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Whew! We did it, all Olympic Alpine Events finished in Whistler!
The last two days of Olympic competition at Whistler Creekside  did not come easily. Some of the worst weather we had experienced so far (and that's saying a lot) descended on our venue. The volunteer course workers were on the mountain all night clearing snow in preparation for the Ladies' slalom event. Somehow everything was ready on time and despite the heavy snowfall the first racer came out of the start gate on schedule. At the top of the course the fog added to the almost impossible conditions for the photographers. Some of my friends were frustrated that there were really great shots to be had but they were pretty much ruined by the terrible visibility but that's ski racing!  Again our Canadian athletes had some excellent runs that would have been celebrated results at World Cups but were off the podium here. This is young up and comer Erin Mielzynski from Edmonton. She skied a great race with an almost flawless first run. Watch for her in the future. Yesterday (Saturday) was our last event at Creekside. Again the challenges facing the course crew were huge. Less fog and snow was a blessing but warmer temperatures were a big problem. Here water is being poured on the track to help firm it up for the run. Everything worked well and we saw two phenomenal slalom runs by the men.
  Here's a shot of me and the Director of Alpine Sport, Banff's own Peter Bosinger. Peter has been in Whistler for the last few years, working for Vanoc, building the race courses and running the test events. No-one has been under more pressure than Peter and somehow he made it all work. Banff can be very proud of him.
It was a bit sad watching the last racer cross the finish line yesterday but it was mixed with a feeling of accomplishment and relief that every scheduled alpine event had been completed succesfully
 In the early evening all of the staff and volunteers from the alpine venue met for a wrap up party in the finish area. Peter gave a hertfelt speech of praise for everyone who had helped make the games a success at Whistler Creekside.  As darkness fell I looked up at Whistler Mountain and took a quiet moment to soak it all in. What an experience. 28 days of stress, ridiculously early mornings, pressure, politics, amazing ski racing and parties! I saw things that I'll never forget. The joy of the winners and the heartbreak of those that missed maybe thier once in a lifetime chance of glory. The Olympics are special just like they say. It sounds cliche but this was my second Winter Olympics and this morning when I woke up, for a moment I felt just what I felt 22 years ago the day after the games at Nakiska. A bit sad that it's over but a wonderful feeling that I was there at the greatest party in the world. Sochi 2014? Stay tuned!
Down to the final races at Whistler!
 Whistler weather is back with a vengance. The ladies Giant Slalom was sheduled for Wednesday but after completing the first run, heavy fog forced the postponement of the second run until today, Thursday. Here's a photo of Nick Didlick the Chief of Photography for the 2010 Olympic Games (center, our boss), me in my stylish blue Vanoc uniform and some of the photographers waiting in the early morning for our clearance to enter the race course. I was at the start for the first run. It's a really eaciting place to be. There is lots of excitement in the air and when the racers throw themselves out of the gate thier coaches and teammates are shouting at the top of thier lungs! This is Canadas' Britt Janyk launching onto the course. All of our girls had great runs but didn't crack into the medals.   Backstage just before the award ceremony in the finish area you can see up close the flowers that are presented to the top three winners. They will receive thier medals at the Medal Plaza tonight in the center of Whistler village  Today the Gold went to Germany's Viktoria Rebensburg, the Silver to Tina Maze of Slovinia ( her second) and the Bronze to Elizabeth Goergle of Austria (her second also). It was great to see Patty Schwartz in the finish area chatting with Canmore's Shona Rubens. Patty has been helping run Alpine Races fo the Sunshine Ski Club for as long as I can remember and is dedicated to the sport. Shona put in some great runs at the Olympics and now is off to Europe to finish the World Cup season.
 The ladies slalom is scheduled for tomorrow. This event is shorter and relatively immune to bad weather so I think we'll get it off the card. Cheers from Whistler!
Wonderful Skiing in Whistler then back to Racing
Finally a day off with beautiful weather. Time to go skiing and explore Whistler-Blackcomb. From the top of Blackcomb Mountain the view of the famous landmark "Black Tusk" in the distance was spectacular.   Somehow in the vast expanse of this huge resort we ran into my friend Canadian Ski Team member and Olympian Britt Janyk skiing with fellow Olympian Chemmy Alcott who is Britians' top female racer. They were on the upper mountain with Chemmy's coach, free skiing in preparation for Wednesdays Ladies Giant Slalom.
