Winter Olympics at Whistler

[jamesdeluxe]

I've never been there so excuse the dumb questions...

On which part of the mountain are the ski events held? What happens in a worst-case El Nino scenario in which Whistler gets a Pineapple Express all the way to the summit? Has this happened and how many times? I assume they've got a ultra high-tech snowmaking system similar to the one at Snowbasin and that they've made a gazillion backup plans, but I'd like to hear opinions.

 

[jasoncapecod]

On which part of the mountain are the ski events held?

Whistler Mountain Run Closures (January 25 to March 27)

* Dave Murray Downhill (race course)
* Wild Card (race course)
* Jimmy’s Joker (race course)
* Upper Franz’s (above the skiers tunnel – race course)



I guess they hope and pray that the weather holds..
If Whiteface can pull it off I'm sure W/B will do just fine...

I have only skied there in the summer. It is high on my list to go back..

 

[rfarren]

During the winter it rarely rains above 4000 feet there during the winter. That would give a good 4000 feet to work with where it would be snowing. I think a bigger worry would be pea soup/white out conditions, which tend to persist there for weeks a time.

 

[EMSC]

I've never been there so excuse the dumb questions...

On which part of the mountain are the ski events held? What happens in a worst-case El Nino scenario in which Whistler gets a Pineapple Express all the way to the summit? Has this happened and how many times? I assume they've got a ultra high-tech snowmaking system similar to the one at Snowbasin and that they've made a gazillion backup plans, but I'd like to hear opinions.

All on the Whistler side. The downhills run nearly to the very bottom of the Creekside base. All FIS level race arenas have to be 'Homologated'. AKA the FIS comes in and measures and inspects everything and certifies the venue as acceptable. So therefore the races cannot be moved from those pre-certified venues. If it rains it rains. Light rain they will likely run the event (probably by salting it), much too warm or heavy rain and it will be postponed by a day or two. There are always a couple of slack days built into the schedule just in case of bad weather (which for most places would usually be too much new snow to run safely). Part of the timing of the games is to coincide with best chances of getting all the events off weather wise. Host cities can move the dates around for local weather patterns by a couple weeks early or later than 'average/typical'. I would assume they have chosen their dates as best as historical weather patterns say they should. And yes much snowmaking capability on the race runs.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

All on the Whistler side. (...)

Thanks, that's what I was looking for.

 

[Tony Crocker]

Every Winter Olympics I can recall has been mid-February centered on President's weekend. 2005 was the outlier worst case scenario for Whistler mid season. As the drought after the mid-January Tropical Punch persisted, they were preparing to give up on the lower mountain. But that preparation didn't happen until mid-March, at which time it finally started to snow.

Whistler is almost certainly the snowiest mountain ever to host the Winter Olympics. Several years back they were scheduled to host World Cup downhills in early December, all 3 of which were cancelled due to too much snow. The Olympics are more flexible in that events can be rescheduled over a 2 week period. I missed seeing the Women's Downhill in 2002 due to high winds at the top of Snowbasin.

I think a bigger worry would be pea soup/white out conditions, which tend to persist there for weeks a time.

I agree, though this is more often an issue in the alpine sectors than where they have the race events. But the cloud banks can be mid-mountain, as on my trip to Revelstoke last year.