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Locate a corner wall with top and bottom access, plenty of snow, maybe a handrail mixed in somewhere and you’re going to have endless opportunities for years to come. We visited this spot for five or six winters in a row, always coming up with something new, whether you started from the top and dropped in, or came from down below shot above the walls and reentered. You never knew what the guys would dream up, build and execute, but I always knew they’d be landing something super rad. On this evening JP Walker ‘switch nosepressed frontside 180’d in’ to get things started, the spark that had us coming back for multiple days in a row, leaving with a bag of shots every session. Photo: Blotto
When an architect sets out in designing a building, city park, overpass, or any other structure that includes public safety devices, never did it cross their minds that these long metal bars called handrails — sometimes square, sometimes round — would fuel an entire niche within snowboarding while influencing terrain parks worldwide. The handrail, in its simplest form, is the classic down-bar, a piece of metal running straight down a set of stairs used for pedestrian stability, and perfect for enthusiastic snowboarders. It was the early street-riding pioneers taking what they knew from skateboarding and applying it to the snowboarding process during the winter months that fueled a revolution. It’s absolutely incredible where it’s gone from there and hopefully this gallery shows you a little bit of that.
As a bonus, I included the trick names with each image, because you’ll get a kick out of saying them aloud, whether you’re the seasoned snowboarding veteran or an innocent bystander taking note of these freestyle fanatics risky life and limb in the name of fun and filling up video parts. Enjoy.
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