Winter Olympics: Snow trucked in for Games

VANCOUVER - If the United States Olympic moguls team is worried about the conditions at Cypress Mountain, it doesn't show.

Trucks and helicopters were still dumping snow on to Cypress Mountain yesterday in an effort to get the Olympic venues ready for the Vancouver Games, which open on Saturday.

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

"I've skied on rocks, I've skied on ice, I've skied in the rain. This is nothing," World Cup champion Hannah Kearney said yesterday ahead of her first pre-Olympic practice run.

"It's unfortunate for the beauty of the surrounding mountains ... but I don't think it is going to be a problem for us skiing."

Only athletes and their coaches were allowed at training yesterday to get their first look at the conditions.

"For safety reasons and our desire not to have any of the course preparation work impacted, we decided just to let on the people that are absolutely necessary for the training," said Dave Cobb, the executive vice-president of the Vancouver organising committee.

The weather in and around Vancouver has created some problems for Olympic organisers. Although the venues at Whistler - where the Alpine and Nordic events will be held - are fine, the Cypress Mountain venues closer to the city have been affected by the unseasonably warm weather.

"There's still a lot of snow being trucked and flown in to ensure we have enough contingency snow if the warm weather continues," Cobb said.

"There's a lot of activity going on."

IOC president Jacques Rogge said he had "absolutely no concerns whatsoever" about the state of Cypress Mountain.

"There is no concern and there is no Plan B," he said.

World champion Patrick Deneen was confident events would go ahead on Cypress Mountain. The men's moguls are on Monday.

"If there's snow we will ski for sure," he said. "I've seen pictures, and it looks like there's a lot of snow on that course right now. They've been trucking it in and really making it happen."

- AP