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Bid Corporation studying Cypress to host snowboarding, freestyle

Studies are underway and proposals are being discussed as Cypress mountain considers hosting the snowboarding and freestyle skiing events for the 2010 Winter Games.

Studies are underway and proposals are being discussed as Cypress mountain considers hosting the snowboarding and freestyle skiing events for the 2010 Winter Games.

Whistler and Blackcomb were considered as venues for the events but the mountains were soon ruled out as it became clear a substantial amount of development would be needed to host the competitions in areas easily accessible by spectators on foot.

In one scenario the Upper Cheakamus, or south side of Whistler Mountain, would have been developed with a new lift joining the area with the rest of Whistler Mountain.

In another the terrain Park on Blackcomb would have been used but that would have entailed building one new chair lift to move spectators and another one just for the Olympic family.

"Whistler was looked at," said Mark Taylor of MASEV communications, who is also a member of the 2010 Bid Corp’s sport organizing working group.

"But what it came down was although Whistler has a mass of huge ski and snowboard terrain for the pubic it has very limited terrain for major international events set up with access by road, access for the public, and access for the Olympic Family."

Even Base II was considered, but in the end experts turned their eyes to Vancouver.

Grouse was ruled out because it only has access by tram. Seymour missed the cut because it didn’t have the right terrain, but Cypress was just right.

Apart from terrain one of the major determining factors for having the competitions on Cypress was the excellent road access.

"This will help minimize the impact in Whistler," said Vancouver-Whistler 2010 Bid Corporation spokesman Sam Corea.

"Being at Cypress will help to increase the capacity in terms of spectators because you don’t have to move them as far."

If the freestyle and snowboarding events are held at Cypress that would mean only the alpine and Nordic ski events and the bobsleigh/luge/skeleton competitions would be held in Whistler.

Currently the proposals call for the freestyle to be hosted on previously logged land on Black Mountain. The area is currently not used for anything.

The snowboarding would also be held on Black Mountain but near the site of the new high-speed quad chair, the Eagle Express.

A major stumbling block to hosting the 2010 Games at Cypress is the lack of snow making equipment.

"We don’t have snowmaking right now and that is something they require so we are looking at how and if that can be done," said Cypress Mountain spokesman Matthew Broadbent.

"The requirement is for 100 per cent snowmaking for the event area."

This is not the first time snow making has come up as Cypress continues its development.

At least twice since the Social Credit government decided to sell the publicly owned ski facilities to Cypress Bowl Recreations for $500,000 in 1984 has such a proposal been discussed. At that time Cypress Bowl Recreations was granted a 50-year lease for the ski resort which lies within the Cypress Bowl Provincial Park.

The ski area, which gets over a million visitors a year, is currently run by Boyne Resorts a family-run businesses out of Michigan.

Boyne Resorts bought the rights to operate the ski area last year and plan to continue with $40 million worth of improvements to the mountain.

Those include a new alpine and Nordic base area, new lifts, including a gondola to the top of Mount Strachan, and a 100-seat restaurant at the summit.

The new base lodge should be completed in the next two to three years said Broadbent. The physical improvements are planned whether or not the mountain gets the Olympics.

"This is something we committed to do before the Olympics came on the scene," said Broadbent.

There is still a long way to go, he said, before the Olympics become a reality but it is an exciting venture to consider.

"We are tentatively excited although the process itself is by no means signed sealed and delivered," said Broadbent.

"From our point of view, win or loose, the bid certainly gets people here and it gets the local mountain users in the city thinking in terms of what an amazing resource we have here.

"At the worst I think it will highlight to us just how fortunate we are with the mountain so close.

"There are not many cities in the world that have this specific set up so if at least it makes us look at ourselves and feel a little bit proud then that is a good benefit."

Whistler snowboarding coach Steve Legge, who was at the Salt Lake Winter Olympic Games, is also excited at the prospect of using Cypress.

"As a coach I think it could be a great venue," said Legge.

"We could be based down in Vancouver and hanging out with the rest of the athletes and at Salt Lake that was the most fun as an athlete, to hang out with other athletes from other disciplines. That is the most exciting part."

Legge doesn’t think it will hurt Whistler or Blackcomb’s stellar reputation as a snowboarding mecca.

In fact, he thinks diversification of venues will be a good thing.

"I think it is a good thing to spread the wealth," he said.

"I like the idea of spreading the wealth to other venues like Cypress and Grouse. Give them a chance."

There may be another good reason to develop snowboarding and freestyle venues on Cypress: The growing expense of hosting them in Whistler.

According to Taylor of MASEV, who has organized the snowboarding World Cup events in Whistler for years, the resort may be pricing itself out of hosting the competition.

"We have some fundamental stumbling blocks with the resort in making it financially viable to host events with the resort because of room costs," said Taylor.

"...Where other resorts around the world step up with investing cash in events and supporting room costs the resort of Whistler isn’t structured to... support major events. They will host them, but they’ll host them at a premium.

"We are trying to work with property managers and show them that for the World Cup they will have seven or eight days of live TV beamed around the world and that is an asset that will drive business for the long term.

"At this moment, right now, there is no clear solution."

But if Cypress wants to host World Cup events it must be able to make snow.

The hope is that the Bid Corp will win the right to host the 2010 Games and the organizing committee will then pay for the snow making equipment on Cypress.

It’s likely the organizing committee would also have to pay for a small lift to service the freestyle area, which it would also have to pay to prepare and develop.