Day 09 - Swiss Celebrations

 

After the the bobsleigh we walked through the village. The Swiss were celebrating the gold medal of Simon Ammann in the Men's Long Hill Ski Jump. The Swiss certainly know how to party! They were awaiting the arrival of Ammann, but we weren't sure how long he was going to be so we headed home to eat Indian food.

Day 09 - Two Man Bobsleigh

 

Wally arrived in Whistler this afternoon and joined us at the Two-man Bobsleigh. We arrived a bit late because of an enormous line up to go through security. Just as we arrived one of the bobsleighs crashed. Two of the next three sleighs crashed after that, which made for a bit of an alarming start to the event. We watched the full second run from various points on the track, but the crowd was much bigger than at any of the other sliding events that we've attended so far. Tomorrow we're going to see the Men's Combined at Whistler and then head back to Vancouver.

Day 09 - Women's Super G

 
Maria was enjoying the sunshine standing next to this fan with a Mexican wrestling mask! It was another brilliantly sunny day at Whistler Creekside for the Women's Super G. The course seemed pretty difficult as one third of the first fifteen skiers didn't finish. Everyone was waiting for Lindsday Vonn who had a late start. She delivered a great run and was in first, but surprisingly two later skiers finished ahead of her. The Austrian Andrea Fischbacher won the event.

Day 08 - Long Hill Ski Jump

 

We took the bus to the Whistler Olympic Park in Callaghan Valley for the Ski Jump this morning. The event was the first in which we could see the entire event from start to finish (with the exception of a tiny portion when the skiers were at the bottom of the in-run). It was a brilliant sunny day with almost no wind -- perfect for the ski jump. We were able to see all 61 of the skiers jump and the top ones were going so far that they had to lowere the start. The top-50 will have two jumps tomorrow to decide the medal. The only downer was the 90 minute wait for the return bus.

Day 07 - Skeleton

We had the morning off in Whistler so I went to the community centre to do some biking, running and swimming. The weather up here is glorious. We went to the Sliding Centre this afternoon and arrived just in time to watch the beginning of the first run for the women. The men's and women's skeleton start is right at the top of the sliding centre so it was a bit of a hike to get up to the top, but well worth it to watch the start. We could then watch the rest of their run on the big video screen. It was pretty cold and after the women's runs we went into a warming hut to wait for the men's runs. We watched the men's first run from the start as well and then headed back to the Village as it was getting pretty cold. Tomorrow we have to get up very early to catch the bus to the Olympic Park for the ski jump.

Day 06 - Double's Luge

The Double's Luge was a bit more fun to watch because there are only two runs so we got to see the gold medal run. On the second run the lugers start in reverse order of their finish in the first run so each run is likely to yield a new first place finisher. As expected the Austrians with the best time in the first run were able to hold on to their lead and won the gold medal with the final run of the competition. The weather was perfect -- clear and cold. Tomorrow we go back to the Sliding Centre for the Skeleton.

Day 06 - Ladies Downhill

 
Robin and his friend (and wedding planner) Tanum are enjoying the sunshine in this shot. We were in the standing room area at the bottom of the Ladies Downhill. We saw Lindsay Vonn ski to a gold medal. It was great weather, but nevertheless a bit cold standing around for so long. We're off to doubles luge tonight.

Day 05 - IOC run amok

After finding out that the Men's Super Combined (one run of downhill and one run of slalom, winner with best combined time) was postponed because of 10cm fresh snow overnight, I checked my e-mail to find out that YouTube had removed two of my three women's luge videos because the IOC claims my videos infringe their copyright. This is the IOC run amok. I don't know why the third luge video was not removed, nor why my video of the men's downhill was not removed. In any case, with no events to attend Robin and I decided to go up the mountain and enjoy the fresh snow. Unfortunately most of the day we battled near white-out conditions, but we did get some sunshine in the afternoon.

Day 04 - Women's Luge

This evening Robin and I went to the Women's Luge at the Whistler Sliding Centre. We watched the first two runs. The final two runs take place tomorrow. The Sliding Centre is large and winds back and forth. You can watch the sliding from lots of different points. At some points you can only see the lugers slide by for a brief instant, but at others you can follow them for a couple of seconds. We watched at various points from the finish up to the start. One thing that is surprising and not evident on tv is that the finish area is quite a steep uphill stretch; another is simply the incredible speed at which they are traveling by the end of the run. It was quite cold watching, but at least it was not raining or snowing. We'll be back to the Sliding Centre to watch bobsled later this week.

Day 04 - Men's Downhill

Robin and I made it up Whistler before the Downhill started. We found a spot close to the start and watched the forerunners and the first few skiers. Then we moved down a bit and watched Bode Miller ski by -- see below. Then we moved to the Weasel and watched the rest of the top seed. The speed they are going is quite incredible. The sun came out for the later racers. We skied a few runs and had lunch in the Round House. A large group of Swiss were celebrating the gold medal run of Didier Defago. We skied down at 2 and now we're heading off to the Women's Luge.

Day 03 - Whistler

I dropped Maria off at LiveCity Yaletown in the afternoon. She was there when they sang the national anthem to celebrate the first ever gold medal by a Canadian on Canadian soil. Yay! Robin and I drove up to Whistler this afternoon. The road had fairly light traffic. The bottom of the downhill course looked pretty neat. We drove into the village to see what the crowd was like. It was pretty busy, but no worse than what you would encounter at Christmas. I noticed that a big maple leaf was being projected onto the bottom of Blackcomb. It was visible as we drove into Blueberry Hill. We'll probably go skiing in the morning, but we'll have to take transit as no parking lots are open. In the evening we'll go to see women's luge. It should be fun.

Day 02 - Robin Arrives

I picked up Robin at the airport at 2 this afternoon. We went downtown so he could pick up the tickets that he bought through CoSports (the American ticket distributor). I got a first-hand look at the festival atmosphere downtown. Mainland Street and Robson Street were closed to cars and were pretty crowded even though it was raining. Robin was happy to see that the tickets he bought for the women's hockey semi finals were excellent -- second row on the blue line! A group of us went for dinner in West Van and Robin and I will head up to Whistler tomorrow.