At the top of the Peak Express Chairlift on Whistler Mountain there is this enormous Inukshuk. There is a constant line of skiers waiting to get a picture posing at it. Here are a few of our Olympic Press Staff that we met up with after lunch. I never seem to ski Whistler when there isn't cloud and fog so I'm really glad that we had such a great day. I finally know my way around this massive resort (mostly).   Today it was back to racing with the Men's Giant Slalom. The clouds had come back into the valley and by the end of the second run it was raining lightly. The forecast is not great for the last few days of events but unlike the speed events, Downhill and Super-G, we can run the technical events in almost any weatther.  Swiss Carlo Janka put two great runs together to win the Gold Medal with Norway's Jansrud and Svindal claiming Silver and Bronze.
 No-one has worked harder than the volunteers on the mountain. Here is a group shot of the Ladies Course crew. Anyone who has worked at the Lake Louise World Cups would recognise alot of faces in this bunch. Most of them run those events and are helping out here and doing an incredible job, hats off to them! Tomorrow is the Ladies GS. Looking forward to watching Britt and the girls have great races, stay tuned!
Speed Events finished, a day off and then on with the Technical Events in Whistler
Lots of news to report from the Olympics in Whistler. Yesterday (Sunday) we hosted the Men's Super Combined and on Staurday we saw the Ladies Super-G. That means the speed events, which are the thrilling, action filled top to botom races are finished. We have a day off to do a bit of skiing tomorrow (Tuesday) we start into the Technical Events with the Men's Giant Slalom. Saturday morning the view from the Women's start hut was amazing as usual.  It's hard to describe how steep and treacherous it is on these courses. People are working, equipment and cables are everywhere and the snow under your skis has been shaved down to hard white ice. It's important to be confident on your feet because there is nothing more embarrassing than to loose control of your skis in front of this crowd but someone does it almost everyday!  Lindsey Vonn again had a medal run. Here she celebrates just after crossing the finish line. As for our Canadians the frustration continues. Britt Janyk shows her disappointment at the finish despite having a great run and finishing in the top ten!! Medals are everything here, whether that's right or wrong that's the way it is.
 Austria certainly had something to celebrate Saturday as Andrea Fishbacher claimed the Gold in the ladies Super-G with Tina Maze from Slovakia taking home the silver and Lindsey a bronze.  I had a very quick chat with Lindsey in the finish area while she signed a few photos for our daughters. For the last couple of years she has taken a second to pose with them in the World Cup Media Lounge at Lake Louise and I've had a few copies in my jacket for her to sign. She said that she remembers them because they are all so cute! (they are)  Sunday was the Men's Super-Combined event. Here I am up on the roof of the broadcast center on the top of the grandstands. What a place to watch the race! With me is one of our photo service volunteers, Jon Margolis from Squaw Valley Resort in California. He's a budding photographer and full time ski patroller and like all of our volunteers having a blast at the Olympics. (We have the best volunteers of the games). Jon is not standing on somthing he's actually that tall. The Super-Combined consists of a Downhill run in the morning followed by a Slalom run in the afternoon. The times are combined to determine the winner. The slalom is on the bottom of the course and almost the entire race is visible from the grandstands. The noise the crowd makes is amazing.
 Here's a shot from the finish area of a racer speeding past the giant Olympic Rings that look down the hill from a tree island where the Men's and Ladie's courses meet.  Unbelievably strong skiing and an unfortunate fall for the event favorite Norways' Aksel Lund Svindal gave Bode Miller his third medal of games. First Bronze, then Silver and now the Gold. What a show!!  We're starting to call it the "Bodium" So far there has been at least one American racer on every Alpine Olympic podium of these 2010 games. Congratulations to them. I just wish we had a bit of that luck for our squad. I don't know how I manage to be so lucky but I honestly think that I have the best job at the Olympics. I'm in front of the people in the front row seats (I try not to block thier view) and I work with really fun, dedicated people and the worlds best ski racers. I'm going to enjoy my memories of these Olympics every bit as much as I do that last games I worked at in 1988. Here again is Bode Miller who brought all of his coaches and staff from his team out into the finish area for a photo. This is what happy looks like!!
 Lots more action to come, stay tuned but for now I'm going skiing!!!
