GamesBids.com: Cypress Mountain Ready For Vancouver Games - Rogge

Cypress Mountain Ready For Vancouver Games - Rogge
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GB Staff on Friday, January 29, 2010  8:51am EST
 
International Olympic Committee (IOC) member Jacques Rogge said Thursday Cypress
Mountain will be ready for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games.
The Star reports Cypress Mountain was closed to the public following warmer
than expected temperatures turned the snow into slush.
VANOC had to helicopter in snow from higher elevations, put existing show under
protective tarps, and use hay and wood to bolster runs to have the venue ready
for competitions.
Rogge said Thursday in an interview from Lausanne, Switzerland that he had just
been informed by VANOC that there is no problem. He said, "the latest I have
been told by VANOC is that the field of play is absolutely unprecedented and
ready for competition", adding it would be nice if Vancouver and Whistler had
the same snow storm that was presently hitting Lausanne.
During the Christmas season organizers stockpiled snow by "farming" the natural
snow from the upper reaches of the mountain and mixed it with artificial snow to
make a firm base to make a firm base for racing, reports The Star.
A team of 45 people worked 24 hours, seven days a week using eight snow cats
out of a fleet of 24 and two large dump trucks to move more than three hundred
truckloads of snow from the top of Mount Strachan where more than three metres
of snow is untouched in the Skychair area, to the field of play on neighbouring
Black Mountain.
Until now 1,065 bales of snow, which will eventually be covered with a layer of
snow, have been used to replace the base of packed snow originally anticipated.
Of these bales about 800 were airlifted into place by helicopters to shape and
construct snowboard cross and ski cross course features, which will also be
covered with a layer of snow.