Quarter pipe
A quarterpipe (Engl. Quarter pipe ) is a ski-jump-like structure for athletic maneuvers and is mainly used in the freestyle range. In the snowboard sector, large international competitions are now being held in the discipline.
construction
Closely related to the halfpipe , a quarterpipe is made of metal, wood, concrete, snow or sometimes sand. It finds its way into the skateboarding , inline skating , snowboarding , streetboarding , BMX and dirt bike sectors .
A quarter pipe usually consists of “Transition”, “Vert” and “Coping”.
Transition
The transition forms the lowest approach part before the driver catapults himself into the air. It is therefore the lowest in terms of height and is used by the approaching person to collect speed shortly before the jump. In the skateboard area the transition is rather short, but in the snowboard area it can be much larger.
Vert / kicker
After the transition, the driver soon reaches the steepest part of the construction, the vert. In the end, the vert is at 90 ° to the transition, so it catapults the driver vertically from the ground into the air. At a high start-up speed, very strong forces act on the driver between vert and transition, which are usually also used to get higher into the air.
Coping
In the skateboard area, a quarter pipe is delimited with a so-called coping. This is a metal tube that runs along the vert and allows additional maneuvers such as sliding (see slide (streetskating) ).
If the “transition”, i.e. the bulges, is not present in a quarter pipe, but is straight, it is called a “kicker” (jump).
use
When passing through the transition of a quarter pipe, the athlete can increase the speed by putting pressure on the sports equipment. This effect, similar to that on a swing, is called "pushing". The athlete can drive up the vert at high speed, jump over the edge of the quarter pipe and land again along the vert according to gravity. In the snowboard sector there have been several competitions since the turn of the millennium, the largest being The Arctic Challenge , X-Trail Jam and the Air & Style Quarterpipe and are managed by the Ticket to Ride World Snowboard Tour .
There are already records in the quarter pipe. The highest jump is currently held by Terje Håkonsen , who flew 9.8 m over the kicker in the Arctic Challenge 2007 .
Halfpipes for snowboarders and skiers are made from snow and ice using cutters mounted on snow groomers. These systems are larger than systems made of concrete. Quarter pipes are rarely found in ski areas. For the most part, halfpipes and large kickers (ski jump) are used.
In extreme obstacle course events such as XLETIX , Predator Race or Ninja Warrior , some quaterpipes over 5 meters high have to be overcome by running.