Today was my last day as a volunteer at the Whistler Sliding Centre! Went out with the four-man bobsled. We also had rain all day so I can't say I'm sad to be done. As a parting gift, they gave us a little Swatch watch and a medallion thingy that I'll probably bury in a box somewhere and then find ten years from now. I'll think back to the amazing exeperience this has all been.
The watch though I'll probably auction to raise money for the Ride to Conquer Cancer. Now accepting interested offers!
I suppose now would be a good time to reflect on all the people I met, the spectators I helped, the racing I cheered, the medals Canada brought home (and hopefully will bring home tomorrow) ... but really I'm pretty exhausted so I think I'll keep this one short.
But I would be remiss if I didn't mention we're now number 1 for golds!!!!
While my volunteering is all but over, I'm still in the west for another couple days. Tomorrow the Premier is speaking to athletes at a reception in Vancouver, so I'll try to make it to that and hear what he has to say. Still haven't had a chance to meet up with some western friends so I'll also do some rounds I hope. Would be amazing to get out riding again (snow OR dirt), but I won't hold my breath.
Then Monday, I'll be fighting my way through YVR with the 39,000 other people (and 77,000 bags) expected to be leaving -- a record apparently. Fingers crossed, and thank god I'm not flying standby!
Team Canada closes their second run, putting them in 2nd going into the finals!
After the Americans went over (a TON of crashes today) their sled is trucked back to the operations buildings
Riiiiiiiicola!
Rocking out with Wintersleep in the Village Square: my swan song.
I meet some mounties on my way to the bus. Height requirement to get in you know.
You don't want to hear about the absolutely amazing time Gerhard and I had at Whistler today.
You don't want to hear about how the powder was still great, even a few days after the last snowfall. Especially off the Peak chair, where the sun was shining in VD Trees and the snow was poofing around my knees.
You don't want to know it's because there is literally NO ONE on the runs at Whistler (later we checked Blackcomb and the same is true there as well). Runs that are usually tracked out within a few hours were still fresh at the end of the afternoon.
You definitely don't want to hear about the whoop-worthy good time we had shredding in the park. My box-riding skills continue to improve (ha!) And I even braved a starfish on one of the jumps.
You probably aren't interested in hearing about riding through "Burn Trees" on Blackcomb — spikey black skeletons left over from the fires this summer. In the deep pow, in the quiet off-piste, with a light fog rolling in, it was a little eerie. Eerily epic.
For lunch we took in the view at the roundhouse, and shared a pitcher or two with some Fortins. It's funny going to Whistler with G. To me, it's about most the foreign place on earth. To G, it's like Cheers: everybody knows his name. So we met a bunch of snowboarding celebrities, and some not so celebrated; at every turn there was someone new to shake hands with.
With the roads all closed for the Olympics, we are now taking good old number 98 back to Squamish in our gear.
If you are a skier/rider, you know the best feeling of the day is when you finally get your feet out of your boots. Other than this crucial point, the bus is okay. Meanwhile, my toes are on fire.
In an hour or so, I'll finally have my gear off, and be just about ready for bed. Back to work tomorrow!
PS: Congrats to Canada’s women’s hockey team for their gold medal today!!
Big day at the sliding centre, albeit a little disappointing for our Canadian teams. But with the sun out again, we managed to have a good time anyway. I was back at the the finish area which was amazing because I'd never seen a bobsled rip the course yet. A totally different story from the luge/skeleton sleds. As our supervisor put it, so far it's been like watching a bicycle race, but with bobsleighs you get the Harley Davidsons.
Today was two man, so with sliders included, they've got just under 400kg of mass coming down the track at speeds exceeding 150km/h. Compared to the luge which I think has a total weight allowance (including slider) of 150kg.
We've got two teams in two-man bobsleigh: Rush and Brown, and Lueders and Lumsden. Rush and Brown headed into the second heat in first, but became one of many sleds to flip tonight. I'm told they inched across the line, so they're still in contention, but it's a devastating blow to their overall time, for sure. The winner is decided by adding up the four times acquired over two days.
