Olympics - 2010

Another early start and a long bus ride up to Whistler. Kind of getting use to it now, it's not that bad, although the buses are so uncomfortable. Today was the Large Hill ski jump, one of the most iconic winter Olympic sports in my opinion. It's unique and probably the only time you'd ever see it on TV is during the Olympics.

When we arrived it was still early, maybe 8am-ish. Temperatures were below freezing, the coldest so far. I was really hoping it wasn't going to stay that cold. We wondered up to the venue, about 10-15 min walk. There were lots of people already, and we still had 3 hours before the event start! We pulled up along the fence to one of the few openings left. Perfect. Or so we thought.

As the sun came over the mountains the temperature started to climb. It was the best day so far. Sunny skies and I was now in my T-shirt! Must have been 13 C out. Now the bad part. A bunch of spectators from a certain country (I will not say which), pushed into the fence just next to us. Now this wouldn't have been a problem except they decided that they were going to stick flags in their hats and wave them, which would normally be fine, except they were completely covering our faces and view! Seriously!? Chloe got pretty pissed and pushed away one of the flags that was literally in her face. They still didn't get the drift. Had to tell them a few times that they were blocking our view. They didn't really speak english, but come on! Now to only make matters worse, after all that they didn't even watch much of the event nor cheer on their country. They were more concerned with talking to each other. Ugh.

So anyway, they started the training jumps in which it was clear that some people outclassed the entire field of athletes. Mostly just the Swiss jumper. It wasn't even fair really. Because he was so much better he had to move his start gate down about 4 steps lower and still out jumped everyone. As a result, when competition started, the start gate was set to the low position as everyone has to jump from the same spot.

The first jump for everyone was average at best, most only making between 110-125 m, well below the K point. The best of the best were barley able to make that K point. I think there were only 3 or 4 of 51 that did! The crazy thing was that the Swiss jumper, who is just amazing, jumped past the HS mark to 144m! It's amazing to see someone that good. Unbelievable. I mean the competition was over for the gold on the first jump.

Now into the second jumps the annoying people next to us moved on. The second jumps were again just average for most, but the lower speeds because of the lower jump start was the issue for them all, except one. Again, the Swiss jumper destroyed the best jumps of everyone else, again passing the HS mark at 140m. Just awesome.

We stayed to watch the flower ceremony, and the Swiss guy had a fun approach to the podium, a low hands up flying type of thing. Pretty fun. But you could also tell he was a bit cocky, but hell, when you are that good you can be. He had also won the Normal Hill a few days earlier.

After an awesome day at the jumps, in super warm sun, we were back to Vancouver where we just chilled and watched the other events on TV for the night. Tomorrow, Victoria to visit some friends.

Today was a complete rest day. The excitement was going to get Thai Chicken Bites at Boston Pizza. Damn I love those things! Tomorrow is Large Hill Ski Jump.

Nuff Said!?

Nah, ok, so it was a really long day. Left the house at 9:30 and got back at 1AM! But damn it was awesome. Today was Womens and Mens skeleton runs 1 and 2. It was a beautiful day, 12C and sunny leaving Vancouver, and about 0-4C at the sliding center. We were early as usual and decided on having lunch in Whistler Village before heading up to the sliding center.

We got to the track a few hours early as usual and took up our great viewing spot in corner 11. However, today they had moved the barrier up the corner about 50 feet, so it wasn't quite as good for pictures. It made it difficult as there was much less time to spot them coming into the corner. I pulled out the therma rest and took up my waiting position.

Today we had an american and Mexican waiting with us. Interesting conversations. The American had some tickets to the mens Combined Ski that he was trying to get ride of for less than face value. Unfortunatly since it was delayed, he wasn't going to be able to see it as he had to leave. I wanted them, but didn't have the cash on me and no where to get it. He also had no cell or email access?! Oh well.

As we waited I decided to hike up to the start of the track to see what things were like up there. Damn what a hike. It took probably 20-30 min to get there. I was down to my t-shirt by the time I got to the top. Both men and women were going to be starting from the top today, and the skeleton has a very exciting start, so I was hoping for a good viewing spot. Anyway, I was only scoping it out for now, so back down I went.

After a long wait the women were ready to get on the track. The Canadian, Melissa Hollingsworth, the number one ranked in the word is suppose to do really well. A little side note - we meet her grandparents on the bus ride up - kinda cool.

Blink! Holly crap those girls go by fast! They are doing somewhere around 120-130 km/hr - head first! It's amazing to watch. There is no stearing like the luge, a little toe drag helps, but that's it. Now something I didn't know... they are not riding on blades. I always thought it was like skate blade, but the rails are rounded steel, no sharpness at all. After the first ladies run we started up the track towards the start for some different views.

We started the mens runs in the stands at the start line. This was one of my favorite spots because the skeleton start is so unique. I think it lends well to my track background.... since i'm now going to take it up :)

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLD! As I'm typing this up the Canadian just won Gold in the mens skeleton! Woo hoo!

Sweet! I got to see his first two runs! So for the second of the mens runs we started down the track. Watched at the finish line, but you really don't see anything there. We finished at the last corner where the speeds are reaching 145 km/hr!

Awesome day! It was off back down the hill and back to Vancouver. By the time we got in it was nearing 1 am. My knee is now killing me. Man the Olympics are so much fun!

