IF HEAVEN is a half-pipe, then the stairway down to Hell must be full of skater boys grinding down the rails, St Peter himself is no doubt a sick thrasher dude, and the Pearly Gates have been tagged to the max.

Skater culture began in that laboratory of subcultures, California, which differs from Wales in at least one respect: climate.

Thankfully, Newport is the home of one of Britain's best indoor skate parks so you can catch impossible air whatever the weather. Skate Extreme, by the railway tracks in Maindee, is open from 10am every day except Tuesday.

Manager Ken Lawrence said: "This is a large, indoor, aggressive skate park. You can skate on the flat and there are ramps and rails and half-pipes and everything else that you need to do tricks.

"It's called aggressive skating because you're using obstacles, but it's not to be confused with a contact sport - aggressive is just the term they use. "As well as skateboarders, we also have in-line skaters, BMX bikers, and mountain bikers.

"Skateboarding is most popular, but back when we first began it was in-line skating that the kids wanted to do.

"After the Tony Hawk computer games lots more people got into skateboarding and the BMX comes with that as part and parcel. "They come in groups and have fun seeing who can do the most tricks and stunts, and who can do the most extreme trick.

"There's 20,000 square feet here, which makes us the biggest indoor skate park in Wales by far.

"We've been going for seven years now. When we opened we were the only one but there are others now, all much smaller.

"The average age of the people we get in here is about 14, but it starts from about eight years old in some cases and at the other end of the scale we have people in their 30s and even 40s, so it's quite a spread. "They've got plenty of space to push themselves to their own limits here and it's all indoors, so there's skating in all weathers which is important in Wales.

"You get people coming in from all over the country, especially the south of England. Some of our local people are of a very high standard - probably because they've been coming here for quite a long time."

For more information on Skate Extreme call 01633 265709.