I was in Vancouver yesterday and today. I saw quite a few dumptrucks full of snow on the stretch from Hope --> Vancouver. Based on how warm it was I'm guessing it's for one of the venues.
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I was in Vancouver yesterday and today. I saw quite a few dumptrucks full of snow on the stretch from Hope --> Vancouver. Based on how warm it was I'm guessing it's for one of the venues.
I am gona be here for the whole month ,its gona be great,I have absolutely zero planned excpet for working the womens DH and maybe watch some events on the big screen TV at weasal house while having a beer , I understand weasl house is up and running
This is going to play hell with the visa card and the diet ,but tele babe said to me before I left this is once in a lifetime don't worry about it
I just want to thank all you fellow canadians in advance for the free vacation and I promise to try and have a good time
XXX-er
Now they're trying to ban the Aussie olympic team's icon from being displayed
http://www.ctvolympics.ca/mm/photo/n.../31855_m15.jpg
Quote:
Aussie Olympians to fly flag despite ban
From: AAP February 05, 2010 11:59am
THE display of national pride at the Olympics by competing athletes is a tradition, the Australian team says, so it will defy an order to take down a boxing kangaroo flag at the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games.
The giant green and gold flag, which shows a red-gloved golden kangaroo, has been draped over a balcony in the athletes' village.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has ordered the Australian Olympic Committee take down the flag because it was too commercial as it is a registered trademark.
Mike Tancred from the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) said it was something Australian Olympic teams did at every Games.
"We put up a flag on the front of the accommodation section of the village where our athletes will be living," Mr Tancred told ABC Radio.
"We all do it, we do it every games.
"But someone from the IOC has told us the boxing kangaroo is too commercial because it's a registered trademark."
The flag is a registered trademark because it is used by the AOC to promote sport and fair play in schools.
The rights to the image were bought from Alan Bond, who licensed it after flying it from his America's Cup-winning yacht in 1983.
Australians are defying the IOC order and are keeping the flag flying.
are there going to be security checkpoints to get into the free events/concerts?
I'll be staying in Whistler from Feb 22-26. I'm just going to go with the flow in terms of events, but to be quite honest will be doing more drinking/ skiing than spectating.
likely going up to cypress. they've been trucking in snow for the last few weeks as a result of having the driest january on record. from what some of the canadian delegation have been telling us, the snow up there usually reaches the base of the mountain by this time of year, and right now its barely covering the top. but according to the venue architects, all should be well by competition time. unfortunately, it sucks for the athletes trying to train over the next 10 days. the US athletes would have been better off staying in steamboat for the next week.Quote:
Originally Posted by wicked_sick
Funny thing is I had the exact same attitude when they came to Park City. Then when they came it fuckin' ruled. My advice is to go to as many events as possible. The events rule because there is not a single advertisement in the stadiums. It really is sport at its purest. It went way beyond my expectations. I also did not buy tix just happened to get some.Quote:
Originally Posted by rugbydave
i sympathize with those suffering because of the olympics. we can only hope that with all the media in town, the focus will finally shift off haiti so the world can witness the real human tragedy brewing in our own backyard. traffic on the highway, day lots closed, crowds on village stroll, line ups at iga.. and it hasn't even started yet. oh the humanity!!
No matter how bitter you enter this, I would bet after it is said and done, you will have loved it, and consider it phenomenal to have been a part of it. That's my bet!Quote:
Originally Posted by rugbydave
I think it is the same attitude of every host coming in, and the same attitude going out. I so wish I could make it up north...Quote:
Originally Posted by nbt
They are also flying snow from the top of the mnt via a sky crane. The sky crane is the sickest heli I've ever seen. Oh and its costing $10,000 an hour:eek: Its been flying non stop for 2 daysQuote:
Originally Posted by wicked_sick
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/a...1&d=1265391989
Heres a shity pic of the moguls course being built
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/a...1&d=1265391989
The Pipe. its looking really good. and to really understand the size of the pipe those are snowcats at the top
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/a...1&d=1265391989
Ya, I know when MTL finally paid off the cost of its 1976 Olympics in 2006 they felt fucking great. Hell, it only impoverished the city for two generations, but fuck, that was worth it for that one, masssive face-shot blow-out that only the baby boomers scarcely remember. Hoo-rah.Quote:
Originally Posted by puma
The Olympic sports are generally awesome.
The Olympic security nightmare is not. It's one big excuse for rent-a-cops and Dr. Strangeloves to go about playing with the latest toys packaged for the police state. Billions spent on security --- that will stick around. More security cameras now than anyone can count, or account for.
The Olympic sports competition is fun and generally fair. The IOC/VANOC cabal is not. As non-elected bodies, they are accountable to no one and violate all democratic principles here in this dominion called Canada. They force decisions upon provincial and local elected bodies, taking a with-us-or-against-us approach.