Rush and Brown slide into the top spot, heat 1
We had the most people in the sliding centre today of any other day so far: more than 7,000. And look who I found wandering in the crowds! Eleanor Scarth who I met when she was kind enough to host a pile of us at her cottage this past summer in Muskoka. As you can see, she's a fellow smurf, and one of the first smiles I see each morning at the sliding centre when she checks us all into work. Obviously she's playing hooky in this photo, but I won't tell.
"Quatchi is a young sasquatch who comes from the mysterious forests of Canada. Quatchi is shy, but loves to explore new places and meet new friends."
"Miga is a young sea bear who lives in the ocean with her family pod, beyond Vancouver Island, near Tofino, British Columbia. Sea bears are part killer whale and part bear. (Miga is part Kermode bear, a rare white bear that only lives in British Columbia.)"
I think the Vancouver Mascots are pretty cute, but maybe a little weird. And there's so many to keep track of! I traded a nice little girl my Mukmuk pin today ... bet you didn't even know there was a Mukmuk!
Since yesterday was such a long day (but awesome) I didn't have the energy to take part in the village celebrations for Jon Montgomery. But I heard this morning he ordered a pitcher at Crystal, walked with it to the Village Square about 100m away for his interview with the press, and auctioned what was left for $1000. Turns out that's his day job, for real: he auctions cars. I loved his podium style though. I think a gold medal deserves a good howl.
Speaking of medals (and pins too I guess), I had a lady from Teck on my team today and she gave me my new favourite pin. I should have taken a picture to show you, loyal reader, but it's too late now. Anyway, Teck is the company that made all the medals for the athletes. The designer made one big design and then each medal is cut from it, so everyone is different and in theory, would go back into one big picture again. Everyone who wins a medal also gets a silk scarf showing the entire design so the joke has been to try and figure out which part of the design your medal came from. She said VANOC brought in a few medals for the workers to see (but not touch). That would have been pretty cool. Btw, what's with Lago having to go home??
The only other funny thing that happened at work today was when Allison, fellow-team leader, denied access to the start athlete area to the Prince of Monaco. Whoops. But pretty cool that the Prince of Monaco paid us a visit today nonetheless. He was a slider himself I think I heard, and Monaco has got a sled in the race.
After work, especially since we only had to work nine hours today -- short! -- a few of us decided to hit up a place for a drink. Easier said than done in Whistler these days, but we found a table at the Elephant Castle. Even got a free margarita! And that's how you know it's been a good day ... when it ends with free drinks!
With the doubles luge today, we bid farewell to the first of three sliding events at the Sliding Centre. I was working "entry" today so I didn't get to see the homo erotic sport of pairs luging, but I caught some on TV while on break. Very kinky.
Some trivia! A singles luge is 25kg, and a doubles is 27kg. You can be a mixed pair, two females or two males and all compete in the event together. And, depending on your body weight, you can add up to 13kg of weight-vests/per slider to help level the playing field!
Work was pretty much the same as usual - a big exercise in human resources and customer service all wrapped up in a 14km hike. So I'll spare you the details.
At the end of the night, as we were helping people find their way back down Blackcomb, the Canadian lugers came out to ride the gondola with the rest. They were very well received, which was super cool to see.
Also, one of my volunteers was up by the flowers ceremony and the athlete (forgive me, I'm not sure which one) threw his bouquet into the crowd. The woman who caught it gave it to the first volunteer she could find. She let me hold it for a picture. Tee hee.
After work, a few of us hit up The Mix for a couple beers, then it was home to Squamish for a starry night stroll home from the bus stop.
