Overthinking Tom Scharr's "Vert's Not Dead" Part

"...a few curveballs we would have never have picked up on."

Words by Andrew Murrell

Pay close attention to Tom Schaar’s Vert’s Not Dead part, and you’ll realize it isn’t just the latest in a long line of progressive vert skating. It’s an ode to the discipline itself, packed with references to all the OGs Tom and filmer Chris Gregson grew up watching. After picking up on one or two tribute tricks, we spent a few days connecting the dots between Tom’s part and the classic vert parts referenced before reaching out to Tom and Chris, who confirmed most of our picks and threw in a few curveballs we would have never have picked up on. Read on and bone up on your vert knowledge.

BOB BURNQUIST

Let’s start with all the references to “one of the three greatest vert skaters of all time.” Tom’s part opens with a barrage of lip tricks on a soccer goal perched above the mega quarterpipe, a setup Bob originally utilized in his Extremely Sorry part. The no-grab front blunt, in particular, was done with Bob Burnquist’s front blunt in mind (it’s hard to tell, but Bob grabbed indy out of his).

The backside flip and switch backside flip over the mega ramp gap are two tricks Bob filmed for his Extremely Sorry part, as well.

The frontside bluntslide to fakie on the floating extension mirrors the one Bob did on the YMCA ramp in Menikmati.

The alley-oop tailslide to fakie on the mega ramp is an upgraded version of one of Bob’s last tricks in Menikmati

Finally, Tom’s nollie cab heelflip on the mega quarterpipe is a trick Bob initially did in his Dreamland part.

TONY HAWK, BUCKY LASEK, AND SHAUN WHITE

Tony Hawk first explored the concept of expanding the channel between two vert ramps to twenty feet in One Step Beyond, but Tom picked a sixteen-foot gap specifically because that’s the size of the channel Tony, Bucky, and Shaun session at the end of The Shaun White Album.

One of Tom’s last tricks is a massive blindside backside 360 over the sixteen foot channel– taking a trick Tony initially did over the eight foot channel in 2013 for his Welcome to Indy part and doubling the distance.

RUNE GLIFBERG

Not only was Tom’s frontside nosebluntslide on the overhanging green bar an ode to Rune Gilfberg’s noseblunt slide on a picnic table in Sorry, but Rune himself was on the session when Tom filmed it.

Rune’s blindside kickflip and switch flip over the roll-in at Bob’s ramp in Sorry inspired Tom’s blindside switch flip over the eight foot channel, and kickflip over the sixteen foot channel.

DANNY WAY

Danny Way’s impact on vert skating as a whole can be felt throughout Tom’s part, but the 360 flip over the mega gap is a fairly obvious tribute to the 360 flip in Superfuture.

MIKE FRAZIER

Mike Frazier always had an interesting approach to lip tricks, and every disaster revert variation in Tom’s part was done with him in mind. We’re singling out the backside 270 kickflip lipslide to fakie, as Mike originally did one without a kickflip in Celebraty Tropical Fish and it’s not a trick we’ve seen often since.

JIMMY WILKINS

Both a contemporary of Scharr’s and a legend in his own right, Jimmy Wilkins’ picnic table extension was the inspiration for Tom’s huge frontside disaster towards the beginning of his part.

ELLIOT SLOAN

Another contemporary of this part’s star, Tom took Elliot’s backside 540 kickflip tailgrab from his Birdhouse part across the channel at Tony’s ramp.

PIERRE LUC-GAGNON

PLG ended a run in his Decades part with an alley oop cab frontside noseslide to fakie; Tom did both a fakie and a nollie variation of this trick over the channel at Tony’s ramp.

OSKI

Not quite a vert skater but one of the most exciting transition skaters regardless, Oski’s crowning achievements were the 270 noseblunts heard ‘round the world: frontside spin to backside slide in Polar’s We Blew It At Some Point (2018) and backside spin to frontside slide in Polar Rico (2019). Tom did both across the channel at Tony’s ramp.

CODY LOCKWOOD

Tom’s quick alley-oop frontside 5-0 stall to fakie, also known as a “Peter blunt,” is one of Cody Lockwood’s signature tricks. (If that wasn’t enough for you, Tom stalled his on a coffin, no less.)

JAMIE FOY

Finally, our favorite clip in Tom’s part–the massive no-grab heelflip to fakie wasn’t inspired by a vert skater at all, but his New Balance teammate Jamie Foy’s lofty heelflips.