Skateboarding Ramps

Street skateboarding has risen in popularity over the years, but there are always a few people who seek the thrill of vertical skateboarding. Vertical skateboarding is the type of skateboarding where, with the use of a ramp, the skateboarder can launch himself up in the air and perform various tricks. In fact, prior to the evolution of skateboarding into a street culture, it is skating with ramps that made the sport popular and captivatingly thrilling. With the help of the ramp, a skateboarder can launch himself virtually as high as 20 feet up into the air. For beginners though, it will be advisable to start with smaller ramp sizes to get the feel and to practice the basic moves and precautionary maneuvers when performing tricks and launching into the air. Once you have mastered the basics then that’s the time to move on to the more advanced and bigger skateboarding ramps.

With the blossoming popularity of skateboarding and the construction of numerous skateboarding parks back in the 70s it is still easy to find a good place to skate. There are several existing skate parks around the country with different ramp setups that you can seek to try.

Quarter Pipe Ramps

The quarter pipe ramp is half a mini ramp. Two can be placed together either opposite each other to form a mini ramp or back to back to form a spine ramp. This is the most basic among the ramps and is used for practicing aerial maneuvers. At the top of the ramp is a rail that is called the coping.

Half Pipe Ramp

Half pipe ramps are like the mini ramp that looks like the two quarter pipe ramps that are facing each other to form a U-shape and a flat surface in the middle for the skater to gain speed and momentum and enable to launch himself to the air and perform several aerial tricks. This is the most common type of ramp used in skating competitions with different degrees of difficulty available, but the basics still remain.

Mini Ramp/Half Pipe

The mini ramp is a smaller size half pipe usually shorter than six feet in height and can be as small as two feet that can be used for practice by beginners. However, more aggressive designs of these kinds of ramps with a steeper ledge are being used by experienced skaters to practice and perfect lip tricks.

Vert Ramps

The vert ramp is the biggest size of all the ramps and was called that way because when you get to the top of the ramp, the top is vertical to the ground. Most vert ramps range in height from 10-14 feet and propel the skater straight up into the air. This type is usually for the more advanced and experienced skater.