Feb 23-25: Giant Slalom

On with the technical alpine events!  Although many alpine skiing athletes are competing in both "speed" (downhill and super-G) and "technical" (giant slalom and slalom), there are quite a few who only do one or the other.  This is where we got to see most of the athletes competing for the more unusual countries (i.e. those that had only one athlete in the opening ceremonies parade and which are generally not known for those elements typically thought to foster the development of winter Olypians, such as snow, or mountains. 

The folks at the back of the pack didn't get much (or any?) TV coverage, but they were really interesting.  The age range of competitors in the men's GS was from 16 to 51!  The 16 year old was from Peru and the 51 year old was Prince Hubertus of Hohenlohe-Langenburg.  Hubertus has competed in 5 Olympics since 1984!  They all seemed to really enjoy competing in the Olympics, even the guy who finished 30 seconds behind the leader on the first run!

On Tuesday night, the soggy weather returned and the course workers were again up on the hill dealing with snow in the middle of the night.  Only one run of women's GS could be fit in on Wednesday before the fog got too thick.  I worked on hand timing at the start with 16 year old Laura (pictured), who is an ex-racer from the Whistler Mountain Ski Club.  Laura enjoyed being around the famous names from the World Cup and was really impressed with the lioness roar that Sarah Schleper of the USA lets out in the start gate.

Here's how it looked from the start gate during the fog delay/postponement on Wednesday afternoon.  Today (Thursday the 25th), the women's GS second run was completed, starting at 9:30.

Our tear-down work has been progressing very well, as we've worked to remove our cable installations from the upper portions of the courses following completion of events.  So, I'm going to head home on Saturday morning, rather than Monday.  It will be nice to see Sharon, Neil (and Lexi) after several weeks away, and to have a day at home before going back to work.

Three of my five roommates have already left, so the place is much quieter today.  My remaining roommate has just left for the village, where he's going to try to get into the medal ceremony for Canada's gold and silver medal bobsledders.  I'm going to the Weasel House tonight, right after the gold medal hockey game, to see Canadian alpine skier Kelly Vanderbeek, who will be paying a visit to the course workers.  I bumped into Kelly on the Village Stroll a few weeks ago, but she was hustling off to a TV interview, so it will be nice to catch up with her a bit tonight. Her husband, David, just back from Australia, will be with her, too.