Typing this in the Whistler Blackcomb media house, which is where we ended up last night after too many wobbly pops at the GLC (MuchMusic's headquarters through the Games). The Snowboard Canada gang had already been to the Bearfoot Bistro, which I've never had the pleasure of experiencing for myself but have heard is beyond amazing. Maybe one day. Anyway, they were wined and dined while I was at work, eating boxed mashed potatoes, mushy broccoli and leather pretending to be roast beef. (Seriously, eating at the Games has been a little tough. I would like to take the vegetarian option but unfortunately, that's usually the one with the dairy products. So I'm always choosing between one form of indegestion or another ...)
Whistler is an amazing place to sow some wild oats, no doubt. But with the Olympics on it’s got an extra je ne sais quoi. People from all over the world are here, in a good mood, checking out live Canadian acts including Feist, Great Lake Swimmers, Swollen Members. And of course there are skiers and snowboarders doing tricks through a giant ring of fire (must never forget to include a giant ring of fire in your party planning). You can just stand in the square and have a good time – no further effort required. I was delayed there a few minutes last night on my way down from the mountain to meet Nancy for some tomfoolery.
So Nancy, Gerhard, Scott and I end up at the GLC, guests of Whistler Blackcomb PR. And who walks in? Queen Latifah! She hung out for a bit, but she wasn't that into us. In the words of Scott: "if I walked up to me last night, I'd brush me off too."
Not everyone brushed us off though. In our midst we had a staff writer for the New Yorker. Gerhard quickly made friends and they talked each other's ears off about writing and the meaning of life.
It was soon time to go, and leave the GLC to the cast of Peak Season 2. Figured we'd better skedaddle before the fights broke out (watch Peak Season to know what I mean).
We headed into the village and I met a torch bearer from ... I forget where. I know we had a lengthy discussion but for some reason, I can’t remember any of it. The important thing is he let me hold his torch!
Somehow we found our way back to the media house and crashed. But first, we fried up some bacon, and sipped on Vitamin Water. Fridge here is stocked with essentials and I think I counted at least 8 bedrooms. Pretty dope. Not sure what happened to our hot tub plans, but there's always another night.
Mine started obscenely early when G arrived back in Squamish at about 4am. He landed in Seattle from Sweden last night, and decided to drive through -- five hours. Since I had to get up at 6am anyway, I figured 4am was close enough and settled for less than three hours sleep.
He, on the other hand, thanks to jet lag was fully wired to start his day. So I put his energy to good use and had him drop me off at the bus stop with about 50 other very sleep volunteers (in the rain, of course).
Work today wasn't that fun, except that the sun came out, so I won't get into too much detail. I will mention that I met Dennis and Jane, two veteran Luge track volunteers who were a fountain of knowledge when it came to our sport.
Did you know that athletes do not get to touch their sleds around competition until they are climbing aboard? It's true. Event officials take the sleds from their mechanics, and then run them through a series of tests to make sure all is fair. The officials then place the sled in the track for the athlete.
One such test is to probe the runners on the sled. There is a maximum temperature the sleds' blades must stay under or else it could be considered cheating. The laws of physics tell us that the hotter the blades, the faster the sled.
So there you go. I think that would be pretty tough as an athlete to leave the final preperation of your equipment to someone other than yourself or your trusted mechanic. Especially coming from mountain biking where we often fiddle with our gear right into the start pens.
Anyway, up at the start gates where I started this morning I got to see a lot of "behind the scenes" stuff since the ladies were practicing again. They race tomorrow I believe.
The men had their third and fourth runs today for the medal and it was Germany, Germany, Italy.
Speaking of medals, SO STOKED for Canada'sAlex Bilodeau who grabbed our first gold on home soil in the mens moguls while I was taking the bus, asleep, back to Squamish for dinner with Gerhard. So that's my "where were you?" story ... what's yours?
Dinner was so amazing I should add. We were joined by Jackie and Nate, our hosts, for pistachio encrusted rack of lamb, mushroom risotto and field greens all courtesy of Gerhard's culinary expertise. Jackie then whipped up some chocolate fondue for us all, with a ton of fresh fruit, so we barely had any need for the 8 or so cupcakes that also showed up ... breakfast of champions!
