine what the banked slalom will feel like at speed!

So is this thing real? (I need to book my vacations early...)
New park in Sweden/Gothenburg this fall, Rubbing it in real hard now ;-)
http://actionpark.se/design/

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Re: Skatepark slalom

Post by Hans Koraeus » Sun Jun 05, 2011 7:00 pm

I just can't believe how fast time passes away.

Quick overview of what has happend the last years.
- The area where the park should have been built had some "political" issues.
- We got a new area not far away from the initial one.
- New skate design and idea was worked out for the new area.
- The new area was divided up in several different parks that should have their own specific park designer.
- Park name changde to "Highvalley Skate World" symbolizing the different parts of the park.
- Skate worlds/parks: Ditch (cruise, slalom, street), Bowlrider (Open park), Flatland (Street, Freestyle), Kidsarea, Streetplaza, Pool area, Indoor house.
- Budget problems. A lot of money was spent to clean up the area, build parkings, infrastructure and toilets. Park to be built in 2 steps.
- First step is going on right now: Mega ditch, Bowlrider, Flatland, Kids area, Street walkways (Apart from infrastructure)
- Next step Streetplaza and Pool area. Political budget problems right now... :-(
- See progress here http://www.subsurfers.se/tag/highvalley-skateworld/ (Mega ditch is underway)
- Bowlrider now officially has a design and a builder. To be finished during the year.
Last edited by Hans Koraeus on Sat Aug 13, 2011 5:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: Skatepark slalom

Post by Hans Koraeus » Sun Jun 05, 2011 7:41 pm

Here are the drawings of the mega ditch. It will be perfect for slalom. And fun for general cruising. Beginners on a skate will love to start out crusing down the hill and the soft banks. Streetskaters will love playing around with the banks also.

The previous slope planned for the old ditch was too steep depedning on the natural hill. This new area had no natural hill so the slope is now more moderate and exactly what is wanted for slalom. As before the slope starts off steeper and then fades off until flat at the end. And goes into a banked "bowl" so you don't need to wear out your shoes trying to stop. Instead the idea is that you take the speed into the banked "bowl" and get around, out and up the slope again.

The top we finally decided to leave open with a flat area where you can set up startramps depending on the needs you will have.

Another slalom specific feature is that there are tubes layed out where timing cables will always be present. One outlet at the start. Another coming up in the middle of the ditch at the end for finishline. And a third outlet up to a "podium" at the end where you also could imagine having the timer equipment for bigger events. So you only need to bring along your timer and tapeswitches.

The slope starts with 5% slope. Then moves down 20m at a time with 4%, 3%, 2%, 1% and finally flat at the end.

The banks are 34 degrees.

The ditch is not 100% perfect for bank slalom. Maybe one meter too wide in the bottom and the banks in the beginning of the ditch are cut off due to ground contraints. But hopefully it will be 80-90% perfect. And good enough for having serious bank slalom events also.
ditch_end.gif
End of ditch adjustment
ditch_end.gif (12.29 KiB) Viewed 43589 times
mega_ditch_drawing.jpg
Mega ditch drawing (95% complete)
mega_ditch_drawing.jpg (91.7 KiB) Viewed 43589 times

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Re: Skatepark slalom

Post by Hans Koraeus » Mon Aug 08, 2011 10:59 pm

Work is moving forward with the Mega Ditch!

And now the first steps are taken for the Bowlrider area. Design by Pillar Design Studios who has a long experience of skateparkdesign. Artisan Skateparks will build it.

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Re: Skatepark slalom

Post by Miguel Marco » Thu Aug 11, 2011 3:28 pm

Thant looks fantastic Corky! But why is one of the banks getting so low the closer you get to the bowled end while the other is super high???

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Re: Skatepark slalom

Post by Jani Soderhall » Thu Aug 11, 2011 6:48 pm

Miguel Marco wrote:Thant looks fantastic Corky! But why is one of the banks getting so low the closer you get to the bowled end while the other is super high???
Good question! I asked the same when we met yesterday!!

The answer from Corky was that it had something to do with the natural terrain, and anyway you are outside of the race area, so he accepted that little tweak. The important part was to keep it "equal"/similar on both sides while you're still in the race portion of the ditch.

This is a mega super duper cool project isn't it!!!? I really look forward to skating it and see it being skated. It should become a very cool site for all skaters alike. Young, old, beginners or experienced as well as for slalomers, longboarders, street and park skaters. It's a really good idea to bring these groups closer together. Here everyone can have fun, you don't have to be a superspecialist in just this discipline to enjoy skating here! It may be the link that has been missing for the last 20 years in skateboarding...

Well done Stockholm and Högdalen (the local community)!

/Jani

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Re: Skatepark slalom

Post by Hans Koraeus » Sat Aug 13, 2011 5:42 pm

Miguel Marco wrote:Thant looks fantastic Corky! But why is one of the banks getting so low the closer you get to the bowled end while the other is super high???
Yes, it's like Jani said. We had constraints concerning the area we could use. And also with the surrounding heights around the ditch. And groundwater for depth. The dark line around the ditch you see on the plan above shows what area we had to be within. And priority was given to have wide enough flat area all through the ditch. For parallel racing. Then the banks will rize going down the ditch. And anyway you don't need the banks that much in the beginning before you get the speed up. So hopefully it will work well. And it actually looks really nice coming into the park from top because there you are welcomed by the beginning of the ditch that is wide open and really inviting.

