The BIG day is here.....

I am writing this on Sunday morning. The fact that it is Sunday means nothing as the reason today is important, to me anyway, is that it is the culmination of an absolutely fantastic Vancouver Winter Olympics in 2010. The final three events are today and all are important to many different folks. The Euros are excited about the 50 km X-Country event as they dominate in that sport, both U.S and Canadian hockey fans are on the edge of their seats as the re-match game starts in a couple of hours and about half the population of the world is anticipating the final act – the closing ceremonies. What better day could we experience!

Yesterday was my last shift as a “smurf” of the Vancouver Olympics 2010 and it started in the usual fashion – in the dark. (Freddi was fortunate enough to pull a short shift for her final day also as she had to work from 10 am to 2 pm.) As I walked to the bus I started to feel a twinge of sadness as this would be the final dark walk to the bus. What has happened to me to have such feelings when only 17 days ago I didn’t know that there was a 3 am in morning let alone a bus schedule! I hope that feeling goes away....

Anyway, the bus trip was as usual and I tried to get some pictures of the Inuksuk at the entrance to Whistler. The lights and accent of green have been attractive all through the games and I have never had my camera with me in the dark. I used the little camera but I was disappointed with the results. On arrival at the WOP the driver dropped us right at the building instead of at the at the stop a km away from the door which is the usual Whistler stop. Small mercies are appreciated when you are tired and feeling the effects of a winter cold.

On my final check-in I was given two gifts for my participation as a volunteer “smurf” for the Olympics. The first was for completing 12 shifts (a logo luggage tag) and the second for my final shift bonus. It was a SWATCH which is “smurf” blue with the logo and design image of the 2010 Olympics. I was assigned to work at the X-Country venue for the Ladies 30 km Classic Mass Start race. My assigned area turned out to be an area I had worked before in the “back of house” with the Accessible access and the athletes, media and Olympic family. The benefits of that position is you are up close with the athletes, coaches and of course kings and queens ( the Swedish royals were there). The shift started in wet snow and the weather turned to rain until well after noon. It was enough to make us all wet and cold for the culmination of the race. The race was won by the Polish skier and she was followed by the Norwegian and Finish skiers. It was a very close finish and the noise in the stands was terrific. I was unable to see most of the event from my vantage points but I did venture up to the stands for a couple of views during the race. These women are machines and the sprint to the finish after 30 km was fantastic to see.

Once people settled down and the other skiers finished to the cheers of the fans the egress started. Our team was very busy with the egress but it went very smoothly and all of the Accessible folks were escorted through the “back of house” without a hitch. The weather helped to get people to move out of the venue with the exception of the Polish supporters who were filled with song, cheers, admiration, patriotism and fortified by lots of alcohol. We patiently waited for them to settle down and then started to pressure them to leave the venue. They were polite but not anxious to move on as they wanted to see their star athlete as they had not received a gold medal in the Olympics since 1976 in Innsbruck. You can appreciate their enthusiasm. Once they were clear and meandering down the 1 km path to the transportation area I sent my team members home and cleaned up our area. I did a final de-brief with my supervisor and started the decent to the transportation area in the shuttle. I stopped a few folks that I had worked with and said goodbye and made my way to the Whistler bus. I walked through a group of Polish people singing loudly as they approached the buses. They were moving so slowly that they ended up being on the next bus. I pitied the folks who were living in their hotel and were not Polish! The feeling of sadness came back to me once I sat down in the bus. I was cold and wet but feeling remorse that this time had passed and the nice folks I had worked with would all be a memory. We all had lives outside of the Olympics but for the last 16 days we had a focus on this little bubble we were living. It was a very unique experience and it brought out some very unique emotions. I had to wonder what people would do with themselves once the Olympics were no longer the focus of our lives and TV broadcasts around the world.

When I arrived in Whistler I chatted with the transport guy I had seen daily since the start of the Olympics and set off for my connection to Pemberton. I was supposed to meet Gray at the house and we would return to Whistler for a family dinner at the Sushi Village Restaurant. Once there we met up with the ladies as they had been at the Bobsleigh event and bar-hopping during the late afternoon once Bree and Tara-Lee were finished their work. Nicolas joined us as she is almost a family member up here. Bree and Tara-Lee ordered a huge amount of sushi delights as they are very familiar with the menu. The food and excited conversation were both terrific and the choices demonstrated the restaurant’s capability as all dishes were delightful and very tasty. Freddi even tried and enjoyed fresh raw tuna which was a big surprise to me. After vacuuming down the meal in record time we were on our way again. The young ladies wanted to get to the Usher performance and Freddi, Gray and i drove back to Pemberton in Tara-Lee’s car as she had a shift at 6 am in the morning. When we got home Gray and I opened a beer to watch more Olympics but we both fell asleep before we even tasted the beer. Shortly thereafter I awakened and went to bed for a long sleep. No need to get up early.......

Just watched a CTV soecial broadcast with all of the medal winners who will be participating in the closing ceremonies later today. It was a very nice conversation and they all showed appreciation ofr each others effort and winnings. They also showed a lot of great fottage of the games. It makes it even harder to believe that the games are coming to an end. But the BIG game is still to happen...... "It is a great day for hockey"

A wet one .....

The day, Friday, started with a miserable drizzle in the air as I walked to the early morning bus stop. It was cool but not cold enough for snow in the Pemberton Valley. The bus rides were uneventful and I got to work quite efficiently as I was almost an hour early. At check-in I received another pin for “just because” to add to my collection of pins. We have received small gifts on each 3rd shift as well as a beautiful commemorative coin of the Olympics as a “just because” gift. At the end of my last shift I will get a watch as a memento of the experience. This pin will bring the tally of small gifts to 7 for doing our shifts. There were other Team Leads there early so we chatted about our experiences and our lives outside of the games. It was a nice and fun conversation and an opportunity to get to know more about the folks we had been working alongside over the past couple of weeks. Rachel showed up with the list of assignments at our shift time and off we went in our separate directions to find out exactly what sector in the Biathlon environment we would be working in.

