Definition of halfpipe

The term "halfpipe" originated in skateboarding in the late 1970s. At the time, skateboarding was still in its infancy, and ramps constructed for the sport primarily consisted of straight vertical walls or simple boxes. These structures left little space for tricks and maneuvers that involved carving or grinding. One innovative skater, Larry Stevenson, came up with a solution: to build a ramp with a U-shaped design, with two vertical walls connected by a shallower hinge. This design provided more interior space, allowing skaters to perform a wider range of tricks and to gain more height and momentum as they rode up and over the hinge. The shape of the U-curved ramp came to be known as a "halfpipe" because it was half of a complete pipe, which is a bowl-shaped skateboarding area made of concrete and used for sliding and carving. The first recorded use of the term "halfpipe" was in the late 1970s, in skateboarding magazines such as Skateboarder and Thrasher. It wasn't until the 1990s, however, that the halfpipe became popular in skateboarding competitions. Shaun White, the now-infamous snowboarder and skateboarder, was one of the first athletes to popularize the halfpipe in action sports beyond skateboarding. White's success in snowboarding events brought the halfpipe to snowboarding (and later, to other winter sports like freeskiing) as a venue for competitions, propelling it into the global spotlight. Today, halfpipes are a hallmark of extreme sports and can be found in various configurations at skateparks, winter resorts, and action sports competitions around the world.