Englishman-turned-Switzerland transplant Dean Bradley found himself on another cool session with his adoptive blade community, this time hitting a legendary spot in Zurich that has been hit by some of the most talented and creative bladers in our sport’s history. But after years of skate stoppers and brutal security, when a spot opens up again you gotta get on it quick! Read on to see how that played out for this crew of Dean, Dario Tassone (yes, Cossi’s brother), and Nicolas Meister when they got their chance on a rainy Saturday.
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A few weeks ago, a friend posted an old clip of Jona Messerli on Instagram. He was lacing a perfect alley-oop topsoul down a well-known and documented spiral ledge in Zurich. Sadly, this spot has not been possible to skate for many years due to the (recently removed) skate stoppers, and the very speedy security.
Within hours of the Jona clip being post, local Whatsapp chats were buzzing. A week later a few bladers met on a very rainy Saturday in the city center to try their luck! There was no time to set up flashes and find angles — this was a SWAT team-style approach to get in quick, draw as little attention as possible, lace a few tricks, and get kicked out within five minutes.
Luckily we ended up with a surprising 20 minutes under our belt before our time was up. In that short time I managed to snap up-and-comer Nicolas Meister with a steezy soul, and Dario Tassone with a precision alley-oop top porn.
In an age when social media is so widely used and ever more current, it’s awesome that the history of our sport can still inspire the newer generation of bladers to head out, even on rainy days, to push their own limits on such iconic spots.
Note: Many other tricks have gone down on this ledge over the years: Cossimo’s true top soyale, Oli Short’s 270 truespin front savannah, and Cedric Eisenring’s back torque to name a few. Below is the link to Jona Messerli’s alley-oop topsoul:
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