My assignment was to manage the “back of house” where we needed 9 access control pints and one or two monitors for the Accessible Shuttle. This sub-venue has the same bad plan as the X-Country venue where the shuttle arrives and departs in the restricted area. That meant that we had to escort folks to the “front of house” where they could move about freely and then escort them back to the shuttle after the competition was complete. It creates a bottleneck and is quite resource intensive. None-the-less we organized ourselves and due to a shortage of Team leaders I was assigned two areas of responsibility. I was excited, for a while, that I had two extra resources but that did not last long as they were re-assigned in the very dynamic environment we work in.

The weather in the Callaghan Valley was much nicer in the morning than in Pemberton. The precipitation was actually big fluffy snowflakes and there was an accumulation of wet snow on the ground. That persisted through the morning and into the afternoon with the precipitation slowly turning to rain in the afternoon. It was a wet work environment and our clothes were tested again in terms of water repellence. By the day’s end my jacket was heavy with water but my pants kept me quite dry. There were ponchos available for some that were clear plastic and we made sure that the folks who were working in the outside without shelter got them first. I deployed the team after I had figured out the environment as this was my first time in this sub-venue. All of the team were quite happy to do anything with the exception of one gent who turned out to be my problem child of the day. In the end at noon he told my supervisor, not me, that he had to leave at 1 PM – with his wife who was also on my team – as he had to get to the some party in town. I found some replacements and released them immediately as I was happy to see him off the team. The balance of the day went smoothly and I even managed to see Freddi and Tara-Lee who had come to see the medal event of the 4 man relay Biathlon race. The race itself sounded very exciting but I could not see the race from any vantage point in our area. We did get up close and personal with the athletes, dignitaries and the royalty that showed up for this event. Our PM, Steven Harper, was scheduled to arrive at 11 am but he cancelled his appearance. Later in the day I saw him on TV at the curling event so I guess he chose a dry environment instead of our wet Biathlon.

The Norwegians came up with the gold medal performance followed by Austria and Russia. The Canadians placed 10th and that means they have done very well gaining on the Euros in this winter sport. I spoke with the “wax guy” for the Canadian team and he pointed out examples of how well their waxing technology strategy was helping them out. However, I still marvel at how these guys (and women) can ski so hard and then calmly shoot out the bull’s-eye of the targets and then ski off again. They are truly disciplined athletes.

The shift wore on as we cleared the spectators after the competition was completed. We managed to get that done by about 2 pm and then we de-briefed the team and set off for the day. There was a party organized for the Event Services Team members at the X-Country workforce tent but I opted out as I was cold and not very perky with the start of a cold. I took the bus to Whistler and met up with Gray and Bree as they returned from the hockey romp of the U.S. over Finland. Apparently the game was won in the first 6 minutes and the final score was 8-0. They drove us home and I got out of the wet clothes and readied myself to watch the Canada vs Slovakia game. Freddi had prepared a nice pasta meal to enjoy during the game. Both the game and the pasta were delicious and the game had some pretty exciting moments as it was very close. In the end it was Canada’s game and we are now set for the final game against U.S on Sunday.

I crashed shortly after the game as I have my last shift is on Saturday and it will be an early start to the day – as usual.

Today ... another work day

Today started in the dark! That is becoming a habit...... I did some writing before I hit the street for the bus at 4:00 am. I rounded the corner just in time to see my bus head off to Whistler. I sat and waited for the next one and chatted with Mary Ellen as she was on her way to the WOP at the same time. We made our transfer in Whistler and managed to get to WOP just before 6 am which was our start time. I asked Rachel, our scheduler if I could be scheduled for the Biathlon sub-venue tomorrow as it will be the last day for Biathlon competition. She said she would see what she could do and asked me to go to Entry again but then changed me to Ski Jump at the last minute. I was happy as I like the active venues.

I checked in to the Event Services trailer and was assigned to the North zone and my supervisor was the same one I had on my first day in the ski jump. We worked well together and organized our 12 hosts and were ready for the start at 10 am. Today was a Nordic combined event where there is a ski jump , only one, and then the same guys have a go at it on the cross country ski trails. It is very intense as there was a x=Country ski event for the Ladies Relay at 11 am. That meant that the first X-Country event had to egress before the second part of the Nordic Combined could be completed after the first ski jump ..... confused yet? All went as planned but the weather was not in our favour as the winds changed and the rain, snow, fog and almost sun were the calls of the day. They managed the ski jump with a slight delay and re-start with the result being that the end was pushed by 30 minutes and that helped to coordinate the change to the X-Country venue for the balance of the combined race. We cleared the jump zone and we set the security as it was the last event in that sub-venue. It was kind of sad as we said good-bye to some hosts who have fulfilled their commitment to 13 shifts. It is the start of the finish of the Olympics in Whistler. Over the next three days we will close the Biathlon venue (tomorrow) and then on Sunday there will be the final X-Country event in the Callaghan Valley. How did that happen ....

After my shift I took a bus back to Whistler and met Freddi as she finished her second last shift at the Sliding Centre. We went to Gone Eatery for a quiet late lunch and then took the Pemberton bus back home. I stayed on the bus to go to the super market to pick up some steaks for dinner and Gray swung by to pick me up to drive me home. We sat and watched the women’s gold medal hockey event – Go Canada Go again! – and then the men’s ski aerials where we did not do as we expected. It seems that these Olympics are the women’s as they are the ones who are bringing home the gold!

It was a good day and we are about to enjoy a good meal before an early to bed evening for me. Freddi has tomorrow off and will have her final shift on Saturday.
Note: the pics are not associated with today’s activities but are some of interest over the last few days.

OK I have to catch up with myself....

