who invented the half pipe

February 14, 2026

Short answer:
No single person “invented” the half pipe, but most histories credit California skater Tom Stewart with building one of the first purpose‑built skateboard halfpipes around 1975, inspired by riding full concrete pipes in the desert. Snowboarders later adapted the halfpipe idea to snow in the early 1980s, often using natural ditches and then hand‑built pipes, before machines like Doug Waugh’s Pipe Dragon made modern snow halfpipes possible.

Who Invented the Half Pipe?

The question “who invented the half pipe” sounds simple, but the real story is a bit messy and very 1970s‑DIY. The half pipe evolved from skaters and snowboarders hacking together spots, rather than one person filing a blueprint.

Early Skateboarding Halfpipes

In skateboarding, the first true halfpipes grew out of riding full concrete pipes in the desert.

Skaters in the mid‑1970s discovered huge concrete full pipes in the California and Arizona desert and realized they could generate almost “perpetual motion” riding inside them.

Carpenter and skater Tom Stewart took measurements from one of these full pipes and built what he describes as “the first halfpipe ever, to my knowledge” in 1975 in Encinitas, California.

Skate history pieces explain that wooden “1/2 pipes” were soon being built to emulate the big concrete pipes that were appearing in magazines, signaling the transition from found structures to backyard ramps.

So, if you’re forced to name a single human, Tom Stewart is often cited as the first to build a dedicated skateboard halfpipe, even though other DIY ramps were emerging in the same era.

From Skate to Snow: Snowboard Halfpipes

The half pipe idea didn’t stay on concrete for long. Snowboarders repurposed the concept on snow in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

Histories of snow halfpipes trace their origin to the skateboarding halfpipe concept of the 1970s , which riders then tried to recreate on snow.

In 1979, Tahoe locals Bob Klein and Mark Anolik found a natural snow “ditch” owned by the local sanitation company near Tahoe City that rode like a halfpipe, and it became an early snowboard halfpipe spot.

Through the early 1980s, snowboarders used natural gullies and ditches as makeshift halfpipes before ski areas built permanent ones; Breckenridge in Colorado is often cited as one of the first resorts to build a permanent snowboard halfpipe.

These snowboard “pipes” were crude—hand‑shoveled, uneven, and far from the precise Olympic walls we see today.

Making Modern Halfpipes Possible: Pipe Dragon

If Tom Stewart helped invent the skateboard halfpipe structure, Doug Waugh helped invent the modern, machine‑cut snow halfpipe.

Doug Waugh, a Colorado farmer and mechanical engineer, created the Pipe Dragon , the first widely used halfpipe‑shaping machine for snow.

Before that, snow halfpipes were literally dug or shaped by hand , which made them inconsistent and limited how big and technical they could safely get.

Waugh’s machine could carve smooth, repeatable transitions and was used across major resorts; he was even brought in to cut the pipe for the 1998 Nagano Olympic snowboard halfpipe , the event that helped launch halfpipe snowboarding into mainstream awareness.

So while he didn’t invent the idea of the halfpipe, Doug Waugh effectively invented the tech that made the modern competition‑grade snow halfpipe possible.

Forum / Fan‑Style Take: Who “Gets Credit”?

If you were reading or posting on a forum about “who invented the half pipe,” you’d probably see a few recurring viewpoints:

Skate core view:
- Credit Tom Stewart and mid‑’70s California pool/pipe skaters.

 * Argument: the halfpipe is fundamentally a **skateboarding** invention, later borrowed by other sports.

Snowboard culture view:
- Emphasize the Tahoe City natural pipe find (Mark Anolik, Bob Klein) in 1979 and the first man‑made competition pipes built in the early 1980s by folks like Tom Sims.

 * Argument: the actual “snow halfpipe scene” is its own origin story, even if it was inspired by skate.

Tech / engineering view:
- Highlight Doug Waugh and the Pipe Dragon as the key turning point, because without it you don’t get modern Olympic‑scale halfpipes.

 * Argument: invention isn’t just the idea, it’s the machine that made it reproducible.

You’ll also see people say flat‑out that no one person invented the half pipe , because it evolved from riders experimenting with pools, pipes, ditches, and then building bigger, smoother versions over time.

Key Names and Roles (Quick Reference)

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Role	Name(s)	What They’re Known For
Early skate halfpipe builder	Tom Stewart	Built what he describes as the first skateboard halfpipe in Encinitas, c. 1975, using full‑pipe measurements.
Skate inspiration	Mid‑’70s desert full‑pipe skaters	Rode massive concrete pipes in the California/Arizona desert, inspiring wooden “1/2 pipes” for skate.
Natural snow halfpipe pioneers	Bob Klein, Mark Anolik	Discovered and sessioned a natural “Tahoe City Pipe” snow halfpipe in 1979.
Early snow halfpipe builder / organizer	Tom Sims	Organized early snowboard halfpipe championships and helped push man‑made snow halfpipes in the early 1980s.
Halfpipe grooming pioneer	Doug Waugh	Invented the Pipe Dragon, the first successful halfpipe‑shaping machine for snow; cut the pipe at the 1998 Nagano Olympics.
Early permanent resort pipe	Breckenridge (Colorado)	Among the first resorts to build a permanent snowboard halfpipe, helping normalize halfpipes at ski areas.

TL;DR:

For skateboarding, Tom Stewart is widely cited as building the first halfpipe in 1975, inspired by desert full pipes.

For snowboarding, riders like Bob Klein and Mark Anolik found and rode natural halfpipe‑like features in 1979, with man‑made pipes following in the early ’80s.

For modern, Olympic‑style snow halfpipes, Doug Waugh’s Pipe Dragon machine is the pivotal invention that made consistent, large halfpipes possible.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.