Volcom Takes Verbier

So far, 2026 has been a pretty big year for backside 1980s, taped pants and questionable judging. But if the big O show left you feeling a bit disconnected from snowboarding, it’s time to tap back in to grassroots events like the Volcom Snowpark Takeover — a gathering organized by true snowboarders who put the community first. Riders of all ages and levels joined us in Verbier for a day where everyone felt like a winner. The weather was snowy, the beers, merguez and raclette were free, and good times were had by all. We linked up with Volcom Switzerland’s marketing boss, Yanick Lambert to find out more…

Recap video by Titouan Bessire

Hey Yanick, what’s the idea behind the Volcom Park Takeover?

Well, after organizing the legendary Volcom Peanut Butter & Rail Jam tour around the world for years, Volcom ended that program in 2013. After that, each country created its own events. The focus was more on major competitions with a lot of online content. But after a few years, I think that Volcom saw that the community was losing its interest in that format.

The cool thing about being a snowboarder is being part of a team, a community… sticking together and doing our thing. And since we all do our thing, but also want to be part of something bigger, we decided to give all of the new events the same name: Volcom Takeover.

Why do you like to hold it in Verbier?

We mostly just like the weather conditions there! ;-)

Seriously, it happened quite organically. As a partner of the Verbier Snowpark, we already had a foot in the door to operate there. And since Verbier is best known for its freeride side, we wanted to highlight the freestyle side of the resort. They’ve had a park since day one and continue to do a really nice job with it.

What do you like about the Banked Slopestyle format?

First, we had to take into account the overall evolution of snowboard competitions. So when we started to think about our event with Verbier, we realized that there were just two kinds of competitions. There’s the classic competition, slopestyle and/or spin to win, which no normal person can do anymore. Or the “new” competition format that’s open to everyone: the banked slalom, which was already a bit boring in our eyes… even though, I like to do it whenever I get the chance. So after a few years of playing around with different formats, we decided on a Banked Slopesyle using a mix of the two. Keeping in mind that if you don’t spin, you don’t win, and if you don’t go fast, you don’t win either.

Combining speed and tricks seemed like a good idea to keep the competition equal for every type of snowboarder. There had been a few examples of this in the past, like the Banked Air in Ischgl, but that was more of an invitation-only event for pros. We wanted our Takeover to be for everyone. So we discussed it with the shapers and our partner 32, and we thought that this combination wasn’t bad.

It was our second edition this year and we changed the setup of the banks a little to make it wilder and more authentic than the first one, which was more on the slope and less banked. I hope that the crew enjoyed it. Or rather, I hope they didn’t find it too difficult… In the end, we always do a best trick contest which brings everyone together to finish off the day, and the winners get nice prizes and a trip to Volcom’s Spot to Spot in Avoriaz on March 28-29.

What stood out to you from this year’s event?

The weather is just getting better every year!

But even in spite of that, the same crew from the first edition showed up, and we added a few new riders this year. There are good signs that the new generation is coming. Everyone who came seemed thrilled to be there.

Anything else you’d like to add?
Big thanks to our event partners, Verbier, ThirtyTwo and Chopfab.

If you don’t want to see snowboarding dying, keep it alive!

Thanks for the good times Yanick, and thanks to the rest of the crew for supporting community driven events like this!