Monday - Day 1 - Training

My day started with a walk with Loraine (what a great host) to the bus stop - in the dark! That was where I met my first co-volunteer friend - Doreen, a college student from Germany. We rode into town together, and sat together through our training session all morning. That session was a gathering of Alpine Skiing Race Officials, Course Crew, Medical Aid people, Timers...all the people you'd need to put on an Olympic alpine skiing event - well, just those who had just arrived for the racing - there are others who have been here - from a few days, to a few weeks, setting up literally miles of fencing, and loads of crash bags.

In our session we covered safety, radio communication, rules and regs, etc. At lunch we managed to squeeze in ONE run - my first Whistler run! I didn't get to catch my breath, or a glimpse of scenery, because we were short on time, and every member of the group I was with was an expert skier, who has skied here many times, so they just FLEW down the hill, and since I had no clue where I was going, I felt the need to keep up - woo-hoo!!

In the afternoon, we broke into our job-specific groups, so our group of thirty-something Gate Judges had a workshop on all the procedures for our job...stuff our family has all been super-duperly trained to do at Alpine Ski Club back in Ontario...types of gates, how to document Disqualifications on our Gate Cards, communication with the racers, positioning ourselves on the course, etc.

By the end, it was 2pm, most were tired from their Travel Day, but when I asked if anyone was into going for a ski, of course, there was at least one taker - great! I was so lucky to have Jim, from Colorado, who was a mountain Ski Patroller for many years, as my personal Mountain Guide - he knew all the trails, and kept the pace manageable all the way - thanks Jim!

For those of you who don't ski, there is a custom of relaxing with your fellow skiers, following a day on the slopes - it's called "Apres Ski". The local Race Crew here is called "Whistler Weasels". They have a big tent, open EVERY day of the Games, 4-7pm, exclusively for the 500 or so volunteers we have on the Alpine site - comp. beer, wine, music, big screen tv, and last night, we had a visit from two men, and one of the women, from our Canadian Alpine Ski Team - that was really thrilling - they were presented with Canadian flags, and whole-heartedly encouraged by the (half-cut) crowd, to "Go for the GOLD!"

The big adventure of the night came though, when I turned into tourist, missed the first run of my bus home, which only runs every 45mins, because I was standing - in the dark - on the highway, outside the Village, at the WRONG bus stop, for an hour! Fiiiiinally, after asking every driver, of every OTHER bus under the sun that stopped for me, (they're all imports - they don't even know where they're going!) a passenger directed me to take another bus, to another stop, where I would pick up the one I needed back to my gated community of Black Tusk Village. Okay, so now I was in the right place, but I had now missed the second of the runs, so had to wait yet another 45mins for the next one, AND, this was waaaaay out of the Village, totally highway and rockfaces on either side...somewhat cool, and somewhat scary...eventually, bus came, rode it to Blacktusk, but then had to walk into the chalet in the dark - this is after a day of people talking about the coyote sightings in the area, and after I had heard them howling during the previous night. Again, somewhat cool, and somewhat scary! On the other hand, every star in the sky was visible, every constellation I have ever learned about was there - right there - and the Milky Way was totally visible - it's amazing I didn't fall into the forest on either side of the road, 'cause I was walking on this mountain windy road for 10mins with my head turned up to the night sky the whooooole time...another mmmm...moment.

After having left the Weasal House at 7:15pm, I finally arrived home at 9:45pm - good thing my backpack was loaded with all the clothes and accessories I could possibly need for standing out in the cold, damp, night mountain air for over two hours. (BTW, don't feel sorry for me...remember the comp. wine...?)

Ate, showered, collapsed into bed...zzzz...