So for starters, I have gone back and inserted images in the posts where technology had not allowed them previously. After riding Sunshine, our last night in Banff, Ottawa-Matt and Canmore-Sam met Captain Kirk and I at Eddie Burger for a delish meal, and a few trash cans.
An unfortunate lassoo related accident resulted in the demise of my camera, but watching Captain Kirk lose a tug-of-war against a hippie more than made up for it.
We set out early the Thursday morning, with our sights set on Winnipeg. The weather was great, and the drive was uneventful. General and Mrs. Henault were extremely hospitable, and sent us off Friday morning with a fantastic shoe-box lunch.
By midnight Friday, we had arrived in Sault Ste-Marie, and were both well rested after driving in shifts. The thought of wasting all of Saturday in the car seemed worse than the prospect of hitting a moose in the dark, so we powered through, and arrived safely home around 8:30 this morning.
All told, I had a fantastic time, from the moment I left to the moment I got home. I got to see a whole pile of this country that I had never seen before. I had the privilege of working with some extraordinary people from all over the world. I made some friends I will cherish for ages, and I had some great times that I will likely never forget. I was priviliged to be a part of something so big, so cool, and so fun. The 2010 games turned out to be something that all of Canada can be extremely proud of. We rose to the challenge as a nation, and set the bar very high for our colleagues in Sochi.
Our VMO warned us about something called the Olympic Low. She said that after such an intense experience shared with a group of people, it is very depressing to part company and go back to real life. She advised us to exercise a lot, and to stay in touch. Done and done.
Seeing how empty and lifeless Whistler was on Monday, I certainly got a good dose of that feeling. The trip home will help to distract me, as I'm sure will the piles and piles of work waiting for me this coming Monday.
When things get a little crazy, and I need to calm down, all I have to do is turn to my memories of these past five weeks. This is my happy place, and this is where I will go when I need a boost.
By the numbers:
12,000km + driven 1 tank of gas in the diesel automobile 9 days of big mountain skiing 2 days of backcountry touring 5 powder days 16 shifts worked 1 tampon dispensed 1 ACL injury splinted 12 Olympic events attended 14 BFFs 2 + broken hearts 0 regrets
I haven't received any questions, so a Q&A post is not likely to happen. Eventually, once life has settled, I'll get around to doing a picture dump on facebook.
Monday, I headed back up to Whistler to use the last day on my edge pass. It was very quiet and somber... nobody on the slopes, nothing happening in town. I rode both peaks on some modest snow, and had a reasonably fun day.
Dylan, Kara, and I did our traditional dinner at Memphis BBQ that evening, before I picked up Captain Kirk at SFU, to head to Kamloops and crash with his Mormon friends. Half way there, we received a call politely suggesting that we find somewhere else to stay, as we'd be rolling in on them a little late. On to Revelstoke!
We met up with Ottawa-Matt at Revelstoke Mountain Resort, and had a pretty good day skiing a recently opened area of the mountain.
In the coincidence to end all coincidences, after a 5 minute hike off the peak chair, two dudes asked me a question about where a certain chute ended up. One of those dudes happened to be my cousin Adam. That was bizarre! After riding, we motored on to Banff, where we put up last night, and tonight.
Today, we rode at Sunshine Village, because the snow reports were pretty bleak all around. The view was good, and the cruisers were enjoyable, and a good day was had by all.
The VW is locked and loaded. Dinner, and early to bed, and logging many miles to Winnipeg tomorrow.
As I've been making the most of my last three days as a Smurf, I didn't go home to Squamish at all. Couch surfing is not a good way to get over a cold, but the last few days of Olympic mayhem are not a good time to wimp out because you're sick either.
Last we spoke, the second run of the Women's GS was postponed until the next day. A good night's sleep chez the host family in Squamish, and I was ready to rock for the second day of Women's GS racing. The fog was equally menacing that morning, but lifted just enough to bang out the second run. Though everyone's tickets were going to be honoured, we were expecting a very light showing. Surprisingly, Euro ski fanatics showed up in droves. This just goes to show the passion and excitement they bring to each race... a willingness to bus in from all over the west coast for 90 minutes of racing in the rain, only 30 of which were relevant.
