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***image1***The U.S. Alpine Ski team showed their support of the U.S. Armed Forces with a visit to Edelweiss Lodge and Resort to greet servicemember guests Jan. 26.
Ski team members Steve Nyman, J.J. Johnson, Scott Macartney, and Marco Sullivan spent an hour signing autographs for the 150 resort guests and American Garmisch community members in the main lobby gallery of the hotel. The Ski Team made time to visit the guests in the middle of their busy week preparing for the World Cup race events in Garmisch.
The Garmisch race course called the “Kandahar” dates back to the original Alberg-Kandahar competition race held in 1911 in St. Anton, Austria.
The winner received a valuable trophy donated by a British raj who distinguished himself in a battle during the relief of Kandahar, Afghanistan in 1879. Garmisch became part of the original Kandahar circuit with other ski resort races located in France and Switzerland.
The U.S. Ski Team has made a tradition of visiting servicemember guests in Garmisch for many years.
“We enjoy coming to the Edelweiss Lodge and Resort to show our support to the U.S. servicemembers. The servicemembers say ‘thank you’ to us for signing autographs, but really it is the U.S. Ski Team that appreciates what they do every day. It was a nice show of support both ways,” said U.S. Ski Racer Marco Sullivan.
The team signed ski helmets, photos, American flags and shirts while posing for photos with their fans.
Tom Williams, an Edelweiss Lodge and Resort guest from Landstuhl who spent the day skiing said, “It was fun to have the ski racers signing autographs for us here at the Edelweiss Lodge. I don’t know much about ski racing but to meet 2006 Winter Olympic atheletes is exciting.”
With the Olympics coming in February, the pressure is on for the U.S Ski Team.
“This is the last really challenging course of the season before the Olympics. All the racers are pumped and want to have a good race to go into Torino with momentum. The stage is set for a great race,” said Marco Sullivan. (Courtesy of Edelweiss Lodge and Resort, Garmisch-Partenkirchen)
