February 8, 2010 in Sports

Vancouver Olympics still waiting for winter

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Associated Press photo

Trucks carry snow to the Cypress Mountain skiing venue last week.
(Full-size photo)

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – As Olympians arrive by the day, the Winter Games seem to be missing something. Namely, winter.

There’s more snow in D.C., as in District of Columbia, than B.C., or British Columbia.

Vancouver Olympic officials have touted these as “The Green Games,” but Mother Nature might be taking that to an extreme. Some Vancouverites are now referring to them as “The Brown Games,” given the muddy conditions at Cypress Mountain.

“When I got off the airplane it was like, ‘What’s this green grass doing here? This is the Winter Olympics,’ ” U.S. speedskater Trevor Marsicano said Sunday, recalling his reaction after flying in last week from Milwaukee. “For me it’s nice, because I’m used to, like, zero degrees. This is awesome.”

Trouble is, with opening ceremonies only five days away, the above-freezing temperatures in Vancouver – it got above 50 on Saturday – continue to raise concerns for other sports, particularly snowboarding and freestyle skiing, two events being held on the mountain overlooking the city.

The biggest test comes today, when freestyle moguls training sessions are scheduled to begin. Those sessions will provide the first onsite test after organizers spent much of the past few weeks hauling in snow by helicopter and by truck.

Although organizers have stressed the courses on Cypress are almost complete, they did announce Sunday that they’ve pushed back training sessions on the parallel giant slalom snowboarding course by two days. The event begins Feb. 26.

Training on the halfpipe was cut earlier from five to three days.

“The forecast is looking positive this week, and we’ll hopeful see some colder temperatures,” Tim Gayda, vice president for sport for the Vancouver organizing committee said Saturday.

The outlook, however, still appears as gray as the clouds that hung over the city and clung to the North Shore Mountains for most of Sunday.

An intermittent drizzle fell on Vancouver, and temperatures hovered around 40. It was colder on Cypress, with temperatures in the 30s, with a light rain.

The long-range forecast has temperatures dropping to as low as 19 on Wednesday, and a light snowfall projected for Saturday. And yet there are chances of daytime showers for much of this week, too.

It’s even relatively warm in Whistler, where numerous events – including Alpine skiing, bobsled and biathlon – will be held in the mountain-locked community two hours north of Vancouver. The forecast for this week has temperatures hovering at the freezing mark.

In Vancouver, along the city streets and gardens, crocuses are starting to sprout and apple blossoms are starting to bud on trees, making for an unusual sight for a Winter Games host city.

The warm temperatures are somewhat unseasonable even for Vancouver. What is unusual is the lack of snow on the North Shore Mountains, which have experienced one of the warmest months of January on record.

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