Ok, I have to admit that the days are becoming a blur as we speed our through the daily activities of the Olympics. I have been remiss in sitting down and tapping out a few sentences about how we are doing, what we are doing and how it is affecting us. In this update I will cover the last 4 days that I have been silent and try to reflect on some of the observations that have started to develop during this amazing and wonderful experience. First let me run over some of the activities that have kept me away from the keyboard.

Sunday was my day off and I slept a little later than usual. Freddi had to work so I had planned on a morning of skiing by myself as I expected that others had their work to attend to and I would be alone. I guess I lost track of the day as that Sunday everyone was at home. So we all went skiing after a great breakfast. Once again it was a stellar day on the mountain and the sun was shining brightly. We started on Whistler Mountain and did a few runs from the peak before moving across to Blackcomb via the Peak2Peak. Tara-Lee, Gray, Bree and Nicola (almost a family member now) all skied together and enjoyed the snow, sun and trails we ventured on. This was my first day feeling really comfortable back on my skis this year. I did not carry my heavy and unwieldy cameras so I was feeling very balanced and enjoyed some of the speeds and turns we experienced. It was a good ski day for me. We didn’t ski too long but we covered a huge amount of terrain and joined Tara-Lee in the ski-out as she had a shift at the hotel at 2:30 pm. Gray returned home to take the dogs for a bike ride (well they run along when he bikes) and Bree, Nicola and I went to small cafe on a side street for lunch. The food was delicious and we sat outside about a short block from the overcrowded streets of Whistler. Sam Roberts was the afternoon entertainment in the Square so we wanted to stay downtown to see part of that. I took off for a brief period to investigate a photographer’s gallery as Gray had recommended his work. Blake is a local who Gray has been photographed by doing both boarding and biking and he has a love for the countryside, mountains and action in the mountains. His web site is interesting www.blakejorgenson.com I spent some time talking to his gallery attendant before returning to see Sam Roberts perform. In usual fashion I was late for the start and the ladies were amidst a small gathering of a couple of thousand swaying devotees to music. Through the wonders of SMS we were able to connect at a determined location when it was time to drive back to Pemberton where we spent the evening enjoying a nice roast of beef and lots of goodies as sides. That late afternoon was also the time for the much anticipated Canada vs U.S. hockey game. I will not go into detail about the emotional reactions of the watching that game. To take the high road here I have to commend Ryan Miller on his demonstration of skilled goal tending as we were defeated by a score of 5 to 3 but we outplayed the U.S team. It was very suspenseful and we all enjoyed the game. The day came to an end as we sat and enjoyed a recap of the Olympic events of the day.
Monday was a work day and the start of the toughest stretch for me. I have 6 consecutive days ahead and that will bring my experience as a volunteer for the Olympics to a close. But I have to get through the 6 days first. My Monday shift was from 6:00 am to 3:15 pm and I checked in a little early as my buses connected perfectly that day. Dave, a neighbour’s Dad from Pemberton was on my bus and we chatted all the way to work. He had never been up to the Ski Jump and was hoping to get there for this shift as there were only a few more events in that sub-venue. When we checked in I had been assigned to the ski jump area and he was assigned to X-Country venue for the day. I changed shifts with him so he could experience the jumping and I added another hour and a half to my shift as his was longer. So off I went to the X-Country venue for the first time. The physical layout is quite different and the stadium capacity is a little larger. There is also a larger area for standing spectators and a very large “field of play”. My assignment turned out to be to manage the “back of house” areas which entailed securing access points and making sure only authorized individuals pass through entrances, doors and passageways. It entails six points that are pretty static but never-the-less necessary to control. The “back of house” is restricted to accredited people and we had to escort the accessible shuttle occupants through the area as they were not accredited. An original planning error, from my point of view, results in mixing unaccredited folks in this area. I had just enough staff to cover the 6 points and that made getting people out on breaks and lunches a challenge as we had to cover our respective areas. I also had to rotate staff as some of the posts were boring and out of the sun and some were pretty interesting but in full sun.

The shift went well and we had some interesting folks come through the area. We had royalty from Finland (a small two car cavalcade), the King and Queen of Norway ( a small two car cavalcade) and the King and Queen form Sweden ( in an elaborate 4 car cavalcade) arrive for the event at the same place as we received and dispatched out accessible folks in the shuttle (Once again a bad plan). You can imagine the impact on normal operations when 3 sets of royalty arrive within an hour of each other. Each set was accompanied by staff of course and some of them were pretty big, ominous and carried guns! All in all the shift went well and we had a great day at the X-Country ski events. After our debrief I set out on the bus to return to Whistler for the evening. Once on the bus I connected with Freddi and she had been off all day and was looking forward to going to the medals ceremony that evening. She took a bus to Whistler and we met for some dinner in Whistler. I was pretty tired and Freddi was pretty sick with a cold but we still enjoyed our pasta dinner at a small cafe off the main street and chatted until show time.

We then went to the ceremonies in Whistler to be part of the hoopla that goes on every night. It is a large celebration each evening and this is where Paul (my bro-in-law) works. His responsibilities are in ensuring that the right flags are ready for hoisting with each medal celebration. We managed to find him and he was laughing about how the RCMP brass were visiting their team of uniformed officers in a PR moment and how they were getting in the way of their operations in their very close quarters. We stayed for the pre-band, comedian and the presentation of two X-Country ski medals in the outdoor environment. Since I was tired and Freddi was unwell we left before Divo came on stage to sing to the very excited crowd. We left the venue and walked to the bus and sat quietly on the way home. Once there we chatted with Gray about his day, watched some highlights of the day and the Venture/Moir gold medal performance in ice dancing. We then retired for the night. Another full day was over...