I had some great lines prepared in my head for today's blog, but at the end of ten hours running up and down Blackcomb Mountain (in the pouring rain) I seem to have forgotten what I wanted to say. But the show must go on ...
I’m becoming addicted to "bean around the world" coffee which is [devastatingly] located at the bus stop in Squamish. But I'm not sure I could have made it through today unaided by some sort of stimulant, so perhaps it's not so much an addiction as survival mechanism.
Enjoyed my coffee on the bus while reading the book-club book, and then soon met some great fellow-sliding centre volunteers waiting for our shuttle to the venue.
Once at the top we were thrown straight into the fire. There was a ton of information to process in a very short time. Men had been on the track all morning, woman began training at 1pm and first men's single events began at 5. We had three hours to get spectators in and learn the venue for ourselves, as well as our duties, how to work our radios, where important places like warming tents were located and anticipate the top-asked questions by spectators.
My job is to keep my team happy and comfortable while they handled everything from accreditation monitoring, to ushering, to spectator and course marshalling. I’m also a “firefighter” as in, I go around putting out fires as needed as well. Today, ironically, the big “fire” was the weather, which caused many spectators to become frustrated with the use of umbrellas, which blocked the view of the track. Oh, another day in the life.
I had the biggest team on venue today (15 strong) and they all went home fed, and smiling so I'm counting it a success.
Team Leaders such as myself were given a physical area to take care of and I drew the best one: finish. The big Thunderbird final curve wrapped around the border of my territory and every single one of my team had a banger vantage point to watch luge all day. The cool thing about our venue is that aside from about 1400 grandstand seats, all areas are “general admission”. You are free to roam the entire course from top to bottom and there is very little to separate you from the athletes flying by at speeds up to 150km/h (especially if that athlete is German ... they were killing it today). We were constantly having to ask people not to lean into the track. It’s a pretty intimate experience and I think that’s rare among the Olympic venues.
As for the sliders, I can't BELIEVE how fast those guys get. Luge is a pretty amazing event, but that wasn't the only sport going on: all through the crowd, spectators were cheering themselves on when they *finally* managed to capture a slider in-frame. They go by so fast you almost can't see them. And the luge sleds are much quieter than I originally thought, so there’s hardly any warning when they’re on their way. I was embarrassed a couple of times thanks to my being easily startled.
Before the first event today we all observed a moment of silence for Nodar. Since I was in charge of the finish, there was a lot of curiosity around the site of yesterday's accident. Flowers were placed beside the track but they weren't visible to spectators because a new barrier has gone up. The remaining poles are now padded as well and they have moved the men's start down to the same level as the women's to try and scrub some speed as a precaution.
Thankfully, there were no serious incidents today, although one slider (Swedish I think I heard? I'm sure TV coverage included the clip) fell off his sled, and somehow managed to remount in the Thunderbird and finish his run back on it. Crazy.
So now I'm on the bus, riding home to Squamish where I expect to fall into bed in a dampened heap until it's time to get up -- early -- to go again.
Congrats to Jennifer Heil for her medal today!
Ladies' practice
My team arrives
My lunch ... not bad. Thai soup and Pizza sub.
Slider in the Thunderbird turn
Cdn slider in the Thunderbird turn
The finish area ("MIX" - Media Interview Exchange, ie where you see all the athletes after their races, commenting
Civilized start to my first day "on duty." Just got back from the grocery store so I can keep myself in Green Smoothies. (having one right now!) Wanted to run but my clothes are still all dirty from the bike ride, so I guess I've got a day off training. Unless standing up for ten hours counts.
My shift starts at noon today and I'm finished at 10:30. Not sure what we're doing wrt events yet, but I'm sure we'll find out soon enough.
So, finishing up breakfast, bag's almost packed and then it's off to the bus!
