Mission Central for Volunteer Alpine Ski Race Workers 

Jan 25, 2008 -   Update from Franz's Run and the Dave Murray Downhill

Happy Robbie Burns day to all.

 Cold and clear weather all week has made for good production on the net installation  but has prevented the track from getting much harder.

 Ingo (the Alpina engineer and net expert) has now left for a couple of weeks, after we went through a session on the correct tensioning procedure. The last of the nets on the Ladies  course (Franz's) will be installed by Monday (Jan 28) and we will then start to cookie and tension in preparation for slip skirt. 

All equipment for the Mens A nets is on the hill and some nets are in place already. We are several days ahead of schedule.  B net transport is complete for the Ladies track and has started for the Men's. 

We continue to have 8 cats out every night and successfully skied over the Ladies tunnel on the Race line for several days this week. We had an inspection with Bill McNeney on Wed and did some snow density tests. Density is approaching 500kg/m3 on most of the Ladies track, with depths of over 30cm. As the week went on with continued cold and dry weather, we lost some of the density. Dan Gallagher arrived Friday as the Referee for the Nationals and he has been on the track, providing valuable input. 

We have continued to work on improving the contours on both courses. On the Men's track, more snow was made in the Toilet Bowl and on Fallaway.   The SG start has been pushed and groomed several times.  Some rollers have been built into Powerline Traverse, and rough grading of the landing area for Murr's Hop has been started. 

On the Ladies track, the start ramp has been built and some more snow was made on WildCard and Fortnas.   Some contouring was done on Mid Franz above and at Crossroads, as well as on Frog Bank.  

We are working on a plan to start watering the Ladies course as soon as the Alberta snow that is forecast for the next couple of days has passed. We have the ACA water bars and a team of snowmakers and some of our net crew are ready to go on areas where we can work and not impact Mountain Operations. We do not get full use of the Ladies track until Feb 3^rd.

 The finish compoundat Timing Flats is taking shape.  Equipment arrives here for shipment up the hill. Everybody needs to be reminded of the very limited parking and storage space in the compound  at Timing Flats.

We look forward to the arrival of the Weasel Army next weekend.

Regards,

Rod MacLeod
Assistant Sport Manager, Whistler Creekside Alpine Skiing
Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC)

 

Jan 18, 2008 -  Update from Whistler Mountain

It has finally stopped snowing and we have been able to start getting some hardness into the snowpack. From mid-mountain down, there has been enough moisture in the snow that it will get good and hard with more work with the cats. We have had 6-8 machines out every night and have started to work section by section on deep grooming and some contouring.

 The upper mountain has a hard layer but it is too far down to be of any use. We continue to groom and to work the snow sideways into windrows and then to track it out.  This is  getting the track harder but very slowly. We will need to discuss how we are going to get water into the snowpack and when we will start that process.   

There are still thin spots below the Mens SG start and on the Ladies course, on the second pitch of WildCard, as well as above Hot Air. Snowmaking is ongoing in those areas.

The net crew is progressing well. All of the A nets for the Ladies have been transported and we have started on the Mens A net transport. There is one truckload of B net left to arrive and the net cradles have been moved to mid mountain, out of the base area, in preparation for placement along the course.   

We have nets 2,3,5,7,8,10 hung on the Ladies course.   The second A Net crew arrives from Lake Louise next Monday morning (Jan 21), and, later in the week, depending on weather, we will either start hanging A Nets on the Men's course, or use the second crew to tie down the Ladies course.

We continue to have new cat-drivers sign up and are looking for more drivers, especially for the two weeks of final preparation and racing. 

More soon.

Thanks, 

Rod MacLeod
Assistant Sport Manager, Whistler Creekside Alpine Skiing
Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC)

Jan  11  2008 -  Whistler Mountain - Dave Murray Downhill and Franz's Run.

Hi all,  Just came in from half a shift of grooming. We've had another week of non stop snow with 135cm in the last 7 days.  Perfect wet snow from the tunnels down!  We had 8 cats out again tonight, and will have everything done on the Mens course, and on the Ladies below the tunnel. 

All of both courses have been groomed at least every other day through the storm cycle, and some areas of concern have been ripped up and pushed around daily.  

The areas that have been soft are starting to get harder as we work them over.

Snow guns are being transported off of the courses and A and B nets are moved into place. The first two A nets are up and it seems that the installation will go as scheduled.

The forecast shows a high pressure ridge by mid week (Jan 15) and if that comes to pass we will get into some contouring and continue working special areas.    The ACA water bars arrived today.

The Ladies tunnel is intended to open for public early in the week and we hope to have the Ladies DH open over the tunnel by mid week.

The net crew will continue transporting and we will be up to 7 people, with the remainder arriving from Lake Louise late next week or at least by the 21^st. 