Here in Whistler it is estimated there will be more security personnel than athletes & spectators combined.
Yes, yes, we will all enjoy the party. Indeed. The Olympics is like a three-week coke orgy. Which are fun too. You do a whole bunch of lines and FUCK what a trip that was... until you wake up on the street, stripped naked, empty wallet... and you realise you've sold everything to fund The Habit. But it's OK. The Olympics is some high-end shit. Just remember to feed the shit to your kids, as they'll be the ones paying for it.
Nice rant, Grampa Simpson.
I agree that it's nice not seeing freaking shit tons of product ads in every venue. Sport at its purest, 100% true (we won't mention the visual abomination that was the Atlanta Olympic plaza...ugh, leave it to us Americans).
I'm also looking forward to not having many political overtones in the coverage, like Beijing was rife with.
I most look forward to being deafened by cowbells; Poles, Austrians & Norwegians in face paint howling their nations' song, and having a beer with everyone possible. It is a pretty badass vibe.
Hell, Denver sounds like they're going for it again. We can share in the debt too! Maybe that will push something to be finally done with I-70....
I heard the skier & snow board cross courses were being framed aka house-style and filled with hay bales, then covered with snow. Brutal!Quote:
Originally Posted by Snow Ranger
(clever though)
Shit, I hope it's fun but it's a pain in the ass as far as being an interruption to my daily life. I like things simple. I wanna drive my truck to the hill and park without issues. I wanna go around town without seeing cops and army everywhere. Anyways, I can't do shit about it, hopefully I make some cash and subsidize the rest of my season's worth of travelling...
fuk you are a downer. Are you always this way when you break your ribs lawndarting into windlips. Although I'd have to say that would probably get me upset too
Quote:
Originally Posted by khyber.pass
Ski jumping -
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0hH0Ofe94A&feature=fvw"]YouTube- Ski Jump Crashes - Flight Of Icarus[/ame]
wicked cool, thanks for the sneak peak. i love winter olympics, go Bode and Lindsey and Hannah whoop whoop
yup. Here is a pic of a bank turn being built out of straw on the SBX Course.Quote:
Originally Posted by SILENCER
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/a...1&d=1265422925
holy shit dude that is hard to watch yet I've watched it like 6 times.Quote:
Originally Posted by LeeLau
cool inside stuff, keep the stoke going, more pics please. alpine ski racing is the coolest shit ever. but all winter olympics kick ass. go british columbia give us a good show.
Oh yeah, Calgary! Quit my job, moved to Calgary in Nov 87. Worked on the ski jumps as a groomer. Ordered a shit ton of olympic tickets as soon as one could and got every event I asked for (about 10 events) except for men's gold hockey. Remember Manley's skate too :)Quote:
Originally Posted by Eldo
Those games were all in all an ass kicking party and it put Calgary on the map.
Managed to hit Albertville in 90, snuck my way up to Les Arc past security in the middle of the night in my rental car to catch speed skiing (was a demo event that year) cause a bunch of my buddies were racing in an olympics - great time!
Fast forward to 2009, I really want to see another olympics. So I order another shit ton of tickets in the "packages" that vanoc suggests are the best way to get tickets. I get the gist of it (I think) - buy a bunch of tickets including events you could give a shit about, so that you can get the ones you really want - like men's downhill, 90m jump, may be some ladies boardercross cause your buddies in it. So I play there silly game and buy 3 packages potentially putting out like 2500 clams for 9 days of olympic wonder for me and my kid. After all you'd want to be there for a bit if you're driving 18 hours to get there. Soooo at the end of the day I get ONE bloody package, containing ONE bloody event I care about (men's short track speed skating final), and one that would have been cool (women's combined), what a joke. I tried to buy single event tickets when they first went on sale but couldn't get the site to work in at least 4 attempts so gave up. The kicker is that I hear that shit tons of tickets are being sold at face value in the last couple of weeks. The only saving grace is that I sold all my tickets at about double what I paid. Nothing against Vancouver, and I hope you guys have an absolute blast. It's a great event and you'll see some very cool stuff, the party alone is worth the price of admission. BUT, vanoc's ticketing system was a piece of shit. Peace
From today
[ame="http://www.vimeo.com/9245109"]Ducks and Dorks - Whistler Feb 5, 2010 on Vimeo[/ame]
From today:
^^^^
I heard at the gym someone by Nester's ran up to the flame with a glass of water and tried to put it out. Thank god for all that police support. Could you imagine if it had gone out:eek:
If anyone is still looking for accommodations in Whistler during the Olympics my wife's boss has a condo available at the Fitzsimmons from Sunday 2/21 till Friday the 25th. The ad in craigslist says it's available through the 28th, but someone has already reserved the weekend. Here's the ad: http://whistler.en.craigslist.ca/vac/1560402254.html
It's a nice 3 br unit. The price is listed as $800/night, but they may be willing to negotiate.
