Half-pipe
Encyclopedia
Snowboarding
Snowboarding is a sport that involves descending a slope that is covered with snow on a snowboard attached to a rider's feet using a special boot set onto mounted binding. The development of snowboarding was inspired by skateboarding, sledding, surfing and skiing. It was developed in the U.S.A...
, skateboarding
Skateboarding
Skateboarding is an action sport which involves riding and performing tricks using a skateboard.Skateboarding can be a recreational activity, an art form, a job, or a method of transportation. Skateboarding has been shaped and influenced by many skateboarders throughout the years. A 2002 report...
, skiing
Skiing
Skiing is a recreational activity using skis as equipment for traveling over snow. Skis are used in conjunction with boots that connect to the ski with use of a binding....
, freestyle BMX
Freestyle BMX
Freestyle BMX is a synonym for BMX stunt riding, a sport branch that hails from extreme sports. It consists of six disciplines: street, park, vert, trails, dirt and flatland .-History:...
, and inline skating
Inline skating
Inline skating is a recreational sport practiced widely internationally. Inline skates typically have 2 to 5 polyurethane wheels, arranged in a single line. The in-line design allows for greater speed than roller skates and better maneuverability...
. The structure is wood, concrete, metal, earth, or snow. It resembles a cross section of a swimming pool, essentially two concave ramps (or quarter-pipes
Quarter pipe
A Quarter pipe is a ramp used in extreme sports which resembles a quarter of the cross section of a pipe. They are most commonly found in skateparks and a skiing/snowboarding terrain park, although the trained eye of an extreme sports fan can find them in modern day architecture...
), topped by copings and decks, facing each other across a flat transition. Originally half-pipes were half sections of a large diameter pipe. Since the 1980s, half-pipes contain an extended flat bottom between the quarter-pipes; the original style half-pipes are no longer built. Flat ground provides time to regain balance after landing and more time to prepare for the next trick.
A skilled athlete can perform in a half-pipe for an extended period of time by pumping
Pump (skateboarding)
For other uses, see Pump Pumping is a longboarding technique used to gain speed without the riders' feet leaving the board. This is done by selectively applying pressure to different parts of the board. Pumping can be done on flatland by turning or on a transition like a ramp or quarter pipe...
to attain extreme speeds with relatively little effort. Large (high amplitude
Amplitude
Amplitude is the magnitude of change in the oscillating variable with each oscillation within an oscillating system. For example, sound waves in air are oscillations in atmospheric pressure and their amplitudes are proportional to the change in pressure during one oscillation...
) half-pipes make possible many of the aerial tricks in BMX, inline skating
Aggressive inline skating
Aggressive inline skating is a form of inline skating, performed on specially designed inline skates with focus on sliding stances known as grinds with a focus on new tricks, stunts and personal style. Participants refer to the activity as "'rollerblading'", "blading", "skating" or "rolling"...
and skateboarding.
For winter sports such as freestyle skiing
Freestyle skiing
Freestyle skiing is form of skiing which used to encompass two disciplines: aerials, and moguls. Except the two disciplines mentioned earlier Freestyle Skiing now consists of Skicross, Half Pipe and Slope Style...
and snowboarding
Snowboarding
Snowboarding is a sport that involves descending a slope that is covered with snow on a snowboard attached to a rider's feet using a special boot set onto mounted binding. The development of snowboarding was inspired by skateboarding, sledding, surfing and skiing. It was developed in the U.S.A...
, a half-pipe can be dug out of the ground or snow perhaps combined with piling snow. The plane of the transition is oriented downhill at a slight grade to allow riders to use gravity to develop speed and facilitate drainage of melt. In the absence of snow, dug out half-pipes can be used by dirtboarders, motorcyclists, and mountain bikers
Mountain biking
Mountain biking is a sport which consists of riding bicycles off-road, often over rough terrain, using specially adapted mountain bikes. Mountain bikes share similarities with other bikes, but incorporate features designed to enhance durability and performance in rough terrain.Mountain biking can...
.
Performance in a half pipe has been rapidly increasing over recent years. The current limit performed by a top level athlete for a rotational trick in a halfpipe is 1440 degrees (four full 360 degree rotations). In top level competitions, rotation is generally limited to emphasize style and flow.
Origin
In the early 1970s swimming pools were used by skateboarders in a manner similar to surfing ocean waves. In 1975, some teenagers from Encinitas, CaliforniaEncinitas, California
Encinitas is a coastal beach city in San Diego County, California. Located within Southern California, it is approximately north of San Diego in North County and about south of Los Angeles. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 59,518, up from 58,014 at the 2000 census. Encinitas is...
and other northern San Diego County communities began using 24 ft (7.3 m) diameter water pipes in the central Arizona desert associated with the Central Arizona Project, a federal public works project to divert water from the Colorado River to the city of Phoenix. Tom Stewart, one of these young California skateboarders, looked for a more convenient location. Tom consulted with his brother Mike, an architect, how to build a ramp that resembled the Arizona pipes. With his brother's plans in hand, Tom built a wood frame half-pipe in the front yard of his house in Encinitas.
