Shredding out the year: Huck’s favourite skate stories of 2018

12 of the best — We pick our highlights from a year of documenting skate culture across the globe: from the rise and rise of Lacey Baker, to the strange story of France’s abandoned skate utopia.

This year, Huck has covered skateboarding all over the world.

We’ve profiled NYC’s Skate Kitchen, travelled to Greece to find out how a DIY skate bowl is uniting post-crisis Athens, hung out with the kids of Kroksbäck skate park in Malmö and discovered how skateboarding is changing lives in Kabul, Zababdeh and beyond. In short: a busy 2018.

Below, we’ve picked out some of our favourite stories – featuring the likes of Lacey Baker, Karl Berglind and more.

Can skateboarding save your city?

The urban spaces we call home don’t always give us what we need. If a sense of creativity and community is lacking, it may be time to call in the skaters.

The strange story of France’s abandoned skate utopia

25 years ago, an eccentric retired winemaker built a 3000-square-metre skate park, complete with fully functioning ski lift. It closed within months – making it the skate world’s first ever ‘ghost town’.

This DIY filmmaker made the Boyhood of skateboarding

As a kid who grew up on the move, often left at home alone, Bing Liu only found a sense of belonging when he picked up a skateboard. In Minding the Gap, he celebrates that unique bond.

Stef Nurding is bridging skate’s gender divide

Pro skater and model Stefani Nurding is using her unique set of skills to shake up a male-dominated industry.

For pro skater Karl Berglind, home is where the board is

Bold, stylish and unafraid to show off, the diminutive Swede is one of skateboarding’s great hopes. But for the 18-year-old, there’s still something scary about performing in front of a crowd.

The skateboarders fighting for a better future

From skate sessions for refugees to zines that champion every identity, skateboarding is emerging as a transformative tool – a home for all kinds of outsiders.

Meet the Kroksbäck kids, Sweden’s multicultural skate family

Malmö is emblematic of Sweden’s immigration policy and is often scrutinised by the media – either to praise, or stoke paranoia. However, among everything, one skate park has created a sense of belonging that goes far deeper than the headlines.

Lacey Baker is the skate hero we’ve all been waiting for

As a game-changing talent with an unapologetic voice, Lacey Baker’s defiant approach to the skate industry hasn’t always made for the smoothest ride.

The photographers who defined skate’s wild side

An exhibition celebrating the legacy of skateboarding will travel the world over the next two years. Here, the photographers and filmmakers involved recall what it was like to witness skate history first-hand.

Why Nora Vasconcellos is the future of skateboarding

Nora Vasconcellos turned pro on her own terms. But now that she’s become the first female rider on Adidas Skateboarding, the 25-year-old believes it’s time the industry caught up with reality.

The skate bowl leading the Athens fightback

Hidden in a crumbling Athens neighbourhood, Latraac is a skate bowl, art centre and party scene all wrapped into one – and it is helping young Greeks believe in their country again.

Skate Kitchen: The all-women skate crew taking over the streets of NYC

As a new film shares Skate Kitchen’s story with the wider world, this supergroup is on a mission that feels much bigger than skateboarding.

Courtesy of Sundance Institute.

Enjoyed this article? Like Huck on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.

What Netflix did next: one of the worst films of all time