Tuesday came early but I was able to stay in bed a little later as my shift was not to start until 10 am. It turned out that our events that day were pushed back by 30 minutes. I was assigned to the X-Country venue again and it turned out that I was to do the exact same area as the day before. That made it easy for me as I knew the drill and did not have to make up or perform tasks that I had never done before. That tweaked me to the fact that I have been working in a full matrix environment for the last few days without any knowledge of what I would be doing and in most cases where I was going to work that day. That is a very strange feeling for me as I normally like to be better organized than that and have my time each day to think through my day and get aligned before I start. In this environment you arrive, get assigned, meet a new team and then execute on a set of tasks that we basically restart each day. It is a very different and difficult environment to work in but much to my amazement it produces some pretty good results.
Once again I cannot tell you much about the races and/or the results of the races. But judging from the level of cheering the race was pretty close. It was a Nordic Combined event where the competitors first complete one ski jump and then they X-Country ski some ridiculous long course before falling to the ground totally spent. They are admirable in their flexibility, strength and diversity in sport. However the shift was a good one and we endured a little bad weather as the wet snow started about noon. My team was a keen bunch and we got some help to spell people so they could take breaks and have lunch during their shifts. I find my best approach here is to take a 10 minute break and choke down a soup at that time as there is much to be done in a short time during the shifts. However, I cannot expect my team to work like that and I work hard to get the 10-15 minute break and 30 minute lunch in for each of them. The work went well and I worked well with my Supervisor. The Supervisors are all assigned specific areas and they have a group of Team Leaders executing in their areas. That means you work for a new person almost every day.

After work I took the bus to Whistler to meet Freddi, who also had a shift (even with her cold) and we met Tara-Lee and a friend at the Hilton for a beer. The Canada vs Germany game was on the three TVs in the bar and they had already started to clean their clocks before I got there. We stayed for a short time and then drove Tara-Lee’s car to Pemberton. Tara-lee and a few friends were spending the evening in Whistler to enjoy the Medal Ceremony and the entertainment in the village. We got home and Bree (who is also sick and away from work) had prepared a nice homemade soup and sandwich dinner. It was a great meal. Shortly, and I mean shortly, thereafter I went to bed!

Wednesday was an early start for me. I wanted to get some thoughts down on this blog so I got up a little earlier than necessary. I managed to get some of this written but did not have any of the pictures downloaded so I had to abandon the effort and go to work. The bus ride was normal and I listened to Stuart MacLean podcasts to entertain me on the ride. My assignment for the day was to manage the second bank of security scanning tents which we fondly refer to as “Mag and Bag”. I was assigned 8 people and over the shift it grew to 12. WE all had done this before so it was dead easy and we chatted up the guests as they arrived and prepared them for the security screening which is handled by an army of security folks. There was only one event on Wednesday so the hours and the numbers of folks to deal with were both reduced. The X-Country ski event was a medal event and it was the Men’s Classic Relay that required incredible endurance by a 4 member team. The Swedes came up the winners and the stands must have been quite busy. The “mag and bag” is on the dirty side of the house so we had little to do during the actual race. I actually was able to have a full break and a full lunch while we waited for the rush at the end of the event. My team amused themselves by building a huge snowman with the fresh snow that was falling during the day. It became an attraction as people left the venue. The transportation issues have all been resolved and we moved the people through egress very efficiently. That meant that we had an empty venue an hour before our shift was scheduled to end. We all left early. It was very beautiful in the forest as the trees were laden with the new snow but the mountains were nowhere to be seen as we were part of the clouds.
Once in town I met the ladies to get Tara-Lee’s keys as I was designated as the driver of her car back to Pemberton. The ladies were going to watch some Canada vs Russia hockey in a bar somewhere and then go to the Bobsled event and then go to the medal ceremonies and watch the band. I was heading home to watch the game on the big screen. Gray and I watched as Canada took Russia to the cleaners and showed that Canada can really play hockey. We then ordered some Chinese food and I managed to keep my eyes open until we finished. It was then time for me to get to bed.

(Note: I ran out of time again this morning and will likely post some relevant pictures later today or tomorrow as they are still in the other camera. Enjoy your day!)

Working in the Ski Jump sub-venue.....

Day 22 Feb 19
Today was another great day as the sun was shining and the event venues had record crowds at the events. I went to work in the dark as usual and managed to pull a stadium duty for the day. That means that I had a team that worked in and around the field of play for Large Course Ski Jumping. The difference between the Normal Course and the Large Course can best be described as “those guys fly a lot farther”. The Normal Course produces results from 90 to 120 M whereas the Large Course produces results from 125 to 145 M. That is a very long way in the air.

The work environment was very congenial as my team and the teams around us worked together to accomplish what we had to do to make the event a good one for the spectators and assembled guests. We had an oversold venue which included about 6500 people at the jumping this morning. There was also an event in the afternoon at the X-Country sub-venue but my shift was from 6 to 1 pm and that allowed me to leave the venue shortly after the jumping was venue was cleared.

I rode into Whistler with Mary Ellen and we both fell asleep on the bus as we had been there since the dark period. I walked through the village to get some lip balm as the sun has burned my lips. The town was very busy with bands in each of the main courtyards and lots of people walking about to be seen and see others. The air is filled with happy energy and it is a big party right now. I did not stay in the village long as I was tired and wanted to relax at home before I close the day at about 9 pm tonight.

Day 23 Feb 20
Oh it is a delight to be in the west when the sun shines. Today, Saturday was another sunny warm day in the Callaghan Valley. Since it was a medal event for Long Ski Jump the venue opened later than normal and I had the opportunity to stay in bed for an extra hour. However, it still was dark when I went in on the two buses. The venue opened as the day broke and I was assigned to the Stadium for the medal finals. I had a team of 7 hosts and we had the enviable job of making sure the seating area was well managed and people had a good time. It was a fun task as the folks who have paid for these seats were all in a very good mood. However there were some people who just don’t know how to be polite or to respect their neighbours in tight quarters. I had some folks who just did not want to play by the rules and we managed to handle the issues without police intervention.

