AmsterDamn Am 2012 Presented by Volcom
Posted on Monday, July 9, 2012 by Rob
| The flight from the East Coast to Europe is always an overnight flight where we land early in the morning over there. It’s straight to the local java when we land which is generally a cappuccino in a tiny dollhouse cup. That’s Jake from Volcom and Ryan Clements. |
| I’m still blown away by all the bikes here. It’s usually a little cold here, but this weekend it was super hot. That’s no reason for shorts that high, though. |
| Next to the Skatepark is some really strange stuff, like this empty lot with all these weird props on it. |
| There’s also a bowl with several pieces of dong drawn all over it. Porpe ain’t scared to get down in a bowl of Euro schlong. |
| Clint Peterson is here judging with us. That’s a back lip over the death box. Maybe in this bowl it’s called the glory hole. |
| Ryan went to Europe and got a backside disaster in a bowl of dicks. |
| Porpe is on the streets of Amsterdam celebrating the legalization of that stuff the stoners like. The more I travel the world, the more I realize every country is grown up and America is still like an awkward pre-teen trying to figure it out. We’re just a baby compared to these cultures that are hundreds of years older than us. I think that has something to do with why they’re so much more chill. |
| Now we’re at "work" at the Park and this is what Porpe’s desk looks like. |
| Most of the buildings here don’t have elevators. They have these things at the top used to haul up furniture. All I can picture is Wile E Coyote using rope to pull up a grand piano and it backfiring on him. |
| HiDefJoe has a truckload of footage to go through when we get home. |
| Pushing through the streets in a foreign country is always one of the best things about traveling with a crew of skateboard friends. |
| Our timing is a little off on this synchronized snapper. |
| We’re now at the Marnix Bowl outside the city where this sauced up chef is serving up booze and meat for everyone. |
| I found some American pride in the crowd. |
| How are you going to ruin an all white outfit with black socks and shoes? |
| A sample of the carnivore selections from the grill. |
| How to eat ice cream like a Euro. |
| HiDefJoe has the wrong kind of cigarette. |
| Frontside Grind Magazine should have its own flag. |
| Two Euro noobs and a veteran. |
| Super calves here was shredding the Bowl. |
| Alex Midler has a frontside slappy like a 30+ year old man. |
| I saw this model-ish lady walking by who was nice enough to honor my photo request in the bike lane. |
| More synchronized snapping in the sketchy alleyways. |
| Sometimes we would have to hold our iPads in the air to get better reception on the scoring system. The internet is like wireless dial-up here. |
| Brad Staba doubles the pleasure and doubles the fun. |
| Porpe, Clint Peterson, and Jason Rothmeyer were your scorekeepers for the weekend. |
| There was a another round of updates to the Park this year, just like we do every year at ours. |
| Some serious gadgetry was being used to document the Contest. I think that’s that new Canon cinema camera. |
| Jake and DJ Wade. Wade is such an expert at pressing the play button that he gets flown around the earth to do it. |
| A bottle of wine is like the Euro 40 ouncer. Classy. |
| Even the Euro chain wallets are extra fancy and classy. |
| I’ve seen way too many tourists filming and shooting photos on the iPad. I guess it’s okay if you’re a kid just psyched on capturing some great skateboarding. |
| Billy Hoogendyk and his brother have been shredding AmsterDamn Am for years. That’s a backside noseblunt slide. |
| Alex Midler is 13 and this is his first time in Amsterdam. We should all be so lucky to be that well traveled at that age. That's a frontside 180 over to switch crook. |
| Wow, Alex Midler taking the blizzard flip to the flat bar. |
| Fernando Bramsmark is one of my new favorite Euro’s. This dude is an amazing ATV and looks damn good with it. That’s an overcrook. |
| Robbin de Wit – frontside nosegrind 180 out. |
| James Capps is our American pal spending a month or so out here making it happen. That’s a backside tailslide. |
| Oseias Borges came from Brazil. That’s a frontside tailslide. |
| Rob Maatman – nollie frontside feeble. |
| Axel Cruysberghs won it by being one of the only ones to put a full, flawless, ripping run together ending with this lipslide across to backside 270 out. |
| Youness Amrani – front feeble. |
| Thanks to everyone in this much larger crowd this year. |
| Brian Schaefer addresses the masses. |
| Kyle Walker – frontside halfcab flip. |
| Rachid Addou – nollie heelflip. |
| Kyle Walker – fakie flip. |
| Who dat? I forget who this switch flip 50-50 was. |
| Eniz Fazliov got the Zumiez Destroyer Award. |
| Congrats to Axel, Kyle, and Woody. |
| The Euro product tosses are always so polite. Schaefer saw a dude on crutches in the crowd so he walked out and handed some stuff to him, which made the crowd throw out a round of applause. |
| The girls' side of the product tosses here are looking a little better than the ones at home. |
| The Contest is a wrap. We are now on lurk around the city. |
| It’s unbelievable how bad the smell still is on these open air pissers in the streets. |
| Porpe, short for Porpoise, led us on a wild goose chase to find the Dolphin Coffee Shop so he could bond with his fellow mammals. |
| Inside the Dolphin Coffee Shop is a row of vaporizers that you can use to get trippy. |
| Out in the streets, these silent trains can sneak up on you so easy that it’s amazing no one gets leveled whenever they come by. |
| The Red Light District is the usual tourist spot with everyone from full families with children to senior citizens just staring with awe at all the doors and girls. |
| There are some beautiful canals and neighborhoods here. Good bye, Amsterdam. Thanks for seven years of good times, old friends, new friends, ripping skateboarding, and eye opening customs and culture. See you next year. |
