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Vancouver prepares to truck in snow for some Olympic events

 

Jan 22, 2010 / 12:50:59 PM

Vancouver officials will be trucking in snow: Olympic organisers plan to truck in snow for the freestyle skiing and snowboarding events at Cypress Mountain.

The forecast for the week ahead suggests there will be no new snow for the mountain on Vancouver's north shore, nor will it get cold enough to make any, the organisers said Wednesday.

Contingency plans are now being rolled out that include using straw and wood to build the base for the courses. Organisers will use trucks, snow cats and, if necessary, helicopters to move snow to the event sites.

It will work, and has in the past, though it might not be so pretty.

"If we have to, we will clean up the outside by using gravel or something else so that the site is beautiful for the athletes and what's on TV for the spectator experience," said John Furlong, the Olympic Organising Committee, known as VANOC's chief executive officer.

Up at Whistler, snow is not the problem. The host mountain resort saw 70 centimetres of snow fall over 24 hours last weekend.

Weather has stymied almost every single Winter Games in the last forty years with either too much snow or not enough forcing the delay of events.

Transportation in the cities and to the mountains is also always an issue, said Canadian IOC member Richard Pound, who also sits on the board of directors for VANOC.

Transportation plans are still frustrating local organisers with not enough people buying tickets to get to the mountain venues and still more not yet buying into the idea of cutting back on car travel during the Games.

"You're taking big buses, because you don't want to have six million cars going up there, but the roads are small and mountainous and you've got to be careful managing that flow," Pound said.

Sources:: The Seattle Times & Google News

tags: olympic, cypress, mountain, freestyle, skiing, snowboarding, snow, snowmaking, whistler, transport, problems