VANCOUVER - The weather problems that have plagued the Vancouver Winter Games have taken a new toll, turning the downhill course in Whistler into an icy, treacherous stunt track, where one competitor after another is losing control during the women's downhill event.
Warm weather during the day and below-zero temperatures at night have combined to ice up the course.
The forecast doesn't offer much hope for help. The mercury is expected to climb as high as 8 C this week, and hover around -4 C at night, with little chance of snow until next Tuesday.
The other most troublesome site, Cypress Mountain, on Vancouver's North Shore, will see similar temperatures in the coming days.
Some 28,000 standing-room tickets to the snowboard and ski-cross events have already been cancelled at Cypress because the lack of snow made it dangerous.
Games CEO John Furlong admits the weather has been a "serious problem" and says the unfortunate issues up at Cypress have dominated headlines, at the expense of other venues and events.
Crashes galore in Olympic women's downhill
Crashes galore in Olympic women's downhill
- Published on Febuary 17th, 2010
- Published on June 15th, 2010
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The Canadian Press
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