Tinkerblue

The Changing Face of Whistler Celebration Plaza

I spent several hours a day at the medals plaza in February.  It looked something like this.

 

 Photo Krista Leesment

 

As of Tuesday it now looks like this:

 

 

57 Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Hubby and I had lunch at Grilled Fromage.  It's a cheesy little diner in Squamish.  Between September and March I drove through Squamish too many times to count.  We'd stop at Timmy's or Maccas to grab a bite to eat. It was always, next time we'll go for grilled cheese.  But we never did get around to it. Until today.

 

The place just makes you grin. Painted a bright yellow/orange, the walls are covered in old posters, signs, postcards and album covers - Culture Club, Phil Collins,  Barry Manilow, Corey Hart.  Takes me right back to the 80's and high school.

 

57 grilled cheese sandwiches.  57.  That's a lot of cheese.  You could have #43 Mexicana - cheddar, refried beans, jalapenos and guacamole.  Or #34 Summer Grizzly Bear - cheddar, peanut butter and apple.  Or #34 Bonnie and Clyde - blue cheese, sliced pear and walnuts. Or #3 Long John Stilton - stilton and one leg of beef.

 

Hubby had #37 The Big Cheese - cheddar, chicken, cheese and banana peppers on sour dough. I had #8 Feliz Navidad - Brie, chicken and cranberries on sour dough. Both came served with a gummy worms and a side of Cheezies.

 

Snow, Skis, and Guns

Way back when Steph and I were talking to our husbands about the Paralympics. Neither hubby or Scott believed there was such a thing as the visually impaired biathlon.  So Steph and I bought 4 tickets to the Paralympic Biathlon.   Then Steph and Scott up and went to New Zealand instead.

So yesterday hubby and I headed up to Whistler Paralympic Park.  It was kind of weird driving in.  I was in my own little car, with no Vehicle Access Pass and no accreditation.  And it was kind of sad.  Our tent has already been removed.  It used to sit right beside the ticket box office.  And look now there's a big empty space.

During the Olympics , there were 3 stadiums at Whistler Olympic Park - Ski Jump, Biathlon and Cross Country.  For the Paralympics only the cross country stadium is in use.  Both the cross country and the biathlon events will be held in the one stadium.

 

• Athletes are categorized as standing, sitting or visually impaired and compete against athletes with similar disabilities
• visually impaired skiers ski with a guide
• Paralympic biathletes always shoot from the prone position
• Visually impaired skiers use a an acoustic system for shooting that uses differing tone as the rifle is aimed towards the bullseye
• The bullseye is 15mm in diameter, there are 5 targets all in a row, the distance between the skier and the targets is 10 metres.

Yesterday we watched the qualification and finals of the men's and women's 2.4km pursuit sitting, 3km pursuit standing and 3km visually impaired. I'm pretty sure there were no Aussies in any of the events, but we did get to see a couple of Canadians, including Brian McKeever and his brother and guide Robin. They finished 6th.

 

 

After the event was complete we headed into Whistler to have a burger and beer at the Brewpub.

 

 and stopped in briefly at the Medals Plaza to say hi to the boys before heading back to Vancouver.

 

 

 

 

 

My Whistler Home

Somebody asked me if I commuted back and forth to Whistler during the Games.  Not likely, although sometimes if felt like it.  No, I got to stay here, instead.

 

My home from January 25th to March 1st was room #600 at the Sundial Hotel in Whistler Village, right at the base of Whistler Mountain. 

I had two room mates.  Heidi (workforce) and Charlene (Transportation) had the two twin beds in the bedroom and I had the sofa bed in the living room. 

 

Because of the hours we worked I think there was only once when we were all in the room at the same time. They were great room mates.  I'd share with them again. I just realised I never took of photo of the three of us.  

 

I could walk to the Medals Plaza, the bus to Creekside was right around the corner, and the gondola to the sliding centre was just steps away.

 

Whistlers' Own Torch Cauldron

It was lit as part of the first Victory Ceremony at Whistler Medals Plaza earlier this evening.

Ski Jump

What in the world makes someone want to take up ski jumping?  The thought of it terrifies me.  But it's exciting to watch.  The ski jump stadium is one of the venue where I am responsible for the retail tents. 

Our first day of competition, the qualifying round, was Friday morning before the Opening Ceremony.  The medal round was this morning.  In fact ski jump was the first gold medal of the Games.

I'm pretty sure there weren't any Australian jumpers, but there were definately some Aussies in the crowd.

And our ski jump kiosk was busy for most of the day.  Spectators bought a lot of cowbells.

 

 

Whistler Olympic Park - home of Ski Jumping, Nordic Combined, Cross Country and Biathlon

(it's not a blurry photo, that's snow on the letters.)

I have been at Whistler Olympic Park for the last 3 days overseeing the setup of the retail kiosks.  they are looking good.  So now's a good time for a mini tour of the venue. 

Whistler Olympic Park (WOP) is a huge venue.  There are three separate stadiums - the Ski Jump Hills, the Biathlon Stadium, and the Cross Country Stadium.

WOP will host 28 Olympic events, that's 1/3 of all Olympic events.  Whistler Paralympic Park (WPP) will host 32 Paralympic events, that's 1/2 of all events.

Ski Jump - there's the normal hill, the long hill and the men's team event.

 image VANOC

Nordic Combined - as the name suggests is a combination of Ski jumping and cross country.  There are three events - two individual and one team.