First 40-50 meters the banks grow equally on both sides. Then because the height of the surrounding area one side will countinue grow up to 3m height while the other side stop at 2m height. 2m is what I have seen as the correct height and one side just have some extra "bank extension". This can actually be turned into something really nice for streetskaters that can drop in from the 3m bank and jump out from the 2m bank. We will soon see if that idea will work. Could also use the same idea wintertime with snowskates and snowboards maybe. Future will tell.

And future will tell also about grip and speed generated by the ditch. If feel responsible for all that so if it does not work as expected I will have to move to Alaska. ;-)

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Re: Skatepark slalom

Post by Jani Soderhall » Sun Sep 04, 2011 2:43 pm

Here are a few photos from my recent visit to the skatepark (August 15) together with the kids and Corky:

Seen from below. Excellent overview of the ditch. Up at the top you can barely see the startplatform on which we could put regular start ramps. It's up there among the trees. Up at the top is also where the entrance is for skaters arriving by local metro trains or buses. That's also where bicycles and strollers will pass on the path that goes just alongside the park.
Image

Seen from below. here you can better appreciate the bottom "bowl".
Image

Looking across the ditch you can see how wide the flat bottom is (to allow regular dual races to happen in the ditch as well). The banks may look a bit steep, but that's by design and should be OK once you hit them at an angle going up or down the banks. Take a moment to study the solid construction: It's built to last through the next ice age.
Image

Seen from above (20 m from the top) looking down the ditch. You can see the banked walls growing as we go down the ditch.
Image

I must say I was really, really impressed by the size of this construction. It's very impressive. It'll be sooo exciting to see skaters ride it and ride it myself! Rendez-vous next summer!!

/Jani

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Re: Skatepark slalom

Post by Hans Koraeus » Sun Sep 04, 2011 7:08 pm

Image

Here is a preview of how the total finished park is planned.
"Only" ditch, Bowl rider park, kid pools and flatland area will be built in the first step.
Included also the infrastructure with pathways, parking and toilets.

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Re: Skatepark slalom

Post by Hans Koraeus » Mon Dec 05, 2011 4:25 pm

Ok, the ditch is almost officially finished. Only some last fixes here and there to do.

Here is the first try skating it with an all-round skater. They were still working on it at this time and there were machines, hoses, patches of ice an lot of dust in it. So we could not really try out the slalom racing but I think this will give you a good idea still of how it will be...

See it to believe it!

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Re: Skatepark slalom

Post by Hans Koraeus » Fri Dec 09, 2011 2:08 am

At the last inspection this year I thought that finally the ditch will be empty and ready to have a go... and empty it was... but the first snow of the year beat me to it. Damn!

Image
Ditch - Highvalley Skateworld

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Re: Skatepark slalom

Post by Jani Soderhall » Tue May 15, 2012 10:54 pm

The first slalom pictures from the ditch are in. It's not supposed to be open for skating, but skating they were:

Image
Viktor Hadestrand

Image
Peter Klang

Image
Hans Göthberg

Photos by Fabian Björnstjerna

/Jani

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Re: Skatepark slalom

Post by Hans Koraeus » Wed May 16, 2012 12:08 pm

Actually this was the first time I rode the ditch myself. And first time in a couple of years actually being on a skateboard at all almost. :-|

I think it's perfect. A little bit scary and fast for beginners. But soon it will become just how you want it. The other skaters just killed it. I tried to go as slow as possible.

The walls that looked a little bit too big before now feels just perfect in size. The bottom "bank bowl" at the end works perfect even if you come down in full speed. And if the ditch is not too crowded you can easily get back up the ditch again to about 30 m from the start.

We all used our normal slalom boards so the wheels were too soft for the ditch. Not a big problem but with harder wheels there are more speed to be found. Absolutely no problem with grip in the ditch. Not with harder wheels either. We will see after some time what wheels works the best for bank slalom and slalom in general.

But everybody can have great fun in this ditch. From beginners to pros. All who test it out get a smile on their face.

The ditch is not 100% ready yet. There are some holes for water and timing cables to watch out for. And there are some more work to be done on the surface. But the surface is already now of course better than anything you might find in the wild.

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Re: Skatepark slalom

Post by Hans Koraeus » Sat Sep 08, 2012 11:02 pm

The inauguration for the skatepark "Highvalley Skateworld" is now finally here.

September 29

There will be several events going on during the day. Bank slalom will be one of them.

It's a late date and it will be a big risk for a cold and rainy day. But we will hope for the best so that we can have the bank slalom event done.

Even though only a little bit more than half the park is done it has become an amazing park.

More info and latest pics at http://www.subsurfers.se/category/lokal ... ighvalley/

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