The Long Ski Jump final trails and the final competition was very competitive. I am hoping to see some of the jumps on TV tonight as I really did not follow the activities as I was running pretty much all day. None-the-less I did notice that ski jump is simply owned by the Europeans and their fans are huge in numbers. My Supervisor, Alison, was off for a couple of days as a sick call and was a little weak at work today. Ben, another team leader, and I made it easier for her as we had worked in her area before. I am hoping that I get selected for the ski jumping when the team event comes up next week. I finished work a 4 pm and when I went down the mountain to the bus there was a huge line-up for people to go to Whistler. Both the ski jump sub-venue and the X-Counytry sub-venue finished within an hour of each other and this causes some back-up getting out of the park. However, the line is usually dispursed within an hour of the end of an event. As a volunteer we are allowed to go directly to the next bus as we have just completed a long shift for the benefit of the spectators. I was happy that that ruling was there as I did not want to wait in line for a bus. Once on the bus I sat quietly listening to my ipod as my head bobbed from lack of sleep. Tara-Lee, who worked all day at the hotel, and Freddi met me at the WOP bus so we could all drive back to Pemberton. They were excited as Freddi had the day off and managed to get some shopping in. They bought fun stuff and we had a pretty fun ride home.

Once home I opened a cold beer and sat down .... it felt good. Bree was at work all day and Gray was out playing in the alpine on his snow mobile. I think he got the best deal of the day. Tonight we are all going to dinner at the Pemberton Golf Club as they have been recommended for a comfortable and home style cooking evening out. I am looking forward to that as I have the day off tomorrow and plan to ski again part of the day.

I have no personal pictures today as I have been working but have included a couple of shots of our gold athletes for Canada. We should be proud of them. (John Montgomery – skeleton and Maelle Ricker for Snowboard. Maelle is someone that Gray and Bree know quite well.)

Ski day....

Today was a day of relaxation – well sort of – and we had an opportunity to go for a ski as a family. Jamie was at loose ends so he joined us on the hill. Tara-Lee drove us into town on a beautiful morning and at a respectable time. The sun was up and the heat of the day was starting to take away the crisp cool of the night. We parked in the Hilton and got our boots and skis out for the time on the hill. Tara-Lee decided to ski today instead of going boarding as she boarded yesterday and was feeling it in her back. She got set up quickly and we were on the gondola at about 10 am.

The ride up reminded me of the beauty of BC when the sun shines as we could see for miles down the mountain ranges. The end of the Whistler gondola took us to a temperature of -6 degrees but the sun made feel quite acceptable. We decided to go to the peak and take a run down the far side of the peak to the Symphony bowl. The deep blue sky and contrasting white peaks made it hard to concentrate on the skiing as I took in the visual splendour of these mountains. You forget how wonderful they are when you don’t see them often.
We skied a few runs on the Symphony bowl and then made our way to Round House for lunch and a beer. The burgers and fries were terrific and we watched the Ladies Slalom races on TV. TV’s are everywhere and we caught glimpses of several sports today. After a brief stop we set out again and took the Peak2Peak over to Blackcomb for a few runs. The time went by very quickly and Tara-Lee had to go to work at 3 pm. She left us and tore down the hill as she was short of time to get there. Freddi and I followed a little slower and made our way back to Whistler. You also forget that a run on Whistler/Blackcomb is equivalent to a full day skiing in the east so we were pretty tired but we enjoyed the runs. There were surprisingly few people on the runs.
When we got to town we found out that most of them were in the village or at sports events but I would bet most were in the village. We thought we would have beer in the sunshine at the Longhorn and wait for Jamie and Gray but that was thwarted by the fact that the place was full and there was a line-up to get in. We decided to take the bus to Pemberton and get on with our lazy day. The bus was very full and our trip was a standing trip. Once back in Pemberton I took some pictures as the sun was beautiful on the peaks behind Gray and Bree’s house. I made a quick run to the grocery store and started a short rib dinner. Then we settled in for an evening of Olympic hockey and snowboarding. And of course it is early to bed to get ready for another work day tomorrow.

Day 6 .... on the "clean" side

The day started in the middle of the night again. In fact it was so early that it was just after the girls got home from their evening out without the boys. It sounded like they had some fun and I would guess it was at the expense of the boys. The bus rides to the WOP were uneventful and I managed to dose a bit on the second bus. Once there we traipsed into the registration tent to check in and get our assignments for the day. It was a walk to the Gulag as it was very dark still and large bright lights made the people in front of silhouettes against the light. We waited in the warming tent until Rachel, the scheduler, arrived and dished out the assignments. The team leaders go first as they need to find out what areas they will be covering and then they/we go to designated spots to get the equipment and assignment material for the days assignment.


On this day I was selected as part of the “Entry” Team which works with the Mag and Bag team I was assigned to on my last shift. My team was assigned to the “clean” side of the security check-in this time and I met up with 5 hosts who were to make up my team. We figured out our positions that needed to be covered and had a fun time making up our role and responsibilities from the guidelines. This group was made up a student from Queens, a married couple from Toronto, a student in BC from Taiwan and student from Hong Kong. Basically we had to make sure that people with need for use of the Accessible Shuttle got to it as easily as possible and we directed others to the 1.2 km path/stroll up to the X-Country centre for the day’s activities. None of this was difficult but with any job one must deal with people and the chemistry between people and overcoming some personality types that present challenges. To offset some of these issues I resort to some basic principles of Leadership that I have learned over the years and try to anticipate the needs of those in the hierarchy who may not have this experience. Sometimes reporting to overzealous micro-managing youths can be a challenge. But we managed the day pretty well and our team had a good time and helped lots of people enjoy the day.

