So, all the volunteers got a memo from VANOC (The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games) earlier today that each one of us coming from outside of BC is required to bring at least one suitcase of snow to help in the efforts of building up the courses on Cypress Mountain.
OK... jokes aside, this is the third time in modern Olympics history that there is not enough snow at one of the venues with less than two weeks left before the opening ceremonies (the other two times were in 1932 at Lake Placid and again in 1964 in Innsbruck, Aus.). The weather has been really mild over the past couple of weeks (in the 7 to 9°C range) with rain and drizzle as the main form of precipitation.
You can read this CBC article to see how VANOC is dealing with this situation and what their interesting contingency plans are:
On my end, there is only 1 week left ‘till my departure and 9 days until Michaëlle Jean declares open the XXI Olympic Winter Games. I’m going through some final prep for transportation options and my training manuals. The board is sharpened and waxed. Things are coming along. And the countdown continues!
À la prochaine…
