Alpine Skiing

Thursday morning arrived in the Alberta Rockies and brought with it a thick white blanket of snow turning The Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise into a sparkling winter wonderland right out of the film Dr. Zhivago. With more than 30cms of snow on the top of the mountain, the second training run for the World Cup season's opening downhill was cancelled giving the racers an unexpected holiday from competition. For the American team, the holiday was more literal though as the last Thursday in November is always Thanksgiving in the country below the 49th parallel.

If you are planning on making the US Ski Team as a World Cup racer specializing in downhill or super-g, Thanksgiving at The Chateau is your norm as Lake Louise is always the opening of what is called the "speed season" for the men.

US Ski Team racer Marco Sullivan says it's tough to be away from his home in Truckee, California for this special day, but confesses that the hotel does take good care of its American racing guests with a special team meal with all the traditional Thanksgiving fixings.

"Thanksgiving for me and most Americans is really big family holiday where you get all your relatives together and have a big feast, and to miss out on that is kind of a bummer, but at the same time we have our alternate family of skiers and coaches, and The Chateau is always good to us and they cook us a turkey dinner and do it up - it's different but it's kind of cool to bring the team together," Sullivan said.

For Steven Nyman, who would be spending the day with friends and family in Sundance, Utah if he wasn't racing here, the traditional dinner The Chateau puts on is an excellent way to kick off the race year with his team mates and helps in the bonding process.

"In the past we've had things like Thai food for Thanksgiving on the road; the meal they put on for us now is pretty amazing and very generous on the part of The Chateau. It's sweet and makes us feel at home because we miss Christmas as well and we really don't get to experience the holidays like normal, so I like it, it keeps us together," Nyman said.

For Nyman though, it's not just the giving of thanks and the bountiful feast that's important on this day - there is that other very American Thanksgiving tradition that gets his blood racing - the NFL.

"We have a pretty intense fantasy football league going on, on the team right now and I think the whole league except for one guy is separated by two games, so every game counts. I'll be keeping an eye on the games because it's all about stats, not who wins, it's just about stats," Nyman said with a chuckle.

This year the guest list at the US Ski Team's Thanksgiving dinner at The Chateau includes an old comrade in arms who is now plying his trade for the Canadian Alpine Ski Team.

Long-time US Ski Team speed coach Johno McBride (who also coached Bode Miller when he formed Team America) has been invited to break bread with his former teammates.

McBride, who lives as a cattle rancher in Old Snowmass, Colorado with his wife Sunni and three children when he's not coaching, is used to being away during the holidays - but is more used to being with fellow Americans. As a new addition to the Canadian Alpine Ski Team's coaching squad, and only in his first week with his new team, McBride says it's nice that his old team mates have invited him to their Thanksgiving table.

"The reality is that all of us, Canadian, American, Europeans are all really lucky. Lucky to be part of this game, this sport, we're lucky to live the way we live. For me it's a great holiday. At home I grew up with Thanksgiving being a tradition - my mother always asked all the single people that didn't have families to go to, to come to our house. So when you're out on the road with a bunch of single guys and girls, that is your family and you embrace that, and it's a great time to give thanks to each other and realize how lucky we are," McBride said.

On the topic of "thanks" specifically, McBride added that he had a lot to be thankful for this year.

"I'm giving thanks for all sorts of things - my health, my family. I'm giving thanks to be able to come and work with this team; it's a great opportunity for me to come back and coach again and to be able to do what I love to do. I've been really lucky my whole life, I've followed my passions, and being able work in an environment, in a sport, in something you love is something to be thankful for."

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New Alpine Canada coach Johno McBride poses in his team gear.

Michael Mastarciyan/CTVOlympics.ca