2020 Minneapolis World Cup Trip

Happy 4th of July! To celebrate, Lumi Experiences is announcing a special trip to the Minneapolis World Cup, the first World Cup in the United States in almost 20 years.

 The events are being hosted at Wirth Park, one of the largest urban parks in the country. The Loppet Foundation has grown cross country skiing in Minneapolis for close to 20 years, hosting events such as the City of Lakes Loppet, which brings in over 10,000 participants.

 Organizers are anticipating over 30,000 spectators for the World Cup. Get special access on this bespoke, five-day trip, including VIP tickets to the World Cup, a seat at the pre-race gala-dinner, demo equipment and inspect the course with an Olympian providing insights into strategy for the race and participate in the “Equity and Adventure” round-table discussion hosted by the Loppet.

 When you’re not at the venue skiing or watching the races, discover Minneapolis with your local trip leader. The city has much to offer, including coffee shops, micro-breweries and the mighty Mississippi River. In the evening, settle into your boutique hotel, located in the heart of the North Loop neighborhood. There are several restaurants sure to treat your taste buds after your time outside. Spend time with friends and make new ones on this once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Minneapolis World Cup.

 Check outwww.lumiexperiences.com for more information about the trip.

 See you at the 2020 Minneapolis World Cup!

Val di Fiemme - 2026 Olympic Host City for Milan-Cortina Games

The International Olympic Committee announced this week that the 2026 Winter Olympic Games will be hosted by Milan & Cortina, Italy … the first time the Winter Games will be held in central Europe since 2006 in Torino, Italy. Although Milan and Cortina are around 250 miles apart, the IOC cites the sustainability of Milan-Cortina’s bid as one of the main reasons for the decision. They will use many of the existing venues in northern Italy to host events.

The indoor sports will be held in Milan, Italy’s second largest city, known for its design and fashion. Cortina will host the Alpine ski events on many of the same venues used for the 2021 Alpine World Championships. Livigno is a popular cross country destination, known for its early season snow, but it is hosting the snowboard and freestyle events like aerials, moguls, halfpipe, slopestyle and big air. Antholz, host of the 2020 Biathlon World Championships, will also be the Olympic venue.

The Nordic events will be held in Val di Fiemme. Val di Fiemme has a long history of hosting big Nordic events, including World Championships in 1991, 2003 and 2013. The Marcialonga is one of the original Worldloppet Ski Marathons and will be celebrating 47 years this January. The Marcialonga course travels through the Val di Fiemme valley and the World Championship stadium. Val di Fiemme is also the start of the infamous hill climb up Alpe Cermis at the end of the Tour de Ski.

If you don’t want to wait until 2026 to ski in this world-class venue, check out some of the Lumi Experiences trips. We offer a group trips to the Marcialonga Ski Marathon as well as a self-guided itinerary to the Val di Fiemme and surrounding ski areas.

A few tips for your next flight

Summer is finally here! Chances are, you are flying somewhere this summer, whether to snow in New Zealand or perhaps to spend time with friends or family. Guests on our Lumi Experiences trips often ask for tips about when, where and how to choose flights. Here are a few of our insider tips, specifically for skiers.

Plan ahead - it is almost always less expensive to purchase flights earlier than later. The app Hopper helps predict airfares and suggests the best time to buy.

Use an aggregator - websites like Google Flights aggregate offers from many airlines and can be a quick source to find the best fares. Beware! To offer a low sticker price, many airlines now lead with their “light” fares, which often only include a carry-on. If you plan to bring skis, make sure your ticket includes the baggage allowance you need ahead of time and avoid excess baggage penalties at check-in.

Consider “open jaw” routes - one common myth is that it is always less expensive to buy a round-trip ticket than “open jaw,” where your origin or destination is not the same in both directions. Open jaw routes often cost no more than a regular round-trip ticket. For example, it may cost less to fly into Munich and out of Zurich than it does to fly round-trip to either airport. If you want to visit two different cities at the beginning and end of a trip, check out pricing for the open jaw route. It may cost less than you think!

Collect your miles - Don’t want to take the time to set up a frequent flyer account or take the time to find your number? You may be missing out on future flight deals. The miles you earn from one trip to New Zealand could mean a free flight to Yellowstone Camp next fall.

Offset your carbon - as skiers, we often see the impacts of climate change. Air travel seriously increases your carbon footprint. Can you carpool or drive to that ski destination? If you must fly, most airlines give you the option to offset your flight emissions. It’s a small step, but go ahead and check that box.

Hopefully these tips help as you search for flights to your next adventure!

Innsbruck 2020 - Winter World Masters Games

“The practice of sport is a human right.”
- Olympic Charter

The World Masters Games were founded in 1985 to bring athletes over age 30, of any ability, together to compete internationally. The 2020 Winter World Masters Games (WWMG) are heading to Innsbruck & Seefeld, Austria from January 11 - 19, 2020. Seefeld is the site of the 2019 Nordic World Championships. The WWMG are only held every 5 years -- in contrast to to the Masters Cross Country World Cup, which happens annually. The WWMG brings athletes together from many winter sports, including cross country, biathlon, ski jumping, ice hockey, figure skating and more. In 2020, WWMG expects over 3,000 participants to compete in Innsbruck. That’s more than the 2,922 athletes who competed in the 2018 Pyeongchang‎ Olympic Games. In fact, some events, such as biathlon, are already sold out.