It turned into a beautiful sunny day as we opened the gates to the public at 7 am. The warmth of the sun offset the coolness and dampness of the early morning dark. Today was the first day I would see the whole Callaghan Valley in sunlight. It is a beautiful place (as some of these shots will demonstrate) and a hard place to not reflect on the natural phenomenon of the mountains. During the day we loosened our many layers of clothing to balance the internal temperature as the sun strengthened its intensity. By the afternoon we were out of work and enjoying the sun as all had entered the venue and had made their way to the races. This day was dedicated to X-country races in both mans and ladies categories. There were a large contingent of Europeans with all of their noise makers, flags, fancy dress and jovial spirits. One Polish guy called our venue for ski-jumping a “mickey mouse operation” as it could accommodate 7K people. In Europe upwards of 50K people show up for a major ski-jumping event. He is the lad photographed in this report and he had several replica medals around his neck. The replicas were of the medals he had won in biathlon in Innsbruck. He has been at every event so far at Callaghan Valley (WOP). I suspect he is the most photographed guy this year.

In the afternoon we were re-deployed as a team to support the egress. There were 6K people who would be interesting in downloading to either Whistler or Vancouver at the same moment. The transportation group has really worked through and fixed their earlier issues and the egress was very orderly and happened in about 90 minutes from start to finish. After de-brief of the team and the Team Leaders I made the trip back to Whistler where Freddi and I had intended to meet for a beer at the Longhorn. Her day had been a bit boring as little happened around the Accreditation trailer at the Sliding Centre. Well the plan was thwarted as the Longhorn and other bars were jammed with sun soakers and folks enjoying the fine weather. We chose to return home on the bus and organize some dinner and couch surf watching the Olympics events. Jamie joined us for dinner.
Sleep came early again.......

Today was a day off for Freddi, Tara-Lee and me and we managed to get a couple of extra hours of sleep. However, there is no reason to sleep away such a wonderful time. We went to Wildwood for eggs benny and then drove to Whistler to go to the Ladies Luge run. We parked in town in Tara-Lee’s parking spot at the hotel and walked through the town to get to the Gondola to go to the Sliding Centre. This is Freddi venue of operation but she is not located in the main venue as she is responsible for making sure that people have the correct accreditation to access the venue. The attached photo is Freddi in her trailer which is on the “dirty” side of the venue. Freddi works with a few other people and has a Supervisor that she hardly ever sees. Her work-mates are less interested in their work and Freddi finds herself taking on a lot of the responsibility because she has been trained at T&L in Ottawa by Kevin. She enjoys the work but she would appreciate a little more action just because she is like that.
The venue itself is a large one and it runs well up the hill to get the vertical required for gravity to take its best grip on the luge sleds and drivers. When you look at the full course one wonders how a human body can hang onto the little sled for the duration. But they seem to have this under control as the challenges are being met by the competitors and great times are being recorded as they tear down the course. The ladies luge today was very good to watch and we stationed ourselves at the final loop that leads to the run-down section of the course. What we found out is that this point is a great viewing area and they travel at their fastest speed through this large loop. I tried to catch a photo of the luge riders against the Olympic Rings but failed many time before I got the timing down.

We met Paul and Mary Ellen at the luge event and had a visit. We have not seen them for quite some time. I see Mary Ellen at our venue form time to time but Paul is working at the Celebration Plaza in Whistler doing flags. He is really enjoying his team and his opportunities to learn more about the flags and the countries. In addition he is part of the welcoming group for incoming athletes and he is meeting some interesting folks doing this job. However he is working every night until the end of the Olympics for a couple of hours to ensure that the right flags are used at the celebrations and medal presentations. He has the most important and public job of the group of us. He loves this work and the association to the Olympics.

As it was a cooler day we stayed at the event to see all of the Canadians shot the gauntlet but did not stay for the final runs as our feet got pretty cold. We went down to the village and sought refuge in the Hilton where Tara-Lee works and we watched the first two periods of the Canada Norway hockey game. Freddi and I left after the second period and drove Tara-Lee’s car to Pemberton while Tara-Lee and Bree stayed in town for the Whistler celebration ceremony and the party that is associated with each evening’s event. They will have a great party tonight.
Once home Gray made some pizza for dinner while we watched the final half of the final period for the 8-0 sweep over Norway. It was good to see the team start to come together. I am anxious for them to do well in this wonderful forum.
Tomorrow is a long day at WOP and I must be up at 2 something again......

Day 4 .... on the "dirty" side

Yet another early morning. It is tough to get up at 2 something and get ready to go to work in the Callahan Valley (photo above). But that is the way of the life right now. I meet the same folks at the bus in Pemberton in the morning and we travel to Whistler together with some in silence and some in excited chatter. It is my hope that the excited chatter subsides some over time as it could be a good moment or two to get some sleep. The day was overcast but there was a threat of sun.....

I arrived at the venue at 5:30 am as planned and we did the check-in for a day of X-Country skiing. My assignment was on the “dirty side” of entry as my team would be helping folks get ready to go through the scanning process run by the security team. Apparently to be x-rayed and have your bag scanned made you "clean" as once you had made it past that station you were considered to be on the "clean" side. It turns out that Mary Ellen had been deployed to work on the "clean" side and picked up making the spectators happy from our team. We had a number of stations running down the hill for people to get “security processed” and our team members were to undertake two functions -plus a new deployment after the ingress (getting there). We readied people, in advance , by informing them that they were going to screened in a fashion similar to an airport and to put your bags in tray, empty your pockets, undo your coats etc. The other position called a "pacer" would make sure no-one went through the screening machine before the security person on the other side was ready. Neither of these two jobs were very challenging but the team members I was assigned were very helpful and cooperated easily with the straight forward instructions. The spectators started to arrive at 7 am for a 10 am event and we had a pretty even flow for the next 3 hours. Since people arrived by bus they were pretty evenly spaced out. However we had some rushes to deal with but nothing that was too stressful. My biggest challenge of the day was dealing with making sure that everyone got a fair number of breaks and a lunch break without crippling one of our stations.

