Volley Day 20 - Feb 25 - Shoveling a big driveway!

Anyone need their driveway shoveled? Today we shoveled the biggest driveway I have ever done, i.e. the entire men's slalom hill. Lots of heavy wet snow from last night had to be removed from track as impossible to pack it down and have it stick to underlying hard surface, especially with warm weather. The snow was the slushiest heaviest snow you could imagine. Any wetter and it would have been water. As per pics below, hundreds of us at work for about 6 hours or more just shoveling heavy snow into rows, getting snow blowers to remove and then we came in to shovel down to hard surface, have that blown away, and continue until all new snow was off the hill. A job that only an "army" of us could have done.

Tomorrow women are using men's track for their slalom, and forecast is for more snow maybe even overnight, so there are crews on standby for 3 AM upload (ugghh), then a second group to come on at 2 PM, after the women's slalom, to get track ready for men's slalom on Saturday .. and then home ... can't believe I have been here for 3 and a half weeks working my whatever off, but having a blast.

The snow was so wet that this coach from Turkey thought he could bring his Kayak and do some paddling!

A common scene today the entire length of the men's slalom hill. Shovels to move snow, then scrape down to hard undersurface, also a few rakes (snow-side surface is flat) to scape off last bits. Two fences over, the 2d run of ladies GS was being run, in only a bit less fog than previous day's first run.

Note burms of snow and snowblower trying to blow snow off track, but snow so heavy that discharged snow did not go far.

Better view of heaps of heavy snow piled up, being blown off the track. Bluish color is residual from dye put down from speed events and GS. It was our way to know we were down to hard undersurface.

No Work Today ! (Feb 24)

As promised to us two days ago, entire men's course crew was off today. So I had a great day skiing with Jonah and Roanne. A small amount (5+ cm) of new snow, combined with fog, wind, etc made for a great Whistler ski day. We skied Couloir Extreme and West Bowl, bringing back great memories when we last skied with Jonah 9 years ago!

As you may have heard, women's GS was "postponed" after first run due to fog (believe me, having skied through it, there was no safe way to have run it. FIS rules state that "whenever possible, the two runs of GS should be on same day". Needless to say, coaches of racers who did well want tomorrow to just be the second run, whereas others want the entire race rerun. Final decision pending.

Tomorrow's upload is at 7:30 AM, not sure I can sleep in that late, will try. I suspect we will be rolling B-Net, and cleaning up the track everywhere above the slalom start. Hopefully the weather will be OK for Saturday's final alpine event, the men's slalom.

Hopefully more news tomorrow. Don't forget to keep eyes on Shauna, Britt, Marie Michelle, and Marie-Pierre in women's second run. All threree made the top 30 so will have good start positions for 2d run.

February 23 - Men's GS (Giant Slalom)

Well, back to usual hours: 5:30 breakfast, 6:15 Section and Crew Chief meeting, 6:30 upload. Work much less complicated as track down to half initial length as only events remaining are GS and slalom. What I missed yesterday was a day of tear down of B-Nets, A-nets, etc. on upper sections no longer being used. Today was usual pre-race prep: making sure we had 2 people looking after each gate, ensuring all equipment was at hand (drills, gate keys, wedges, hammers, extra gate poles and banners).

For those not familiar, gate pole is installed by drilling hole in icy snow. The gate pole has at its base (bottom) a large screw, attached by a flexible spring to rest of pole. Bottom tip of screw is inserted into hole. A special "key: fits around the gate pole, is lowerd to top of "screw" and inserts into notches of screw. Handles of key are then used to screw gate into snow. When racer hits gate pole, it flexes at spring, screw maintains secure insertion in snow.

During the race, screw can come loose, so we always run out between racers to enbsure screw is tight. If thread is stripped, we have wood wedges to bang into the space between the screw and edge of hole to resecure gate pole. If gate pole can no longer be secured where it was, we are allowed to move it down the hill by no more than 4 inches, a distance unlikely to change the racer's line.

Additional work includes shaving the edges of ruts formed by racers' ski edge, raking away accumulating loose snow, repositioning gate banners when they are knocked off gate when skier hits it. Best racers (top 30) are run at long intervals, but from 31 on, only 40 second intervals so anything that needs to get done must be done quickly. We always keep counting to ourselves as we do our work, making sure to get out of track and "spill zone" well before racer comes. The spill zone is not where racer skis, but where he may end up if he falls.

