I went and skated the Springville skatepark again today. I’ve probably skated that place more than any other park in Utah. Somehow the prefab, blue, metal ramps and obstacles and lack of crowds make it one of my favorite spots. Is it subpar like just about any other public skatepark? No doubt. But is it fun? Yes, it is, and it’s worth going to.
I’ll tell you what the best parts about the Springville park are.
1. Mini-ramp. 12 feet of it (width-wise) is 4 feet high, and another 12 feet is 5.5 or 6 feet high. Good transitions. Not too slick, not too sticky, decent coping, and pretty darn fun to skate. The only part that could be better is that the taller portion has the same amount of flat as the small, and it could use a little more flatbottom, plus if one side were set a little farther back it would allow for some fun tricks from one part to the other.
2. Box. There is a little box that is great for manuals. Pure and simple.
3. The other step-box. Another box is made like two steps, so there’s a higher part and a shorter part. It grinds real nice. Good little thing. Like skating a nice curb.
4. Bank ramps. There are several bank ramps that are great for doing flip tricks on, and they face each other so you can go back and forth doing tricks on either side. Some are steeper than others so you get some variety.
5. Spine. There’s a spine that’s kind of fun. It’s set on the conrete, it’s not part of a mini ramp, but you can mess around on it and do some tricks. It’s about three feet high.
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One of the main problems with the park is that many of the transitions are pretty harsh. They didn’t leave enough metal at the bottom of the ramps so that you could smoothly transition from the cement to the ramp, so when you hit the bottom you hit pretty hard. It would have been pretty simple to remedy this when it was being built, but of course now it’ll never happen. Sad, really.
Another problem is useless objects. There is a huge curved bar that only Mark Gonzalez could railslide. It’s ok for hopping over though since it goes from low to high so you can practice ollieing over it and work your way up to the highest point.
So it’s not as good as it could be, as usual, but it still ranks as one of my favorite places to skate. If I could change or add one thing I’d add a nice pyramid.
yea about the curved rail….i was there when mark was there……but ive seen so many ppl feeble and boardslide that rail…
i live here in spring ville and i hate that park and the reason i think it suckes beceause there are no rails by them selves and ya it suckes as a skate park
yeah the parks not too bad, (one of springvilles best crappy features) but it does need some stand alone rails
I’ve lived in Sville for the past years, and so this is the park I go to most often.
The Good: The mini half pipe. Good transitions, moderate height, and not too slick (though you better prepare yourself to slide). The metal pieces have pressed up at some of the seams, but you get used to it.
The Bad: You’re 100% right about the metal contact with the concrete. The transitions are pretty tight, but you lose half your speed when your wheels contact with the cement. This caused a few falls early on. The layout of the street course is a little odd, and could be better if the City just asked the skaters for new ideas.
The Ugly: Trying to board slide that mondo curved rail (because it’s there), getting just a quarter of the way up, slipping off and cracking three ribs.