Snow showers blessing on Cypress Mountain

WEST VANCOUVER, British Columbia – Cypress Mountain was hit with a surprise snowstorm Wednesday, giving the home of the Olympic freestyle and snowboarding venues a much-needed break a few days before competition begins.

“It makes everything look white, so that’s a good thing,” said race director Joe Fitzgerald.

The snow, however, doesn’t appear to be a sign of things to come.

 Fitzgerald is preparing for rain – a lot of it – in the next three days, adding to the Olympic skiing venue woes on the eve of the games.

An uncommonly warm winter has forced officials to truck in snow from other parts of the mountain to maintain the integrity of the course. The biggest problem at Cypress has been forming the halfpipe, where two days of practice have been canceled.

The pattern apparently won’t be broken anytime soon. Fitzgerald said the forecast calls for conditions to be wet and borderline miserable until early next week.

While he’s not particularly worried about how the rain could affect the quality and the quantity of the snow on the course, he is concerned precipitation could lead to fog, a development that could force officials to postpone events. The 800-foot long course drops 300 vertical feet from start to finish.

“If we can’t see the start, we can’t move forward,” Fitzgerald said. “The judges have to be able to see.”

Fitzgerald then pointed to the top of the course, where the surprise squall made it difficult to catch a glimpse of the starting gate.

The schedule does allow for some wiggle room. The women’s moguls could be run on Sunday before the men’s event begins or on Monday or Tuesday if things deteriorate over the weekend.

For a while Wednesday, however, a sense of normal returned to Cypress. The mountain’s first significant snowfall since Jan. 15 began around 1 p.m. and fell steadily through the afternoon and early evening.          (AP)