A quick look at the halfpipe, its history and the sports that depend on it.
There is one structure that has helped drive the progression of several extreme sports. It figures prominently in the Summer X Games, Dew Action Sports Tour , Winter X Games and even in the Olympics. The halfpipe has been used in BMX, skateboarding, inline skating, snowboarding and skiing. Riders "drop into" the halfpipe and then ride back and forth with increasing speed which allows them to perform the type of aerial maneuvers that are amazing the world.
There is no single standard for the creation of a halfpipe. The construction can be as varied as the riders that will tackle them. The general form is from two concave ramps (quarter-pipes) with a flattened bottom, or transition area. Decks are positioned at the top of each side and serve as a place for riders to drop in as well as an observation site. For BMX , skateboard and inline skating the ramps (also called the Vert) are usually made of wood with customized roll-ins and channels. For snow sports, the halfpipe is cut into the packed snow.
In the early days of snowboarding, natural gullies served as crude halfpipes before giving way to hand-dug trenches. The recognized first snowboarding halfpipe, the "Tahoe City Half" was actually located in California at the Tahoe City dump.
The half-pipe made its Olympics debut (along with snowboarding) during the '98 Olympics in Nagano, Japan. The dimensions have changed and the current version of the halfpipe is the SuperPipe. The SuperPipe has 15-foot high walls and has been the standard since the '02 Salt Lake City Olympics.
The halfpipe allows riders to gain enough speed to perform progressive aerial maneuvers. During the '99 Summer X Games, Tony Hawk pulled the first 900 (two and a half full turns). As skateboarders, BMX riders and snowboarders continue to explore the possibilities and boundaries of their sports, they'll continue to rely on the halfpipe.