Fortunately, the cross country competitions have no participation limit. In contrast to the Olympic Games, the WWMG has no country delegations, so athletes compete for themselves. Relays, for example, can comprise athletes from any countries. The International Olympic Committee is a partner of the World Masters Games and sees participation in masters sport as a continuation of the Olympic movement, where participants, regardless of ability, can experience a competitive events in a fun, relaxed atmosphere. The courses for the cross country events will be held on the same trails as the 2019 Nordic World Championships and the same venue as the 1964 and 1976 Olympic Games in Seefeld, Austria.

Click the link to learn more about the 2020 Winter World Masters Games. Lumi Experiences is offering a fully-supported trip to Seefeld for the games. Visit www.lumiexperiences.com for more information about the trip.

Guests on the 2019 World Championships trip in Seefeld, Austria get ready to watch the women’s 4 x 5km relay on the patio of their hotel with “relay socks” to support the team.

The Classics

Nope, this isn’t about the Paris Roubaix or Tour de Flanders. This is about Ski Classics: the Worldloppet and the VISMA Ski Classics. What are these international events? How can you participate?

The Worldloppet is an international series of some of the world’s most popular ski marathons. In 2019, the Worldloppet celebrated 40 years since the organization started with 10 events in 1979, including the American Birkebeiner. Since then, it has expanded to include 20 ski events in 20 countries.

Worldloppet events offer the opportunity to experience skiing and culture in a foreign country. Each event uniquely highlights the aspects of the host country, whether that’s savoring brown cheese and waffles after the Birken in Norway, skiing through snow gum forests during the Kangaroo Hoppet in Australia or a fresh pour of Benedikter Lager after the König Ludwig Lauf in Germany.

Stacks of gjetost, brown Norwegian goat cheese and heart-shaped waffles await hungry skiers.

After completing an event, skiers can have their Worldloppet passport stamped. Collect 10 stamps, symbolic of the original 10 event series, and a skier can earn the coveted title of “Worldloppet Master.”

Adding to the collection. Getting a stamp after the Engadin Ski Marathon in Switzerland.

In Europe, the Visma Ski Classics are perhaps the most popular series of marathons, for both elite skiers and spectators. All the Ski Classics are broadcast on Eurosport. The series is going into its 10th year and features 13 events for professional teams, including many of the Worldloppet events. As the name implies, Ski Classics focuses on classic marathons, like the Marcialonga, Vasaloppet and Birken. In 2019, it added its first skate marathon, the Engadin in Switzerland. The 13 events for the 2020 season are being announced over the next two weeks: SkiClassics.com.

Want to participate in an international Worldloppet or Ski Classics event? Lumi Experiences offers trips to both. Check out www.lumiexperiences.com for more information.

What's in a name?

By Garrott Kuzzy

In March 2016, I  took a short train ride from my home in Innsbruck, Austria to Seefeld. My former coach, Bryan Fish, was at the Europa Cup finals with a group of athletes from the US. I wanted to catch up with Bryan and help test wax for the team. While the skiers were racing, we discussed the opportunity to ski race in Europe. Thanks to the National Nordic Foundation, these racers trying to make the jump to the World Cup were able to receive world-class support.

Coach Bryan Fish, along with athletes on the National Nordic Foundation sponsored Europa Cup trip in Seefeld in March of 2017.

But these elite athletes are not the only ones who should be able to ski in Europe with first-class waxing and support. What if we share that experience with other skiers as well? Lumi Experiences was born. Lumi is the Finnish word for snow. As the name suggests, Lumi focuses on travel to experience winter in some of the world’s most spectacular places.

Our first Lumi Experiences trip brought a group of skiers from the US to compete in the Dolomitenlauf Worldloppet ski marathon in Austria. We also skied the famous Via Ferrovia railroad trail from Cortina to Dobbiaco, Italy, and cheered on the US Ski Team athletes in the Seefeld World Cup. Skiers on the trip had the opportunity to forerun the course before Sophie Caldwell and Jessie Diggins went on to win their respective races in the last World Cup competition before heading to the 2018 Olympic Games. That was a fitting conclusion to the trip that was inspired a year earlier on the same trails in Seefeld. The trip also raised over $10,000 for the National Nordic Foundation to help support junior skier development in the US.

Guests on the inaugural Lumi Experiences “Trip to Tyrol” helping to benefit the National Nordic Foundation, after taking a tour of the US Ski Team wax truck with coach Matt Whitcomb.

As Lumi grows, we are excited to share more opportunities with travelers from North America. Our 2020 trip to the Marcialonga in Italy is already full, but there are other trips that give skiers the opportunity to bump elbows, literally, with athletes on the World Cup.

Did you know that US Ski Team skiers don’t shake hands in the winter? No. To stay healthy, they bump elbows when they greet friends and meet people. It looks like everyone is doing the chicken dance.

For 2020, Lumi is offering three trips that include chicken dancing at the World Cup:

First, the City Sprints in Dresden where athletes ski past the VIP grandstand 72 times on the team-sprint day (yep, count ‘em!);

Second, the pre-World Championships World Cup in Oberstdorf (did you know the World Championships are not the same as the World Cup?);

Third, the Minneapolis World Cup, the first on US soil since 2001 (this one isn’t even on the Lumi website yet--you heard if here in our Stories first! … send us a message if you’d like to be first to receive the itinerary). In the video below, Olympic gold medalist Kikkan Randall previews the course for the Minneapolis World Cup.

Check out www.lumiexperiences.com to learn more. Sign up by May 31 to save $200 on any trip. Also, what travel tips are you interested in hearing? I’ll be sharing more insights on ski travel in the coming weeks and months. See you on the trail soon! - Garrott

PS. For those Shakespeare fans out there who caught the title to this post, you can visit the city of the Capulets and Montagues on the post-trip of our Dolomitenlauf-Marcialonga trip.