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Thwarting Mother Nature - The Outdoor Olympic Venues Ready For Any Kind of Weather
Jan 12, 2010 / 02:36:58 PM
With a month to go until the Olympic Winter Games intensive operations are underway to prepare the four outdoor Olympic competition venues for all the weather scenarios Mother Nature may throw at the Games."We're putting everything we've learned and planned for regarding weather contingency into practice at the outdoor venues in order to be ready for the Games," said Tim Gayda, VANOC's vice president of sport. "Since the first snowfalls in Whistler and Cypress last fall we've been blowing snow and grooming our courses. As a precaution, we're also stockpiling snow to ensure we're ready no matter what the weather conditions are leading up to and during the Games'," he said
With recent unseasonably warm weather in the Vancouver area, which includes the Cypress Mountain venue, the snow stockpiles may be needed but preparedness is more than insuring coverage, each venue must be shaped to suit the demands of the events to take place there.
Here is a venue-by-venue breakdown on weather preparedness and the steps taken to ensure each venue is a World Best.
Cypress MountainCypress Mountain has a snowmaking reservoir of more than 22.7 million litres of water (five million gallons) and the terrain has been shaped to accommodate the construction of freestyle skiing and snowboard event courses with the minimum amount of snow needed.State-of-the-art snow making using 35 snow guns has been operating around-the-clock since November and has converted over 95.3 million litres of water (21 million gallons) to snow needed to construct the courses. This snow has been stockpiled all over the mountain to ensure the terrain at Games time can sustain all weather conditions. Over the next three weeks, the snow will be pushed down the mountain by snow grooming machinery where it will be shaped by machine and by hand to create the freestyle and snowboard courses, including the 60-metre-long superpipe, which is 19.5 m to 20 m wide and 6.5 m high. The ski resort, operated by Boyne Resorts, has been closed Monday 11 and Tuesday 12 January because of forecasted heavy rain. A snow salvage project is underway to conserve snow and VANOC will decide early on Wednesday January 13 whether more intensive snow management is needed. This decision could require the closure of all alpine runs for public use two and a half weeks earlier than planned to prepare for the Games. The resort had been scheduled to close to the public from February 1 to March 8.
Whistler Creekside. Image: VANCO
Crews started building the courses for the downhill, super-G, giant slalom, slalom and super combined alpine skiing events in November thanks to an ample early snowfall and temperatures below -1 C. In preparation, crews in the summer months had already contoured and reshaped the men's and women's downhill courses to ensure both contain all the features of a world class alpine venue.
Temperatures have remained within ideal range at Whistler Creekside and crews are currently in maintenance mode, mixing fresh snow with man-made snow to add to the hard base. The venue's snowmaking system also has the capacity to make 25,424 litres (5,600 gallons) per minute; the equivalent of a gravel truck full of snow produced every minute.
The perfect alpine race track is almost, but not quite, ice. If it rains, the crews will simply pack down the snow with the water. Ideally, ski race courses aim for between 55 and 65 per cent water. A snow maintenance crew is also working to ensure the alpine courses are kept clear of natural snowfall over 15 centimetres to prevent the warming-up of the top layer of dense icy snow needed.
Skeleton at the Whistler Sliding Centre. Image: VANCO
The Whistler Sliding CentreThe Whistler Sliding Centre provides the only outdoor ice surface at the 2010 Winter Games. The ice on the twisting, turning track surface has been in since early October and is constantly maintained by hand with a variety of ice scraping and shaping tools such as scrapers, trowels, brooms, and shovels.To protect the ice, a roof covers 75 per cent to 80 per cent of the track and blinds have been installed to shield the ice from sunshine and other weather conditions. Fifty-nine probes also monitor the ice temperature along the entire track. Ice temperature is dependant on atmospheric conditions such as humidity, dew point, air temperature, and other weather conditions. However, ice makers try to attain an ice temperature of approximately -5 C, which is ideal for achieving the fastest speeds with the most consistency. An ammonia refrigeration system is used to keep the ice at a consistently chilled temperature.
The Whister Olympic Park/Whistler Paralympic Park. Image: VANCO
The Whister Olympic Park/Whistler Paralympic ParkThere is currently more than a metre of snow on all trails at this venue in the Callaghan Valley. Whistler Olympic Park/Whistler Paralympic Park typically receives large amounts of snowfall annually. Little snowmaking is also needed at the park because cross-country skiing and biathlon courses require shallow snow bases and lower snow densities.For example, cross-country events take place with a groomed packed base of approximately 45 centimetres of snow that is prepared by a large snow grooming machine after every snowfall to provide a consistent base.
At the ski jump landing hill, crews have been making snow at every available opportunity and will continue to do so up to and during the Games. Each of the ski jump inruns has a built in refrigeration system, automated inrun covering system and an integrated winch/track setting machine. These features allow staff to build the inrun early in the year and maintain it throughout the season with minimal maintenance.
Read more about the sports at the Vancouver Winter Olympics here
tags: olympic, features, feature, photo, photos, whistler, creekside, cypress, mountain, vancouver, sliding, centre, park, paralympic, weather, snowmaking
