Summer is coming!

Soon we will be sailing again.  This is a test message via email, making sure we can update from an internet café as we travel.

And we are skiing again.....

Yes, it's May ....

and here we are at the top of Blackcomb, with Whistler in the background, & Black Tusk on the horizon.

We had perfect, wintry conditions,
dry snow, cool air, and sunshine.


Thanks to Toria and Wini we skied four days last week!

Winter is back!

Well, one thing about living in a mountain environment rather than in a more temperate, coastal environment, is that Spring and Fall can be short and uncertain.

After our initial taste of spring we are back to winter condtions, with fresh snow falling even at the valley bottom.

Here is the view we woke up to see this morning, and it's still snowing! 

No wonder it's only skunk cabbages that have ventured out of the ground! 

Spring is coming to Whistler

The snow is melting and our first aggressive plants are emerging:   Lysichniton americanum 

They seem  to burst out of the ground is a rush, poking up through the final layer of winter snow even before it has melted enough to expose the ground.  Suddenly these plants appear everywhere in the valley, and our musty, dark forests are permeated with a fresh smell of growth.

While the English name suggests a rather unappealing and foul-smelling plant,  skunk cabbages (also known as swamp lanterns) are  (for me)  very welcome indications that Spring is here.

March Madness

In the alpine ski racing world March is a busy month, thus the term: march madness.  Racers at all levels are off to zone finals, provincial championships, national championships, continental cup finals, world cup finals, with everyone generally racing around with the goal of ending another season with results that will secure team positions for the coming season.  

Although not fully recovered from injuries sustained January 15 in Italy, Toria went off to Nakiska for Canadian National Championships and earned top spot among Juniors at the DH race.  But within the next day or two it was determined she really was not fully recovered, and not ready to race without pain, so she was sent home.   Race season is over and her off-season training period has begun.  (For Toria's news (and photos) click on her link in the side bar.)

Through March Irene was involved in the Paralympics here in Whistler, in her favourite role as Start Referee.  The role involves arriving at the Start before anyone else, making sure the area is secure and the atmosphere allows each racer to focus. 

Here is the start area for our DH races. The corral is closed to all but athletes, coaches, trainers and team physios.  Note how each team hangs up their country flag where their teams gather to prepare.    While racers inspect the race course their ski techs prepare their race skis. 

Here is the US team prep area.  Thanks, guys, for tuning my skis too!

Once each race begins the Start Ref role is similar to being an air traffic controller, releasing racers when the course is safe and stopping the start if there are any incidents on course.  

Here are two racers ready to start racing, one a visually impaired athlete and the other his guide.  They are waiting for the countdown 10 seconds.....5, 4, 3, 2.......

The guide skis ahead and communicates through headphones to his athlete, generally saying right, right, straight, straight, left, left, left.....

There are three categories in the VI group: B1, B2 and B3. 

B1 VIs are considered to be totally blind while the B2 and B3 VIs have different degrees of visual impairment.  One morning before course inspection I asked Bart from Australia if I could take his photo. You will notice in this photo that he has a wonderful sense of humour....

The sit-skiers also have three categories, depending on the degree of their spinal paralysis.  In this photo you will see sit-skiers during inspection of the Slalom course.  Their coaches are skiing with them, discussing tactics.  

The standing skiers have 7 categories, all determined by professionals trained specifically to certify racers in their categories.  Raw times are then adjusted so the final result is based on a calculation that reflects physical limitations.    

Our Start facade and banners...

And a photo the two members of the Swiss Timing Team working in the Start.  Andre (on the left) is the Starter, the only other person (along with the Start Ref) allowed near the athletes on the Start Ramp.   The other Swiss timer is Andre's assistant.  He hovers near-by, ready to make repairs if any connections are lost.

Here is a photo of Irene, still smiling after many 12-hour days at the races!  Note the radio head-set which provides privacy for the Jury.  This way athletes never hear any distracting news of what is happening on the course.

