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.)