The races are on in Whistler!!
Our race schedule is in full swing at Whistler. Great weather, cold temperatures and blue skies are allowing us to get back on track, making up for lost time and allowing us to put on great events every day. Thursday was the Ladies Super Combined. One run of Downhill racing in the morning followed by a Slalom run in the afternoon. Here is a view from above the finish area as a racer rips onto the last pitch in the morning run.   After a horrible crash yesterday in the Ladies' Downhill had her suffering from deep bruising in her lower back and legs, Sweden's Anja Pearson stormed to an amazing third-place finish and claimed the bronze. Here she is in the Slalom run. Germany's Maria Riesch won the gold and Julia Mancuso, the American racer who was second to Lindsey Vonn in the Ladies' Downhill, added to her Olympic medal collection with a second-place silver.
As for Lindsey, a straddled gate with the finish in sight ruined her chances of medalling two days in a row. She had a great quote: "If I had skied safely, I could of had the bronze, but that's not what I wanted." Tommorow is the Ladies' Super-G, and I don't think that we've seen the last of this amazing racer yet.   Near the top of the course at today's Men's Super-G, Rick and I stopped to have a chat and photo with Hiro Yakushi. Hiro has been photographing the World Cup since it was formed in the early 1960s and is a quiet giant in our world. He is one of the people I admire most in our business, and this is a picture that I will keep for a long time. Twenty years ago Hiro gave me a lift from a World Cup in Itay through the Alps to the next event in a tiny village in Switzerland. Racing through snowy mountain passes in the night in his little Audi coupe was one of the most memorable (and frightening) experiences of my life, and we always laugh about it when we meet. The Men's race today was spectacular. Aksel Lund Svindal (below) won the gold, Bode Miller claimed his second 2010 Olympic medal with a silver, and his teammate, Andrew Weibrecht, walked away with the bronze. Canadian Eric Guay again just missed the podium by .03 seconds! Eric has had his fill of fourths and fifths, and I think he is due to get what he has earned. Manny Osborne-Paradis came off the course, Robbie Dixon had problems as well, and again Banff's Jan Hudec had to wait out delays as the course softened in the sun, and despite a great run finished well off the pace.  Tomorrow is the Ladies' Super-G. The weather forecast is excellent, and maybe it will be Canada's day finally!!!
Lindsey Vonn rules the Womens' Olympic Downhill in Whistler.
Finally, we have a break in the weather that is supposed to last for about a week. Blue skies and cold nights mean that we are going to catch up for lost days on our schedule and start running great races. At the top of Whistler Mountain it was beautiful this morning and we were ready for the Womens' Olympic Downhill. The story this week has been all Lindsey Vonn. An American, one of the winningest women racers of all time but suffering from a painful shin injury suffered in training two weeks ago. Could she have the race of her life and realise her Olympic dream?   Here are all of the ladies race bibs strung out at the start waiting for coaches to collect and hand to thier racers.  Thousands of race fans packed the finish area and the noise was amazing. It was a picture perfect day for an Olympic Downhill.  The course was fast and treacherous especially near the bottom as the women rocketed of "Hot Air" a huge and blindingly fast jump that they had only had one chance to train on a few days ago. You have probably seen the clips on television but I have never seen so many horrible crashes in one race in my life. Somehow all of the girls involved, even the one flown off the course by helicopter apparently are OK. Thank God! Lindsey Vonn actually did have the race of her life. She skiied almost a perfect run. On a couple of the bumps she had to open up a bit but was immediately back into her tuck. It was an amazing display of skill, determination and bravery. Of course I was hoping that our Canadian girls, Britt, Emily and Shona would see thier dreams realised today but it just wasn't to be. They all had good runs with Britt finishing 6th, Em 17th and Shona, after long delays in the start finishing with an excellent run ending up in 21st place.  To add to the American teams' joy, Julia Mancuso, Lindseys' teammate finished 2nd and claimed the silver medal. I can guess what picture will be on the front page of pretty much every newspaper in the U.S. tommorrow!  I feel a bit sorry for Julia. Her performance was every bit as remarkable as Lindseys' but after a couple of questions at the press conference it was all Lindsey Vonn. She has star power and there is no denying it and the press eat it up. Her story, conquering all of the many obstacles that have been thrown in her path and never losing her desire to win is amazing, that's for certain.  Of course tommorrow is another day and we need to be on the mountain at 6:30 am to get ready for the Womens' Super Combined a race that has two parts. A Super-G in the morning and a slalom in the afternoon. Lindsey again is favored but certainly not by as much and we have a couple of girls who shoud do well. Whistler village continues to rock at full volume. On the way home I stopped to enjoy a couple of tunes by The Barenaked Ladies performing a free concert in the town square. Amazing!! Stay tuned.
