Cypress mountain: logistics fail

[SebC]

Just a heads up for anyone going to Cypress events:

I went to Ladies moguls and the logistics were awful.

Buses:
- The time on your bus ticket does nothing.
- Second, they take away your ticket, so you can take whatever bus you want back, which means everyone will be going to Lonsdale.
- Third, the buses are horribly organized. We were told that they were going to be separated lines, then all at the same place, then separated again.
- They should have dynamically allocated buses based on reservation volume. Lonsdale is the busiest and most efficient but sold out first. Should make the buses go where they are wanted, and since parking passes are separate they could still ensure that they won't run out of parking.

Food:
- I got food before the event, didn't take too long. At least twenty minutes in the line were just because they lost power.
- Between qualification and finals the line was insane. Even if you got in line early you may not have been out by the time it restarted. Lots of shortages, way too few cashiers. Line up obstructed access to pretty much everything else.
- No separate drink sales or vending machines, so you have to line up just to stay hydrated.
- You may or may not have to throw out your food, depending on which security line you're in. Bring food and drink, if you want to watch the event. It's worth a shot. Someone passed out, probably hadn't eaten or drank in hours and I hope she sues VANOC because by not letting people bring their own and not making food and drink reasonably available they are being very negligent.

Warming tent:
- Way, way too small. At least make a defined entrance and exit instead of two generic orifices (that's for fotze).

Hopefully they can fix this before my Men's Halfpipe (and then Men's Aerials), assuming my GA ticket doesn't get cancelled. Other events have been reasonably well executed, but Cypress was not well organized at all.

[GGG]

My GA tickets for snowboard cross were canceled. They were saying safety but I assume it was an easy way to deal with the logistical issues.

Hopefully they get it sorted out before other tickets have to be canceled as well.

[SebC]

My GA tickets for snowboard cross were canceled. They were saying safety but I assume it was an easy way to deal with the logistical issues.Actually, I'll take their word on this one. The standing area is apparently elevated, they made it out of hay bales and covered them with snow, which has since been rained on and largely melted.

When I was there there were already some pretty huge holes, but they had people standing by them to make sure visitors don't fall in.

[Hemi-Cuda]

is nothing properly organized at these games? jesus

[Tsawwassen]

It has been brutal at Cypress. Many tourists have been complaining. I was at a restaurant on Monday evening and some Swiss fans said that had not eaten in 12 hours because of the disorganization.

The Seattle NBC affiliate, KING 5 reported that with the ticket fiasco, a man and his two kids had their tickets cancelled. The young kids were obviously upset and the father was not happy as he could not find tickets to other events on his day off.

It is embarassing to see all these screwups. It is not as bad as Atlanta but it sucks to see these problems because of poor planning.

[CokeMachineGlow]

good job vancouver. for every positive story there is at least 1 or 2 negative stories

[Hammertime]

good job vancouver. for every positive story there is at least 1 or 2 negative stories

I love how you blame Vancouver for the woes. Not VANOC, or the Canadian Olympic Association, etc.. The City of Vancouver is solely responsible for the logistical nightmare at Cypress.

[Flash Walken]

I have to agree, as a Vancouverite who didn't particularly want the olympics, this city bashing is getting a bit out of control.

[Infamous1]

It's still the best place to live in the World.

[Art Vandelay]

It's still the best place to live in the World.

Just not the best place to host an Olympics. I kid, I kid.

Whats up with those "Zambonis' at the oval though?

[Bill Bumface]

It's still the best place to live in the World.

Some of us don't believe everything we read on license plates...

[Resolute 14]

I love how you blame Vancouver for the woes. Not VANOC, or the Canadian Olympic Association, etc.. The City of Vancouver is solely responsible for the logistical nightmare at Cypress.

I love how you are too dumb to recognize that "Vancouver" is being stated to describe the organizers rather than the city itself.

[mykalberta]

It's still the best place to live in the World.

My friend in Honolulu would disagree with you.

[CokeMachineGlow]

I love how you are too dumb to recognize that "Vancouver" is being stated to describe the organizers rather than the city itself.

this. i find it remarkable that you anyone actually thinks the people or city of vancouver itself are being targeted. vanoc has done a miserable jobs and as such the vancouver games have been one black eye after another

[HotHotHeat]

They never should have held events at Cypress in the first place.

[HotHotHeat]

this. i find it remarkable that you anyone actually thinks the people or city of vancouver itself are being targeted. vanoc has done a miserable jobs and as such the vancouver games have been one black eye after another

You're confused.

[burn_this_city]

They never should have held events at Cypress in the first place.

This.
Especially the snowboarding events. That mountain is garbage and Whistler is the mecca of snowboarding.

