Olympic organizers dealing with lack of snow in Vancouver

The Winter Olympics are coming to Vancouver in three weeks. The snow has no such timetable.

Cypress Mountain, the venue for snowboarding and freestyle skiing events, is bare and muddy in parts. It closed to the public two and a half weeks earlier than planned due to unseasonably warm and wet weather.

The head of the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association said Tuesday organizers are using contingency plans due to the lack of snow for freestyle and snowboarding events.
"They're kind of in crisis mode," Peter Judge said.

However, Judge is confident snowboarding and freestyle skiing events will proceed.
The mountain had 11 inches of new snow at higher elevations on Monday, said Environment Canada meteorologist Matt MacDonald. He said it's part of a cooling trend after a wet month.
"We had an extremely wet and warm January," MacDonald said. "When it was raining through last week, everyone was freaking out, for sure."

Freezing temperatures are expected at the base of Cypress this weekend, he said.
"It looks like the bad weather, Olympic-wise, is done with," he said.

MacDonald said recent warm weather is attributed to El Nino and, to a lesser degree, to what locals call "pineapple express" weather patterns. Both bring warm weather and rain from the Pacific to the west coast of North America, he said. Cypress provides stunning views of Vancouver and the Pacific Ocean.

But organizers are using wood and hay bales as a base for courses there. That will be covered with stockpiled natural and man-made snow brought in by truck or snowcat from higher elevations. Helicopters are also being used to move materials.

Organizing committee spokeswoman Mary Fraser confirmed contingency work is under way and competition will proceed as planned.

"This is a normal course of action in temperate conditions, and we have all the technology, equipment, people and expertise to deliver the Games," Fraser said.

Crews are working 24 hours a day to "preserve and protect the snow," she said.