Giant slalom truly reflects the Olympics philosophy of participation by as many countries as possible. There were 103 racers, huge for a world class ski race. Many of later racers came from countries one would not associate with snow, skiing, or racing. The racers were clealry not in the same class as top racers, but their participation truly showed what the Olympics are supposed to be about. The reality of course is thatother racers fromcountries such as Canada are much better than some of racers in Olympics, but each country is limited to 4 competitors.

We ran 2 runs of GS without a single "stop-start", term used when scheduled racer start is delayed due to reapirs needed on course or an athlete who falls and cannot get out of track in time. Thus a pretty amazing accomplishment, and due to great work by all those caring for gates.

Although I am supposed to work tomorrow, entire men's crew given day off. Only one more race to get off for men, the slalom on Saturday Feb 27, so no major work that cannot be started on Feb 25. So I will get to ski with onah and Roanne, all day, and it is snowing out, so it is bedtime for early (well, not as early for me!) start to a dsay of fun.

No Volley Day Today (Feb 22)

Although date shows Feb 24, actually written Feb 23, seems Blogger works on eastern time, now after 9 PM here.

Yes, finally a day off. It felt strange not to be up before 5 AM, and not to be in ski boots for 10-12 hours, but it was a good break. Drove to Vancouver after being offered use of car by Ken and Tannis Hall, friends from Tremblant. Jonah and I saw both women's semi-final hockey games, neither very competitive but still lots of fun. Wandered around Olympic pavilions, etc. in between. Seemed strange havingf a winter olympics whne the temperature was so balmy, grass growing, no snow to be seen, etc. But as each day goes by I realize more and more, that the Olympics, as great an idea as they are, are a media event, so not having "winter" in host city is not crucial.

Roanne got best event as she was at ice dance free skate and saw Virtue and Moir win gold, get medal, stood for Oh Canada. Jonah and I were wating for her so stood at the back of a bar (Jonah is underage) watcing large screen TV of their perfomance, all very exciting.

Late night drive back to Whistler for early AM start for men's Giant Slalom tomorrow (Feb 23).

Volunteer Day 18 - Feb 21 - Organized Mayhem but a great race

The Men's Super Combined was today. One run of downhill, followed by one run of slalom, best combined time wins. This makes for an incredibly busy day for course workers, as running a speed and technical event on same day requires onsiderable co-ordination and timing. Superimposed on this was the fact that since this event had been rescheduled for today, the timing of each run had to be precisely planned so as not to overlap with other events scheduled to be broadcast live. Put simply, we had a narrow window within which to get the slalom portion strated, or else it would have had to be delayed until 3 PM, an extraordinary delay for both racers and workers.

Basically all downhill workers had to be prepared to ski down immediately (i.e. seconds) after last racer in downhill, with all equipment (shovels, rakes, crampons, drills, gate keys), down to slalom start, on the downhill track tat was quite icy. Slalom course had been set the day before, gate positions had been marked, gates removed for downhill, then reinstalled after downhill. Yesterday we (section chiefs, of which I became one today) were canvassed for names of workers with experience looking after slalom gates during a race. Six names. But every few hours or so, things changed in terms of the plan. In the end, we had 16 people to look after 7 gates. For those who have worked slaloms before, back home, if we get one person for every 4 gates we are doing well. It worked out well as some less experienced workers learned by watching/helping others. We raked, shoveled, cut off sharp edges of ruts and rails after every single racer. I had never seen world class men ski slalom live before. It was quite incredible how fast they can ski despite all the ruts. Bode continued his great Olympics by winning the event. He was 3rd in the slalom, but for the gates he skied where we were, he has to have been the fastest. When he skied a flush (3 gates in  a vertical lline), it seemed his skis went straight yet managed to get around all 3 gates. And his line was much tighter (closer to inside pole of each gate) than most others.

After download of all equipment to recycle for next day, and the usual "Please go up to midstation and wait to see if there are any jobs to do before the end of the day", we got to download at a reasonable time, having been on the mountain for a mere 9-10 hours. Some workers were kept behind as there was another major water bar injection program to harden up the Giant slalom hill. Nobody on our crews volunteered, nor were we asked. After doing it for 2 days in a row, I was glad not to be involved with this one.

Tomorrow is my first day off since getting here. Jonah, Roanne, and I are off to Vancouver for 2 semi-fianl hockey games and the finals of the ice dance (Canada is number 1 going into the free skate portion!). Not many pics today, too busy working!

Exhausted, hot and sweaty, after the slalom portion of combined, but time for a quick bite on the side of the hill before our next jobs.

Volly Day 17 - Feb 20 - More and more prep.