I say this because the second heat in GS and slalom events run the top 30 from the first heat in reverse order, followed by all of the slower racers. This means that 1st place changes hands repeatedly, which makes for some serious excitement, but this also means that after the first 30, the winner has been decided, and very few people stick around to watch the remaining racers.
After the race, we had a few hours to kill before our shift at the Medals Plaza, so Colorado-Craig, Halifax-Tisha and I had a soak in the Westin hot-tub, and introduced our American friend to the wonders of poutine. The Medals Plaza is the place to be! DJs spinning great music, go-go dancers, athletes getting their medals, Jimmy Fallon, the Roots, all-access accreditation... you'd almost forget it was a dry venue. I got some cool pictures of the action, as well as the Mounties and the mascots. I also took a poop in the backstage bathroom. How cool is that?
Post-shift, we checked out the Fire & Ice show in the village, had 2 pitchers after 2 pitchers after 2 pitchers at the GLC, and crashed at 3:45, before a 6:00 start the next day. For the record, there were 6 of us sharing those pitchers, so it was not a drunk night, just a late one.
An early start to the Women's Slalom the next day was not as tough as would have been thought. There is a two hour gap between runs, so we cover off allowing everyone on the MedSpec team an hour to relax. I instructed everyone on the RRR position (Ryan's Rest & Recovery Position), that involves sitting in a chair, and sleeping with your forehead on an examination bed. More than one team member made good use of it.
As some of our team had to peel out of Whistler on Saturday evening after our last shift, we decided that Friday night would be our so-long party. Our whole team showed up for bevies and grub at the Boston Pizza at Creekside, and watched Bernard wet the bed, err, win a silver medal on the curling sheet, before watching Team Canada defeat the Slovaks. Everyone made it an early night, to be ready to rumble for the final showdown.
Still raining, Men's Slalom was the last alpine event of the games. Despite the third consecutive day of rain, Olympic spirit was proudly on display, as many a competitor scrambled back uphill to catch a missed gate, and avoid a DNF despite having lost any hope of a medal. The slalom attracts a much more geographically diverse crowd, and the Snow Leopard from Ghana personally flashed me a peace sign while boarding the gondola.
When all was said and done, we said some goodbyes in the trailer, and a few of us loitered for half an hour until the volunteer appreciation party kicked off at the timing flats. Free beer and hotdogs, and a raffle that I didn't win. Actually, I pulled a fast one, and used my losing raffle ticket as a beer ticket, which is a win of sorts.
Once the party ended at 7:00, I de-smurfed, and booked it into the village to check out Usher at the Medals Plaza; this time as a civilian. I'm not crazy about his music, but he puts on a good show, and I enjoyed the opportunity to spend a little more time with some of my teammates.
Post usher, we watched the final Fire & Ice show with a few EVS (EVent Services) staffers from Creekside, and miraculously found a few tables at a pub on an Olympic Saturday night for our merry band. We watched an enormous bearded Norwegian devour three entrees at the table beside us. I'm not even kidding. I wish I had a picture of this guy.
I surfed one last couch-wave, bid adieu to the last of the MedSpec Mohicans, and took a near empty bus back to Squamish this morning to pack my stuff, and make my way back to Vancouver. The packing was quick, I thanked my host family, exchanged sentimental goodbyes, and made a dash for the city, in hopes of catching the puck-drop.
I made it to Dylan and Kara's with minutes to spare, and watched the big game with a bunch of hyperactive Vancouverites who may or may not have been pre-gaming since breakfast. You all saw the game, no doubt, but this city went off the hook, and remains so as I type this. I can still hear hooting and hollering through the closed patio door, and we're across the inlet from downtown.
After Crosby's historic goal, I took off to meet Ottawa-Tiff and rock the closing ceremonies. The streets were wild with people, honking and screaming and waving flags. Security was a breeze, and we got our killer seats with plenty of time to spare. Each seat came with a kit with a poncho, coloured poster-board with viewing port, moose antlers, flashing light, and light-up snowglobe. Ushers in each sections provided instructions on how and when to use each prop, to maximize the effect that you all witnessed at home. Essentially, what I'm trying to say, is that I was one of more that 55,000 stars of the show.