Enjoy the powder and look forward to some sunshine,  

Rod MacLeod
Assistant Sport Manager, Whistler Creekside Alpine Skiing
Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC)

Dec 28  2007 - Whistler Mountain - Dave Murray Downhill and Franz's Run.

The Ladies track on Wildcard/Franz's has received the first go-round of snowmaking. We have skied with the snowmaking manager and have probed show depth and will be moving guns around to areas that have less than a metre of compacted snow. We have also identified whales that we will leave intact, either as contour or as caches for future needs. 

All of the Ladies course has been groomed several times and we now have a list developed of areas needing more width or special preparation before nets start going in. After Christmas, we will also start working on hardening the track. 

The Men's track has received a week's snowmaking on the Powerline Trail section, including the Slalom Start last night.  These sections  have also been groomed several times. Snowmaking  on the Sewer (Afterburner) and on Coaches Corner continues.  Coaches Corner is still thin.  We have also strung hoses out to get snow made on the Fallaway pitch.  

All of the Dave Murray Downhill has been groomed except Fallaway, and we are also working on other individual areas. 

We are now holding weekly meetings with snowmaking, grooming, and the net crew to coordinate all of the work needed to be ready for net crews in 2 weeks, Our to-do list for both tracks is shown below. Jelly (new papa, Jeff Wilson) is going to be responsible for coordinating transport and on hill equipment needs. 

The forecast is for continuing good snowmaking conditions and we are also developing some areas off of the course line in which we can stockpile additional snow whales, just in case.  

The first cradle of B net has just arrived and we will test out the delivery process tonight. 

The skiing is great, hope you have all had a chance to carry poles and make a few turns. 

Thanks,

Rod MacLeod
Project Manager, Venue Construction, Whistler Creekside Alpine Skiing
Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC)

Rod's To-Do List

Coursework to do list Dec 28th 2007.

LADIES  - All nets to be groomed tight to the edge ahead of the scheduled set up date.

1. Start. Ramp and milling area, large and flat

2.  LHS snowmake and groom tight to trees. Gun at the corner opposite net twor ,  Leave whale  

3. Net 1. Need 1m of snow at the breakover and groomed to the net line, build Joker road

4. Net 2. Need to groom triangle tight to net line.

5. Joker traverse and net 3. Groom tight to trees under net. Leave the ditch compression, leave the sidehill as is and leave the whale at the Joker for now.

6. Joker corner. Push whale onto tunnel. Winch from trees to get the corner done. Move a gun high onto the road.  Move a gun to make snow above the tunnel.

7. Tunnel push as much snow down as possible. Race line at Joker is close to okay, need to bring the 86 road up to grade, we will want to close this after Christmas and groom the line and pitch to Franz

8. snow guns on LHS at Franz (net 5) to push snow back up to reduce the compression

9. Vuarnet entry – hog out snow from tower 2 on the net and push up to the side hill. Two gun towers can come out along with their posts. We need 6m from the top of tower to snow and have this be a sidehill.

10. Jump above Crossroads, groom tight to RHS, make snow above the jump,

11. maintain the contours in the Rock Garden area, and we will increase the rollers. GS Start LHS.

12. Frog Bank – get groomed right up to trees.

13 Treeline, work on keeping sidehill groomed and hard, perhaps a road around RH edge would help.

14. Roys Heinz area, move rope fence over 20m and groom wider, keep the roller.

15. Fortinas. Widen to right towards twr, fill ditch. Gun in the triangle above Hot Air.

16. Hot air to Finish – reduce the lip between mens and ladies, make more snow after Christmas in this area.

MENS – All – groom right under nets as per setup schedule.

1. Start ramp and start area groomed.

2. Very thin at Double trouble, may need to make some snow on the race line breakovers.

3. Fill ditch RHS opposite Caddyshack, need to make some extra snow there.

4. make snow at the narrows, and at the top of TB and on skiers left. Build in a roller.
 SG Start as much as possible, groom and water,

5.  Weasel – fill compression off of cat track and build roller. Do not need to groom all the way to the LHS below the net, need to groom wider to the LHS below the summer road, snow gun will operate on the road to add some moisture. Groom RHS from net down.

6. Expressway bank LHS, push and groom high up. Fill in more of Bypass entry at the tunnel and start getting the tunnel  access from Crossroads and the GS start done.

7. Fallaway, making snow on LHS from GS and will need to push across and on to pitch.

8. Sewer, fill ditch LHS.

9. Coaches, more snow made, contour wide to LHS.

10. Powerline traverse – make snow on high side, build two rollers across,

11. Slalom start make snow and groom, build lower start.

12. fill wide to RHS at Powerline corner, and wide to LHS out to twr 14, stockpile snowmaking.

13. Boyds Chin – more snow made above to build jump.

14. Murrs more snow made above. As much snow as possible made below after XMAS