For alternative sports enthusiasts, who get an adrenaline rush from snowboarding and freestyle skiing in the winter, skateboarding offers a way to stay in shape, practice tricks and progress in the off season. Fortunately, a plethora of skateparks around the region provides affordable — or free — entertainment for those who want to push themselves. Here are the best places to skate in Tahoe.
“A lot of progression happens here. It’s cool to see. We’re just trying to keep it here to have a place to skate. That’s all we care about.”— James Thomson
Bijou Community Park | South Lake Tahoe
Tucked into a heavily wooded area off the main drag, Bijou Community Park is always buzzing with people playing with their dogs in the dog park, on the pump track in the bike park or cruising on small wooden planks in the skateboard park. On one side of the paved park are three small connected half bowls and the other has a couple of taller 6- to 8-foot or so quarter ramps. A rail and additional features sit in the middle of the bowl where skaters attempt shuvits and tail slides or try to get enough speed to make it to the top of one of the taller bowls. Two small sets of bleachers next to a well-worn curb allow onlookers to watch the action or skaters to rest after putting in long sessions. | cityofslt.us
Incline Skate Park
In the middle of Incline Village along Highway 28, the free outdoor Incline Skate Park is a small yet fun place to practice. Two 6-foot-tall concrete bowls are on one side and a decently sized quarter pipe on the other are perfect for beginners. It all flows in a circle and a ramp allows skaters to easily enter the bowl. A set of stairs, an 8-foot flat rail and a 6-foot down rail are on the outskirts of the bowl for those who want to practice their ollies and slides — and a 3-foot-tall fun box sits in the middle. It never gets too crowded and it’s a nice spot to go when the snow doesn’t start building up or the bowl isn’t frozen over. | yourtahoeplace.com
Skatehouse Skate Park | South Lake Tahoe
This one is my favorites. Skatehouse Skate Park is tucked into a 40-foot-by-80-foot warehouse, an indoor space that’s skater owned and operated. The passion is palpable walking into the warehouse. Part-owner James Thomson points out its the skaters who’ve helped keep the place going. When a person lands a new trick, the other skaters in the room explode in cheers.
“If I drop into the big bowl in the next few days, then my mom’s gonna buy me a beanie,” a 9-year-old, flannel-clad skateboarder says. We are in the skate shop, which is underneath all the action on the top floor of the building. Thomson says that the girl skates here two to three times a week and usually brings all her friends.
“A lot of progression happens here. It’s cool to see. We’re just trying to keep it here to have a place to skate. That’s all we care about,” he says.
Skatehouse Skate Park is open daily from 3 to 9 p.m. and costs $10. | Facebook Skate Tahoe
Truckee Skate Park | Truckee River Regional Park
It’s one of the most used facilities of Truckee-Donner Recreation & Park District because the outdoor Truckee Skate Parkappeals to skateboarders of all abilities with its unique design of sprawling bowls, concrete boxes and strategically placed metal rails to ollie up onto.
While it’s free to use, the skate park is becoming increasingly congested, which is why a group of passionate local skaters petitioned the district to provide lighting to keep the park open longer. However, it also sparked the conversation about the need to expand the park — with the Rocker Memorial Skatepark, named after the late Steve “Rocker” Anderson. A group has raised more than $150,000 so far to build a new 25,000-sq.-ft. park adjacent to the existing one at Truckee River Regional Park. The organizers have the space, the construction plans and the approval; they just need the cash to get Phase 1 started. Donations can be made at rockermemorialskatepark.org. | tdrpd.org
Woodward Tahoe | Soda Springs
In 2010, Boreal Mountain opened Woodward Tahoe training facility complete with 11 outdoor adventure parks, including a concrete skatepark, parkour features and mountain bike trails, and a 33,000-square-foot indoor space filled with wooden ramps, trampolines and foam pits labeled the Bunker. Woodward Tahoe offers summer campers looking to progress in skateboarding, skiing or gymnastics many training opportunities, as well as drop-in sessions for the occasional rider. | rideboreal.com
