Schnitzel Fest 2009

Take a fillet – sometimes pork but traditionally veal, pound the heck out of until it is flat as a pancake, dust it with flour, dip it in egg, coat it in breadcrumbs, deep or pan fry it, douse it in lemon, serve it with spaetzle or potatoes, accompany it with a good beer, and you’ve got the Austrian national meal and one of my favorite words these days: schnitzel. As in “that’s not exactly your Uncle Hans’s schnitzel”, “the light this morning was as flat as your grandmother’s schnitzel”, or “I’d take that meal over your schnitzel any day”.

In Austria, being a ski professional – whether as an instructor or as a coach – holds a vastly different status than in the US. Skiing is, after all, the national sport there and its importance is such that government funding is an essential component of the national sports institute, the national instructor certification programs, and many of the resorts. It’s not an accident that the highest level of instructor certification is the “statlicher”, meaning state certified. What this means, in my experience, is that the Austrians I’ve worked with both on the race side and on the instruction side of the business take a vastly more career-focused orientation to their jobs than their average American counterparts. While it is true that many of our best instructors at Okemo and elsewhere in the US only teach skiing part-time or do so either before or after other careers, the fact is that few people choose ski or snowboard teaching as their dedicated vocation. Given this professional view, it’s no mystery that the Southern Hemisphere resorts often have Austrians at the core of their staffs, and here at Treble Cone that’s certainly the case. In the Snow Sports School, we have a few Austrians this year, including our new director, and the immensely successful Treble Cone Race Academy has quite a number of them.

Despite our view at Treble Cone that we are and must remain a Kiwi organization, we have precious few Kiwis on our resort staff, and the rest of us occasionally feel quite foreign despite our best efforts and our love for the place. Sometimes we all simply need a small slice of home, and it is for this reason that a little over a week ago I attended what I have been referring to as “Schnitzel Fest 2009”.

Imagine a large great-room of a lodge, one of several in town normally used to house our many overseas athletes enrolled in the Treble Cone Race Academy, filled with a convivial atmosphere, jolly conversation, real gemutlichkeit, and only three non-native German speakers in the place. Beyond the twenty or so Austrian coaches and instructors, diversity was provided by me, Kiwi big mountain skiing legend and TC ambassador Geoff Small, my friend and the TC race administrator Megan from the US, a Swiss couple, and the German lodge manager. Yes, that’s right, the German and Swiss people made it diverse. The schnitzel was flying, the homemade strudel was outstanding, and my friends from Austria could relax, speak their own native dialect and feel that they had a little slice of home before the season at Treble Cone got really busy. For me it was a fun evening even without any real understanding of the language. It was really great to see my friends and colleagues in easy, native conversation.

I should note, selfishly, that Schnitzel Fest 2009 was followed a few days later by a proper July 4th BBQ at my house with real hot dogs, hamburgers, yellow mustard, actual Heinz ketchup and my annual ribbing of any and all of the British people present. Hey, that’s America, even if it is in Wanaka. And a little slice of Austria too.