That looked like a lot of fun. Long, big lines. Whistler yes?Quote:
Originally Posted by LeeLau
yet that was the only host city to ever make money on hosting the games. hmmm.Quote:
Originally Posted by SILENCER
when one of the helis dropped its payload of hay, thousands of mice scattered in all directions upon impact. apparently someone didn't check for rodents in the hay. it was a pretty funny thing to see.Quote:
Originally Posted by SILENCER
Not true.Quote:
Originally Posted by smalls
I addition to Atlanta in 1996, L.A. in 1984 and Salt Lake City in 2002 both made money on the Olympics.
American's know how to make money.
edit: almost all Olympics have been profitable since 1984 except Athens(and we have learnt more about how savvy the Greeks are with economics this week)
Quote:
Originally Posted by http://www.china.org.cn/english/sports/111340.htm
well nevermind. i was misinformed.
I don't think anybody objects to hosting the olympics as a sporting event per se. What people are pissed about around here is what it's been turned into- this gigantic, horrendously expensive, disney-esque 'spectacle.' If the athletic events were just as they are, but the whole olympic 'thing' was cooler and lower key and cheaper, I think people would love it. But it's been turned into such a shit show with the grandiose opening and closing ceremonies and the endless required staff and all the other stuff, with a crazy-ass giganto-budget while schools here get closed and hospital O.R.'s get cut back, etc. etc.
As a consequence of all the grand shit that now comes with the package, the olympics now get held in huge urban centers- not because they can host events but because they are big enough to run and afford all this additional stuff. So Vancouver hosts the olympics and it rains (surprising no-one) and they have to truck/fly in snow. And Calgary in '88 puts the nordic events in Canmore- with a kabillion dollar snowmaking system because they get no, or next to no, natural snow. (EDIT: There are plenty of spots in this province that could host winter games with no concerns about reliable snow.)
The torch came through this town and I had this naive and uninformed vision of people relaying the torch on foot across the nation. As if! A handful of people ran it through town, then jumped into a massive RV with a bunch of other vans and cars and cop-cars in tow, and drove off the the next town. Some guy sitting in a vehicle with a big fucking lighter bombing around the province. Tons of fuel, tons of money, and not even slightly cool imho.
Years ago it was not so. In fact, Rossland, pop'n 3500, made a proposal to host the winter games in 1968. Can you imagine? Not these days.
This actually reminds me of the thread about why ski areas can't make money- it's all about when the business creeps take something cool and fuck it up because making a 'little' money isn't good enough, and in their quest to make a 'lot' they fuck the whole thing up.
So, events wise, super cool, can't wait to watch the athletes in action. But as for what it's been turned into, what it costs, where it has to happen? Gong show.
hahaha, this is the reason i have tickets to the ski jumping! :wink: i like the dude at 0:50 doing the 'are my legs broken?' check.Quote:
Originally Posted by LeeLau
Actually, no games has ever really made money. All those figures don't take into account government funding, which for example in Atlanta's case was about $1 billion.Quote:
Originally Posted by LittleYellowFriend
The Calgary games made $150 million, but again that didn't factor in the $452 money spent by three levels of government.
In any case, the money spent was well worth it in Calgary with the legacy it left behind. A lot of the success that Canada might have in 2010 can be traced back to the '88 games.
Well said srsosbso
The original snowmaking system at the Canmore Nordic Centre cost $270,000, and it only covered the stadium area and a few of the 70 km of trails. Snow was moved as needed to cover thin spots. The entire facility cost $14.3 million, slightly less than a kabillion dollars.Quote:
Originally Posted by srsosbso
Also, it used to snow a lot more back in the '80s at low elevations in the Bow Valley. Ask anyone who has lived in Canmore or Banff for a long time.
Leading up to a 2005 World Cup at the nordic centre, the province and CODA spent $25.6 million to upgrade everything from the trails to the shooting range, lighting, etc. It also including replacing the original snowmaking system with a more modern one and extending coverage to 20 km of trails, in recognition of the change in weather patterns since '88.
Darn, annoying facts. Always getting in the way of opinions.
Hear, hear SRS. My sentiments exactly.
I get the feeling once climate change and further economic instability kicks in, the Olympics (in its current form) will become this relic of the past -- kind of like the World's Fair, the Crystal Palace, or even EXPO. These things have their expiry date. We're in the "big spectacle before the crash" moment, imo.
Snow moving video from Cypress
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVcHZTnWw3k"]YouTube- Some snow moving at Cypress Mountain[/ame]
Don't worry, some new emerging countries still have passion to continue the party. What do you think next winter game be held in China or even India, with downhill start house located at 7000 meters high on top of Himalayas...Quote:
Originally Posted by khyber.pass
My observations is that this is a show for the IOC. The athletes know who is the best in the world.
So long as that olympic gold medal has such a high place in the world, you won't see it go away anytime soon.