With less than one month until the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games, members of the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) are working hand-in-hand with Environment Canada to prepare the four outdoor competition venues—Whistler Creekside, the Whistler Sliding Centre, Whistler Olympic Park, and Cypress Mountain—for any weather scenario.
Due to the recent warm spell and heavy rain on the West Coast, Vancouver's Olympic organizing committee announced Wednesday that they're closing Cypress Mountain—home to the freestyle skiing and snowboard events—to the public two weeks earlier than planned in an effort to preserve the existing snow and protect the course. “Closing Cypress Mountain early is the responsible thing to do, given the recent weather, in order to make sure we’re ready to host the world’s best athletes in one month’s time,” said Tim Gayda, VANOC’s vice president of sport.
The early closure means officials can move ahead with the installation of warming tents, fencing, and signage that was initially planned to start on February 1. The ski resort will reopen to the public after the Games on March 9.
Earlier this week, Gayda said the committee is working with Environment Canada and taking steps to deal with the weather every day. "Since the first snowfalls in Whistler and Cypress last fall we've been blowing snow and grooming our courses. As a precaution, we're also stockpiling snow to ensure we're ready no matter what the weather conditions are leading up to the Games," Gayda said.
Environment Canada has made $13.4 million worth of weather tracking equipment—including new Doppler radar in the Whistler area, a wind profiler at the Sqamish Airport, and a network of automated weather stations—available for the Games. "Weather is involved in just about every decision we make as Games organizers, from when to make and stockpile snow to transportation planning, and we’re constantly monitoring it,” said Chris Doyle, an Environment Canada meteorologist and VANOC’s manager of weather services.
At Cypress Mountain, officials have been using 35 snow guns since November to convert more than 95.3 million litres of water (21 million gallons) into the snow needed to construct the courses. That snow has been stockpiled all over the mountain. Preparations have also been under way at Whistler Creekside—the site of the downhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom, and super combined alpine skiing events—since November. And at the Whistler Sliding Centre, the site of the luge and bobsleigh competitions, the ice on the track surface has been maintained by hand since October.