The Skytrain was nightmare, so I hoofed it home on the same feet that have worked 16 straight days in wet hiking boots, and have a MOAB (Mother Of All Blisters) that's ready to blow. I'll use my med-kit to take care of it, because I need to get three more days of snowboarding out of that foot.
The game plan going forward is to ride Whistler tomorrow, crash in Kamloops tomorrow night, ride Revelstoke on Tuesday, ride Kicking Horse on Wednesday, and then drop the hammer to get home, ETA Saturday night.
These past few days have been chaos, and there is no sign of things letting up. There is a nasty throat/cough/cold thing going around, and I appear to be the latest victim. Lots of ColdFX and an early night tonight ought to nip that in the bud, and get me geared up for the home stretch.
Yesterday Colorado-Craig and I were stuck at the venue to provide first-aid for the workforce while the remainder of our team (minus docs and nurses) got to go skiing. It was a very slow day, the depressingly lame highlight of which was helping the paramedics test traction aids for their boots. After last night's win against the Germans, things got a little out of hand, and I went partying with a few Weasel Workers and their out of town friends. It was an oddly quiet night in Whistler Village, so we brought the party back to Creekside, and I was left with the prospect of very little sleep.
The nice sunny weather we'd been enjoying as of late was replaced by a damp and cold snowfall at base elevation this morning. The fog and gloom matched my physical state of being, but luckily the VMO allowed me to hide out in one of our medical tents for a few extra z's in front of the heater.
The first run of the Women's GS was fairly exciting, with some serious behind the scenes drama with two of the girls from the US Ski Team. Apparently, Vonn and Mancuso don't get along too well, and if you saw what happened on TV today, I could help you piece it together when I get home.
A heavy fog rolled in, and kept delaying the start of the second run, until eventually it was postponed until tomorrow. This is bad news, considering tomorrow was going to be my last opportunity to ride Whistler this year. Further bad news, is that it is expected to be a short day, and I am thus not excused from my shift at Whistler Medals Plaza. The good news is that despite two 6 hour shifts tomorrow, Medals Plaza is going to be insane with the presentation of the Gold/Silver for the Women's Bobsleigh, followed by a show from the Roots.
Men's and Women's Slalom, round out the week, and then SpecMed is officially done like dinner. Much partying remains to be had, the hockey continues, the closing ceremonies loom, and my Weasel House pass remains valid until the 28th.
Yesterday's race was a women's event, and with fewer competitors, it ended up being a fairly short day. I had more than enough time to head into Whistler, catch a shower, and grab two beers before heading to the two-man bobsleigh with Colorado-Craig, Calgary-Kallum and Edmonton-Cassie (aka Weasel).
The sliding center is a really cool venue, stashed away between Whislter and Blackcomb. It was my first time attending an Olympic event off-duty, so it was really cool to be able to switch off and unwind, and enjoy the crowd, the competition, and the refreshments.
The track itself is about 1500m long, and winds its way up the side of the hill. There is a walking path the length of the track, with grandstands at the start and finish areas, and a huge open area in the middle of Thunderbird Turn (the arcing 180 degree uphill turn just before the end). Tickets are general admission, and you can walk the length of the track, and watch from anywhere you like. In places, you can get close enough to touch the track, and when you're that close, a bobsleigh moving at 150 km/h is but a blur. I tried to take a picture from close distance, but after each sleigh blurred past, my camera only had a picture of an empty track. After 4 consecutive pictures of the ice, Weasel stepped up and managed to snap a shot for me.
Colorado-Craig had a big foam USA cowboy hat, foam #1 finger, and his American flag, and managed to get on TV. His friends from back home were calling him for the remainder of the evening. I just spent the whole evening with a huge shit-eating grin, watching the sleighs rocket past. I am tempted to check out the 4 man if I have the time.
