Yeah, big bowl/park skating is definitely crowding out vert, mostly because people have big bowls at their local parks and finding a wood ramp is basically impossible without knowing someone who knows someone or building it yourself. But this is basically how things have been since the late 80s, except more people skate transition now because of the 00s park construction boom. How is vert any more dead than it was then? If anything, the number of gnarly park skaters coming up seems like it could actually contribute to a resurgence in vert since there are more people now with the skills to do it well.