Action Sports
SK801: It’s for the 801
SK801 started about six years ago on a trip to Denver. There was a video contest going on and all the kids wanted to be a part of, but they needed a crew name to enter. Nobody can really say who came up with it, but SK801 was the one that stuck. By the next summer the first SK801 video had dropped. After forming an LLC 7 months ago, and with the concept of having a free park for the community that was supported by a shop instilled in their minds, they started hunting for a space. … read more
TobalVision
If you’ve been following Utah skateboarding for a while, you may or may not know Cristobal Napoleon Keller. Even though Keller has been around for a long time, he’s remained pretty underground. He’s been keeping it real for quite a while and doing some really stylish tricks along with some really amazing artwork. This guy always has a smile, enjoys life more than most and is really fun to nerd out with on ‘90s skate trivia. … read more
Move Over Ronald, Keaton McDonald is the Real Burger King
With style so important in skateboarding nowadays, it’s great to see people out there still treating it like it’s supposed to be—fun. Before the fancy corporate sponsorships and all the jive that may come as we progress in this art, there was a simple reason (mentioned above) that we picked up this wonderful time-waster known as a skateboard. Keaton McDonald is one person out there who embodies this mentality. … read more
Jimmy Plants Corn and I Don’t Care
Everything you think you know about professional skateboarding is wrong. That is, unless you know James Atkin. James has been quietly ripping for a long time now. James has style and consistency that have never gotten the justice they deserve from footage and photos. But if you see James skate in person, it’s a whole other story. He has every trick you can think of on lock, can land all his bangers in lines and even Utah’s most famous pro told me he was envious of James’ flip tricks. … read more
HartBreaker: A Jon Hart Story
I’ve known Jon Hart for a little over ten years, since he was about fifteen. I recently met his mom for the first time and she wondered why we’d never met. He told her it was because he didn’t want her to know he was out skating with grown ass men when he was a teenager. Back in the day, Jon was this kid we all used to see at the St. George Skatepark. He had a mean kickflip even back then. Him and his buddies would go and skate all the old spots, like the Pine View High rail and the Dixie High big four/ledges. … read more
Levi Faust: Iceman
“Iceman: it’s the way he flies, ice cold, no mistakes … ” That quote is right out of Top Gun and if you’ve ever seen Levi Faust skate, then you know it describes him perfectly. His focus is impeccable. You can see it in his face as he rolls up to a spot, feet perfectly placed, eyes locked on the target. He understands skating like most can never comprehend. I think it’s all the sugar he eats. … read more
Rough Side Of Da Trax
It could have been any hot summer Saturday—it should be every hot summer Saturday. We met at the newly constructed testament of the human will: Brick and Mortar skate shop. I was greeted by a mass of smiling friends, my extended family—a sweaty, dirty, wounded, raised-by-the-streets pack of wolves—blood brothers. The UTA Trax approached, we boarded, and anarchy ensued. … read more
Salty Peaks/ Element Flat Bar-B-Q Rail Jam
Salty Peaks and Element hosted a rail jam and free bbq on August 29 2010. Just off to the side of Salty Peaks in the parking lot was a street course with a funbox, rainbow rail and some other stuff to get tech with. … read more
The Glorious Death of an Otherwise Inglorious Pool …
When I got a call from a friend telling me that there was a backyard pool just waiting to be cleaned out and skated, I jumped on it. Donovan McArthur just so happened to have a beautifully shaded pool in his backyard that had been an insect breeding ground for too long. I knew that it would definitely be a tough job for one person, so Spock and I set a date to clean it out and prepare it for a jam session. … read more
Josh Martinez. ‘nuf sed.
About two years ago I received a text message from Josh Martinez about writing a trivia column to give away a deck he had. It fell through the cracks because we were both hella busy and the content we were pushing out around then was too rad to cut. Afterwards, I stayed in contact and have come to know him from filming and jumping around town with him at bars and life in general. … read more
Hungry Hungry Hipolito
When I agreed to interview Hippo, I assumed it would go just like any other interview: meet up, shoot the shit, take some photos, write the article. Man, was I wrong. Turns out he’s another struggling dude just like me. After three weeks of missed calls, no replies and failed meetings, we eventually chatted through his filmer’s email account (you have a filmer but not email?). Here’s how the conversation unfolded. … read more
Shop Talk with Brick & Mortar
Hondo opened SLC’s first ever skate-only shop, Brick & Mortar (561 W 200 S), on July 31. It’s a fresh lookin’ shop, but don’t get confused, it’s not FICE in there. Hondo says, “The way I see it, I can’t sell a pair of pants for $200 when that’s 20 hours of work or half of someone’s rent.” You’re only going to find useful skate products in this shop. … read more
