Wake up call was at 4 AM so we could make it across town in the Subaru to the BCIT campus in time for our 5:10 AM bus reservation up to Whistler for the cc skiing events. Found it without too much hassle, got on the first bus (woohoo!) and spent 2 hours in the dark heading up the mountain. Whistler was set up *much* better than Cypress Mountain was a few days back for the women's moguls. Here they had a dozen security tents (identical to airport security -- metal detector, x-ray, and all), about a 10 minute walk up the cat road to the ticket checkpoint, then another 5 minute walk to the cc stadium. Plenty of coffee and chow lines set up to deal with the thousands in attendance.
All I can say is "wow". Huge stadium layout, they had TV cameras everywhere, including the rail cam on the ground for the finish, the wirecam suspended above the stadium and spectators, and of course, the blimp cam for watching the entire course. Huge grandstands plus wide open access to be along any snow fence along the race course made for lots of room for everyone.
Needless to say, this was a HUGE event, especially for the dominant Scandanavian countries (Finland, Norway, Switzerland, and Sweden). Entire regiments all decked out with flags, helmets, cowbells, more flags, and beer made for a very boisterous crowd. Met "Martin The Viking" from Norway who gave us his business card, directions to his cabin in Norway "next time you come over", and introduced us to the true meaning of Olympic spirit. He and his contingent were the most decorated, most lubricated (hic!), and friendliest to the kids for pin trading of anyone yet. Piper built up enough courage to approach this bunch (while they were being interviewed by French sportscasters no less!), and ask to trade pins. You go girl!
Kikken Randall, the skier from Anchorage we were going to cheer for, actually scratched today so she could be better prepped for her primary race (sprinting) on Wed. Got to meet her and her family in the crowd, and collected the requisite autograph and photo. We did make racket for her team mate Holly Brooks also from Anchorage. Met about a dozen other Alaskans (also decked out with AK flags as capes like the kids were) around the stadium.
The women skied fast, but the men skied even faster, hard to believe a human can move that quickly with 4 sticks under muscle power. Norway was the powerhouse for sure, we were making noise for them all. Very, very good time was had.
Spent some time at "The Bay" (The Hudson Bay Company) looking for more commemorative items, it was pretty well picked over but we found a few things here and there, and of course snuck in some pin trading to boot. Had dinner at "Le Uno Pizza" as recommended by the Irish transplant guy working at Roots (if you know hockey or Canada, you'll know what this is), was OK and inexpensive, but a little sketchy on the quality.
Sooo... we learned a Canadian term today while trying to hop the Skytrain back home - "crush full" was what the transit workers called the trains coming thru packed like vacuumed sardines, with no space available for more passengers. They weren't kidding. We were lucky enough on the 3rd train coming thru that had 6 people shoot out of it so were took their pigeon hole and jammed in a few more behind us to get moving. A concert had recently ended that was the likely cause of the crowds.
Time to hit the rack in time for the 7:30 AM bus back up to Whistler to catch the luge - can't wait!
Mike
