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Winter sessions

>> Skateboarding in the cold, dark months
is possible, if planned right

STEPPING OUT: Nate Bélanger at Lucien l’Allier metro

by LUCAS WISENTHAL
photos by BEN FOURNIER

If your idea of skateboarding is riding a longboard down the Main on a sunny Saturday afternoon, you probably don’t want to hang out with Jeremy Elkin and his crew. Especially when it starts snowing and you’re looking for a spot where you can just hang loose.

In the winter, when many Montreal skateboarders are content to shell out around $15 and fight for lines in crowded skate parks, street skating stalwarts like Elkin are lurking in the city’s metro stations, underground malls and tunnels in search of skateable terrain.

“I don’t really like skate parks unless it’s a chill session with my friends,” says Elkin, a 20-year-old skateboarder and videographer. “But if it’s not that, I’m not just gonna go to a skate park and skate unless it’s perfect.”

Which is seldom the case. Filming skaters for his video Floorwork last winter, Elkin hit the underground spots regularly. “If you’re filming for a video part or you have a deadline, you can’t go to a park,” he explains. Because skate park footage is taboo, “you have to go indoors, you have to go downtown.”

And doing that requires serious planning. “If you’re not going on a mission, then there’s pretty much no point in going because you’re just gonna be kicked out [of spots],” he says. This means rolling with no more than four skaters; bigger crews call too much attention to themselves at spots that echo heavily, or skaters will stray from the group, unwittingly alerting security to their presence.

No matter how regimented your approach, though, it’s hard to tell how much time you’ll get at an indoor spot downtown. “I’ve gotten an hour there and I’ve gotten five minutes there,” Elkin says of the popular double-set (two sets of stairs separated by several feet) inside Place Bonaventure. But that hasn’t stopped skaters from figuring a few key spots out—what time security leaves, how to get in when they do, how to get out when you’re done. Not that anyone cares to elaborate on that. Skaters are nothing if not territorial.

Climate and changing

Before you assemble your own urban assault unit and start mapping out spots, there are a few things to consider. Like the weather. Unless you live above Westmount Square or the Cours Mont-Royal, you’ll be spending part of your day outside, so carry your skate shoes in a bag to avoid wasting time wiping snow and slush from your soles. And cover your skateboard with a garbage bag if it’s snowing or raining. Nothing ruins a session like a soggy deck and squeaky bearings. And because freezing temperatures result in brittle boards, you might want to bring two if you plan on throwing yourself down any staircases.

“I’ve seen so many people go to the indoor 10 [stairs at Lucien l’Allier metro] in January and they just break their board right away because it’s just stiff,” says Elkin. “Just on warm-up ollies, they were breaking their boards. If you don’t bring two boards, you’re kind of screwed.”

Indoor Ride Guide

So, you’ve got a couple of decks, you’ve ditched the heavy parka in favour of a few layers of light clothing (thermal-t-shirt-hoodie-windbreaker is a skate classic), you’ve prepped your crew. You’re ready to rip. But where do you go? Here are a few spots to get you started. Better ones exist, but you’ll have to find them yourself.

Atwater metro A good variety of terrain but a quick bust. Check out the metal handrail leading into Place Alexis Nihon and the wooden rail on the mall’s main floor. There are also small flights of stairs at the entrance to Westmount Square. You’ll only get a few tries on any of these obstacles, but there’s something here for everyone.

Place Bonaventure A long, white double-set of stairs—five stairs, some flat, then four more. The number of tries you get depends on when you go. For gnarly dudes only.

Lucien l’Allier metro The corridor leading out of the Bell Centre has a set of 10 stairs that you can almost always skate. But the ground is unforgiving and you have to contend with another set of stairs when you land. More intimidating than your standard 10-set.

Villa-Maria metro There’s a gap-to-flatbar by the station’s entrance. Better skaters will skate the rail; average skaters will mess around on the little stairs. A good time until you’re kicked out.

Place des Arts A multilevel parking garage with waxed curbs. Great for people (read: old guys) interested in reliving the low-impact skate days of yesteryear. There are also stairs and handrails by the Ste-Catherine entrance.

Other metro stations There are smooth benches and stairs everywhere, just look around. Cool metro employees will sometimes let you skate, but forget about busy stops like Berri-UQÀM or Peel.