Charlotte joined the Para team too, as a course slipper.  Some mornings mother and daughter left the house together in the dark, and got to see each other when Charlotte passed through the Start on her way down the race track.

At the Olympic Games level the Start Ref is also a voting member of the race Jury as well as managing the Start area and crew.  Each race day ended with a Jury meeting in the Finish area, then a Team Captain's meeting at the base. 

Another March highlight was the annual Peak to Valley race, which Charlotte has won the past two years.  This year her friend Tove (on the left), who raced earlier (she is older) beat Charlotte by just 1 second.  This is quite insignificant in a race that takes well over 5 minutes for the fastest few and over 8 minutes for the rest of us. They had fun, although both noted the race course was very rough this year.

Al continued through February and March to be involved with timing,  although he developed a cough during his long days at the Olympics and was less involved during the Paralympics. 

In case you think two months of races might be more than enough....within days of completing the Paras we were both fully engaged in preparing for and running the 18th annual Whistler Cup race series!  For this event Al was once again Chief of Timing while Irene was Chief of Race.  Team Canada won overall, the 3rd time in the past 4 years.  Two of our top Canadians train with our local club, which is very exciting!

Next week our ski club year-end awards celebrations will complete our 2009/10 race season.  

Behind the scenes with OBS at the WSC

Welcome to the acronym Olympics!  It took awhile, but I have learned a new acronym language during the past few weeks, and something about TV coverage of the Olympics as well!

OBS (Olympic Broadcasting Services) was created in 2001 by the IOC (International Olympic Committee) in order to have a HB (Host Broadcaster) for Olympic Games.  Starting with the 2008 Games in Bejing, the on-site HB (Bejing Olympic Broadcasting) was a joint venture between OBS and the local Organizing Committee.  This year the HB is solely an OBS operation. 

OBS has a LOT of gear and this is only a small pile of it! 

What does OBS do?  Essentially OBS manages all Olympic Broadcasting, offering a consistent approach across all venues. 

OBS is responsible for producing and transmitting unbiased live radio and TV coverage, and provides facilities for RHB (Rights Holding Broadcasters) as well. 

Here in this TV trailer all 56 OBS cameras in the WSC can be monitored.  Each venue has a team and simlar set-up....

Lighting at outdoor venues can be a challenge, especially where snow turns bright white in sunny areas and dark in shadows. 

Some of the crew in another room of the TV trailer focus only on colour balance between cameras.   Other rooms are for sound, others are for timing....our compound was packed with trailers of working teams. 

Some other crew members work inside the venue, just 5 minutes walk away, and maintain connectivity for all systems, including the RHb. 

At the WSC there were three other networks working in our compound:  CTV, NBC and a German network.  Sliding is particularly popular in Germany!

Of the 56 cameras used at the WSC, about 15 were managed remotely. 

 

Can you see the camera in this photo?

It is a long, narrow item located in the ice.  Because I know it's there I can see the tiny 4mm lens that looks like a small black dot in the trough.  Can you?  Each time before a sled passes the camera is raised up remotely to catch an amazing view of the sled approaching.   Then the lens is wiped off and the camera is lowered again to keep it clean and dry while the human zambonis sweep the ice.

My favourite remotely-managed camera is the railcam. 
 

It looks more like something from the observatory!  When a sled moves the camera races along it's rails at the same speed for some great coverage of the action.  It is managed by crew members located inside a small shed on the side of the track.

Of course most of the cameras require camera operators - at least 45 of them - and some require camera assistants too. 

Some of the cameras of this size were called hand held .  This camera operator has a tripod but most others got a little sore from balancing their hand held cameras on their shoulders throughout the events.   

Creating the infrastructure started long before the Games.   OBS has introduced HDTV and Surround Sound, the use of Dartfish and numerous sport-specific views during this Olympics.  I was amazed and almost overwhelmed by the amount high tech gear and the endless possiblies! 

My role as runner at the WSC involved getting behind the scenes from pre-event set-up to tear-down. 

