With less than a week to go until the kickoff of the 2011-12 season, Whistler Olympic Park (WOP) is gearing up for another busy season.
Along with all of the annual events that have become staples at the park, several new programs and competitions should make this season one to remember, said WOP director Lindsay Durno.
Weve got all the regular club competitions every weekend but our big thing this year will be our ski jumping event in March, he said. Were going to focus on ski jumping with programs and clinic from March 23 to April 1 and its going to climax on March 31 with the Canadian National Large Hill Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined Championships.
Durno said its the first time that the event has been in Whistler since 2008 and he expects many athletes to use the event as a primer for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
The Canadian National Ski Jumping teams, both male and female, will be here, he said. We also hope to have the U.S national team and theres been some interest from the Swiss and Austrian teams as well. It should be a really exciting event for us.
One of the new programs that Durno hopes to help bring to WOP is natural luge. The sport uses the same equipment as traditional luge but is done on snow as opposed to the regular track. He said that the potential in interest for the sport could be huge.
This is a grassroots program and its all about getting people out there on the luge and learning to turn left, turn right and stop, he said, noting that he met with members of the Natural Luge Association recently. Were hoping to get some sessions available for this season.
In addition to natural luge, WOP will offer biathlon, the ski jumping flight school and the cross-country skiing snow school to anyone who is interested. Durno said the park has added about 10 kilometres of snowshoe trails for this season and has also extended the Brandywine View trail.
Its predominantly a green trail but weve added about 2.5 kilometres to it, he said. The additions will give you a beautiful view of Brandywine Mountain and you should be able to get a nice view of Black Tusk in the distance on a clear day.
Whistler Cooks will return as the parks sole food and beverage provider and Durno said there will be chili and fondue nights on Wednesdays and waffle breakfasts available in the lodge on Saturday and Sunday mornings during the season.
Durno joked that the conditions at WOP right now are bleak, with very little snow, but he expects the white stuff to start showing up in the coming days.
Were hoping for a good dump in the next few days, he told The Chief during an interview on Tuesday (Nov. 15). Well have a soft opening on Nov. 24 and hopefully the conditions will be good by then. We do have some skiing on our upper reaches but at the moment were just waiting and hoping for the snow to come.
Ideally, Durno said that the park would have a replay of last year during the holiday season, which saw 16 consecutive days of clear, blue sky and sunshine.
The park plans to open on Thursday (Nov. 24) at 8:30 a.m. and remain open until 4:30 p.m. WOP will follow that schedule from Wednesday to Sunday until Dec. 19, when the park is open seven days a week. The park will also be open from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. on every Wednesday throughout the season.
For more information on WOP, visit www.whistlerolympicpark.com.
