Day 10 - Men's Qualifiers

Another nice sunny morning here in the Lower Mainland. Didn't have to be on the hill until 1:15 so I had a good sleep and even had time to wander down to Westminster Quay to have a coffee and shoot some pictures.

Today was the men's qualifiers so that meant big crowds at Cypress and that we had to be on top of our game for the event. The boys had 2 hours of practice before they had two runs to get the highest cumulative score. Only the top 12 advance to the final and there were 25 competitors including 3 Canadians. I got another nice view of the event from the finish area where I was the lead snow removal guy. Basically our job was to take big snow scoops and run across the bottom of the landing area and clean up the large chunks of snow that collect at the bottom of the transition. Easy work but lots of pressure to get in and out fast between the end of practice and between the first and second rounds.

Canada was strong in the first round with Steve Omischl, Warren Shouldice, and Kyle Nissen all sitting in the top 10 after their first jumps. The crowd was crazy each time the Canadian boys were up! The American fans were a very close second with lots of noise as well. The second round started and all the skiers put down some amazing runs with very few mistakes. In the end though Canada prevailed with all three guys placing in the top 12 and making it through for the finals on Thursday. At the end of the event there was some live entertainment from the Sardis High School Drum Line. The kids came out and put on a great drum show with a bagpiper to boot. Too bad the crowd mostly missed it as they were making a break for the exit and buses home. The remaining fans and volunteers enjoyed it though.

A little more work to do before we wrapped things up; put the skis on and worked on sliding out the big pile of snow that had slid out into the bottom of the landing transition. The snow is still not sticking together well and each time the skiers landed a river of sugar snow would flow like water down the hill. Tommorrow is forecast for rain/snow at the hill which may be a blessing in disguise for us as any extra moisture and fresh snow could help the conditions and quality of the snow. Only three more shifts!