The x-Country Ladies event started at 10 am and the tickets were good for the Men’s event in the afternoon. That meant that most people were in the venue from about 10 o’clock on. That left us with little to do so some of the more energetic volunteer took it upon themselves to welcome late comers with a human bridge (as shown in one of the photos from the day).
Once we closed down a number of stations we dealt with lunch and did a scan of the walkways to eliminate large rocks from the path. Yes, an interesting volunteer activity but one that helped some of the spectators who were having troubles with the walking on the rocky paths. We then organized ourselves for the egress as on the Saturday before there had been a huge problems with boarding the spectators on the busses to Whistler. Our team was re-deployed to help the “arrival – departure” team to assist in an orderly departure from the venue. We set up aisles with barriers and manned signs to give people the queues to get to the busses to return to their departure point. Everyone arrives at this site by bus as there is no spectator parking permitted anywhere near the site. This departure activity at the end of the day provided the most significant challenge as there were lots of people leaving at the same time and greater majority returning to Whistler. In the photo to the left you will see bus the sign holders which indicates some of the challenges of managing people with too much time on their hands. All in all it was a good shift that came to an end at 4 pm.

The event itself was a great success (actually both races) for the Swiss folks who were there. The Europeans showed up in full regalia and somehow managed to sneak in their beverages through the scanning process and consumed most of what they had by the time they left the venue. Some were just happy but some were both happy and wobbly on departure. The singing, trumpets, noise makers and flags were very evident on departure. That was the Swiss view..... the Norwegians were more subdued this time. A musician started to sing for the crowds as a diversion to cover the wait for the Whistler buses and some of the volunteers went in to assist him quite spontaneously. The picture shows Tim and a buddy adding visual and sound accompaniment to the songs. In pretty quick order we managed to get the spectators on their way with little delay compared to Saturday and with less grief to the volunteers and organizers from the annoyed spectators.

When I arrived in Whistler, Tara-Lee and Freddi picked me up as they were just leaving the village after their time roaming the streets. We drove home and I think I was in a coma as I was bagged and happy to be off my feet. Throughout the evening and dinner I was coherent for short periods of time and finally gave up and went to bed at 9 ish. Tara-Lee did make us a great schnitzel and salad which I consumed and appreciated in a quiet fashion.

Day 3 of the games ......

It is a sunny afternoon in Pemberton after a day with all known weather patterns in the Whistler Olympic Park during the day. My day started at 2:15 am when I got up and started to get ready and transport down to WOP via the bus system. I managed to get there at 5:30 as planned and was on duty at 6:00 am. I met up with my team-du-jour and we figured out what we were assigned to do for the day. Our position for the Nordic Combined was behind the stadium in the Spectator Plaza area. My team of 5 worked through our assignment and were ready for the 7:00 gate opening. Up until that time it was pouring rain and looking pretty grim. Shortly thereafter it warmed up and the rain stopped. About an hour later the sky cleared above us and the sun shone from just above the trees. During the event a fog rolled through and that was followed by a cooling air mass that created another storm of rain for 30 minutes and then it all cleared for the day at about 12:30 pm. The sun was then warm and the spectators had the benefit of a nice afternoon for the second half of the Nordic Combined event. The weather here changes very dramatically and frequently.

The Nordic Combines is a combination of Ski Jump and X-Country skiing and it is a very significant winter sport in Europe. Each jumper gets a trial run and then one and only one run for points. The session for trials started at 9 am and ran to 10 am and then swung into the competition jumps for about 50 minutes. There was great enthusiasm by many of the European country spectators as they brought in their cow bells, flags, costumes, colours and of course their red wine or beer for breakfast. I think they stay on European time so they can drink for breakfast when in NA. They were all very fun and in great moods as they prepared to cheer on their favourites. Once the jumps were completed our task was to clear the venue and get people to the X-Country sub-venue for the second part of the points scoring. My shift ended at the end of the first activity and I did not go to the X-Country sub-venue. After we cleared the Ski Jump area I got on the bus for Whistler with little effort today as the workforce buses were running again today. Once in Whistler I caught up with Freddi who had spent a good part of the day in Whistler. Freddi is on day 3 of a 3 day work break. We took the bus to Pemberton as I was tired of being on my feet standing and walking in the great wet outdoors.
The came my best and favourite activity – couch surfing watching the Olympics....... In actual fact being at the venue (working) one really doesn’t into the events or the standings as we are all focused on our jobs and keeping our guests happy. Some are pleasant and of course some of them should have stayed away as they seemed to be having a horribly wrong day. We relish the first group and spend as little time as possible with the latter group.

Tonight we are having a nice family dinner as it is Sunday. My challenge is to stay awake through the entire meal. Freddi took some photos in Whistler today as it was buzzing with visitors, athletes and people having a good time.

First Shift and Ski Jumping....

Today was my first shift at Whistler Olympic Park (WOP). The day started at 2:00 am when I got out of my sleepless bed and made ready to be at the venue for the start of the shift at 5:15 am. It seems like a long run-up time but there is a bus from Pemberton that must be in Whistler before 4:00 so I can catch a 4:15 bus to the WOP on the other side of Whistler. All buses were on-time and I managed to get to the site by 5:00 am. I met my supervisor and we started the plan for the day right away. We had to have our team in place by 7:00 am for the opening of the gates as the spectators like to see the training runs and get good vantage points for viewing the jumps. Today there were two activities at the WOP. The Ski Jumping was carried out in the morning and the Swiss are very proud of their Gold metal. Simon Ammann made a final jump that was incredible (108 M on the normal track) and the rowdy crowd was overwhelmed. The roars and flag waving accompanied the cow bells and the cheers for this athlete. It was a fine climax for the last two days of competition at the ski jump venue. There will be more races in this venue on the 19th, 20th and 24th.