Again one day late in reporting. Seems time flies at end of day, and it is harder to stay awake long enough to write anything. No complaints, just reality. But as opposed to being home, nil to do after a day of work so evenings very relaxing. There was another downhill training run today, mainly because with all the delays, so much time had elapsed since the last downhill training that it was felt necessary to give racers in the Super Combined another training run on the downhill course. Not compulsory this time, but conditions had changed enough that this is done for safety, etc. In case you had not noticed, the primary issue in putting on an alpine ski race, especially a speed event, is racer, worker, and spectator safety. The other 2 major issues are (1) making tings as fair as possible for all racers, and (2) ensuring each athlete has an accurate time.

Not much prep prior to training run. Women were running Super G race so men's training did not go the whole length of the course. And how about that women's super G: everyone (or almost) had almost conceded it to Lindsay Vonn (Kelly vanderBeek, injured Canadian team member, correctly predicted the winner), and Jonah and Roanne had seats in the stands to see one racer after the other displace the first place skier. At least until Fischbacher cleaned up.

Major work after the training run as lots of loose snow had built up. The track itself was hard as concrete, so  much so that many crew workers had difficulty getting down the pitches, even sideslipping. The loose snow was outside the racer's line, but had to be removed as it could predispose to injuries if racer goes off line into built up piles of soft snow. See pic below re: the approach to this issue.

I am the only member of my crew staying on after today, so entire crew goty together for beer and pizza at night. Roanne was welcomed as a "crew member", while Jonah got a last minute invitation to see the 2-man bobsleigh heats one and two. He says watching live gives a whole different perspective to the speed involved.

Early day (5:45 AM upload) tomorrow, and I am section chief again, so lots of organization also, hopefully 5-6 hours sleep and I will be fine.

Skis, feet, shovels, rakes on pitch of Toilet Bowl to get all loose snow off the track. I counted about 70-80 workers on the picth at same time. Similar numbers elsewhere on track. 

Nothing like a bit of R and R at end of a day of hard work, just waiting to make sure there are no more items in the job jar before we download.

Jonah at sliding centre for 2-man bobsleigh heats.

How is this for speed? A mere 145 km/hr. On video (unfortunately blogger.com has stopped making video upload possible), we have Jonah in foreground as an overturned sled goes by!

Volly Day 16 Feb 19 - What a Super SuperG

The track set up really well, in fact at the top, the first 4 gates were like a skating rink, at least for lowly skiers like me, but it was just what the racers like. Our water program had worked well, at least until it got warm and the snow softened. The race was scheduled for 11:30 AM local time, by wuch sun was out and snbow getting slower. I suspect late start had more to do with prime time television in Europe and other scheduling issues, and not primarily based on best ski conditions.

I was again at top of Weasel, great view of great high speed turns, air, amwzing recoveries, and awesome performance again by Axel Svindal and Bode. And as great as Eric Guay did (0.03 seconds from bronze, 0.06 seconds from Silver), I suspect he is not as thrilled as we think he might be (four years ago he came almost as close). But still a great performance. It is somewhat interesting that amongst course workers, there is always talk about Manny, Ronnie, at times Jan, but less of Eric. But most of people I am working with are B.C. natives, so hardly unexpected. I actually met Jan Hudec's mom early this AM waiting to load gondola, she too was working on course crew for the race.

We were quite busy during the race. Weasel was extremely concrete-like and no area to stand that is out of racer spill zones. Also, racers often hitting gates and knocking flags off. So we had rotation of workers who would take off down the pitch right after a racer, to repair/replace gate or panel, time ticking in our heads as there was 2 minute interval between racers, and then only 1:15 for racers 31 on. At the bottom of the pitch, a snowmobile waited to bring us back around up to the top of Weasel.

For those less knowledgeable about ski racing, the top rated skiers start in the first 30. The interval between racers is 2 minutes to make sure that if one racer falls, another racer is not on the course, in which case they would have to be stopped and sent back to the top for a rerun.

After the race we had to reconvert track to be ready for a repeat Downhill training run tomorrow. The Super Combined (one run of DH, one run of slalom) is Feb 21, but since it has been so long since last training run, there needs to be another downhill training tomorrow. Women do Super G also, nit sure yet how they will arrange this, as finish line is the same.

Inspection of Super G. View from near start, looking down Toilet Bowl. I had trouble

 even standing still on pitch, never mind trying to ski it.

Coaches gather at top of Weasel before start of race. The fellow in the middle (blue, white, and red uniform with hat and goggles, looking towards the right) is a Swede who was just appointed as director of alpine ski events for the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. He gave me the web site to go to to sign up as a volunteer!

