Olympics: Relief for bosses as the chill returns

The Olympic logo is on the Whistler Sliding Centre, now officials just need winter back. Photo / AP

VANCOUVER - Olympic officials are confident concerns about the warm weather's affect on conditions at Cypress Mountain will soon be forgotten.

Dave Cobb, the Vancouver Organising Committee's (VANOC) executive vice-president, said yesterday the freestyle skiing and snowboarding courses are of Olympic-quality calibre. "I think once you get up there ... Cypress will change largely from a weather story to an athletic story," Cobb said.

Yesterday marked the second day of freestyle ski training sessions. VANOC limited access to Cypress on Tuesday to coaches and athletes.

After testing the course, World Cup freestyle ski champion Hannah Kearney said conditions were "absolutely fine".

The conditions at Cypress have dominated headlines leading up to games, which open on Saturday. Officials spent the past two weeks flying and trucking in snow from around British Columbia to build a base on the two courses after the region had the warmest January on record.

Though temperatures dropped to near freezing conditions yesterday, the long-range forecast includes the possibility of rain at the weekend.

The first event is the women's moguls qualifying on Sunday, with the finals to be raced later that day. Men's qualifying and finals are on Monday.

Vancouver Games chief executive Jack Furlong described efforts to get Cypress ready for the Olympics as being the committee's greatest challenge. "The amount of work that has been done against these conditions is really hard to believe," Furlong said. "You'll go up there today and see the venues, and I think you'll be quite surprised by how much has been moved, and how hard they've worked to get it right."

Furlong was thrilled when he woke up to find the temperature down to freezing.

"I thought maybe the people in the sky are going to stop playing chicken with us," he said, referring to Mother Nature.

"Obviously, when we get a little help, it's great. But we're assuming we're not getting any."

- AP