Bobsled start

So for anyone who ever wanted to know...this is what the top of a bobsled run looks like when it's not an important race, no-one is cheering and only your coach is watching! It's cold, windy and decidedly unglamorous!

Skeletons After Halloween?!

Okay! I know it's not the greatest shot but these guys are traveling fast! It's hard to catch them! Most of my shots were of feet leaving the frame!

This is a member of the Canadian Junior Development team (I think) training for the skeleton at Canada Olympic Park. It was busy up there this weekend! Lots of teams are beginning to arrive to practice for the Vancouver Olympics in February 2010.
In case you're not sure of the distinctions, luge is feet first, skeleton head first and both take place on the bobsled track.

I'll post more pictures in the next few days. Training for the Olympics is not as glamorous as you might think!

Monk

I met this monk up by the ski jump tower at Canada Olympic Park. He spoke no English but was happy to have me take his picture. I guess he was just another tourist taking in the sights of Calgary. And that's the suburbs of Calgary you can you can see in the background.

Ski Jump Skyline

Maybe this is not the world's most exciting shot...but it does show Canada Olympic Park with the ski jump tower that featured last week rising on the skyline. This photo was taken about three weeks ago. The park always has snow earlier and later than the rest of the city because they use snowblowers to make snow all winter long. The half-pipe for snowboarders needs tonnes of the white stuff!
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The snow has gone from the slopes now and soon the trails that lie beneath the snow will be open for mountain bikers to ride.
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And that red grass in the foreground is not camera flare...or a photoshop effect. It really was that colour!

Canada Olympic Ski Jump Tower

This is a shot from the ground looking up at the 90 metre ski jump tower built for the 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics. It's showing it's age a little but it's still in use. From the top you get panoramic view of the Rocky Mountains...and a scary view of what life is like for a ski jumper. You have no idea how steep that slope down is and just how far down 90 metres is! They start kids ski jumping here as young as six years old...but not off the 90 meter jump!

Who came to the 1988 Winter Olympics?

If you want to know the answer to that question, then you can check out the flags flying on the plaza outside the lodge at Canada Olympic Park. They are the legacy of the 1988 Winter Games which are fondly remembered by Calgarians...they were the games of Eddie the Eagle and the Jamaican bobsled team.
These flags gather in a semi-circle round one of the Olympic flames used in the '88 and represent every nation that competed. I can identify Canada, USA, Russia, Sweden France and Germany and Jamaica amongst others. It's amazing to think how much the political landscape has shifted in 21 years. I wonder which flags will be flying in the 2010 winter Olympics in Vancouver?

Canada Olympic Park - the Icehouse

Any guesses?
Bet you've never seen anything quite like this!
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This is the indoor luge, skeleton and bobsled track at Canada Olympic Park. It's not actually a full track but is a short section for practising one of the most critical parts of the sport - the start.

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The ice house was built to allow athletes to make many more attempts at their start without having to hurtle down the full length of the outdoor track. It's the only fully enclosed refrigerated building in the world...and it's big! At 143 m long is is almost the length of a soccer field and is four stories high. Nine kilometers of steel piping is used to cool the three tracks and a unique monorail system automatically returns the sleds to the start area allowing for continuous training.

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You can watch athletes from all over the world training there in winter - it would cost too much to cool it to approrpriate temperatures in the summer I think.