View down Weasel. Note about twice as many gates as in Downhill, but racers still > 100 km per hr, I guess, by the time they get to end of the pitch. Note red gate to left on the pitch. You can't see slope beyond it as it drops off precipitously, racers are going against the fall line, lots of off balance air flights here. The blue gate panel after that came off repeatedly, keeping us busy. By race time, the few people behind the quadruple B-Net had grown to many hundreds, if not more.

The epitome of "outdoor bathrooms". Some course workers obvioulsy were not as busy as others, so had time to build a true outdoor toilet and sink in case we did not have time to go inside!

Day 15 - Feb 18 - More Water Programs

Don't let BC Labor board know, but today was my 15th straight day of work, as I managed to get on work crews on 2 supposed days off. But every day is just as great as the day before. Although I must say that some of the workers are getting a bit frustrated with early AM uploads and not necessaarily much to do except wait on others to make decisions.

Today I again tagged along with Section Head as he is not here Feb 21, day of the rescheduled Men's super combined, so I will need to do his job then. Unfortunately just about all our crew will be gone by then, as they signed up only for speed events, which were supposed to be done by then. Guess I'll have to "borrow" other workers from somewhere.

Ah yes, the Chinese Downhill (see yesterday's blog). The day before the Super G, racers are given about 45 minutes to ski the hill where the super G will take place, to get used to the terrain, etc. Usually they all line up in a row, even with the start hut, and when the course opens, they all take off within fractions of seconds of each other and ski the hill, each one trying to go faster tha the next, often a bit of a psyching out issue if they can pass someone. Today's however, was different, as there is a steep pitch coming out of the starting gate, and all the racers wanted to get feel of coming out the start. Thus, starts were 5-10 seconds apart. Really fun to watch though. Our water program had left the hill in a conditon most of us would call "icy concrete", but these racres just carved it up, so much so that they broke through some of it, leaving some areas with heaped up soft snow. So ... easily fixed with another water program. This time I got to hold the bar handles (see pics from yesterday), alot more work, but with all the water spraying, I could have saved on a shower later if there had been some soap ... and no, the clothes they gave us as volunteers are not waterproof! But it was sunny and not too cold, so all in all not a bad day. After all, how can one complain about being in boots and on skis (some of time, crampons other times) for 11 hours of the day?

After work, trip to the Weasel House (beer tent). Special guest today was Nancy Green, one of my idols as she was winning world cups and Olympic Gold when I was a teenager racing. I even had my picture taken with her (see below).

Tomorrow is Super G, then Ro and Jonah arrive, lots of events that we have tickets to, lots of fun in Whistler village, but only 9 days left!!

Gas powered leaf blower used to blow up the air mattresses (protection from

 hard/sharp objects on side of course) each day.

After SG course is set, coaches (not athletes) can go donw the course. Most take many notes, video the course, do GPS measurements, so they can review with racers that night. Here a French Team coach uses a probe to measure snow temperaturte, humidity, etc. to help determine what type of wax to use for the race.

Evening view to the mountain tops. Not hard to understand why some people who come here never leave.

View from the start hut of men's Super G in ealry AM as sun hits mountains in distance.

Nancy Green and me. Those of you who are perceptive will note that she is not looking  at camera. There were many people she knew, she posed for pictures with them. I gave my camera to someone, walked around behind her while she was smiling and talking to someone else, and he took the shot. Don't tell anyone!

Volly Day 14, Feb 17: How to make concrete from snow

While Lindsay Vonn and Julie Mancuso made minced meat of their competition in the women's downhill, we were busy preparing men's track for SuperG Feb 19, and Super Combined Feb 21. Although the ski packing done yesterday made for a smooth surface, it was far from hard, and did not stick to hard undersurface, so there was a major water injection program. Not many "volunteers" but hey, why not try something new, so I held onto the hose as others descended with the water bars (see pics below). On the steep pitches, the weight of the very long hoses tends to make the hoses slide down the hill which could be catastrophic as: (1) it could rip itself from the hydrant (the hydrants are the outlets for water for snow making), and even rip off the hydrant attachment which would result in complete flooding and destruction of the track, and (2) it could hit or yank workers down the hill. And believe me, it was hard workholding on. We are all wearing crampons to keep from slipping, especially on steep pitches. These take getting used to, and any false step can result in tumble down a pitch, and if foot sticks in snow and rest of body keeps going, well, no need to provide more details. Another important warning we got was to be careful not to step on hose with crampons. However two people did so, including one who was giving directions. That meant shutting off water, removing the section of leaking hose, and restarting. As per pics below, we literally inched our way down from the men's super G start down three pitches and 2 flats, taking a good 3-4 hours.

