Skateboarding
Skateboarding
Red Bull Sky Line: Behind the build
See the transformation of Twin Peaks in San Francisco turn into a street course for Red Bull Sky Line's skateboarding competition.
On Saturday, October 19, a beautiful day in San Francisco was made all the more glorious thanks to the Red Bull Sky Line, a one of a kind skate competition held at the top of Twin Peaks. Thousands of spectators came together on the eastern hillside to take in the stunning views of the Bay Area and watch some of the world’s best skateboarders attack the downhill street course built by Keen Ramps.
The contest was judged by legendary professional skateboarders Karl Watson, Chico Brenes and Rob Welsh, who presided over three best trick events and a line contest. Another influential pro, Chris “Dune” Pastras, along with Gary Rogers, kept spirits high on the mic throughout the event. We sat down with Cory Keen, a lifelong skateboarder who started Keen Ramps back in 2012, to talk about some of the influences behind the course design and how the invited skaters in the contest utilized the obstacles he built.
Elijah Akerly bluntslides at Red Bull Sky Line 2024 in San Francisco, CA
© Eric Palozzolo / Red Bull Content Pool
“It was street skating inspired, and we wanted to make sure it was representative of San Francisco skating,” Cory said, when asked how the initial brainstorming for the design went. Since the location is an existing DIY skate spot, Cory thought it was important to incorporate the slanted barrier walls, further activating the spot that was already there. “We made these tight transition inserts and then we coated them with a plaster so they look like concrete. So there were no screws, no seams, just like straight plaster finish.” In Cory’s eyes, Elijah Akerly was the most impressive skater to hit the barrier section. “Elijah shut it down. He blunted it, five-0 fakie, blunt 270, blunt, shuv, blunt to switch five, and alley oop fakie five-0. Then he backside ollied it, which nobody even tried. A twelve foot gap off of an eighteen inch tall, four foot radius ramp. It was psychotic. He was a big stand out for that.” In the end, the judges agreed with Cory, and Elijah took home best trick on the barrier.
For the rest of the course, the challenge was fitting the right sized obstacles into the narrow roadway. “The road is only about thirty feet wide,” Cory explained. “And you need room for spectators. We wanted to make about eight different pieces to hit with about thirty to fifty feet between each obstacle. So we started with a drop in, and then we made a classic pyramid with a hubba and the ability to wally.” San Francisco local Marley Humphry secured the top prize for the mini hubba section, with a kickflip frontside tailslide to fakie.
Myles Tussey hardflips at Red Bull Sky Line 2024 in San Francisco, CA
© Eric Palozzolo / Red Bull Content Pool
“I wanted something for tech skaters, so I made this really mellow, one foot tall transition to a rail with a manual pad. There were lots of options for skating that.” For the more creative skater, this was an obstacle with endless potential, and an additional opportunity to utilize the existing barrier wall. And while Cory expected to see some basic tricks on the barrier, like 5050’s and noseslides, there were some tricks that he hadn’t even considered were possible. “It's always fun seeing how people can look through a totally different lens. This one skater went off the transition, which is like six feet away from the wall and then flew through the air and did a frontside wall ride on the barrier in a run. That was wild.”
Piero Nunez frontside feebles at Red Bull Sky Line 2024 in San Francisco
© Eric Palozzolo / Red Bull Content Pool
Staying true to Bay Area skateboarding, Cory brought in Austin Kanfoush as a consultant to help come up with ideas for original features. Austin is pro for Anti-Hero and Vans and runs a concrete company, Kanfoush Custom Concrete. He has built skate parks all around the Bay Area and lived in San Francisco for years. “Austin and I had a couple zoom calls and he brought up this DIY park that was under a bridge in Emeryville. It had a volcano with the rainbow rail. He sent me reference photos and I thought instead of a volcano, we could make it a tabletop, like quarter-pipe to quarter-pipe.”
Roman Pabich Backside Smith at Red Bull Sky Line 2024 in San Francisco
© Eric Palozzolo / Red Bull Content Pool
The D.I.Y. Austin referenced has since been torn out, but the rainbow rail was a perfect homage to the once sought after skate spot, fittingly called “The Spot.” At Red Bull Sky Line, this was another obstacle where some of the tricks that went down far exceeded Cory’s initial expectations. “I thought, we're for sure going to see people grind it, polejam it and then air out. We're going to see some ride-on smith grinds, maybe we'll see a ride on back smith and a ride-on on nose grind. And that was where my mind stopped. And then Elijah did the ride-on 50-50 body varial to switch 50-50. In the heat of the moment, in those contest skate jam scenarios, I don't know, people will just blackout and do some insane stuff.” Again, the judges agreed with Cory, and Elijah won best trick on the rainbow rail with a barrage of tricks, including this amazing 5050 body varial.
The rest of the course took on a very street-oriented approach, inspired by the spots we see in videos. There was a schoolyard picnic table, a skate-able bike rack, an up ledge, an up flat bar, and a bump-to-dumpster. For the dumpster, Cory was inspired by the street spot that was skated by Aiden Campbell, Louie Lopez and 2021 Thrasher Skater of the Year Mason Silva.
But how does one acquire a giant dumpster? “I went on Facebook Marketplace and just bought a dumpster from a trash company that was downsizing. I was thinking how sick it would be to have a real dumpster that's just perfect and like, doesn't have a bear trap or a thin spooky bar. So I recessed some two-by-fours and drilled through the side of the metal and basically made ribs. Then made the plywood and made it perfectly flush with the edge. So it was like skating a skatepark ledge, honestly.” Once again, Cory was amazed by the tricks that the contestants managed to pull off. Highlights included impossible 5050, kickflip crooked grind, and a man-ramp-assisted wallride over the entire dumpster by Roman Pabich.
Roman Pabich wall rides Man Ramp's ply wood at Red Bull Sky Line 2024
© Colin Kerrigan / Red Bull Content Pool
When asked who skated the entire course the best, Cory again agreed with the judges, who gave Roman Babich first place in the line competition, and Dylan Witkin the crowd favorite award. “Roman was a standout. And then Dylan Witkin, he skates really fast and he finished his run by skating the whole course uphill. And that had the crowd going wild because it was like, what was he doing? And then Gary Rogers was tripping out, chasing him with money, yelling at him to keep going. So that was a good one.”
The Red Bull Sky Line will be cemented in San Francisco history as one of the most entertaining and scenic skate competitions The City has seen. Next year, the roadway where the contest was held will be removed for park renovations, making this a singular, once in a lifetime event. And while the DIY may soon be gone, the hike up to the lookout and the hill down to the bottom will be a pilgrimage for skateboarders in San Francisco for decades to come.