An Incredible day in Whistler! Men's Olympic Downhill
 What a beautiful sight! Overnight the sky had cleared and the temperature in Whistler had dropped. By myself in the quiet of the early morning, the view from the start hut of the Mens' Olympic Downhill was a once in a lifetime thing to see. The race course fell away down the mountainside twisting throught the snowy trees. The track which had been soft over the last few days was frozen into hard white ice. Finally we knew we were going to have a race and that it was going to be a good one. Many Weasel Workers believe that the ghost of Crazy Canuck, Dave Murray, a Whistler local, smiles down on the race course that bears his name and brings it good ski racing weather when it needs it most. There might be something in that.
 And what a race! The top three medallists were separated by less than 9/100ths of a second! Swiss racer Didier Defago won gold, Aksel Lund Svindal of Norway was second and the (non-Canadian) crowd favorite, Bode Miller of the United States silenced his detractors with a superb performance and a bronze medal. Our Canadian men had an epic day unfortunately without medal results despite some great skiiing. Eric Guays' run was clean and mistake free but he missed the podium by less that 2/10ths of a second. Manny Osborne-Paradis who must have felt the enormous pressure of being the hometown boy at the Olympics, who seemed tight and probably would give anything for another crack at it, none the less finished well. Robbie Dixon, risking everything, crashed, and Banff's own Jan Hudec skied beautifully but with a late start number and a softening course couldn't make up the difference.  After the race there was the usual press conference in the media center. Here's Bode Miller speaking with journalists. The North American Press cover Bode intensly because he is controversial and gets results but no other North American seems even to be on thier radar. The European Press are ski mad and thier countries racers are worshipped.  While the athletes and thier families and fans are heading to the medals plaza or a good nights rest, the race jury is planning a 4 o'clock start and the next day's races. All in all it was a great day in Whistler Creekside. The Men's race was excellent and the ladies completed thier training runs as well so we are ready to go with 10 more medal events. Stay tuned.
Battling the elements in Whistler
It's proving to be a struggle to run the speed events at our venue in Whistler. Unseasonable warm weather mixed with precipitation is causing delays in the schedule as course crews work around the clock to keep the course race ready. Just when it looks like we'll be getting a break with colder temperatures the fog rolls into the mid-mountain making it too dangerous to send racers. However, the weather forcast is looking favorable and I think we will start handing out Alpine Medals soon.  Early in the morning we head up the lifts to the top of the mountain where it is a different world. The snow is light and deep and the views are amazing.  As we descend and enter the race courses we see legions of "Whistler Weasel Workers" battling to remove the accumulation of snow with any means available. The dedication and effort is inspiring. These volunteers will not give up!  Down in the finish area photographers are hoping to get glimpses of racers skiing through so they can at least get some images to send out to thier agencies that day. Canon and Nikon both have camera repair and service centers set up at the media center here in Whistler and I think they are getting a lot of work drying out cameras and lenses!  With the events on hold we have time to open up boxes in the media center and see what's in them. Here I'm putting up some signs that we found in the finish area. Attention to detail is what we as Olympic Alpine Photography Management are most proud of.  We might be a bit behind schedule but Whistler is bursting at the seams. The world is here and they are shopping. With any luck we'll get a Ladies' Downhill Training run off tomorrow and Monday we will have the Mens' race. Stay tuned!!!!
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did not come easily. Some of the worst weather we had experienced so far (and that's saying a lot) descended on our venue. The volunteer course workers were on the mountain all night clearing snow in preparation for the Ladies' slalom event.
Here's a shot of me and the Director of Alpine Sport, Banff's own Peter Bosinger. Peter has been in Whistler for the last few years, working for Vanoc, building the race courses and running the test events. No-one has been under more pressure than Peter and somehow he made it all work. Banff can be very proud of him.