Early to bed tonight as 6:30 AM upload. I suspect not much to do tomorrow, except to watch the Chinese Downhill (tune in tomorrow to find out waht this is!).

Three water bars joined by connecting hoses. Workers hold the handles and use them to move the bars down the hill, on command of leader. The bar is held in same place anywhere from 3-4 to 8-9 seconds depending on water pressure, how deep the water needs to penetrate, and how much water is needed. A little bit of science and a lot of old-fashioned experience.

Loops of fireman's hose connecting hydrant to the bars. The blue cord you see is used to loop around the hose and hold it from sliding down the hill. Workers holding the hoses are separated by 10 to 30 or more yards depending on how steep the hill is and how difficult it is to keep hose from sliding.

Close-up of water bar showing water coming out of nozzles under high pressure. The nozzles are about 4 inches apart. Before the water hydrant is turned on, the nozzles cannot touch the snow surface or they will get blocked up, rendering them useless.

Close-up of holes left after water injection. Each row shows holes about 4 inches apart (nozzle separation), and, in this picture, the two rows of holes are only 9-10 inches apart. You do the calculation of how many rows are needed to cover the entire track, 10 inches at a time!

Volly Day 13 - Feb 16

Not much to report for today. Was supposed to upload at 4:30 AM as lots of snow expected, but then they needed knowledgeable workers to man gates for the slalom portion of the men's super combined, so I was "allowed" to sleep in and upload later. But when I awoke at 7 AM (someone called me to ask if race was on!), found out it had snowed 20 cm, race cancelled, so hung around condo, went up at 10, joined a slip crew that was stepping the whole course one step at a time. Luckily I started about 60% down the track, but lots of hard work. Reminded me of when I was a young kid and my dad would lead a step by step ski pack of the Olympic trail at Mont Chevreuil, as no snow cat could pack it. Funny isn't it: Olympic trail 50 years ago, now another Olympic trail (ha ha). After this, the same daily "hurry up and wait" at soup tent. Finally, because condition of track was precarious and no race the next day, everyone sent home, but I was asked to show up at 4 PM in case there were odd jobs that turned up. In meantime, grabbed my poles and had a couple of nice powder runs off Peak Chair. On was West Bowl, brought back memories from 9 years ago when our 3 kids just nonchalantly jumped a cornice to get into this steep bowl!

Anyway, no jobs at 4 PM either, so overall an easy day. But busy days ahead as they try to get the speed events in.

Interesting that although snow conditions were the same on ladies's track, they just scraped all snow off, that is because they needed track to be ready for tomorrow's Ladies' downhill.

Workers from women's track shoveling 10-20 cm of fresh heavy snow off the track, down to previously hard top surface. After they were done, snow cat moved off the extra snow from beside the track.

Volly Days 11-12 - Finally a Race !!

Hurray, we finally got a race off today, much to the joy and relief of all involved. What a great experience. For those of you who watched, carefully, you could see me almost every time a racer came into the Weasel. I know Jonah and Roanne saw me (They had un unfair advantage as I called them 15 minutes before race time to let them know where I would be standing).

Yesterday was a repeat of previous day, lots of fresh snow to shovel, rake, remove, lots of nets to raise, clean. Finally got off mountain at about 6 PM, but just as we were walking away from gondola base, we were called back to put in some B nets that are usually put up in AM, but FIS (Federation Internationale de Ski, governing body of alpine (and other) skiing worldwide) delegate wanted them up last night so they would get frozen into snow with overnight temperature fall. Also late PM there was a huge water injection program, to ensure hard surface for race.

This morning we uploaded at 5:30 AM, but had little to do except wait, watch inspection, make sure all equipment we might need was available, etc. And even during the race I had little to do (except watch!!), just one foray onto Weasel to fix the flag on the gate. Then cleanup and prep for tomorrow, got off hill at 4, so a mere 10+ hours on skis. As of now, plan is for 4:30 AM upload tomorrow for men's super combined (one run of downhill, one run of slalom, best total time wins), so bedtime is soon. Also I may get to work on slalom portion, which would be anice change.

Despite BC Labor laws, I have now worked 12 days straight, and although tiring, still going strong. More details with pics below.

Sunset from top of Men's Downhill (and still at work on skis!)

