Skateboarding
Skateboarding
Red Bull Cold Bowl returns to Philadelphia's Wharton Street Warehouse
Red Bull Cold Bowl hosts its qualifying event on Thursday, Dec. 8 with a chance to secure a spot in the Pro-Am Invitational on Saturday, December 10, 2022.
Philadelphia has had a rich skate history over the years, and part of the last 10 years have included an indoor bowl in South Philly.
The first Philly bowl was on Alter Street in South Philadelphia from 2007 until 2019, when gentrification and other factors forced the bowl to move or be lost forever. Fortunately for the skate community, the people behind Philadelphia Skate Supply were able to secure a new location at Wharton Street Warehouse.
With the help of 5th Pocket Skateparks, the ramps were disassembled, transported to the new location, and retrofitted to the new space keeping some of the original aspects people loved, while also adding some new pieces and taking advantage of the new space.
Kieran Woolley at the 2021 Red Bull Cold Bowl Invitational in Philadelphia
© Colin Kerrigan / Red Bull Content Pool
This provided the venue for the inaugural Red Bull Cold Bowl where invited pros and finalists from the qualifier contest skate in a head-to-head jam-session format. Ultimately Kieran Woolley won the men’s division and Bryce Wettstein won the women’s division.
Indoor bowls can be a sanctuary for skaters on the East Coast during the less-than-ideal winter months. It’s a harsh reality that sometimes in December, you can’t just skate outside.
In these situations having an indoor space can be a valuable refuge to be able to continue to skate. A good bowl session with some homies on an otherwise un-skateable day can be a beautiful thing.
There’s an energy that can build over a session as people start to figure out their lines, and more tricks start happening, it can be contagious. Everyone can feed off of each other and push each other.
Caroline Duerr and Bryce Wettstein at the 2021 Red Bull Cold Bowl
© Jonathan Mehring / Red Bull Content Pool
When you throw some cash, and trophies on the line, along with inviting some of the best skaters from the country to come to share in Philly’s legacy, it only makes it that much better.
Skate contests, events, and judging can have various forms. Organizers have been tinkering with contest formats and new events forever and still continue to rethink, how do you judge skating? How do you choose the winner? The Red Bull Cold Bowl Qualifier on Thursday, Dec. 8 is mostly a jam-session style contest before turning into head-to-head with skaters judged on their overall skating for the day, taking into consideration tons of factors such as style, difficulty, creativity, speed and power.
We asked Jeff Rasp who skated in the contest last year, and is returning for more in 2022, what he thought about the format.
Jeff Rasp at the 2021 Red Bull Cold Bowl Invitational in Philadelphia
© Jonathan Mehring / Red Bull Content Pool
“Last year was really sick with the dudes that showed up to Philly to skate the bow,” Rasp said. “But you can get more stoked on a jam session than an individual run that's timed. I’d rather see people trying stuff right in front of me and that gets me motivated right in that moment to try something as opposed to having to wait until it’s my turn, and then fall and that’s the end of my run.”
Last year’s Red Bull Cold Bowl was by far the most epic so far, and this year’s is looking to go even harder.
