features

Snow Showers Give Cypress Mountain Big Assist

 

Feb 11, 2010 / 08:37:07 PM

A good day for Cypress Mountain, with plenty of snow. Whistler was another matter â?? fog ruled with heavy snow coming soon to likely disrupt the Alpine skiing schedule.
Cypress was hit with a surprise snow storm Wednesday, giving the home of the Olympic freestyle and snowboarding venues a big boost a few days before competition begins.
"It makes everything look white, so that's a good thing," said race director Joe Fitzgerald.
But the snow won't be sticking around.
Fitzgerald is preparing for rain â?? lots of it â?? over the next three days. He said the forecast calls for conditions to be wet and borderline miserable until early next week.
An uncommonly warm winter has forced officials to truck in snow from other parts of the mountain to help build the courses at the venue. The biggest problem at Cypress has been forming the half pipe, where two days of practice have been canceled.
Fitzgerald isn't worried about how the rain could affect the quality and the quantity of the snow on the course. He's concerned that precipitation could lead to fog, which could lead to postponements.
"If we can't see the start, we can't move forward," Fitzgerald said. "The judges have to be able to see."
The 800-foot long course drops 300 vertical feet from start to finish.
The first freestyle competition is Saturday â?? women's moguls. The schedule does allow for some wiggle room. The women's moguls could be run Sunday before the men's event begins or Monday or Tuesday if things deteriorate over the weekend.

Source - abc news

tags: olympic, cypress, snow, fog, moguls, freestyle, skiing, snowboarding, half, pipe