Day 4 - More Gold At Cypress

Back to the mountain today, an earlier start and I was on the hill before 7 AM. It poured rain on the drive over and on the bus ride up but stopped for my walk to the lodge. Then it started again. Busted out the nice MEC rain poncho I got on Day 1 and headed over to the aerial venue in the rain and fog. Today was the first day of practice for the athletes and the weather was not cooperating. You know it's dark and foggy when they turn the lights outside in the morning. Chopped the landing hill then built up a supply of snow at the back of the jumps for filling in where the skiers land. Spent a lot of time on skis today, worked with the in-run crew to side step and slide snow along the edge of the course so the athletes could have a smooth run for speed checks. This is where they try and determine where they will start their run from to get an optimal speed to hit the jumps. The skiers make several runs at speed but don't hit the jumps; they go flying between them and check their speed that is captured by some electric eyes and shown on a overhead display.

The women hit the course about 10 AM and started jumping by 11. The rain had let up and it actually felt cooler with a bit of a breeze. The women stayed on the smaller single and double jumps and looked pretty solid. The landing zone was softer than they prefer due to the rainfall from the night/morning so there were a few tumbles after landing.

Caught an early lunch and headed back to help pack blocks on dry ice to get broken up and put into the tubes buried in the jumps. Moved back to the skis and did two top to bottom side steps of the landing zone to fix up the wear and tear from the women's practice. The men were scheduled to start practicing at 5 PM but I was done at 2:30. Headed down on the bus into the sun and warmth of the city. Rode down with Dee and Carol from work and had a nice visit with them and heard their tales of working in the transportation area. Back at it tomorrow with an afternoon shift. Got home to hear that Maelle Ricker won gold over at boardercross - could hear the crowd from aerials! Cypress is the place to see a gold medal won by Canada so far!