ST. MORITZ, SWITZERLAND — Our whole U.S. Ski Team traveling group, including racers, coaches, technicians and staff, had a Secret Santa party before the races here last Thursday night. It was really fun.
The rules are, you pick a name out of a hat, you don’t tell anyone who you got, and you spend a minimum of $50. Chip White, one of our coaches, played Santa with a nice white goatee. Racer Chelsea Marshall had Christmas music going, so it was perfect.
We just went around a circle and opened up presents.
One of our technicians got a Wrangler outfit, and it was the funniest thing I’ve ever seen. One of the rules is that, if you get any clothes, you have to try them on. He had these incredibly tight Wrangler jeans with a Wrangler shirt and a bandana around his neck. His girlfriend is a cowgirl. It was pretty funny.
I got a Billabong purse and a Roxy wallet. It was really cool.
Making this work requires preparation. We pick names out of a hat while we’re in Colorado for the final preseason training camp in November. We have to be able to do our shopping there before we leave for Europe. How would you find Wranglers in St. Moritz?
The races in St. Moritz didn’t go so well. In a super combined on Friday, I was 14th in the super-G portion of the race but didn’t finish the slalom. In a super-G on Saturday, I didn’t finish, and then Sunday’s downhill was cancelled because of weather. Normally the weather in St. Moritz is perfect and beautiful, but last weekend it was wind and snow and fog. It wasn’t a good weekend.
Our next races are giant slalom and slalom, Sunday and Monday in Semmering, Austria.
Today I’m doing a photo shoot in Innsbruck for Red Bull, my sponsor. Then my husband and I go to Garmisch-Partenkirchen for our annual Christmas visit with German racer Maria Riesch and her family.
World Cup overall champion Lindsey Vonn, a product of Ski Club Vail, reports regularly from the World Cup tour in collaboration with Denver Post ski writer John Meyer. She leads the World Cup standings for this season.