Working as a Team Leader was a challenge as I was learning my job on the job. The pressure is intense as we have to be ready for all sorts of challenges as our job is to make the experience of our guests, spectators, athletes, VIPs and media a great one. I had a team of 7 and after some indecision we managed to secure the prime spot to see the action while we were doing our work. We had to control access points to ensure only accredited folks passed those areas, manage crowd movement, help answer questions and guide folks to the viewing areas. It was fun work and our team worked well together as we made it fun for guests and ourselves. The weather was not too cold and overcast but the sun did try to come out a couple of times. The last 15 minutes or so of the competition was dampened by a light rain and the egress was carried out over a two hour period in light rain. My shift came to an end at 2 PM and I was delayed in getting on the buses as the spectators were still in line to go to Whistler and we were asked to wait. I finally got to Whistler a little after 3 pm and was met by Tara-Lee. I had not had enough to eat – we were busy – so we went to a small cafe for some sustenance before returning home.

We just finished a light dinner and are watching the Moguls on TV and hoping for a Canadian success story from Jennifer Heil on the moguls at Cypress Mountain. Jennifer just won a silver for Canada and you could see the disappointment in her face as she worked very hard and was going for gold. Congratulations to Jennifer for a inspiring performance during her exciting career.
Just a note that I hope all enjoyed the Opening Ceremonies as they were rated very high by most of the folks I have spoken to. Naturally, everyone has their loves and dislikes about such a diverse and richly cultural experience.
Now I am off to bed as I am bushed and have another middle of the night appointment with my first bus.

First day of the Olympics ....

Today is the day that we targeted 18 months ago as we applied to be volunteers. For 18 months now it has been way out there in the future but suddenly it is here and real. It is the first day of the Olympics and before the opening ceremony there were two major events that have marked the start of the Olympics.

The first event was the first games event which was Ski Jumping at the Whistler Olympic Park. We had four tickets for the event and set out by bus from Pemberton at 8 am to ensure that we got to Callaghan Valley for the event at 10 am. We caught our bus as planned and arrived in Whistler about 45 minutes later. We then walked for 15 minutes to get to the bus that transports folks to the venue. We were boarded into the bus immediately and we left shortly thereafter. The 45 minute ride got us to the venue at 9:45 and that allowed us to get up the hill to the Ski Jump venue in the next 15 minutes. It is a one km walk to the venue through the woods and up a hill. Freddi was suffering from Asthma so we took the Accessibility Bus to the Inuksuk which helped her for sure. We then walked through the venue to watch the jumping from the spectators standing area. The event had started before we got there but there was lots of room to move around and get a vantage point that allowed a clear view of the jumpers. There are two courses and today they were using what they call the “normal course” and the expectation is that jumpers will jump from 95 to 105 metres. Think about that .... I am. The other course is longer and expectations are jumps that go from 120 to 145 metres. I would that the “abnormal course” but I am sure they use the “larger course” to describe that one. I will not try to relate the results as the media have and will do a way better job than I can as they have more information to work with and they are paid to do that. However, I will comment on that fact that the Europeans killed the course and the Germans and Czechs own this course.

The spectators were boisterous and load as they cheered for the huge jumps and cheered for those who jumped lesser distances. The folks there appreciated the effort of all athletes and there were many cow bells clanging with enthusiasm. It was a very electric environment. My sister-in-law, Mary Ellen, was working as a host at the venue and she found us but my brother-in-law, Paul, who was to be there as a spectator was nowhere to be found. The sun broke through for part of the event and it was beautiful to feel the sun, see some of the valley and soak up the electric atmosphere of this first event of the Olympics. Elapsed time of the competition was 1 hour and 5 minutes. Our return journey to Whistler was fairly quick (45 minutes) as we used the Accessibility bus to get to the Whistler buses and managed to catch one of the earliest to leave. There were throngs of people pouring out of the event and there were lots of folks (volunteers) doing crowd control. This is the venue that I will be working in starting at 5:15 am tomorrow morning.

The second event so far today was the very unfortunate death of the Georgian Luge slider – Nodar – who at the age of 21 crashed during a training run at 144.3 kph. His effort and passion guided him to this day and we all are saddened by his passing. The Luge committee will be evaluating their options as a result of this accident. Once again, the media will cover this in detail and if you are interested have a look at the CTV coverage as it is fairly complete. This will be a shadow over this Olympics but the overall program will still produce many, many good stories as these athletes give it their all. Let us move forward and enjoy the games for what they are supposed to be – the culmination of training (physically and mentally) by be the best in the world at their chosen sport. We respect their decisions to participate and will enjoy their efforts and enthusiasm.

Once in Whistler the ladies went to Pemberton and I took the opportunity to walk about the Village Stroll to suck up the atmosphere and feel the excitement of the folks in the village. It was raining but that didn’t dampen the spirits of the gathered people as they watched entertainment and news coverage on the large screens that are strategically placed throughout the village. I checked out the food offerings at the Swiss Pavilion and at some of the various restaurants and decided I was just too hungry to really enjoy a sit down meal. (Does that make any sense – only if you understand the issue of grocery shopping when you are hungry – it means you end up with too much of things you would not normally eat). In the end I did not eat and returned to Pemberton hungry!

The trip back to Pemberton was filled with discussions with an off-duty RCMP who was excited about his iPod and the 2010 application that he found as well as many other “neat” tech things he uses it for. Some snowboarders discussed each of their turns in detail and shared their experiences with the folks at the back of the bus. The bus trip of 35 – 45 minutes is always quite entertaining. Once home Bree produced some fresh meat pies from the local bakery that were just the right amount of delicious food for our lunch. Now I am getting ready to sit my butt in a chair and watch some coverage of the last few hours of the pre-Olympic Opening ceremonies. Vancouver is deep into the buzz as the flames gets closer and closer to BC Place. That will happen about 8:30 pst tonight. I hope everyone enjoys the opening ceremony and raise your glass to the athletes and organizers of this amazing event. GO CANADA GO!