Thrasher Magazine

During the long Portland winter months, many nights are spent in our skatepark, The Grotto, as a refuge from the persistent rain. Deck chatter often turns to talk of out-of-town rippers who would enjoy the park and sessions we would like to see go down. These talks sparked the idea of doing an invitational contest with some of our favorite skaters. As we all know, skateboard contest can be equal parts awesome and suck. We see The Grotto Lotto as a non-test, an extended practice, per se—a chance to do some ripping with some of your buds in a unique park without the distractions of self-obsessed kids and energy-drink chicks.

When we compiled our list we expected a very heavy session and some awesome vibes, but we had no idea the level of skating that was possible in our park. The variety of skaters combined with the communal hype brought top-notch maneuvers to every obstacle. The energy was through the roof and everyone was cranking it up and without the distraction of posting tricks and checking the feed—camaraderie and focus were at a level rarely seen in our social media-obsessed age.

This weekend was about as epic as it gets—a warehouse packed with friends smiling, shouting and smashing boards. I am very thankful that skateboarding is full of so many amazing humans and I feel honored to have had some of them in our home, giving their all in our skatepark. Thank you to those who came and shared this weekend with us; you’ve created some cherished memories. —Silas Baxter Neal


The brains and brawn behind the contest: Matt Irving, Silas Baxter-Neal, Nikhil Thayer and Joey Pepper.

Grotto grab-bag sponsors: Thrasher, adidas, Poler, Stumptown Roasters, Spitfire, Stance, Bones Swiss, Levis, Sizzle Pie, pFriem beer, Tactics, Kool Pool, Yeti Yoga, Skateboard Veteran, Maple OX, Thunderbird, Habitat and Drink water. Jeez… usually you just get some free stickers, a koozie and a trucker’s hat

Young MCs, Rob Welsh and Sal Barbier

Neighbor, key holder and Fixer’s finest, Ultimate Phil and his son Silas

Rattray and Ivor doing an eco-friendly drive-by, Oregon style

Sucui, hair check

Nailed it

McCrank was a little under the weather, unfortunately

Kenny A, the perfect man is the perfect judge for the event

411 friends but basketball foes, Kurt Hayashi and Vern Laird

DLX vans mean, “here comes trouble”

Jalden and Daan 18

Milo and Justin—rad dad!

Biebel, we need a little help here. Get Janoski on a program in LA stat!

Dan Plunkett, all-around ripper and epic human

The judges: Kenny A, Parts, Cairo Foster and Karl Watson

Austyn Gillette coming in hot, Mach-10 back Smith

Welsh and Sal on deck .    Photo: Morford

Busenitz always going for broke

Textbook back lip upstream

Robbie Russo, nosegrind pop in hella far north of Pedro

Mickey, double carb recharge

Sizzle Pie keeping everyone fueled for the weekend

Janoski, switch crooks on the China Banks obstacle

Wes and Zenith in the house

Heartbreaker Joan Wilder and her handlers

Josh Matthews, nonchalant kickflip crooks

Brad Cromer, clockwork-like precision on a frontside 360 kickflip

Matt Gottwig, kickflip back tail

The squad live streaming the Vans Pool Party. Thought they wouldn’t?!

Pier 7 alumni: Nikhil, Wu-Welsh and Cairo

Jake Anderson breaking the ice the hard way     Photo: Morford

Grotto Lotto shirt details    Photo: Morford 

Silas popping bottles, serving up some Sunday-morning mimosas

Semifinalists—major firepower!

Vincent, heavy-duty switch bluntslide.

Busenitz, back tail over the “bench”

Joey approves of the park annihilation

Austyn, savage back lip from the QP to the vert wall

Parts showing his love for the Big Dog!

Zered, chink-chink grind off the quarter onto the vert wall     Photo: Morford   

Austyn was a force to be reckoned with! Switch back noseblunt      Photo: Morford

Raney is no stranger to the vertical terrain     Photo: Morford

VA, switch frontside tailslide     Photo: Morford

Wes, lipsliding his life away      Photo: Morford

Zenith getting his shred on during the practice runs

Hi, Jim. Bye, Jim

5Boro alumni, Andy Pitts and Ben Wall

Huf team power meeting

Zered and Frank, it must be an East Coast thing

Barker Barrett and Ryan Wilburn—legends

Kids gone wild! Matt Milligan tries to wrangle his daughter

Kaspar and Jascha Muller

Master lensmen, Scott Pommier and Bryce Kanights

Hunter, Janoski and Brent Atchley

New rule: filmers only wear white Ts

Tailgate party: Scott Johnston, Nikhil and the fam

NW local and masterlensman, Jon Humphries and his son Arro. Nice shirt, kid

“Only if it was a guitar”

Hewitt’s new shape. What a nightmare…

Finals list

Daan taking a breather…

…before dishing out this front crooks to fakie. Daan absolutely destroyed the vert wall both days

Raney, TX-sized backside boneless off the wall     Photo: Morford

Sucui, kickflip backside noseblunt. You know he landed it    Photo: Morford

Austyn, fakie flip    Photo: Morford 

Lindsey Holmes from MapleXO made the contest trophies out of recycled skateboards

Spanky got an award for all-around shredding

Daan won the best trick

Top-three: Raney took third, Sucui scored second and Austyn grabbed the first place spot. Congrats, guys. Can’t wait for next year’s Grotto Lotto!