I was right there when Canada 1 rocketed past upside down, and have a video of it that I'm not allowed to post on the internet.
Today was the Men's Super Combined, which is a test of the best all-round skier. The problem with the event, is that you only get one slalom run, which means that if you snag, or miss a gate, you're done. This is what happened to Lindsey Vonn the other day, and what happened to Aksel Svindal (who's arguably a better skier than Bode Miller) today. The good news is, that despite placing 26th, he had the fourth fastest slalom run of the day, and is a medal contender for the men's slalom coming up.
Today was Calgary-Rhianon's last shift (of chugging video fame), and she requested that our medical team have a dance-off in her honour. We had a hoot, but at the end of the day, we lost a good teammate back to the 9-5 lifestyle.
Tomorrow, most of the team has the day off, but I'm stuck at the venue because labour laws require first-aiders present while course workers are doing their thing. I'll probably spend the day relaxing in the clinic, watching the games on our flatscreen. Tough life.
I'm faced with a huge dilema in the upcoming days, namely what to do with the morning of the 25th. I'm working the medal ceremony that evening, but during the day, I'm either going to check out the Nordic Combined, to see some ski jumping that I've never seen before, or rip up some powder at Whistler, as this is my last opportunity to ski Whistler until next year. I'm sure the snowclouds will roll in before then and give me my answer.
1. The IOC has found and tagged my youtube videos of the race action. No problem. You can watch the OBS highlights on your own, as they're way better than my clips anyway.
2. The Men's SuperG was pretty cool. The Norweigan dominated the Americans, and our Guay Canadian didn't do too poorly.
3. I'm going to see the 2-man bobsled tomorrow.
4. Our team had an unofficial debrief at the Weasel House after racing today. We had a good time, and the Olympic Torch made an appearance. Let's hope these pics ain't copyrighted.
As things are going bananas out here, I haven't been able to touch a computer in almost three days. It was tearing me apart, as I know how keen everyone is to hear what flavour of granola bar I had with my lunch yesterday...
So we're going to do this update in three parts:
Part 1 - The Story So Far
Due to ANOTHER 18cm of snow overnight Monday, the course was not suitable for the Women's DH on Tuesday, which meant that despite being ready to rock at 6:00 am, we were sent home. After a much needed nap, I headed back up to Whistler for an afternoon of skiing with Guy and his wife Gail.
From the top of Whistler Gondola, we rolled into the Harmony Bowl and headed for Symphony Bowl, with our eyes set on deep snow for Guy and I, and cruisin' blue runs for Guy's less experienced wife. Near zero visibility meant that Gail lost sight of both Guy and I, and ended up perched precariously atop a cliff band some 200 feet above us. With little other option, we instructed her not to move an inch, and we would be back to execute a rescue.
Guy missed the cat-track back to the correct lift to access that point, so it was now a solo rescue mission. Luckily for all parties involved, the sun burnt off the cloud cover, and I had perfect visibility to find Gail, and pack in some foot-holds for her to climb to safety.
That evening I had Indian food with Ottawa-Matt and two members of his WOP MedSpec (Whistler Olympic Park - Spectator Medical) team. All's well, except Matt and I are getting to be the Squamish equivalent of Cliff Claven and Norm at the Shady Tree.
Wednesday was an awesome day of sunshine and Women's Downhill. The weather was great for the spectators, but not so for the course, as the sun made for some serious chattery sections that lead to some epic wipeouts. Again, I'm not supposed to talk about behind the scenes stuff, so I will just say that if I were and Olympic athlete, I would be afraid to run that course. I tried to film a few racers, but my camera was the curse, and they all wiped out. Here's the best one:
After shift, we all went down to the Weasel House and became official members. Weasel Workers are the course crew at Whistler Creekside, and have extended the invite to their clubhouse to all field of play personnel (patrollers, slippers, officials). Did I mention that they drummed up enough sponsorship for as much FREE beer and potato chips you can handle? Just wanted to make sure, because there's a lot to soak in. FREE. BOTTOMLESS. I'm going back tomorrow after shift.