In a few days, the press had gotten word about Tom's creation and contacted him directly. Tom quickly formed Rampage, Inc. and began selling blueprints for his half-pipe design. About five months later, Skateboarder magazine featured Tom and Rampage.
Design
Thus, it is the ratio between height and transition radius that determines the personality of a given ramp, because the ratio determines the angle of the lip.
On half-pipes which are less than vertical, the height, typically between 50% and 75% of the radius, profoundly affects the ride up to and from the lip, and the speed at which tricks must be executed. Ramps near or below 3 ft (0.9144 m) of height sometimes fall below 50% of the height of their radius. These are most often designed for beginners, although technical skaters use them for advanced flip tricks and spin maneuvers. Smaller transitions that maintain the steepness of their larger counterparts are commonly found in pools made for skating and in custom mini ramps. The difficulty of technical tricks is increased with the steepness, but the feeling of dropping in from the coping is preserved.
Common mistake in the construction of ramps is constant radius in transitions:
Most of the ramps are built with a quarter circle of constant radius for easy construction, but the best ramps are not constant radius but a parabola with little final vert (vertical).
The parabola allows for easy big air with return still on the curve and not on the flat.
Skateboarding, freestyle BMX, and aggressive inline skating
Frame and support for skateboard, BMX, and inline skating half-pipes frequently consist of a 2x4 lumber framework sheathed in plywood finished with sheets of masonite or Skatelite. Also, a metal frame finished in wood or metal is sometimes used.Most commercial and contest ramps are surfaced by attaching sheets of some form of masonite
Masonite
Masonite is a type of hardboard invented by William H. Mason.-History:Masonite was invented in 1924 in Laurel, Mississippi, by William H. Mason. Mass production started in 1929. In the 1930s and 1940s Masonite was used for many applications including doors, roofing, walls, desktops, and canoes...
to a frame. Many private ramps are surfaced in the same manner but may use plywood instead of masonite as surface material. Some ramps are constructed by spot-welding sheet metal to the frame, resulting in a fastener-free surface. Recent developments in technology have produced various versions of improved masonite substances such as Skatelite, RampArmor, and HARD-Nox. These ramp surfaces are far more expensive than traditional materials.
Channels, extensions, and roll-ins are the basic ways to customize a ramp. Sometimes a section of the platform is cut away to form a roll-in and a channel to allow skaters to commence a ride without dropping in and perform tricks over the gap. Extensions are permanent or temporary additions to the height of one section of the ramp that can make riding more challenging.
Creating a spine ramp is another variation of the half-pipe. A spine ramp is basically two quarter pipes adjoined at the vertical edge.
Snow sports
Grain elevator
A grain elevator is a tower containing a bucket elevator, which scoops up, elevates, and then uses gravity to deposit grain in a silo or other storage facility...
. The inventor was Colorado farmer Doug Waugh who created the Pipe Dragon used in both the 1998
1998 Winter Olympics
The 1998 Winter Olympics, officially the XVIII Olympic Winter Games, was a winter multi-sport event celebrated from 7 to 22 February 1998 in Nagano, Japan. Seventy-two nations and 2,176 participans contested in seven sports and 72 events at 15 venues. The games saw the introduction of Women's ice...
and 2002 Winter Olympics
2002 Winter Olympics
The 2002 Winter Olympics, officially the XIX Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event that was celebrated in February 2002 in and around Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. Approximately 2,400 athletes from 77 nations participated in 78 events in fifteen disciplines, held throughout...
. Another manufacturer is the Swiss company that makes the Zaugg Pipe Monster.
The Pipe Monster uses five cutting edges called haspels to cut the snow, rather than a chain. Also Zaugg pipe groomers create an elliptical shape that is safer and allows the rider to gain more speed. Zaugg has created a 22 feet (6.7 m) Pipe Monster that for some years made the world's largest elliptical half pipe.
Since 1996, a Finnish company has been manufacturing and selling HPG halfpipe grinders. The HPG is the most used technology worldwide for construction and maintenance of half-pipes and superpipes. In spring 2006, the company launched the world's largest superpipe
Superpipe
A superpipe is a large halfpipe structure used in extreme sports such as snowboarding, freestyle skiing, skateboarding, freestyle BMX and inline skating....
grinder, the HPG Ultra G23, making 23 feet (7 m) elliptical half-pipes.
There are two major companies training snowcat operators and build half-pipes for events such as the X Games
X Games
The X Games is a commercial annual sports event, controlled and arranged by US sports broadcaster ESPN, which focuses on action sports. The inaugural X Games was held in the summer of 1995 in Rhode Island....
. Planet Snow Design and Snow Park Technologies were founded on this growing snowboard market.
The current world record for highest jump in a half-pipe is held by freestyle skier Peter Olenick. At Winter X Games XIV
Winter X Games XIV
Winter X Games XIV were held from January 28 to January 31, 2010, in Aspen, Colorado. They were the 9th consecutive Winter X Games to be held in Aspen...
in Aspen, Colorado, Olenick achieved a height of 24 feet 11 inches.