Blackcrossbowl: Basel, Switzerland

During the European Skate Championships in Basel, Saturday night’s ‘after party’ was held at the Blackcross Bowl where Pontus Alv’s new film IN SEARCH OF THE MIRACULOUS was projected above the bowl. 100s showed up, but by 10 at night it seemed almost everyone was too drunk to skate and not a whole lot of ripping was going down, except by long time local shredder Oli Bürgen, who helped build the bowl with Pontus. A couple other guys got in some good runs too, but the BlackCross bowl is a lot harder to skate than it looks… and definitely needs some time to get used to.

I returned there the final day for a session with the LOVENSKATE Skateshop Crew from London (Stu Smith and Ewen Bower) before my train headed up north. Already at the bowl when we arrived were a couple Italian dudes (Carlos Cassan and Luc Basilico from the Blast Crew) who had the bowl to themselves, but welcomed some new disposable heros. All 4 of those guys were skating the tough transitions really well for being hungover from a long weekend in the blazing noon time sun. I didn’t really get any good footage or photos from the night session (no flash, too many people, too many beers), but good enough so you get a feel for what was going down. The Blackcross bowl should be a destination on your list of DIY skatespots around Europe – not the mecca but a worthy stop during your skate pilgrimage. But don’t think you’re going to show up there and instantly rip the place apart; it takes some time to get used to, and even then, finding and making the line is challenging. And if you think you can drop the cross, you can’t. It’s like a siren beckoning the sailors into the rocks with their sweet voice; tempting, but it will end in complete and utter disaster. Ask others who have tried, and failed.

Photos

Ewen Bower. Black Cross slash slide.

Luca Basilico. Smith grind on the pool coping corner.

Luca Basilico. Channel Ollie.

Ewen Bower. Pivot to Fakie. On a Sunday!! Bloody Hell!

Ewen Bower bowing down to the Black Cross.

Carlos Cassan. Feeble Transfer.

LOVE. DISASTER. BLACK CROSS. EWEN BOWER. BRICKS. VW. HAYWIRE.

Oli Buergin. Crail. Build & Destroy.

Oli Bürgen. Air over the hip, while everyone else was just drunk and spectating.

Oli Buergin. If it was as easy as it looks to do a frontside grind, there wouldnt be 20 people watching…

Oli. Grind.

Blackcross Bowl. Pool coping grind.

Standing room only, except in the bowl. But there were few takers…

Backside Smith. Harder than it looks…

This is what would have happened if YOU had tried to skate

Fernando Bramsmark, Johan Linö Waad (and Pontus)

Pontus Alv.

Johan Lino-Waad. Skateboarding Super Star from IN SEARCH OF THE MIRACULOUS.

Blackcross Bowl Panorama. Night of Pontus Alv’s IN SEARCH OF THE MIRACULOUS premier – Basel, Switzerland

 

Check out the video clip the Italian Blast Krew made of the beginning of the same session here