Biathlon - is a mix of cross country skiing and target shooting.  Athletes need endurance, speed, a steady hand and accuracy. There are men's individual events, women's individual events, men's relays and women's relays.

image VANOC

Cross Country - Did you know there are two different types of cross country? No?  Well there is.  Classic or Free.  There are men's individual events, women's individual events, men's relays and women's relays.

During the Paralympics there will be Biathlon and Cross Country events.

I am quite excited about being at WOP.  There will be a lot happening.  I don't know how much of the events I will get to see, but I think the atmosphere will awesome.  And the venue team that I work with is a really great group of people.

A little more about the venue.  Venue capacity:

 

• 12,000 at ski jumping
• 12,000 at cross country
• 12,000 at biathlon
• 6,000 during Paralympics

WOP also has it's own website, go check it out.  www.whistlerolympicpark.com

Getting there:

• From Vancouver take the Olympic Bus Network.  The departure hub is BCIT in Burnaby.
• From Whistler take the Whistler Olympic Park Express from Whistler Village.
• There is no BC Transit to this Venue.
• From bus drop off point, there is a 500m walk to the decision point.  At the decision point, you will chose the path to the Ski Jump (400m), Cross Country (600m) or Biathlon (700m).

 image VANOC

There is a lot of interesting information regarding the terrain, the equipment, the snow making, the trails etc.  Take a moment to read it at Vancouver 2010 or at the Whistler Olympic Park website.

Mum, Dad, Dave and Morag have tickets to the Men's Long Hill Ski Jump on February 22nd.

Tate has tickets to the Women's Cross Country on the 25th.

Dave and I have tickets to the Paralympic Biathlon on March 13th.

Pretty sure Australia is not a medal contender in any of the Nordic Sports, so we'll be cheering for Canada.

  

 

Another Famous Friend - On a Postage Stamp - Go Joern!

Yesterday Heather was an Olympic Torchbearer.  Today Joern is on a Canada Post stamp.  Well not actually him in person, but a photo he took.  A photo of Whistler Blackcomb.

Canada Post has a range of Vancouver 2010 stamps and collectibles and postcards.  Some with the Olympic or Paralympic Logo, or the mascots, or the winter sports.

As of January 12th, an image of Whistler that was taken by Joern takes centre stage on a book of 10 stamps, a pre paid postcard, a souvenir sheet  and an Official First Day Cover. 

 Canada Post
  

Joern and Jackie have a much larger version of this image framed and hanging in the reception area of their Bed and Breakfast.  I commented on it when we where there last month.  Joern hinted at something big, but didn't give anything away.  

 Canada Post
 

Just before Christmas I received the new sales sheets from Canada Post for January product.  I thought the image looked familiar but thought nothing more about it.  Until today.  I bought some Olympic stamps to put on some mail to the US and there it was again.  Finally as I was driving back from Whistler this afternoon why it looked so familiar.  I had to pull off the highway so I could text Joern.

 Canada Post

Click on each of the images above for more information from Canada Post.
 

How cool is that?

I'm waiting for him to take the ultimate photo of Whistler during the Games that we can hang in our living room.  

Insight-Photography

Cedar Springs Lodge

Canada Post

 

 

The Vancouver image is by John Sinal Photography Inc
 
 

Public Viewing of Alpine Ski Events at Whistler Creekside

Did you know that 90% of the Whistler Blackcomb runs are open?  So you can still go skiing or boarding. And if you ski at Whistler Creekside there are public viewing areas set up so you can stop and watch the alpine events.  Isn't that cool?  

You'll need a lift ticket, strong intermediate skiing or boarding skills and be prepared to walk a bit.

 

clicking on map will open a PDF file from Whistler Blackcomb.

More information is also available in the Pique, Whistler's News magazine.

Whistler Sliding Centre - home of Luge, Bobsleigh and Skeleton

I thought it might help if you knew a little about the venues before you got here.  I talked about Cypress Mountain here.  Over the next few days I'll give you a little info about the Whistler venues.  Of course you could Google them for yourself.  But I thought I'd save you some time.

The Whistler Sliding Centre (WSC) is located on Blackcomb Mountain. It's really close to Whistler Village. If you are coming up from Vancouver on the Olympic Bus Network the bus will drop you at the Whistler transportation mall.  From there it's a 25 minute walk to the Sliding Centre or you can take the shuttle or ride the gondola. 

 

 

 

The WSC will host multiple events:

Men's skeleton

Women's skeleton

Men's single luge

Men's double luge

Women's single luge

Men's two man bobsleigh

Men's four man bobsleigh

Women's bobsleigh

 

 

 

The Whistler Sliding Centre is one of only two sliding centres in Canada.  (The other is in Calgary)

Venue capacity - 12,000

1450 metres of track

152 metre vertical drop

16 corners

It takes about 40 minutes to walk from the spectator plaza to the upper start house.

 

 

Post Games, the sliding centre will operate as a high performance development centre, it will also have youth and recreational club programing and public admissions for tours and rides.   Yep, starting some time in 2010 you can hand over some cash and in some form or other you can hurtle your way down the track.

 

Mum, Dad, Morag and Dave have tickets to runs 3 and 4 of the men's and women's skeleton on the 19th.

Tate (a friend from summer camp many years ago) is going to the women's bobsleigh on the 24th.

Mum, Dad, Dave, Chris and Andrea have ticket to runs 3 and 4 of the men's four man bobsleigh on the 27th.

Australia doesn't have any athletes in the skeleton or the bobsleigh, so we'll be cheering for Canada or maybe the UK. Just remember to dress warm, it will be really cold and you'll be standing outside for a few hours.