Today was another off day for us. Kind of wish we were able to get some events in town for these days, but at between $500-3000 per ticket for an event, no way! That being said, the rest day is nice. 12-16 hour days are hard.

Now, go figure, today was a long day with lots of waiting, not much of a rest.

We headed out into town around 10 with the intentions of just wondering around and soaking it all in. Walking along the waterfront we ended up seeing a live filming of the Colbert Report? Seemed pretty lame to me, but he sure had his followers. Anyway, we only watched some of that and wondered off. We ended up byt the Russia House, which we were told was a place to see. Last time the line up was insane, this time only a few people waiting so we jumped in line.

Now we quickly realized that they didn't even open until 12! That's going to be 1.5 hours of waiting. Dammit! We figured it would be less of a wait now than any other time. So we wait. Within a few minutes I was pretty impaitent. I hate waiting.

So the hype is that Russia is holding the next Winter Olympics, so this place was suppose to be show casing that. Turns out the only thing they were show casing were large corporate sponsors! The cell company, oil company, even Voltzwagon had a "booth" (more like a large room). It was very lame. Nothing to even do or really see. Totally not worth the wait. They had their clothing sponsor there, so we checked out the store. I really liked the gear, but at $300 for a hoodie!!! NO WAY!

Off we went. Lunch time.

After lunch we decided that we wanted to head over to the Mint Pavilion. Here you could again, wait in line, to see the Olympic Medals, and even touch them! Ugh. So again, we wait. It was starting to get cold and all I had was a sweater. We were told it was going to be a 3 hr wait, but within 1.5 hr we were inside. Woo Hoo! Wrong..... now, we wait inside. Dammit. At least I was warm.

Finally, with our white glove on we finally got inside to see and touch the medals. I've seen a lot of medals in my time, but this was by far the best medal I've ever seen. I think this will set a new standard for Olympics to come. Every medal is different. They each have their own etched design on them. The coolest thing is that they are not just flat, they have a wavey contour, representing waves and mountains of BC. Really cool.

After the short visit with the medals it was back home for that rest. Skeleton was on the schedule for us next.

Well, a 6am start wasn't as bad as the 4am. Off to the Whistler Sliding Center to catch the Women's Luge medal runs 3 and 4.

It was another rainy start to the day, and a long uncomfortable bus ride. Why can't they make bus seats more comfortable? It's worse than airplane seats! As we neared Whistler the rain turned into some heavy slushy snow. We pulled into Whistler Village about 3.5 hours before the Luge start. We toured around the village a bit, pretty busy already. The hill is also open for ski/snowboarding, so most were heading up the hill. We checked out a few of the broadcast studios that are live in the middle of things. That was interesting to see. The CTV booth was the biggest.

Me, being impatient, decided we were going to the track. Need to scope things out and find the best spot to watch. Took the gondola up. Security line up was empty, one great thing about going in early. This time we brought more food with us since they didn't seem to be stopping anyone. All the granola bars in my pocket set off the metal dector this time... guess it's because I had about 10 of them in the same pocket :)

The first view of the main finish corner and grand stand area was almost jaw dropping. Again, TV doesn't do justice to these sports. It was so impressive and massive! As the place was empty, we decided to hike to the top of the track, checking things out. Damn, again, something you don't see on TV is how steep the track actually is. It's crazy.

We walked up along the final stretch where the sleds slow... and it's uphill! Again, you don't see this on TV. I always assumed it was a long flat straight away. Nope, it's serious up hill. We walked passed the area where the unfortunate deadly accident occurred just a few days ago. I quietly paid my respects.

The walk to the top was very tiring and took a good 30 min. Along the way they mens doubles where doing their training runs. Wow, it's odd to see two men squished on a little sled going 100 km/hr plus. You hardly see both people.

Near the top the racers are much much slower, so it's easier to watch, and see more. We decided to setup camp in corner 11. It was long and we had a great spot to watch where people would not be able to stand because it was blocked off for TV. Gave a great long view for taking pictures. We pulled out the thermarest and took a seat. Only 1.5 hours to go.

While hanging out we meet another older Aussie couple and a dad and his young son from washington state. It's a lot of fun to hear others stories of coming to the games. The rain continued on and off for a bit, but finally let up.

Before we knew it the first rider was flying tow the track. Now when I mean flying, I mean doing mock 10! Seriously, if you blinked you missed it! The sleds are also so quiet that you don't know they are coming until the last second, and that's too late. The first few went buy and everyone in the corner watching were in amazement and just couldn't get over how fast they were going by. Most were just laughing and beside themselves, trying to get that picture. I managed several great photos (which i will post). But seriously, you can't imagine how fast these ladies were flying by. It was amazing.

After about half of the ladies had zoomed by, we decided to start walking down hill to each corner, checking out some different views. Turns out that most of the corners are just so short that you only see a blur. Also, in the upper corners you can't watch the entire run on the big screen, you need to be in the lower section for that. So, that's where we headed.

The lower main spectator area was an entirely different experience. It had filled up with thousands of people since we walked through on our way to the top. It was a buzz of excitement. Standing back in the middle you could watch as the ladies flew through the last long corner, as well as the big screen. It was pretty cool.

A few hours later and it was all over. We were wet, exhausted but had a great day. Got to watch an event live, that we've only ever seen on TV. It was the Olympics, and it was the medal runs. Wow!

Another long uncomfortable bus ride later and we are back home with another rest day tomorrow. Then, the skeleton. Now that's going to be scary.