Copenhagen is now nine years deep into what has become world-renowned as one of the best events on the skateboarding calendar – five days of skate jams at surreal locations, (last year the oldest theme park in the world, this year CPH City Hall), some of the best parks and spots in the world, spending unhealthy amounts of time in Christiania and more free booze than most events could shake an x-ray of liver cirrhosis at.
With all this in mind there was no way I was missing out on the action, especially with the ragged crew of UK heads and worldwide visitors I already knew would be in attendance. The CPH Open might have marketed itself this year as ‘The Champagne of Skateboarding’, but for a solid amount of those in attendance, K Cider was definitely a more apt analogy…
I arrive to find my visions of heading straight to Faelladparken and witnessing a session of epic proportions dampened by a steady drizzle, which only thickens when I consider risking it anyway. I decide instead to head to Wonderland to get a session in before the crowds descend for the Eric Dressen Salad Bowl Jam. This proves to be a wise choice, because once everyone gives up on trying to dry concrete, the place starts to heave. While the likes of Chris Russell, Kevin Baekkel and an already pissed Daan Van Der Linden start figuring out the lines, I try to figure out where to actually stand and shoot anything of use for this piece. Thankfully a knight in vomit-soaked armour appears, in the form of a kid whiteying all over the top level of the bench. No-one else is willing to stand too close to the strangely compost-scented chunks, but I decide it’s high time to suffer for my art and take up residence next to the grey-faced teenager.
