Get over snow shortage, mogul skiers tell media

09/02/2010 10:22:58

Olympic freestyle skiers who will be competing on the moguls course told the media on Monday they were making a mountain out of a molehill with talk about snow shortages at their venue.

Mogul skiers head to Cypress Mountain for the first official training session on Monday night after 2010 Winter Games organisers helicoptered and trucked snow in to complete the freestyle skiing and snowboard courses.

Media were banned from that first session because officials said they had safety concerns with heavy equipment still on the slopes, visible from downtown Vancouver.

That ban is scheduled to be lifted on Tuesday, but it still sparked a flurry of reporters' questions about whether Cypress Mountain would be worthy of Olympic competition -- a notion knocked down by the people who have the most at stake.

"I have seen pictures and it looks like there is a lot of snow on that course right now. They have been trucking it in and making it really happen," said U.S. team member and moguls world champion Patrick Deneen.

"It is going to be a really good course and one of the best events to watch," Deneen said at a team news conference ahead of the Friday opening of the Games (February 12-28) and Saturday's first moguls competition.

'WHITE GLISTENING PARADISE'

While Whistler resort, home to the Alpine skiing events, has good snow conditions, Cypress Mountain suffered from the warmest January in Vancouver's history.

The Vancouver Organising Committee (VANOC) said the snow contingency plan was paying off and they had told the International Olympic Committee (IOC) early on Monday that the mountain would be ready for training and competition.

"Because all of the other venues are in such great shape, it's given us the opportunity to focus on the challenges at Cypress," Dave Cobb, VANOC deputy CEO, told reporters after briefing the IOC.

"The team is determined. They know the whole world is watching them. We are confident it will be ready."

Members of the Canadian snowboard team that will compete on Cypress Mountain had also seen pictures and had eyewitness reports that the halfpipe had perfect walls.

But the pictures also indicated that spectators are likely to be standing in mud rather than snow.

"It's kind of odd because outside the field of play there is no snow anywhere," said Christian Hrab, high performance director of the Canadian snowboard team.

"Where there was snow, they took it to bring it to the field of play, and then there is this white glistening paradise."

IOC President Jacques Rogge said he had not discussed alternative measures with VANOC for Cypress Mountain.

"There is no concern and there is no Plan B," Rogge told a news conference.