The walk home from the grocery store: the famous Chieftain My street in Squamish
My pin collection and I about to head to the Olympics!
I'm not sure how to begin today's update. A lot's happened, that's for sure.
The day started off great. Even the sun was out as I made my way to Brackendale to catch the shuttle to Whistler. The Sea to Sky Highway drives me to distraction every time I'm on it, so my book-club book remains un-touched.
Our first stop was the athletes' village. They were getting ready to head into Vancouver for the opening ceremonies so there were lots of people around, and I think I even spotted some athletes, judging by their national kits. About this time I had another wave of "holy shit I'm at the Olympics." So thankful to experience all this -- and it's barely even started!
Next stop was the Whistler Transportation Mall where I got out. I headed over to the accreditation centre and got official. Uniform, ID, the whole bit. Of course, the jackets in size small were scarce and I was forced to take a coat that's too big for me, but we small people are used to this by now I suppose. On the plus side, I'll be able to layer up underneath.
I met Nancy in the village and she showed me her extensive pin collection, of which I was very jealous. After a quick hello we both had to go our separate ways.
I headed to the sliding centre for training, and my supervisor had to break the news about Nodar Kumaritashvili. The track was shut down, and the volunteers sent home. In our mess hall, blue coats gathered in tears around the first media coverage. My heart goes out to his family and friends, coaches, teammates -- everyone who supports an Olympic dream like Nodar's.
As I type this on my blackberry, our bus has stopped at the athletes village. Can't imagine what the mood is like here, especially for the Georgian team (who I thought handled the Opening Ceremony with a ton of class). I hope all the athletes take John Furlong's remarks tonight to heart. I for one really respected what he had to say. Hopefully you watched, but to paraphrase, he spoke of the strength of the Olympic community and his faith that everyone involved here will rally even in the face of this tragedy.
With training postponed, I headed back down to the village, and straight to the Olympic store for retail therapy. I now have a pin collection, too.
Nancy was kind enough to lend me her hotel room, so after playing tourist in the village, I cooled my heels there until the opening ceremony began. It's been great hearing from everyone via text, phone, email, facebook. Especially today because it really made it feel like no matter where we were in this huge country, we were together.
The mood in the village was much improved and the big screens were set up in the Skier's Plaza and Whistler Square. The streets were full of patriotic people from Canada, and all around the world.
The best part? We had our own athletes' parade with members of the Canadian Team who couldn't make it to Vancouver. We cheered them on as they marched guided by mounties to the head of the crowd. Some spoke of what this night meant to them, they threw us pins, and then we all sang the most BEAUTIFUL (albeit out of tune) version of Oh Canada ever, led by the Whistler Childrens Choir. It was a pretty emotional night.
Again, I am so thankful to be there, right in it, soaking up this experience.
The rest of the opening ceremony was as awesome as it was Wednesday (aren't you glad I didn't tell you?). Guess they should have practiced the cauldron bit though. I like to think that the missing piece became a little symbolic. A tribute, "to the missing member."
And speaking of Tributes, how awesome was it that Brian Williams shouted out to Port Elgin?! At the mention of my home town, a reflexive "WOOOOT" escaped my lips. The best part? About 20 other woots erupted from the huge crowd crammed into the square -- who are you?? Amazingly, two were right beside me! I was JUST telling someone about how no matter where I go, I can find someone home. Turns out my neighbours were from Goderich. Go figure.
So, back to the hotel room to pick up all my bits and pieces and now bussing back to Squamish so I can get to bed (after posting this of course!) and do it all again tomorrow!
snowy final shift
Team Canada closes their second run, putting them in 2nd going into the finals!
After the Americans went over (a TON of crashes today) their sled is trucked back to the operations buildings
Riiiiiiiicola! 
Rocking out with Wintersleep in the Village Square: my swan song.
I meet some mounties on my way to the bus. Height requirement to get in you know.
