No snow at Olympic site leaves VANOC scrambling

[Newsjock]

Source: Canadian Press

Winter Games officials have given up on Mother Nature and are planning to truck in snow for the freestyle skiing and snowboarding events at Cypress Mountain on Vancouver's North Shore.

The Vancouver Olympic organizing committee (known as VANOC) says the forecast suggests there won't be any new snow falling before the Games kick off Feb. 12, and they won't be able to make enough in time for the skiing and snowboarding competitions.

... Contingency plans are now being rolled out. They include using straw and wood in place of snow to build up the courses. Snow will then be brought in to layer over the straw and wood to build the course.

But officials believe there is enough snow elsewhere on the mountain, and they will use trucks, snow cats and, if necessary, helicopters to move snow to the event sites, said Priestner Allinger.

... Mild temperatures and heavy rains earlier this month forced officials to close the mountain ahead of schedule as snow gave way to mud.

Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbia/story/2010/01/20/bc-cypress-mountain-no-snow.html

[HeresyLives]

1. No snow, no money, what next? n/t

[VermeerLives]

22. No Olynpics??

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[HeresyLives]

4. LOL that seems kinda pointless.

Major effort for a minor result. Could sum it all up tho.

I dunno about this Olympics...they all have their problems, and they all turn out fine in the end, but we have an odd govt at the moment and I have no idea what they're doing.

[MichaelHarris]

9. they made it

hard for Americans to buy tickets, we have to wait until Canadians get first pick. I have no problem with that part but they made us get on a list which I did 2 YEARS AGO! I still don't have tickets.

[HeresyLives]

11. Well, I'll admit it's a mess.

There are certainly tickets available.

But then we didn't start building the Canadian Pavilion until a couple of weeks ago...contracted to an American firm.

We have no idea what's going on...this is a very secretive govt. :shrug:

[MichaelHarris]

15. have you guys

been able to buy tickets yet in Canada?

[jberryhill]

19. That's weird, since....

...a buddy of mine in Vancouver said it was hard for locals to buy good tickets, since the preference is to visitors who presumptively will also be buying food, lodging and transportation, in addition to the tickets.

[tomm2thumbs]

3. freestyle mudsliding competition?

better than the mudslinging going on in washington right now

[tinrobot]

5. We got plenty of snow down here.

Want some?

[Archae]

6. Will it effect the curling competitions?

THOSE are what I wait for! :-)

[tomm2thumbs]

10. u 2!?

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

17. Not as long as they have electricity

for the curling irons.

:hi:

[ChicagoSuz219]

7. I lived in Vancouver...

...it hardly ever snows there - except in the mountains They get the Japanese air currents. Mostly rains. Like the NW U.S.

[Quantess]

8. True, they have mild winters.

How far away is Whistler? There must be snow there.

[HeresyLives]

12. There usually is.

But global warming, El Nino, you know....

[arikara]

13. And the Whistler resort they are using just went bankrupt

Of course they say it won't affect the games but the Vanoc guy on the news today was pretty shaken.

http://www.cbc.ca/money/story/2010/01/20/intrawest-whistler-olympics.html

So no snow either. Next the road in to Whistler will collapse, that happens all the time. I just hope no one is hurt when it does happen. The whole thing is a giant boondoggle and we the taxpayers will be on the hook for years to come. Perhaps the collective anger and disgust directed at this event by British Columbians has created some of their problems.

[HeresyLives]

14. Feb 19: the date set to auction off Whistler.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/whistler-a-step-closer-to-the-auction-block/article1438225/


On edit: fixed the url

[time_has_come]

18. That's not bankrupt, it's a move to foreclose by lenders. n/t

[MichaelHarris]

16. Is

heckling Curlers allowed?

[RubyDuby in GA]

21. The hubby and I agree that there needs to be a serious US fan trash talking section for the curling!

Suck it UK - you are going down!!!!!!!!!!!

:)

[RubyDuby in GA]

20. Who cares about the skiing? Bring on the curling!!!!

Brooms down!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Chicago dyke]

23. if i believed in gawd

i'd say this was her way of saying to the international winter sports community, "wake the fuck up, assholes. millions of people are dead or dying in Haiti, why don't you cancel this one, like you did over such important matters as cold war squabbling, and donate the money you were going to spend here on relief efforts? then maybe some of you ski bums will actually get into heaven."

but i'm an atheist.