By Alex Taferner
In an effort to connect with local scenes, last season’s trips planned for the upcoming Ride project were connected to stops of the Ride with the People Tour in the area. Before or after the team went off to explore the region and get clips, friendly community gatherings took place with the unique opportunity for people to test boards and ride with the European team. Last season, I joined the squad in a dual capacity, serving as both a reporter and a rider on a trip to Vars, France. Conditions weren’t entirely favorable, but the trip made for some fond memories either way.

Driving down to the south of France at the end of February. Uncertain whether it is snowboarding that we’re going to be doing when we finally get out of the car, or if we‘ll be stopping over at the hellscape of Hossegor outlet stores on the way to the sea. The sun is beating down on our windshield, with nothing in sight but grass and trees of different shades of green. From Milan to Turin, there are only cars, trucks, and Autogrill service stations to be encountered. We’re going to Vars for the Ride with the People Tour. Some of us are supposed to go on a backcountry filming mission after. As we finally hit the Alps again, our tired eyes have a hard time making out snowy patches far up the mountains. Further down the mountain range, there’s mostly grass, trees, and rocks in plain sight. This will be interesting.

Less snow than needed for a powder trip.

What I’m here for, primarily, is to document the Ride with the People Tour. Who are these people one is to ride with, some might ask themself at this point. The people in attendance are the more air-aware part of the European Ride teamriders, the brothers Sturma, TM Stefan, and, finally, not all that air-aware yours truly. In front of the cameras, there’s Eliot, who doesn’t eat veggies, but prefers his greens dried and smokable instead. Then we have Kristian, who warms up by doing enough push-ups to cook most people’s arms for an entire day, and during the unfolding week, will give everyone a masterclass on cab flips off the knuckle. On his first trip since rejoining the team is Jake, whose first-ever snowboard trip was to Vars for a park shoot with Ride eight years ago. He claims they even drove the same car for it. Talking about a full circle moment. Finally, we have Simon, always eager to catch the footy in foreign countries, both in terms of snowboarding and soccer games. Behind the lenses, there are Bastien and Guillaume, the brains of the operation and seasoned partners in crime. They are brothers, despite Guillaume avidly claiming that he’s actually Simon‘s long-lost twin brother. Hearing him order Fleischkäse in near-perfect Tyrolean dialect made me lose any doubts about that. Enabling and keeping the whole operation from falling apart is Stefan, who, despite his duties, will still blast a sizable Backside 180 when the moment calls for it. Having just recently joined the team myself, it took a moment for me to ease into this new constellation, but as soon as a classic, super-random first-night pasta dish was prepared and the latest snowboard videos were thrown on the TV to be watched and discussed, I felt right at home.

Jake Simpson and Simon Pircher having a great time in the van.

Friday brought a casual day of riding in the park and getting into the rhythm. The weather was perfect and all the lads had a good time kicking it into gear. While, just like almost everywhere else in Europe, this winter there weren’t enormous amounts of snow, the shape crew built an incredible park with both playful jibs and solid jumps of varying sizes.

I lost the boys for a couple of runs at some point, and when I finally rejoined them, Kristian was chucking the most casual-looking doubles. Someone sure is ready for cheese wedge season, I thought. Everyone got in some quality riding that day, and the vibes were high as we headed into the weekend.

On Saturday, the day of the event, we arrived to find that the shape crew had built some new features for the occasion during the night. Music was blasting through the speakers at a volume high enough that you could still hear it when getting out of the lift at the top of the run, which is easily about 500 meters away from the park base. With "Ride with the People“ being an effort to gather and get to know local communities, seeing and hearing the event so visibly got everyone excited from the start. A demo tent was soon popped up for curious people to have a look at next season's range and even take it for a spin on the special setup the shape crew built. This was, naturally, done in true French fashion, which, while appearing mildly confusing to people accustomed to German orderliness, still worked out reasonably well.

It’s not a snowboard trip without a game of Uno

Despite the weather not being ideal, everyone happily joined in on the fun, giving different products a go. We all suddenly found ourselves jibbing Peace Seekers, and Kristian did a huge Switch Nosepress on it, which was pretty insane considering the tail is about 30 centimeters long. Just as our bellies were starting to growl, Thibault came through with sandwiches for everyone and a bag of crisps that suited my special dietary needs. What a lad. The meal, and a small brew or two, refueled us all to keep going and session the medium jump line until the lifts eventually shut, which was right when the sun eventually decided to make an appearance as well. I‘m sure we played some UNO after that.

With fixed dates for events, winter and weather may not always do exactly what one hopes for them to do. However, with the right people and some good music played out loud, good times will be had no matter what. What happened the week after the event, I can and will not tell, but keep your eyes peeled for the next Ride project and you shall see.

Riders: Eliot Pentecote, Kristian Skjømming, Jake Simpson, Simon Pircher, Alex Taferner

Camera: Bastien Sturma

Ride with the People Tour - Vars February 2025

Summer at Mt. Hood - Zoi Sadowski-Synnott