Big O

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In 2007 the Big O was cleaned up for better media coverage for the new Saputo Stadium. Since then it has returned to it normal look of being graffiti covered.....

Photo by Guy Lévesque ....

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Jason attacks the pipe. ....

Photo by Dan Mathieu....

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You’d think by October the Montreal Impact soccer team would have no more home games but that is not the case. According to the team’s official web page, there are no scheduled games for November but last I heard their season was not over yet. So, check their web page for updates to the November schedule before trekking to the Pipe. Three hours before the Impact’s home games we are not able to skate the pipe. Saputo has been kind to us so we should understand that this time skating the Pipe is off limits.....

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A couple of weeks ago I got my hands on a copy of Thrasher's new Epic Spots book. It's a sweet collection of spots for sure. Over the last couple of years I've been chalking off a bunch of parks in the book but I still have many more enjoyable spots to hit and scare the shit out of myself. The first spot I ever chalked off was the Big O. Yes, it's included in the unique spots section. The pictures included are of long time local Barry Walsh and one timer Tom Penny.....

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Speaking of pictures, please send me (or tag) your pictures of you or your friends skating the Big O Pipe or any of the street spots around the Olympic Stadium. Each one of us has a different feeling about this unique spot and I think the best way to show this is by showing how different people skate and enjoy themselves here. With a large library of pictures you'll be able to see the different colours of the Big O through out is life. This myspace page does not need magazine quality pictures or crazy tricks, just pictures of people having fun at the Big O. Sure there are some rippers at the Big O but the Big O is more then it's individual riders. It's a community of locals and tourists that come together to have some fun skating the Big O's tight walls and sometimes paying there (i.e. slamming). ....

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History of the Big O Pipe....

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Like most metropolitan areas, .... Montreal .... has had many skate spots that have been secured, skate blocked (making it unskatable by mechanical means), or flat out destroyed over the last 30 years. .... Montreal .... skaters need these spots since skateboarding is illegal on any street or sidewalk in .... Montreal .... . Even parks are off limits except for some parks with swings. What do swings and skateboarding have to do with each other I will never know? This could only happen in .... Montreal .... .
The only constant was the Big O. It has been skated since the late 70's. At first it was not an easy feat just getting to the lip. Having a rubber mat on that covered the floor made getting speed and keeping that speed almost impossible. Little by little the rubber mat was removed. The Big O still had some surprises installed for the skaters; it still was not easy to skate. Skaters quickly got taken out; rocks suck in your palms, snapped fingers, shattered knees, and even a split wig. After taking its toll on the local skaters, the Big O scared many away. The timing coincided with the opening on the second round on Montreal skate parks i.e. Beaubien , the blue ramps, the big whale ramps, Skate Parc , and Jarry Park. Transition skating lost its popularity and .... Montreal .... 's great spot was empty most of the time. ....

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Normand Roy showing Paul Provost how a layback air is executed. Normand was one of the first people to see the potential of the Big O in the late 70’s.....

Photo by Ludwig....

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Everyone is chilling out between sessions at the Big O (1987). There are people from the four corners of talking about the sick tricks that just went down.....

Photo by Ludwig....

Photo by Ludwig....

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Orion ripping up the Pipe with a steamroller revert.....

Photo by Ludwig....

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With the total disarray of the parks or their total closure, this lead the skaters back to the Big O in droves towards the beginning of the 90's. Skaters that had refined their skills on mini-ramps were now trying those same tricks at the Big O. It was really not easy since the Big O is one of the hardest places in the world to skate. Two of the new locals stood out from the rest; Marc Tison and Barry Walsh.....

.. Barry and then Marc moved out west ( .... Vancouver .... ) to have some variety in the spots they skated. Even at the start of the concrete skate park renaissance in .... Vancouver .... , there was far more variety in good spot to skate as compared to .... Montreal .... . With their move out west they brought with them a love for the Big O; preaching it praises to all. As Barry and Marc got covered by the Canadian magazines and then the international magazines, the Big O also started getting an international name.....

.. I think Barry Walsh has recovered from his dislocated elbow.....

Photo by Ri ....

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The coverage blew up when Marc then Barry moved back to .... Montreal .... . No matter how bad the skate park scene is in .... Montreal .... , it still one of the best cities in the world to live in. That makes it hard to stay away for very long. This coverage lead to even more coverage from professional skaters coming to town and wanting to hit “that spot” they had seen in a video or magazine called the Big O. Now a day it is rare to get a couple of months of a North American magazine without a picture of the Big O. Skateboarder Magazine even voted it one of the 10 spots every skater should go to before they die. That’s the kind of history the Big O has currently in the skateboard community.....

.. In the spring of 2006, basically the 30 th anniversary of the Big O, work has begun on a Pipe Fiend, a book (by Marc then Barry) to commemorate the tales of this historic skate spot. Around the same time I hear that Saputo is planning on constructing a new stadium for the Montreal Impact (United Soccer Leagues First Division) on the outdoor track in the Montreal Olympic Park. Wait, that’s where the Big O is situated, what is going to happen to the Big O? No one we could find knew what we were even talking about. Not Saputo , not the Montreal Impact, not the City of .... Montreal .... , and not Regie des Installations Olympiques (the organization in charge of the Olympic installations) knew what would happen to the Big O. It was decided that we needed to get the story of the Big O out to the public. It was not very easy but the locals got an Editorial in La Presse . Wow did that get the ball rolling. All of a sudden all types of media were trying to get a story about our struggle out. External forces in the .... Montreal .... skateboard industry jumped in the media frenzy to get help and publicity for their projects. That’s not our (Big O locals) battle. We all have other jobs that take up our time when we are not skating. We just do not have the time to fight for every cause under the .... Montreal .... skateboard umbrella.....

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.. Skateboarders do not have a problem with the fact the Saputo wants to build a new stadium or even where they want to build it but, more with not forgetting that the Big O is a mecca for skateboarders. It should be preserved in some form. Either incorporated into the stadium plans or relocated to another location. In the whole grand scheme of things, the budget for keeping the Big O would be so very small as compared with the total budget for build the stadium and surrounding environment.....

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.. From all that .... Montreal .... skateboarders have learned from this on going experience, hopefully .... Montreal .... will get a better skate park scene for the next generation of skaters.....

.. Dad and his son enjoying the Pipe’s mystics the same day.....

Photo by Guy Lévesque....

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