The Winter Olympics have always intrigued me, primarily because I find the vast majority of events terrifying and because the contestants fall over quite often. Unfortunately this years event looks in a little bit of doubt, because the weather is too warm. In Vancouver. In winter. While it is snowing in London.
Blame the economy.
It's nice how they've got the kids involved
The opening ceremony of the 2010 Winter Olympics is a mere month away, and weather, the wrong kind, has arrived in the host city, and it was anything but wintry.
Olympic planners found themselves scurrying to adapt to torrents of rain and near-record mild temperatures that hit not only Vancouver, but far up Cypress Mountain, the North Shore peak overlooking the city where snowboarding and freestyle skiing events will be staged.
The slopes of Cypress were so wet and balmy that all ski activity on the heavily used mountain was cancelled for the next two days at least, and VANOC called a halt to its extensive snowmaking operation there.
"The Winter Olympics have always intrigued me" - Nick Krige
Organizers are sufficiently alarmed by the spate of warm, moist air that they may decide to close off Cypress to the public as early as tomorrow, 2 and a half weeks earlier than planned.
“We need freezing temperatures to get our snowmaking machines going, and right now, we’ve got a Pineapple Express(not the movie) going through,” said Tim Gayda, VANOC vice-president of sport.
Mr. Gayda said the extra time may be necessary to bring down enough snow from higher elevations to ensure the venues are in good shape for the Olympics.
Easily my favourite "event" at the Winter Olympics
“Right now, that’s our biggest challenge. Mother Nature is always unpredictable, and you have to plan for every scenario. It’s just the nature of the beast.”
Previous test events on Cypress also ran into weather problems. Mogul runs were delayed for hours by heavy fog that obscured the start line from judges at the bottom of the course. And a parallel giant slalom event was cancelled outright because of poor snow conditions.
Snow-making machines have been operating since November to groom and build up the Olympic courses at Cypress. Huge mounds of natural snow have also been stockpiled nearby to be used, if needed, during the Games.
Mr. Gayda said there is enough snow – both artificial and natural – to stage all events, even in a downpour similar to the current deluge. “It might be unpleasant, but that’s the way it is in the outdoor sports business.”
Goodbye
James
Kyle Ecks
Jason Dude
Its snowing in London, but raining in Vancouver.. They got their locations wrong