One of my jobs was checking the in crew each day, which usually took place in our catering tent. Remembering this basically like a movie production, it's not surprising the catering was amazing.  Most days two full buffet meals were prepared for about 115 crew. 

Here is the final photo for your WSC education and entertainment.  Do you know what it is?

These are the finger tips of gloves wore by luge competitors.  They push on the ice when they leave the start and need the little claws to avoid simply rubbing the slippery ice and going nowhere!

 

Whistler Sliding Centre

During the Olympics Irene worked with the OBS (Olympic Broadcasting Services).  Although the original plan was to be at the Alpine venues, the final assignment was at the WSC (Whistler Sliding Centre).  

Here is a view of the WSC looking uphill from the media booths near the Finish.  Note the number of spectators roaming the venue and how close they can get to the track.

Competitions included: 
luge, skeleton & bobsleigh

Here a 4-man bobsleigh is being lifted into the start area.  The competitors will soon arrive, the sled will be turned over, and the countdown will begin.

Between sleds WSC course workers scrape and sweep the ice, rather like human zambonis (those grooming machines that clear ice rinks).

Note the large screen positioned up high on the right side for spectators to watch the entire course while seated at the Start.

Here is a photo of a 4-man bobsleigh coming around the final big turn towards the Finish.  The WSC track is the fastest in the world, with greater vertical drop and more technical turns than other tracks built in the past. 

Note the huge crowd of spectators and the big screen located above the track for spectators to watch the entire race from start to finish.  Most days well over 6,000 people were out to watch and cheer on the athletes.

It's another beautiful day for ski racing!

Alpine races have been going well here at Whistler and - after a slow start due to weather - the speed events for both genders are almost done.  There is a lot of pressure on our local athletes to excel, especially on home turf.  Competition has been tough and so far US athletes are ahead overall in the standings.  You may have heard that six of our top contenders became injured this winter.  Toria filled in all the accreditation paperwork in order to compete but she was also injured mid-January.  Consequently, her Olympic experience has been limited to running with the torch and watching her team mates compete. 

For excellent coverage and replays of all events we visit ctv.ca

While I have been at the sliding centre, Al has been at the alpine venues.  His team set up all the timing connections prior to the races, then ran the manual timing, intervals and speed traps during the races.  

Here is the DH Start, complete with the beautiful Olympic facade and banners.  Note the volunteers in their blue jackets along the side.  About 5,000 volunteers were in Whistler for the February events, over 1,000 of them working on alpine race tracks to keep them safe and fair for the racers.

Here are a couple members of Al's timing crew inside the start tent prior to the races.  Each day they were up early to set up and test systems.   Then the Swiss timing team Omega can plug and play!

Once the race starts the tent gets busy! 

Rules allow only one coach in the tent with each athlete, but often the physio or ski tech comes in too.   The tent should remain quiet for the racer can focus on the job at hand.

The Start crew consists of a Starter, in this case the person wearing a red jacket at the entrace.  He gives the start signal (10 seconds.....5, 4, 3 ....) and confirms with Timing the number of each racer in the Start, then on course.  Over and over.....

The Start Referee is also in the tent, watching to see all goes according to the rules.  If there is any reason to stop the start it is the Start Referee who quickly responds.   If a racer breaks any rules it is the Start Referee who must report to the Jury. 

So long as all goes well there is no dialogue among the Start officials.  Any talk with the athlete can be considered interference and grounds for a protest. 

You will notice the camera operator inside the tent too, zooming in to catch facial expressions as the racer gets ready to depart, and going for those action shots between the legs when the racer departs. 

Manual timers work outside the tent.

 Here is a section of the race course called the Weasel, a steep section that used to be groomed by humans linking arms and boot-packing the soft snow.  Hence the Weasel Workers! 

Can you see the racer coming down?  This was a challenging part of the course because this is a steep pitch (even though it may not look steep in this photo) and the transition from bright sun to shade is always challenging.  Some racers made major mistakes at the red gate....

The Finish was filled with ticketed spectators, so not accessible for me with my camera.  However, I will soon be at this venue for the Para events and will get more photos then.