On the Mountain by 5:00 a.m. and saw the sun rise over the Fitzsimmons Range. All the course work was completed and the track was frozen hard and fast. This was finally going to be the 2010 Olympic Mens' Downhill Race. Inspection of the course by the Racers and their coaches started at 7:30 and 10:30 the race started. You could hear the bells ringing and the crowd cheering as the first racer left the start. From my control spot just above the top of the Toilet Bowl I could see the racers coming towards me at least 3 gates ahead. I was from there able to snap a couple of photos of Bodie Miller and Robbie Dixon as the raced past me. From this position I then notified the course workers below me of the oncoming racers by yelling "Course". I would also notify them that the Slippers (course workers on skis who smooth and polish the race line between every two racers).
I use my large format Digital SLR camera and had it set to take 3 frames per second.
Then I moved done the course slightly to a jump into the Toilet Bowl that my crew has labeled "Rim Shot". This is where I capture this Italian skier as he approached the jump, launched off the jump and then flew through the air all within one second.
As a Canadian I was disappointed to not see a local ski racer on the podium but a fifth place by Erik Guay was a decent showing.
Later that night after cleaning up the course in preparation of the Downhill / Slalom Combined Race I was able to attend the metal presentation ceremonies in the "Celebration Plaza" - a project I worked on for 2 1/2 years while employed the the town of Whistler. It was quite a frenzy to see the crowd support for the awarding of the Bronze Metal to Brodie Miller (USA), the Silver Metal to Aksel Lund Svindal (Norway) and the Gold Metal to Didler Defaco (Switzerland ). The course (3105 meters long with a vertical drop of 853 meters and 41 gates) must have provided some challenges to these three racers but all three had it dialled in with only .04 seconds separating their times.
Today it was snowing heavily from 4:00 a.m. till noon and therefore the Downhill / Slalom Combined Race was postponed. We worked all day to clear and pack the new snow on the track in preparations for the rescheduled race on Thursday. My crews are all getting tired from the early morning loads on the chair lifts and the heavy work with all the snow, but their spirits are still high.
We will see tomorrow what the weather will bring but as always we will have the track ready.
Till another day
Gerry
February 15, 2010
No comments:
Post a Comment