Water injection system. Fireman's hose coming from left delivers water under pressure to solid tubes (yellow). At bottom of tube are multiple nozzles. The red handles are to hold on to. Depending how much water needs to be injected, yellow tubes are help in one place for certain # of seconds, then quickly moved  a few inches at a time, down the slope. Yellow tubes can be connected in series to cover larger width of the slope. Result: concrete surface which racers prefer, assuming temperature falls overnight.

Night-time B-net installaton and adjustment

Most of crew at 8:15 PM or so after night-time B-net installation (I am second from left). The Olympic rings are just above finish line for alpine races, I am sure you have or will see them when alpine vents are televised.

Night-time view from hill looking down to finish line and finish area

View from top of Weasel (where I was stationed) looking down to large crowd of very noisy and enthusiastic fans. This was one of 4 or 5 areas where people on the mountain could watch the downhill, even without having purschased tickets. Limitations of pocket digital cameras is likely cause of digitized image (after all, it can't be the photographer).

A much needed rest at end of a long day, just waiting for instructions on our next job!! Luckily there was no more to do !

Volunteer Day 10 - Hurry up and wait

As you all know by now, Downhill was postponed, hopefully will run on Monday Feb 15. We were up at 3:30, at breakfast for 4 AM, then were told race was postponed. Weather was not the issue today, but snow conditions were. It snowed 20 cm or so on upper 2/3, rain on bottom 1/3. I learned some more about snow science. As temperatures were warm and bottom 1/3 quite mushy, too dangerous to race. However, new snow that fell there has melded well with base, so once temperature falls, all should be OK. At top 1/3, snow was soft enough that it could be shoveled off, leaving previously formed hard surface. However, in middle 1/3, snow was sticky, it was groomed and packed, but did not "fuse" with underlying surface, making poor race conditions. The solution likelyn will be to inject water into this snow, with subsequent melting and then freezing of snow allowing it to fuse with underlying hard surface.

No race Feb 14 as more snow predicted for overnight Feb 13 to 14. Hopefully it will then get cold enough for all to refreeze and to have hard surface. Also schedule needs to take into accout other events, especially the popular ones so nooveralp in live TV coverage.

After waiting around, we uploaded at 6:30 AM, main jobs todey were to get rid of snow that had fallen, and to make sure all security netting was cleaned of all snow, not just on the netting, but poles needed to be pulled up and all loose snow beneath /behind / in front of netting removed. Reason for raising the poles is each has an etched line circumferentially about 8-12 inches from tip. This needs to be right at surface of snow, so if racer hits fence, the pole will snap at this "breakpoint. If breakpoint is under surface of snow, netting system performance changes and is less secure.

Tomorrow I get to be section chief for a day, hopefully all will go well. And only a noon start!! Today we were done all work before noon (still 5-6 hrs of work), then I actually got to ski !! With poles and everything!! Had a couple of nice powder runs (albeit a bit cruddy, and poor visibility, but no complaints).

On men's track, long lines of course workers foot packing snow near the B-nets. Also note shovels when needed. After packing, someone checks to make sure breaking point of poles are at snow surface.

Shoveling snow from backside of A-Net, necessary since if snow builds up, base of A-Net loses "give" so if racer hits fence, it does not "absorb" the impact.

View from gondola of women's track. Long lines of course worker's, on skis, stepping down the hill one step at a time to pack the snow in as best as possible.

Feb 12 - Volly Day 9 - Night-time Shifts

Short early note today. 7 AM meeting to rally the troops. Tomorrow is Olympic Men's Downhill. It together with Gold Medal Hockey Game (if Canada makes it there) are considered by most to be the marquee events of the Olympics, so lots of pressure to get it off on time. Lots of snow last night, this is bad for downhill as track needs to be firm and no loose snow even outside the track in case racer goes out of track. So we were assigned shifts, I get to work from 1 PM to 10 PM today, so am trying to get some R+R now. Other crews work 10 PM to 7 AM, lots of snow to shovel. Then I am back on hill for 7 AM tomorrow. Hopefully we will all still be awake come race time, I think 11 or 11:45 local time. Go Canada Go !! Watch for Robbie Dixon, Eric Guay, Manny Osborne-Paradis, Jan Hudec. Will fill you in on how things went in tomorrow's blog. In meantime, here is pic of use of iPhone with carpenter's level app being used to ensure verticality of starting posts for race! (See previous blog on this).

Feb 11 - My Day 8, and finally, a whole race

Please note 3 blogs written today, Feb 11, one for Feb 9, one the 10th, so read the next 2 blogs as well.

