Welcome to the premiere episode of the Most Influential #fingerboarders series. This series will explore the most important fingerboarding personalities that brought Professional #fingerboarding to where it is today. Today, we will start with the most influential person in professional fingerboarding, Mr. Blackriver Ramps himself, Martin Ehrenberger.
While on a trip to United States, Martin walked into a skateshop in Salt Lake City and saw a 2nd Gen Tech Deck Black Label branded fingerboard “Econoline” graphic. He scooped it up, and this started a chain reaction.
Martin quickly realized that even though fingerboarding had taken the world by storm, there were no suppliers of high-quality fingerboard products. Taking the initiative, Martin established the first professional fingerboard company in 1999, crafting high-quality fingerboard obstacles and selling them online.
Built from high quality wood and metal, the initial ramps were vastly different than the plastic factory-produced ramps made by Tech Deck. There was the Big Mama, a massive wooden vert ramp with enough space to include a tall ledge. Complete with metal coping and branded +Blackriver-Ramps+ stickers under the coping, the level of professionalism was unrivaled at the time.
There was the rail, built from wood, with metal coping, with a downward (or upward) slope depending on how you approached the obstacle.
And the picnic table, a classic, that was quite a bit larger, and more solid than it’s Tech Deck counterpart.
Lastly, Blackriver also produced what it was renowned for at the time. Full fledge professional fingerboarding parks. These parks contained most of the aforementioned obstacles, as well as having stairsets complete with rails, kicker ramps, and wallrides. It was completely unseen at the time.
Martin not only brought a professional product to the scene, but also evangelized the hobby at professional business conventions. Since the beginning of the company, Blackriver participated in ISPO, the largest trade fair in the sports realm. Martin had the foresight to see that connecting with other leading brands that it would bring legitimacy to the hobby. This allowed opportunities such as partnering with Nokia, Canon, Titus, among others. This also led to skateboard shops purchasing #Blackriver products as well as parks. These skateshops became central parts of the fingerboard community in the region.
One misconception I see at times is that Blackriver does not support the fingerboard scene and only cares for the money. This could not be further from the truth. A self-employed carpenter is a respectable career, capable of making enough to have a comfortable life. early days of Blackriver was a struggle for Martin, barely scraping by for the first handful of years. Even with this struggle, Martin pursued the business endeavor as well as building the hobby in a professional level. If Martin was in it for the money, Blackriver would have folded within a handful of months when the sales were no coming through.
In 2000, Martin Ehrenberger hosted the first Fast Fingers Contest, which in a handful of years would become the largest and most renowned fingerboard contest. Eventually, it would become the official World Championship of Fingerboarding. Offering cash prizes to the winners, as well as providing a ton of fingerboard prizes, it was a way for Martin to build a community around the hobby he loved so much.
The early days of the German Fingerboard scene was vibrant. Fingerboard contests were being held all over the country. In 2003, we even saw the German Championship series, where contests were held in 6 different cities. Fingerboarders could accrue points by placing well at these events, with the person with the most points becoming the German National Champion (Shout out to Chris Heck). Martin Ehrenberger and Blackriver was essential in the establishment of this tour, providing the parks, prizes, and logistics behind this series.
Martin also sponsored events outside of his own. This legacy of supporting fingerboarding continues to this day through their donating Blackriver fingerboard products to fingerboard events all over the world.
Another aspect of Blackriver that was revolutionary at the time was the professional quality of media that the company produced. Pissing Fingers 1 was a VHS video that was available for purchase in 2003. This video showcased the German fingerboard lifestyle, showcasing the fingerboaders that were prominent in the early days as well as the events they attended. It showed that fingerboarding was more than merely a hobby and it was a lifestyle. This inspired fingerboarders around the world to grow their own fingerboarding communities through in person events, as well as inspire fingerboarders to mimic their favorite fingerboarders’ tricks and style.