Once a pop-culture hallmark of skateboarding, vert ramps — and thus vert skaters — have gone underground, transforming the sport in the process
’s appeal typically starts with disbelief. Strangers love to stop skaters on the street to interrogate the ollie. How does the board stay attached to your feet like that? You sure there aren’t magnets in there somewhere?
Skating is loud on purpose. On a vert ramp — massive U-shaped half-pipes with walls that go fully vertical at the top — the beautifully spastic soundtrack of endless onomatopoeia eases into a calming trance. The back and forth of wheels rumbles like a train forever approaching, interrupted by the clank and slash of grinds, and the pronounced emptiness of air that lingers just long enough to snap you back to reality when the rumble returns.
The Olympic stage has reignited a decades-old discussion about the push and pull between skateboarding’s counterculture roots and establishment appeal. In eras past, that debate was driven by vert. With its easy-to-follow back-and-forth runs, emphasis on big air, and contest-minded, jockish reputation within the skate industry, vert was the discipline that captured mainstream America’s attention in a way typically reserved for the three-letter sports leagues.
Of course, his mom never blamed him, but that didn’t stop Jimmy from internalizing responsibility for the conflict that made them neighborhood pariahs. He quit skating altogether, picked up soccer and lacrosse, and tried to fit in with his middle school peers, but that didn’t work. Always quiet and a bit of a loner, Jimmy struggled in conservative Columbus.
Today, Wilkins’ helmet and knee pads live in a basket next to the ramp and go on for every session, but he doesn’t bother with elbow pads or wrist guards. At the heights and speeds he goes, if you slam hard enough on your wrist or elbow, the pads won’t stop your bones from breaking, they’ll just move the location of the snap. “It basically creates a lever for you to compound fracture your arm,” Wilkins says. “I’ve seen it plenty of times.
“I’d given up on being a pro skater,” Wilkins says. “I moved out here because I wanted to skate vert every day … That’s all I’ve wanted to do my whole life — if I can just work a job and do that, that’s fine.” Before he finished his first year in San Diego, Wilkins ditched Legoland and got a job working at the YMCA. North County San Diego is not like other places, and neither are their YMCAs. Opened in 1990 with a push from local vert pro Mike McGill, the skatepark at the Encinitas Y has raised countless pros. The vert ramp there and another just down the coast at the YMCA in Clairemont have been instrumental in vert progression for decades.
The Olympic snub is largely due to participation numbers. Skateboarding was announced as an Olympic sport in 2016, and at that time especially, the global reach of street and park were undeniable compared to vert. “The bottom line was there weren’t enough vert facilities throughout the world,” Hawk says. “Skateparks were the common ground because there were parks everywhere.
When he’s not injured, Willkins wakes up every day looking to skate. The access to Hawk’s ramp has made that easier, but for safety’s sake he doesn’t like to skate alone, so his days start with a half hour of yoga and a series of texts. Wilkins is eternally grateful for the consistency and quality of Hawk’s ramp, but moreso for Hawk himself.
Wilkins left Creature and joined Real Skateboards in 2022. Real, as the name suggests, is a cornerstone of the skater-owned industry. Mostly comprised of street skaters, Schaaf, the Oakland vert luminary whom Wilkins considers a role model, has skated for Real for decades, and Perelson, Wilkins’ foremost vert inspiration, rode for Real for years. For Wilkins, it’s a dream sponsor.
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