Today we got to sleep in, until 5 AM, then early breakfast and 6:30 AM upload. It was crucial to get a training run in to make sure the Olympic downhill could be run when it is supposed to be, on Feb 13. Pretty eery skiing in pitch dark, although there are portable bright lights installed along pathways we need to take, plus headlamps most of us have. Once again, last minute clean-up and security issues, inspection, and forerunners. Given fog rolling in and unpredictable weather (Welcome to Whistler), decision was made to run racres at 40 second intervals, really small interval with possible risk, but need to get race in before weather would cause another cancellation was primary factor in decision. Although a few fog delays did happen, all racres gotr to run the course, albeit only to a point about 20 seconds above finish, as women were also doing training run, finish line is common to both, and as I learned the portion of the course that must be skied to make the training run "official" is quite variale and can be determined by the jury (see yesterday's blog re: jury). Forty seconds leave s little to no time to repair gates, flags, ruts, etc. But I was working near Gunther (see previous day blog), the FIS referee, who was a wealth of knwoledeg, and expereince, in terms of how to do and not do things re: saferty and security. To remind you, length of downhill is about 3.1 km, winning time should be between 1 min 50 and 1 min 55 seconds, so average speed is over 90 km per hour. Nobody wants to get in way of a racer at that speed. Gunther was a constant reminder to everyone in our area abut the need to be careful and attentive all the time. Needless to say, race organizers were thrilled to get all racers through. Now no matter what, the downhill can take place Feb 13. And I hope most of you took the time to check the results and note that Canada finished 2d and 3rd, less than 15/100 of a second from gold (Yes I know it is just practice).

And tomorrow we do not have to be at AM meeting until 7 AM, so I get to stay up later tonight and write blogs!

View up the mountain from base of foot bridge at 6:15 AM. Try looking for powder in this light!

Most of work on race day is scraping loose snow off the skier's path. Between fresh snow and warm weather, there was lots, so we scrape it off to side in bigger piles, and then snowblow it off the track.

If you look carefully, you can see 3 people at top of tree. Except for the climb, they are more comfortable than we are, as they are in sling/harness with no weight on feet/legs. These were photographers, part ofthe $400,000,000 package purchased by VANOC for all the Olympic video and audio.

Late nights, very early mornings, and lots of hard work beginnning to take a bit of a toll on some, as seen in the lunch tent after the men's run.

Feb 10 - The Longest Day (so far)

Today's report is also a bit late, but at least I have a bit of an excuse. Yestaerday (feb 9) afternoon they asked for a bunch of crew workers to be ready to upload on gondola at 4 AM. The premise was that Feb 10 was first training run for men's downhill, there was a possibility of snow, and they wanted to make sure it could all be removed in time. It was not supposed to be a work day for me (BC Labour Law restricts number of consecutive "work" days (even as a volunteer) to 6), but since I am staying close to venue, and because I wanted to, my section chief arranged for me to be "allowed" to work. So with all of us in breakfast tent at 4:00 AM (yes, even at that time we had to go through security), chief of course came down to tell us there had been no snow, to just relax a bit. Two and a half hours later we uploaded, still too dark to see, so using headlamps we went up to our sections to get ready for training run. Only about an hour or so of work to tidy things up and ensure last minute security issues (racer safety) were done, then we stood and watched inspection, which I always enjoy: watching people who look larger than life on TV, in reality most look like young kids, and how each one has differeent way of inspecting the course. Most of rumors abut who does what during inspection are indeed true! Race started at 10:30 AM but numerous delays due to fog, snow, etc., and finally called off at 3 PM withnonly half of racers having had a chance to do their run. So a long day, pretty unsuccessful, with ots of pressure to get a training run in on the 11th to esnure they could run the race on Feb 13. Whistler folk seemed pretty despondent, as mountain has reputation for not being able to get speed events off on time due to weather. In comparison to some other sports, people have been working on setting downhill track ever since winter began, there are 2400 people in work force trying to make sure everything is as ready as possible, yet there is still no control over things like the weather, and only some control over snow conditions. Compare this to hockey. One man to drive one Zamboni before the game and between periods! Not sure what drives us to do all this, but athletes for the most part are very appreciative.

