Summit Skatepark Review

Yes, the skatepark lies within.

Skateparks come and go so fast these days. Off the top of my head, I can think of a few... G-Shock, Ride XP, Renegade, Ollie & Co. and it seems like all of these parks are massive indoor facilities that are just to difficult to operate. At the end of August, I heard by word of mouth a new indoor skatepark that was opening near Oakdale, which was surprising as you would think the advertising would be at large for a new park. Nevertheless, more info. and pictures surfaced about this new Summit Skatepark via Plywood Benders and it appeared to be smaller or more alike a TF. With that said, I recently decided to give Summit Skatepark a test run.



Located in Woodbury (aka Hoodbury), your journey begins by walking into the Summit Skateshop (Mostly snow gear centered) and pay $8 for a 3(?) hour session, but I caught their 6-8 session and paid $6. I axed for a flyer with sessions times, but no dice. Following the fun check-in process, you enter thru the mythical doors of the skatepark while no employee attendance is present..in other words - it's super chill.



The first thing you notice about the park besides the presence of scooters, is the well crafted ramps with the Plywood Benders finesse. All the wood is brand new and a solid color whereas 3rd's wood is more of a collage of "skateparks of Minnesota." Additionally, the ground is somewhat slick alike Burnsville 3rd and takes some gettin' used to.



The skatepark's area is quite small, causing a short time in transition between ramps but also allows an xtreme athlete to gain speed with minimal pushing. Summit really did a great job with including all the necessities for a skatepark to be politically correct for each skateboarder's style.

Kevin Chartrand hasn't skated Summit yet, but I can assure you he gives the euro his stamp of approval.

The other side of the park includes a roll in to euro/flatbar and the always popular hubba/stair/handrail combo.



I am more likely to give into the peer pressures of sex, drugs and alcohol before I subdue into the pressures of skating the gnar, but from what I can tell - the hubba and handrail are of proportionate measure and will suffice your hammer needs.

The park's box stays true to the theory that every parks' box needs to have a mindfuck of a white line or crack right in the middle of the box.

After attempting a few varial heels and hardflips without luck, I found myself where I end up 90% of the time at the skatepark and that is going west to east and skating the box. The box construction and height is similar to 3rd's box 2.0 (with deathly redbull metal spikes, extruding outward), but once again the quick transition made it hard for me to setup for my vast bag of box tricks...well really just bs tails. Anyhow, the box is a plus to the skatepark and grinds very well.

Overall, I highly recommend making the journey to Summit Skatepark/Skateshop to support what they are doing and to skate a brand new park. It's rather cheap to skate there as there is no hidden costs of helmet rental, skatecards etc. and it's a great alternative, mentally from the other indoor parks. There is definitely something for everybody to skate there and the atmosphere is rather laid back and not overly crowed.

My only criticisms of the park are the availability of information as far as location and costs for somebody lookin' to go for the first time. I knew the park was associated with Summit, but I thought it would be rather odd to have the skatepark within an existing shop so I was confused. I had to search an old platinum post and look in the comments to find out it's location to confirm it was actually within the skateshop as their website has minimal information on the park. As mentioned, I axed the dude up front for flyers and all could do was point at a sheet with the prices and session times.

Summit Skatepark, like I said is worth the price and journey to skate. I think the trade off for a low key environment could be the lacking availability of information and therefore I think it's fair. But the greatest benefit to skating Summit? Wisconsin is only 15 minutes further east, which makes a Sunday skate session complement well with Wisco. beer laws AND Sonic is off an exit on the way home, westward of Summit Skatepark.

-Fink
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For more info:

http://summitboardshop.com/

Jammin Jay's Plat Comment Post:

"I added more pics of Summit Skatepark on the Plywood Benders website.

http://www.plywoodbenders.com

Woody designed the park and Nate Sheggeby was also involved in the build. It took 15 work-days to make and I think I cut almost every template in the park. The stair-set also converts into a double-set by pulling the bottom two steps out. Yes, there is a flat ledge. They also have a snow course that they are working on behind the building, so if any of you like to snowboard, there's something there for you as well. They are thinking about having us build a bowl sometime next year, which isn't that far away.

The park is located just east of the 494/694 on I-94. Take the Inwood/Radio Drive exit, go left, cross over the Highway, take a right on Hudson, go about a 1/4 mile, and it is on the left.

Now we have a skatepark on the St. Paul side of the Twin Cities metro! Have fun!!!"
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