Word: whistler
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Just spend a few minutes around Marty Lawthers, the mother of chipper U.S. Olympic luger Chris Mazder, and you'll discover the roots of Mazder's disposition. During Sunday afternoon's men's luge final at the Whistler Sliding Center, Lawthers enthusiastically shows off both her cowbells - one has a pink ribbon that Mazder's girlfriend gave him - and the "Go Chris!" face paint on her cheeks. But mention Friday's tragic luge accident, which claimed the life of Nodar Kumaritashvili, who hailed the former Soviet republic of Georgia, and Lawthers' sunny mood soon turns dark. "A death happened just...
...athletes themselves met with each other last Friday and urged organizers to push forward. "We thought it was a way to show that life goes on," says Shiva K.P. Keshavan from India, who finished in 29th place of 39 competitors. "But Nodar will never be forgotten." Until Friday, the Whistler track was proudly marketed as the fastest in the world, as sleds approached 100 m.p.h. (169 km/h). However, in the days leading up to the tragedy, about a dozen athletes crashed during their Olympic training runs. Kumaritashvili's father said his son told him that he was scared...
...mountain, where all the rank amateurs ski, conditions have been great. Some 35 feet of snow have fallen on Whistler through January. On Saturday morning, it was wet on the bottom but snowing hard at the summit, which at about 7,000 ft. is a mile higher than the base. Our guide told us not to worry. Whistler must have about 10 different weather systems on any given day, it seems. "We're going to drop a couple of hundred feet out of this cloud and it will clear up," he said. For 30 seconds we skied blindly, but then...
...lack of skiers was not unexpected. Whistler, in fact, didn't even volunteer to host the Games - the resort doesn't really need the exposure. But once Vancouver won the Games, Whistler essentially had to rent itself out to the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) to provide the slopes for the men's and women's alpine skiing events, including the downhill, slalom, giant slalom, super G and the super combined. The contract calls for VANOC to reimburse Whistler for skier days lost to the Games. "VANOC's done a good job," says Jensen. "They're making us whole...
...along "Olympic aversion" is a boon. In peak season, the locals would normally have to share the place with the skiing hordes. Now they have the joint to themselves while the bars, restaurants and hotels that provide many of them with employment are hopping. "The people who live in Whistler are skiing their brains out," says Jensen. Once it stops raining at the bottom, the Olympic ski racers will join them...