Thrasher magazine has been chronicling the skateboarding scene for 30 years, and in that time has documented the careers of guys like Tony Hawk, Danny Way and Chris Cole. Any skater worth noting and any trick worth doing has appeared within its pages. The magazine runs more than 10,000 photos in its print and online editions each year, and damn near every one of them shows someone doing something bordering on insane. These are the 10 most jaw-dropping photos Thrasher published this year. They aren’t the best, in that the lighting or composition may not be perfect. But this isn’t about photography. It’s about skateboarding. “It’s really more about the stunt being documented,” said Thrasher magazine creative director Kevin Convertito. “Sort of like shooting photos of car crashes.” As Thrasher photo editor Michael Burnett would say, these are photos snapped when the skater was at his moment of “maximum rad.” And if every picture says 1,000 words, then the story here is of skaters pushing the limits of their sport in what Convertito calls “progression through focused aggression.” Anyone who doesn’t appreciate skateboarding or can’t see the athleticism of it might look at these photos and say, “What’s the big deal?” Convertito has one thing to say about that: “You try it.” “By this day and age,” he says, “most human beings reading Wired.com have stepped on a skateboard at one point in their lives and know in their gut that it’s a really good way to get really hurt, really quick.” That’s a valid point. After all, the nannies at the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission once said, “the act of riding a skateboard requires more complex motor skills than any other sport in history.” With that in mind, here are the 10 most jaw-dropping photos Thrasher published in 2011, with comments from managing editor Ryan Henry about why they’re so awesome. Above: Tom Remillard gets vertigo on a surface ripe for a tetanus infection, upside down in a fullpipe never meant for skateboarding. He's not wearing any pads, and he’s listening to reggae. Photo: David Broach

Now they’re going up the handrails? Brandon Westgate had a hell of a year, even managing to ollie the length of an entire house on the steep hills of San Francisco. This picture of his upstream backside Smith grind goes in the textbook of skateboarding evolution. Photo: Joe Brook

This is a staff favorite: Thrasher’s Skater of the Year, Grant Taylor, with a crossed-up lien air over the vert ramp’s channel in Copenhagen. No pads (again), true style and a prime example of just how beautiful skateboarding can be. Grant’s dad Thomas was a pro skater, too. Photo: Michael Burnett

Much like the photo of Taylor, this image of Raven Tershy (also from a skating family) with a proper stalefish tweaked to the max in a danger zone of a bowl, is skateboarding perfection realized. And we hate to keep repeating ourselves with the “no pads” thing, but here it is again. This time in Corio, Australia. Photo by Rhino

Jason Dill is a legend, and his tailgrab nosegrind on the vertical wall of a this East Coast pit truly is a make-or-break move. Clink that ledge on the way down and out comes your spleen. “SK8 At Your Own Risk,” indeed. No truer warning has ever been written. Photo: Joe Brook

The elusive frontal invert in a backyard pool is a rare bird indeed. England’s Ben Raemers checks one off his bucket list to make the front of the mag. Photo: Joe Hammeke

Junior high homework assignment: Draw a cutaway view of your fantasy living room. This is exactly what mine looked like. Ryan “Peabody” McWhirter thrusts a threeler in the Skate House at La Gate Lyrique museum in Paris during Public Domaine, an interactive international skateboarding exhibit. A classic cover if there ever was one. Photo: Michael Burnett

Having to push like a hyena on amphetamines to build enough speed, Torey Pudwill was stifled by a tiny pebble in the run-up and took the impact at better than 20 mph before eventually nailing this massive backside tailslide. Sometimes the hardest part is just getting to the spot. Photo: Daniel Zaslavsky

As we enter 2012, skating is bigger and better than ever, drawing crowds wherever our wheels roll. Kenny Reed introduces a new form of transportation to the masses with this backside noseblunt in Mandalay, Burma. Photo: Brian Kelley

The biggest ollie ever, and a no-brainer for our March cover. The kids in Louisville, Kentucky headed for the bridge with tape measures the day after this issue hit the streets. The specs? Thirteen feet high, 27 feet long. The skater? Aaron Homoki. We call him “Jaws.” And if you think the pic is cool, check out the video. Photo: Joe Hammeke