Skateboarding today is generally based on doing tricks in the streets. Sure there are tons of great skateparks out there with perfect transitions and ledges, but one of the core qualities of why we skate is to manipulate the streets in the "real world" for our own purposes. This is why some spots are completely blown up because of accidentally being made near to perfection for skateboards, and other spots are known only for one trick alone because of how impossible to skate they may seem. This week I will be looking into latter side of the spectrum, at skaters that have the ability to visualize skating spots that most of us would never even consider touching with our boards.
For a topic like this, I feel that it's necessary to mention guys like Danny Way and Bob Burnquist, who have taken skating vert to a whole new level. Looking at Bob Burnquist's Dreamland, I find it hard to believe that anyone could come up with the crazy ideas that this man has. The innovation in skating the unskateable (nope, helicopters are not your typical skatepark feature) is hard to match with a part like this. However, considering that Bob did create an actual "Dreamland" with perfectly smooth surfaces and mathematically correct ramps and transitions, he doesn't exactly fall under the category of the top five guys this week who have changed the way we look at natural street spots.
Also worth mentioning is Clint Walker. My perception of skating impossibly gnarly spots has changed completely since his Modern Art part. From skating glass handrails to handrails with both drop downs and kinks mixed together to unnecessarily long street gaps like at 5:03, Clint truly made an impact on skating with this part and how guys view what is skateable and what isn't skateable.
And then there's David Gonzalez. His Possessed to Skate part was an instant classic for its sheer gnarliness. How could it not be when David sets new standards for handrail skating with tricks like at 4:32 or his unreal ender at 5:30.
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