Vancouver, Feb 7 (DPA) Lack of snow has left Olympic officials battling to prepare the venue for freestyle skiing and snowboarding.
Organizers Saturday cut back weekend training sessions at Cypress Mountains to preserve the course north-west of Vancouver while a massive snow-moving operation continued ahead of competition a week away.
Halfpipe training was trimmed from five to three days, but Sarah Lewis, secretary-general of the international ski federation FIS, said this still gave competitors more time on the venue than they would have at a World Cup.
“The situation is the same for everybody,” she said.
A lot of athletes were arriving for the Games a little later anyway to train away from the Olympics environment, Lewis said.
“We are in the hands of the weather and it’s all about dealing with it. The work goes on. There is really only positive words to say about it at the moment,” she said.
Competitors have been given the chance to ski and board at Whistler, where there is enough snow, until Monday.
Official training is still scheduled to go ahead on Cypress Mountain next week, and there are no plans to relocate any of the events, said Tim Gayda, vice-president of sport for the organizing committee VANOC.
“They will take place at Cypress Mountain – 100 per cent,” he said.
Gayda said organizers had “a bunch of contingency plans about too much snow or too little snow and we’re largely knee-deep in the contingency plan for the too-little snow.”
He added: “Really, what we’re dealing with is to to make sure we have enough snow should we get these warm temperatures and just to finish off. I’m 100 per cent confident that we’ll be running there.”
A massive snow-moving operation began last month at Cypress Mountains with helicopters dumping snow on the course and trucks used to ferry snow from a provincial park 250 kilometres away.
The slopes are also being fortified with bales of straw, while bulldozers have been pushing piles of snow down the mountains.
British snowboarder Zoe Gillings, who was one of the competitors, to train Saturday at Whistler’s Blackcomb Mountain, said the athletes “are really appreciative” of the efforts being made to get the venues in shape.
“The venues up here and down in Cypress and Vancouver are awesome, so no complaints,” she said.
“Obviously the snow isn’t fantastic down in Vancouver, but nobody can help that. It sounds like they’re doing all they can to organize it and get it sent in with helicopter and get hay bales, and everything sounds like a lot of work.”
Organizers are meanwhile confident about conditions at Whistler which is hosting alpine skiing, nordic skiing and sliding events.
Vancouver has suffered from its warmest January on record, and forecasts for the week leading up to the winter Games show the generally mild weather is expected to continue.
Environment Canada’s weather office forecasts a mix of sun for most of the coming week in Vancouver where the temperature Saturday was around 10 degrees Celsius.
A slight drop to around 6 degrees Celsius was set for midweek but a milder 9 degrees with a 40-per-cent chance of showers was forecast for Friday when the opening ceremony of the Games takes place.
rounak