The World Competes

With just 17 days to go before the Vancouver Olympics, the mountains where the events are scheduled to be held are facing a lack of snow. Particularly, Cypress Mountain, where the snowboarding and freestyle skiing events are planned, have barren and muddy patches. Event organizers are making contingency plans. A warm and wet January are to blame.

Fortunately, there was 11 inches of snow in the higher elevations on Monday, and it is expected to be cold at the base of the mountain over the weekend.

If all else fails, organizers will truck in man-made snow, as well as snow from higher elevations.

This isn’t the first time that the Olympic games have faced a lack of snow. In Nagano, a lack of snow was threatened, but prior to the games, Mother Nature dropped a lot of snow and saved the day. At the 1964 Innsbruck games, a dearth of snow prompted the Austrian army to truck in blocks of ice from elsewhere on the mountain so that the bobsled and luge events could go on.

Vancouver is the warmest location for a Winter Olympics so far. In 2014, Sochi will be an even warmer Olympic city. The high temperature predicted for Sochi for tomorrow is 51°F, with a low of 44°F.