Join U.S. Ski Team Alpine skier Ryan Cochran-Siegle as he reminisces about his time, travel, and FIS World Cup race season in Europe.

While the winter season gets under way and the anticipation grows for the holidays back home in the U.S., my fellow American Downhillers and I embark on an annual three-month long tour on the other side of the Atlantic as we face the heart of the World Cup race schedule. This bittersweet ritual involves us packing up our lives into a few overweight suitcases, rushing all goodbyes to family and friends and settling back into the long forgotten and highly romanticized nomadic lifestyle. For me, that means exchanging familiar rolling snow-covered hills and countryside Cape Cod houses of rural Vermont with towering snow-capped peaks and many-century-old villas that rest deep down on valley floors. Nearly everything undergoes a European transformation – starting with the roads we drive on to the beds we sleep in. The only thing that appears to have never changed is the FIS World Cup tour schedule itself, which has remained virtually the same year after year.

The first chapter of this long-winded journey occurs over the final three weeks of December with an early stop nestled in the middle of the Italian Dolomites in Val Gardena, includes a short Christmas break in Patsch, Austria and then wraps up at the last race series of the calendar year in Bormio, Italy. Typical to downhill racing nomenclature, every classic venue has a given name specific to the given racetrack – the Streif in Kitzbühel, Birds of Prey at Beaver Creek, Lauberhornrennen in Wengen – with Val Gardena laying claim to the Saslong and the Stelvio course particular to Bormio.

The notorious Saslong is a graceful track to ski, consisting of unique terrain features and jumps, buttery smooth snow and a constant high velocity well above most local limits. This distinctive combination of obstacles relentlessly pushes and pulls a racer’s body down the hill from start to finish. In the high consequence environment of downhill ski racing, performing well here takes a certain elegance matched with an equal absence of fear. After putting together two strong training runs leading up to the race – placing first and third respectively – I was unfortunately unable to compete with such poise and ultimately finished a disappointing 27th place. However, not all was lost on the day for us Americans as my fellow teammate, Bryce Bennett, laid down a run of heavenly execution and managed to take home a win along with the first World Cup victory of his career. Bravo Bryce!

In between the two Italian downhill competitions of the season, our team takes a fleeting intermission away from the slopes as we post up camp at a team apartment in Patsch, Austria. The tranquil town of Patsch rests on a hillside just above the city of Innsbruck, providing a perfect escape from the usual high stress all-thrills-no-frills race setting. This time off fills up with Christmas cookie bake-offs, catching up on long-overdue laundry, Christkindlmärkte holiday shopping and an annual wholly “non-competitive” rodeling contest. To conclude these merry festivities, we enjoy a cheery post-race glühwien celebration with our friendly neighbor and long-time team supporter, Johannes and his family. This is the perfect setting to cozy up into some of my favorite Alps & Meter pieces, a current favorite being the High West Ski Race Knit in Charcoal. The holiday leave always feels much too brief. Before we know it all our bags are repacked, and we’re back on the road once more by Christmas morning.

The ultimate leg of this expedition leads us to Bormio, the final stop in Italy but the first test of mettle for a downhiller. The Stelvio can be relentless on a racer with high speeds close to 90mph, hard slick snow, and heavy turns over the course of 2+ minutes. This year in particular poses quite a challenge as the initial two thirds of the track consists of man-made ice full of bumps and chatter while the bottom third is a much more responsive surface. The drastic change midway through a run poses concern for a skier as it becomes more difficult to predict the reaction of the ski. This is where strategy with the serviceman becomes vital – requiring an edge that holds on the ice only just enough or else it will be much too erratic for the aggressive final pitch. Time will tell as to who has the best equipment set up and mental edge, but one thing for sure is that it will be an exciting race!