Inspecting first of two key gates coming off flats (Carousel) onto Weasel

Note multicolored pants of the Norwegian team (Svindal not in pic)

Many racers spent a good 15-20 minutes at this gate that leads onto Weasel, a steep pitch that is key to setting up speed for the next long portion of the race. The fellow in light lue jacket with white helmut just to left of centre is Gunther, the FIS-appointed referee. he together with assistant referee, Chief of Course, and Chief of Race for the jury, the group that makes final decisions about all major issues that may arise during the race. See Feb 11 blog for more about him.

Volunteer Day 6, Feb 9 - SECURITY!

Sorry for the delayed reporting, I hear I even have readers who have missed daily updates. Well, as of 5 PM Feb 8 Creekside (site of all alpine events) was closed down, as was base of Creekside, so that RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police for American followers) could do their security "sweep". As of this morning, we now have to go through equivalent of airport security each time we enter a spots venue, including airport styl bag scanning equipment, no opened bottles containing liquid, etc. We lined up as planned at 7:00 AM this morning, and after waiting in that line I will never complain about airport delays. We did not mome an inch for an hour, then things finally started to flow. Apparently the security sweep had not finished on time. Luckily each of us has had at least 1 or more RCMP security checks, we get scanned in with our accreditation, and only 1 in 10 have to put packs, coats, etc through scanner. But even then, we all have knives, clippers, pliers, etc with us for crew work. But these are "OK". Each time the junior security agent sees one, he/she looks over to senior supervisor who keeps nodding "OK". And of course in ski boots I set off the alarm walking through the people scanner, all I got was a lower leg massage from knee to top of boot. All in all I guess better to be safe than sorry. But here are some figures that seem astonishing: Total budget for security for Olympics = $900,000,000. Total number of athletes I hear is around 2,500. Put that in your calculator and security cost per athlete is over $350,000. Even if total athlete number is wrong, and there are twice as many, cost is still quite staggering.

Once on the hill, everywhere one turned there were security forces, standing, skiing, keeping watch over various buildings at creekside, limiting passage of pedestrians and vehicles without proper ID, clearance, permits, etc.

Once on the hill, anytime anybody wants to enter the venue, there are stewards (VANOC personnel) who are instructed not to let anyone through without proper accreditation. NOt only that, but you need to actually tell them whose crew you are with and then they cdheck with dispatch that indeed you are actually supposed to be where you are going.

Anyway, let's hope that no "incidents" occur. (We have been taught here what words to use as euphimisms for "bad" things that might happen.

Line-up at security check-in. Note extension of line to top right of picture. There were just as many if not more than this number of people ahead of the ones in front, and an equal number further to the back. I am the one in light blue jacket and dark blue pants.

All the people in black are security personnel, and I only got half the group in the pic.

Of course, the day would not be complete without some extra jobs to do. They were short of people to drive the grooming machines, so I volunteered to do that as well:

By the way, VANOC purchased somewhere between 12 and 15 of these "Pisten-Bully" groomers just to look after the runs used for the alpine ski events. Each costs about $350,000 (with the winch attachment).

Day 5: (1) Make it nice for TV, and (2) Happy Birthday Manny

Tomorrow is "dry run" for men's downhill, then athletes have training runs planned for Feb 10, 11, 12, raceday is Feb 13. Just about all our work today was to make things look good for TV: a bunch of B-Nets we put up the last few days, all exactly as instructed, had to be moved because they partially obscured TV camera views, or did not look so good when seen on camera. Also, extra precautions made for safety, so more Willy-bags to install. Finally, they needed to check out downhill start, so I got to pose as a racer in the men's Downhill start gate (I am not sure I am allowed to send you any pictures that give away what things look like, so don't tell on me). They did not really need a pic, but I thought it would neat photo op.

I also got invited to Manny Osborne-Paradis's birthday party, see pics of him with Jan Hudec. Actually, the Whistler Weasels, the local group of volunteers that does the work putting on many events here, have a "hospitality tent" each time, this year's a huge tent that could put on a large scale wedding. Hospitality tent is a euphimism, it is really called the "beer tent". And it really does flow. Local athletes often come by, their way of saying thanks for organizers who put in so much time and effort.

7:15 AM waiting for gondola to open so we can upload.

Note reflective material on Olympic rings on back of our jackets.

Climbing the TV tower to install Willy-Bags

View looking down Weasel as we work on A-Nets. Note quadruple

B-Net and white air mattress as protection from TV tower
in case racers fall after the greenish colored gate on left.

10 seconds ... racer ready ... GO! (Yes that is me in start gate.)

Climbing up support post for A-net to tighten them up pre-race. Nice view too! (No that is not me up there!)

Jan, Manny, then Manny and Birthday Cake. I wonder what he is wishing for Feb 13!