Last night we had our team dinner, as one of our nurses finished her commitment today. After much sushi, beer, and chin-wagging someone uncovered the fact that LA-Bruce is friends with Michael Dorn aka Lt. Worf. After my calling bullshit, LA-Bruce proceeded to dial Michael, and pass me the phone. It was a short conversation, but I can confirm that a) it was in fact him, and b) the bridge of the Enterprise is secure.
Today saw more of the same fantastic weather, and more outstanding performances by the American women. SuperCombined is a combined-time event with a Downhill in the morning, and a Slalom in the afternoon. The course had been repaired, resulting in an incident free day of VERY exciting racing. I'm really looking forward to the Men's SuperCombined.
I think the outstanding weather is supposed to continue, so my day off on the 23rd is looking more and more like it will remain a day off. I couldn't even tell you what event is coming up tomorrow, I just know that for a treat, we get a late start of 8:00 am.
Part 2 - A Day in the Life
Granted there are deviations from day to day, but this seems to be the way things normally go... (actually, this is the worst-case scenario, sometimes we start a little later)
3:50 - Alarm goes off. Dress, and out the door, to walk to the Eagle's Nest.
4:20 - Catch the Workforce Shuttle to the Creekside venue. 55 km commute, which varies from 40-60 minutes of napping depending on the driver.
5:20 - Workforce sign-in, radio pick-up, breakfast, and lunch pick-up.
6:00 - Team briefing, and deployment to positions.
6:30 - In position, spectator gates open 3 hours before racing starts.
6:30-9:30 - Spectators arrive, and make their way from the bus drop-off, up the mountain to the base of the Timing Flats. We walk around our duty areas, and chat with spectators, Event Staff, police, and cheerleaders; take pictures of and for people; dance to the sweet music they play at the venue, but we do NOT eat in public sight or trade pins.
9:30 - Event begins, and all posts make their way to the main spectator area known as the Lower Compound to patrol the crowd, and take in a little bit of the action. In case you ever needed to chat up a girl at such a venue, a good opening line might be "Hey baby, can I patrol your lower compound?"
11:30 - Depending on the event, when a country has been knocked out of medal hopes, their fans start to funnel out. When this is the case, we have to resume our original posts for the egress. In combined events, where the suspense comes down to the very last racer, we get to watch the whole event, and then sprint to our duty stations.
12:30-2:30 - The spectator gates remain open for two hours after competition ceases, for spectators to watch the flower presentation (medals are presented later, off-site), and get photos and autographs. The fans file out, and the smurfs come out of the woodwork. (everyone calls us smurfs, and sings/whistles the smurf song)
2:30 - Team debrief, and lock-up. Next day's duty assignments distributed, radios returned.
3:00 - Attempt to bus back to Squamish, which is becoming increasingly difficult due to the high number of visitors to the Whistler Sliding Center (bobsled/luge/skeleton venue). It's a lot like Lord of the Flies, only more buses, and fewer conchs.
4:30 - Arrive in Squamish. Shower, dinner, social, etc.
12:00 - Pack kit, and lay out clothes for next morning. That way, you wake up, don all of the clothing in front of you, pick up your kit, and head to the volunteer shuttle.
Part 3 - A Tour of the Venue
The visible portion of the course.
WCR MedSpec Team
Our medical trailers (athlete left, spectator right)
The people we're tasked with providing care for. (Yes, those are Snuggies.)
The fans and media.
One of my duty stations. Everybody out of the pool!
After this post goes through, I'm off to bed for a much needed deposit in the sleep bank.
All told, I had a fantastic time, from the moment I left to the moment I got home. I got to see a whole pile of this country that I had never seen before. I had the privilege of working with some extraordinary people from all over the world. I made some friends I will cherish for ages, and I had some great times that I will likely never forget. I was priviliged to be a part of something so big, so cool, and so fun. The 2010 games turned out to be something that all of Canada can be extremely proud of. We rose to the challenge as a nation, and set the bar very high for our colleagues in Sochi.
I haven't received any questions, so a Q&A post is not likely to happen. Eventually, once life has settled, I'll get around to doing a picture dump on facebook.
