Venues
Whistler Creekside
Last Updated: Wednesday, January 13, 2010 | 6:43 PM ET
New York Times, for CBC Sports
Whistler Creekside will host Alpine skiing. Vancouver will host the 2010 Winter Olympics. (Don Emmert/AFP/Getty Images)Whistler Creekside sits at the base of Whistler Mountain and will be the stage for the alpine skiing events. It is 124 kilometers (roughly 77 miles) from Vancouver via the Sea-to-Sky Highway, a road that has undergone $600 million in upgrades since the Games were awarded but remains geographically challenging. It was closed for five days after a massive landslide in July 2008.
The venue, built in an already world-class ski resort, has undergone $27.6 million in upgrades, including the redesign of the Dave Murray Downhill course for the men’s downhill race and the construction of a new course for the women’s downhill, called Franz’s run. The signature portion of the men’s run is the Fallaway in the lower section, a steep drop with a sharp left turn that drops skiers into a compression. The top section of the women’s course is the steepest, with difficult turns. Both courses have a spectacular jump, called Hot Air, into the finish, where most of the 7,700 spectators will be watching.
Whistler has been a frequent host for World Cup races, but when the circuit visited there in 2008 — a test event for the Olympic courses — it was the first stop there in 13 years. Skiers generally praised the courses as technically difficult but fair, but Whistler’s weather is unpredictable and the courses will get harder if the area gets a lot of natural snow.
The Whistler Blackcomb Resort will remain open to the public during the Games — only four of the runs on Whistler Mountain are being used for competition — although transportation will be difficult.
For an extra thrill, visitors can travel the Peak 2 Peak Gondola between Whistler and Blackcomb mountains, a $52 million project that carries skiers on an 11-minute ride between peaks, more than 1,000 feet above the river.
