Happy Father’s Day! From the Engadin to the Fossavatn, here’s to a lifetime of ski trips together

“Revenge is a dish best served cold” goes the old adage. Though perhaps the word I’m searching for is not revenge, but rather payback – payback to both my parents for instilling me with a love for skiing and passion for travel. I have them both to thank.

My dad Jim grew up in northern Wisconsin, less than an hour from Telemark resort, so a few years after Tony Wise founded the American Birkebeiner, my dad skied his first Birkie. Meanwhile, my mom Beth was working for Northwest Airlines, so when the Birkie partnered with other international ski marathons to create the Worldloppet series, my mom used her flight benefits to travel internationally with my dad to ski many of the Worldloppet events. They skied together in Canada, Austria and Japan. When I was 7, they decided I was old enough to join them for the Engadin Ski Marathon in Switzerland. Trains, sledding and hot chocolate so thick you needed a spoon to eat it are several of my memories from that first trip. As my sisters and I grew, trips to Worldloppet events became a rite of passage for each of us. At 13 years old, my dad took me on a trip to Italy and Germany to ski the Marcialonga & König Ludwig Lauf events. At the same age, my sister Laura started taking French in school, so she traveled to France for the Transju’ and a little French culture with our dad. Sister Martie went with him to the Czech Republic, one of the newer additions to the Worldloppet at the time. Along the way, my dad skied 10 events and earned the designation of Worldloppet Master.

Meanwhile, my professional ski career brought me to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver. Mom got a nice thank you from P&G (and me!) for years of support. Serendipitously, while at the Games, I was invited to join the Australian National Team for their August training camp in Falls Creek, Australia. My dad traveled on his own to the Land Down Under and we both met up to ski the Kangaroo Hoppet. That was a memorable week for both of us as my professional ski career came to an end and we explored Australia together.

The idea of revenge being served cold is a reference to revenge being particularly satisfying when it takes a long time to be served. What better place to pay back some of that support I’d received from my dad than in Iceland? It had been 14 years since we skied our last Worldloppet event together in Australia. I had an extra bed in my room on Lumi’s Iceland trip this April. While it will never be possible to pay back a lifetime of support, spending a week together traveling and skiing in Iceland was a special time together discovering another country, plus he had never experienced a Lumi trip. We have an ongoing cribbage tournament, so we finished most days with a game of cribbage while we caught up about the day’s adventures and activities. He also skied two of the Fossavatn events in Iceland: the 25 km “Night” skate race that finishes around 9:00 pm without the need for a headlamp, as that’s right around sunset in Iceland in mid-April. One of the highlights for me was finishing my race, then skiing to the top of the course and cheering on my dad while overlooking the Isafjordur fjord at sunset. Of course, after the race we enjoyed the Fossavatn’s renowned seafood banquet and celebrated a new stamp for each of us in our Worldloppet passports, along with a beer, served ice cold.

If you’d like to raise a glass with your parents or adult child(ren), we’re offering $300 off all Lumi trips through Father’s Day – this Sunday, June 16 – and still have space available on a few of Lumi’s popular 2025 Worldloppet trips, including the Marcialonga & König Ludwig Lauf trip, the France Transju’ trip and the very popular Engadin Ski Marathon. Reach out by this Sunday, June 16 for a detailed trip itinerary and to save $300.

See you on the trail,

Garrott