Slow Impact 2026 Recap

For the fourth year in a row, skaters from around the world have gathered in the desert of Tempe, Arizona for thought-provoking panel discussions, sweaty street sessions, packed art shows, outdoor film premieres, unlikely workshops, skate-forward live music and so much more.

Founded and organized by CCS Pro Ryan Lay and his amazing crew, Slow Impact feels more like a giant skate family reunion than anything else. Sunburned necks, chapped lips, crazy sleep schedules, and sore ass legs were all worth it to experience the one-of-a-kind magic that is Slow Impact. 

While we were mostly busy rolling around or catching up with new and old friends alike, here's a quick recap of photos we snapped from the epic weekend.

Thursday night Tempe Art & Music hosted the "Form Follows Spot" Show.

Couldn't miss "The Great Skate Debate" at the Yucca Taproom. Of course whoever has GiftedHater on their team is gonna win..

Bright at early for the daily panels at Tempe Bouldering Project. Personal stand out's from the weekend were the "Antwuan Dixon: Let's Run This Back" panel and "Nothing is Untouched: Sandy Kim with Jerry Hsu".

Perry Park Session went off and the Bad Jimmy's Crew kept skater's appetite's at bay with tasty burgers, cold brews and possibly the best fries we've ever had.

We checked out some legendary AZ spots and fanned out on everything Ryan did on them. We also made some new friends at ASU (Fun Fact: We are not allowed back on campus for a full year without risking facing some legal repercussions.) 

Cowtown hosted a CLOSER Magazine Photo Show where we saw some familiar faces Louie Lopez and Ryan Lay shot by our guy Matt Price. (Ryan Lay cover on right shot by Kyle Seidler. We drove by that spot.. it's crazy.)

The event closed out with a heavy session at The Wedge and Ryan's low-light switch front blunt. Peep the edit above to see what went down.

We flew home right after the sesh - still dusty, sweaty and stinky. While we probably bummed out the people sitting next to us, absolutely nothing could shake the radiating stoke from the unforgettable weekend. 

Huge thanks Ryan for having us and shout out to New Balance Numeric for making it all possible. 

See y'all next year!