By Gunther Estrada.
My alarm went off at 2am Saturday May the 30th, it was the call for a trip planned in advance to San Francisco, California; to witness history in the making again at the Wallenberg High School big 4 stairs. Since Mark Gonzales ollied this massive set back in 1990 it has been the location for the biggest hammers ever thrown. The last time was in 2004 and now Thrasher Magazine bring us “Back to the Berg” once again. This year the big 4 had a rolling ramp to help the riders get some speed to clear the distance and we were looking forward to seeing who will be adding new tricks to the list.
Before all went down... and Santa was there.. wtf?
After a 6 hour drive we arrived at the Wallenberg High School and proceeded to look for parking which was nearly impossible , finally we found a spot and got ready to watch the contest; almost everybody in the Skate World attended this years competition and we had the opportunity to talk to John Cardiel, Karma Tsocheff, Joey Tershey, Mark appleyard, Furby and many others.
We were fortunate enough to find really good spots to cover different cameras and film angles. When the competition started the opportunity was open for a girls to become the first female to clear the big 4, and it started with no mercy.
3 girls attempted the crazy set and only one of them got close to landing the historical ollie. Marissa del Santo almost took the glory and the money…sorry maybe next time.
The real competition started soon after and sure enough crazy shit went down. Chris Cole ollie 360 second try, Lizard King bs – 180 one foot – ollie disaster and Airwalk; Nick Merlino – switch heel; Lindsey Robertson – bs heel; Jordan Hoffart – varial heel (hand drag, caught last step); Cody McEntire – big spin, Chris Cole – sw fs flip and Andrew Pott finished the contest with a perfect hardflip, bringing a close to a historical afternoon in San Francisco’s Wallenberg Challenge “Back to the Berg”.
Here are some pics of the contest :)
Hali Estrada and Jake Phelps before the contest.
Marissa was really close to make it…
Karma Tsocheff, Hali Estrada, Pepe Baeza, John Cardiel, Alvaro Santillana, Joey Tershey and Gunther Estrada.
Gunther with the amazing John Cardiel, the interview is coming soon.
Cody McEntire, Bigspin.
Jordan Hoffart varial Heel flip.
Chris Cole Switch Frontside Kickflip…
Lizard king, Airwalk.
Chris cole huge Ollie 360, click on the image for a bigger view.
1990 Mark Gonzales- Ollie
1992 Jesse Paez- Frontside 180
1998 Diego Bucchieri- Backside 180
1999 Danny Gonzales – Kickflip Melon
2002 Frank Gerwer- Kick Flip
2003 Tony Manfre- Switch Ollie
2003 Tony Manfre- Switch Frontside Ollie
2004 Steve Nesser- Pop Shove-it
2004 Lindsey Robertson- Heelflip
2004 Darrel Stanton- Switch Backside 180
2004 Andrew Reynolds- Frontside Flip
2005 Chris Cole- Tre Flip
2009… you know.
