2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics

[Snow Ranger]

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.

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 Its been flying non stop for 2 days

Heres a shity pic of the moguls course being built

The Pipe. its looking really good. and to really understand the size of the pipe those are snowcats at the top

[khyber.pass]

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...

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.

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.

[Eldo]

Nice rant, Grampa Simpson.

[SILENCER]

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....

[SILENCER]

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 Its been flying non stop for 2 days

Heres a shity pic of the moguls course being built

The Pipe. its looking really good. and to really understand the size of the pipe those are snowcats at the top

I heard the skier & snow board cross courses were being framed aka house-style and filled with hay bales, then covered with snow. Brutal!

(clever though)

[rugbydave]

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...

[LeeLau]

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

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.

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.

[LeeLau]

Ski jumping -

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0hH0Ofe94A&feature=fvw"]YouTube- Ski Jump Crashes - Flight Of Icarus[/ame]

[buttahflake]

wicked cool, thanks for the sneak peak. i love winter olympics, go Bode and Lindsey and Hannah whoop whoop

[Snow Ranger]

I heard the skier & snow board cross courses were being framed aka house-style and filled with hay bales, then covered with snow. Brutal!

(clever though)

yup. Here is a pic of a bank turn being built out of straw on the SBX Course.

[Snow Ranger]

Ski jumping -

YouTube- Ski Jump Crashes - Flight Of Icarus

holy shit dude that is hard to watch yet I've watched it like 6 times.

[buttahflake]

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.

[garyfromterrace]

I know it's hip to hate on the Olympics, with the cost and all. But '88 here in Calgary was a total blast. I was living downtown at the time and rode my bike to the Olympic Plaza every evening for the medal presentations. Then we would head to various bars to party with people from around the world.

I still remember being in a bar full of hockey fans who all got teary eyed when Liz Manley had the skate of her life and won the silver medal in figure skating. I only went to one event, some random XC ski race, but we met athletes all the time wandering here and there. Karen Percy, Eddie the Eagle. The Jamaican bobsled team at a fundraiser held at a local bar halfway through the Olympics.

When the torch run came through Calgary a few weeks ago I went down to the plaza for the welcome with my Dad who is a former Olympian. Being there with the place packed and seeing local athletes who are competing in 2010 brought back some good memories.

Have fun, Vancouver and Whistler mags, you will not forget it.

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
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

[LeeLau]

From today

[ame="http://www.vimeo.com/9245109"]Ducks and Dorks - Whistler Feb 5, 2010 on Vimeo[/ame]

[khyber.pass]

From today:

[robnow]

^^^^
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

[The AD]

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.

[carvedog]

From today

That looked like a lot of fun. Long, big lines. Whistler yes?

[smalls]

(we won't mention the visual abomination that was the Atlanta Olympic plaza...ugh, leave it to us Americans)

yet that was the only host city to ever make money on hosting the games. hmmm.

I heard the skier & snow board cross courses were being framed aka house-style and filled with hay bales, then covered with snow.

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.

[LittleYellowFriend]

yet that was the only host city to ever make money on hosting the games. hmmm.

Not true.

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)

Olympic Games Profits Since 1984

1984: Los Angeles Olympic Games made profits of US $250 million.

1988: Seoul Olympic Games made profits of US $300 million, a record high for a government-run Olympiad.

1992: Barcelona Olympic Games made profits of US $5 million.

1996: Atlanta Olympic Games made profits of US $10 million.

2000: Sydney Olympic Games Organizing Committee generated an income of US $1.756 billion.

2004: Athens Olympic Games ended in a loss.

[smalls]

well nevermind. i was misinformed.

[srsosbso]

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.

[xyz]

Ski jumping -

YouTube- Ski Jump Crashes - Flight Of Icarus

hahaha, this is the reason i have tickets to the ski jumping! i like the dude at 0:50 doing the 'are my legs broken?' check.

[Eldo]

Not true.

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)

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.

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.

[wicked_sick]

Well said srsosbso