From fondue to turkey, carp soup to lasagna - skiers ready for Christmas feast

 Christmas break may be short for the world’s best racers, but with athletes from more than 20 countries at last weekend’s races in France and Italy, holiday celebrations should be fun and festive, vast and varied.

Some will spend quality time with families and others with teammates. Christmas dinners and traditions will be diverse, indicative of the global sport that Alpine skiing is.

Chilean Henrik von Appen is accustomed to spending the holidays far from home, albeit with friends and training partners from the Italian ski team.

“This year, we will be in Bruneck, closer to the team and Italian federation,” von Appen informs. “I just moved there, five minutes from (Christof) Innerhofer. 

“It will be my wife and I, and our six-month-old daughter Bernadita. It will be our first family Christmas together.”

And what South American specialties will be cooked for Christmas dinner?

“In Chile and Argentina, are very good at grilling meats – we now have a good grill and found a good place to get meat,” says the veteran Chilean skier. “Hopefully, we’ll find some king crab also.”

Lasagna and Panettone
Czech Jan Zabystřan is certainly in a festive holiday mood considering his unexpected first World Cup victory at last weekend’s Val Gardena super-G. The lanky racer from Chomotov, Czech Republic, about an hour north of Prague, looks forward to family time and a traditional Czech specialty.

“The most important thing is going home to see the family and opening presents under the Christmas tree with the small cousins, ages five and six,” Zabystřan says.

“Czech tradition is to prepare carp – my cousins catch the fish and then they make soup from it,” he says, touching upon the country’s ritual, which typically involves keeping the fish fresh in the family bath tub.

“We’ll have that with potato salad. It’s the only day of the year that we eat this fish.” 

An Italian Christmas feast sounds authentic and delicious, especially if there is a chef in the family.

“We are just a normal Italian family, so we’ll have some normal Italian food,” says Giovanni Franzoni, fresh off his first World Cup podium in Val Gardena.

“My Mom was a chef, so I eat pretty well at home. We’ll probably have some pasta, fish, and then lots of sweets.”

Franzoni’s Italian teammate Laura Pirovano – who has blazed to a hot start with four top ten finishes across five speed races this season – can already taste a hot family meal.

“We usually eat Lasagna – I make it with my Mom every year on Christmas and it’s a special moment for us,” Pirovano says. “I also love the classical Panettone for dessert, like most of us Italians.”

Italian downhill speedster Dominik Paris is prepared to slow down, only briefly, over Christmas. 

“Just normal family time and having fun with the kids,” he says, asked how he’ll spend his holiday.

And what will the Italian from the Ulten Valley in the South Tyrol indulge upon? “Lots of meat,” Paris says, with a big smile.

Hearty Austrian dishes
Austrian Magdalena Egger, deserving of a relaxing holiday after a World Cup best second in St. Moritz, explains a unique traditional meal shared with her family.

“I’m lucky that I can get home every Christmas and spend it with my family – we’ll have fondue with soup and meat in the middle, along with many side dishes,” Egger says.

“We’ll also have homemade Christmas cookies afterward. It’s pretty funny because my mom is a hairdresser and doesn’t bake, but always receives lots of cookies from her clients, grandmothers from around our village.” 

Stefan Babinsky enjoys both traditional and non-traditional Christmas dishes while at home in Seckau, Austria.

“In Austria, we have different traditions, but for me it’s just coming home to be with the family for a delicious dinner,” Babinsky says. “We’ll eat a big turkey that my mother will cook for a couple of hours.

“It’s not a Christmas dish, but maybe we’ll also have some wiener schnitzel, which is always good.”

“Orphans on the road” get creative with Christmas abroad
Then there are the racers from USA, Canada, and other distant countries, who make the most of Christmas spent oceans away from home, bonding like a family. 

Brodie Seger explains Team Canada’s highly competitive Christmas tradition. 

“No matter where our training block over the break is, we mix in our annual Christmas Cup race with the team,” Seger notes. “Usually in Bormio or Livigno, we award this raggedy old Christmas tree trophy that has been kicking around for years. It’s a fun team tradition.”

However, a little mishap will alter activities for Seger this year.

“At the Arosa Night Race last week, my girlfriend Courtney (Hoffos) made some contact with another girl, got taken out over a jump and broke her leg,” he said, referring to the World Cup ski cross race. “She had surgery two days ago and I’ll be seeing her for the first time since.

“We are still planning on spending Christmas together with her family in Innsbruck. It’s been a crazy week – it will be a little different of a vibe. Maybe we’ll have some Chinese food.”

New Zealand’s Alice Robinson – who is flying high with three victories and five podiums across eight races this season – is enthused to join the North Americans and other Christmas stragglers.

“I’ll be in Italy, hopefully with the U.S. team and some of us other orphans on the road, so it should be nice,” Robinson says. “Back home, I love having glazed ham for Christmas, which they don’t usually do in Europe. With roasted veggies.

“Hopefully, we won’t be having pasta though – pasta on Christmas in criminal,” she opines. Probably for the best that she won’t be sitting at the same table with the Franzonis or Pirovanos.

Far from his home in northern California, six-foot-seven-inch U.S. downhiller Bryce Bennett always seems to go with the flow, both on-and-off the mountain.

“We’ll be training in Austria and then heading to Livigno on the 25th, so the Americans are glossing over Christmas this year,” he says, with a smile.

“We’ll still do a team dinner in Innsbruck and hang out together. We’ll probably have wiener schnitzel,” Bennett adds.