“Don't quote me, quote the Indian skaters: the Nepalis are way better.”
Three skateparks, world-class pop
When Mike Boisvert reached Nepal, the entire country had three skateparks. It has a fraction of the skaters of neighbouring India, and yet, ask around the region and you'll hear the same thing Mike heard from the Indians themselves: the Nepalis skate best. Bigger pop, gnarlier tricks, better style. They cross the border for contests and come home on top. Most of that talent was built on one rough back-alley flat spot in Kathmandu. “It's not much. They got really good there.”
The video that helped will a skatepark into existence
Kathmandu had no park at all, and it made Mike angry enough to post about it: “Nepal has no skatepark” pulled millions of views. Seven months after he left, the capital opened its first free public skatepark: Yama Buddha Skatepark, named for a beloved Nepali rapper, his legacy carved in concrete. “I don't know if I helped or not. But those guys needed something. Anything.” The national count is now five and climbing.
Where to skate
Skater Nepal, in Kathmandu, is the semi-indoor park run by the crew whose founder once travelled to JACKALOPE Montréal, and arrived bearing a ceremonial gift, the way guests are welcomed in Nepal. Annapurna Skatepark, in Pokhara, is the country's first, poured by Make Life Skate Life in 2017. And Dungha SkateAid, in the small town of Butwal, is Mike's favourite: a little park with everything, run as a community program that teaches local kids. “What he does for the kids is incredible.”
Three skaters to know
Sarad Hrai (@saradhrai_) is the best skater in Nepal; he and his near-identical brother trade impossibles back to back, and the crew runs Mon Amour Nepal, a skater-owned clothing brand with a real eye for the culture: fisheye, VX, all of it. Gajendra Bardewa (@ktmcityflyest), KTM City Flyest, is a three-time national champion who wins practically every contest in the country: big pop, style first. Lora Skate (@loraa_skate) put Nepali women's skateboarding on the map, competing seriously when nobody else was; she's based in India now, and the girls' scene she seeded keeps growing.
Why this episode, why now
Skaters in Nepal earn $100 to $200 a month; travelling to a contest takes real backing. And days before this interview, the country was hit by deadly flooding. Mike picked Nepal for this episode on purpose: “to give them a bit of love.”
If you go
Hospitality here is a ceremony, literally. Plan two regions minimum: two weeks. Add the Annapurna Circuit, a two-week trek a beginner can do, and it becomes a month. Everest costs $50,000 and two months of your life; a helicopter to Base Camp costs $400. Rhinos in the lowlands, the highest mountains on Earth above.
Mike Boisvert: “It's a really underrated destination. It might not be big, but it's strong. They take it seriously.”
Watch the full Nepal series
Photos and video: Mike Boisvert / The Skate Nomad. Part of the JACKALOPE Skate Atlas, one country at a time, with the skaters who live there. See every country on the map.
