Asheville Skateboard Camp 2008

Skateboard camp. Where boys become men. Old, broken, scarred men. But the pain is worth the thrill. The feeling of movement on a skateboard is magical. My son Mars just finished a week at skate camp here in Asheville, NC and according to him it was worth every penny. Of course, these weren’t his pennies on the line, but no matter. It’s about progression, at any age, and Mars met his goal for the week by dropping for the first time at the park. I owe that boy a t-shirt.

Kevin Shelton’s Skateboard Collection at The Push Gallery

This one if for my main man Bennie. He was the first guy I knew to have a “serious” skateboard. It was a Kryptonics Krypstick with gnarly see-through pizza deck grip tape, Tracker trucks, and some sweet green Kryptonic wheels. He was cool enough to let me use it to commute to summer school one year in junior high. It was slower than riding my bike but I really wanted to show off that board, even though it belonged to Bennie.

Asheville’s Kevin Shelton has quite a collection of cool boards too. And he’s not just a collector; he once was pro and road for Walker skateboards. Thanks to Push Skateshop Kevin’s collection is on display in their gallery. The gallery, which is probably bigger than the skateshop, regularly has art exhibited, paintings, sculptures etc., but this collection really combines the twin forces of art and skating like nothing else. I didn’t even know about it until I started talking to Rob, the owner, when he was helping out at my son’s skateboard camp last week. He helped Mars learn some new things. Maybe I can get him to coach me.

I took a ton a pics of this collection and had a difficult time picking these few. Shelton also has quite a collection of vintage snowboards and land luges on display, but the skateboards are what do it for me. Here are some of my favorites.