[valo403]

This.
Especially the snowboarding events. That mountain is garbage and Whistler is the mecca of snowboarding.

You getinto logisitcal issues if you try to put too much at whistler, the transport network is already strained as it is. Adding more events means even more demands being placed on the infrastructure. It may have been possible, but it's not as simple as saying 'well whistler is better'.

[Bertuzzied]

It's still the best place to live in the World.

Maybe if they had roads with left hand turning lanes.

I guess it's an older city but that is a huge inconvenience.

[redforever]

Yesterday, I heard an interview with one of the people responsible for the selection of Cyprus Mountain for snowboarding, rather than holding all events of this nature at Whistler.

They said that at Whistler, the halp pipes etc were all located at the top of the mountain, inaccessible for broadcasting by the media. I have not been there, not sure if that is the case, but that was the reason given for selecting Cyprus for some of the events.

[Bill Bumface]

Couldn't they just helicopter a half pipe wherever they wanted?

Hell, why not truck it into BC place?

[Pastiche]

This board is infested with hate (or maybe a bunch of twelve year olds).

We get it you hate everything to do with Vancouver. Move on.

[Smell My Finger]

Its like the Vancouver bunch think everyone has all the free time to "just attend another day" its no big deal.
Vancouver's weather was basically downplayed throughout their whole bid.

Events being cancelled or delayed from all these reasons, no snow, not enough snow, poor visability, rain, ice, zamboni's oh thats right "Olympia" breaking down leaking all over the longspeed tracks ruining the ice.
Hey and it only been 3 days of compitition. lol

Vancouver's lack of organization and casual attitude towards issues is playing out to be expected.

Oh look another event right now "on hold".

Well done Vancouver.
Hats off to all our athletes who have to endure this BS.

[Save Us Sutter]

Downhill I had tickets for in Whistler was postponed this morning. We found out at 5am when we got to the bus station.

Get home and find that all GA tickets at Cypress have now been canceled so there goes the four snowboarding tickets I had for Thursday.

I only came down from Whitehorse, and have hockey tickets so I'm not totally pissed, but I can't imagine if I had come from Europe or something.

I'm not going to throw around blame, but this sucks.

[LockedOut]

Even if your at Cypress what's the point. How can you see anything through that fog (I mean as a spectator). Cypress was a bad choice bottom line.

[Flamesoholic]

A question for those who have tickets to events that have been canceled or postponed; what happens to your tickets? Do they refund you or offer tickets to other events or are you basically on your own?

[Flash Walken]

Why'd you move to Toronto is if its so great.

I would imagine for the same reason people move to Edmonton.

[St Loomis]

A question for those who have tickets to events that have been canceled or postponed; what happens to your tickets? Do they refund you or offer tickets to other events or are you basically on your own?


They refund your full ticket amount (including the exorbinant service charge) and your bus network ticket. For people like me who have airline tickets booked and for those with accomodations booked (luckily i dont need them) this really sucks.

I had my two tickets to each of the PGS events cancelled, luckily I found some tickets to bronze medal curling for a bit less than i paid for the ones I will be refunded for.

Overall though, this reeks of epic fail for VANOC.

[Red_Baron]

Think of how much diesel has been used to get those trucks carrying the snow up to Cypress! Not to mention the leaded AV fuel for the helicopters. Good thing they have battery powered ice re-surfacing machines to offset the carbon footprint!

[Resolute 14]

This board is infested with hate (or maybe a bunch of twelve year olds).

We get it you hate everything to do with Vancouver. Move on.

Ahh yes, CP's resident arrogant ass weighs in with yet another useless post...

[Hemi-Cuda]

Think of how much diesel has been used to get those trucks carrying the snow up to Cypress! Not to mention the leaded AV fuel for the helicopters. Good thing they have battery powered ice re-surfacing machines to offset the carbon footprint!

i was gonna comment on the irony of this whole situation before i saw your post. what idiot decided that it would be a good idea to try for a carbon neutral winter games in a city that doesn't get winter?

[Teh_Bandwagoner]

I love how you are too dumb to recognize that "Vancouver" is being stated to describe the organizers rather than the city itself.

Unfortunately, though it isn't the City's fault, the City itself will still receive the negative press associated with the not-so-stellar planning by the various Olympic organizations.

[Sluggo]

A year ago, while I was stuck in the shenanigans caused by ironically an unexpected winter snowfall at the Vancouver International airport, I thought to myself "jeeze these jokers better get their $%^# together or they will embarrass the entire country". I regret to say it but I'm going to be a old man when I get to see another Canadian win a gold medal on home soil that is not during the current games. Although, having Vancouver screw Toronto out of its games for another 10-20 years kinda makes me a tiny bit happy.

[jar_e]

My family just got the email from VANOC stating that their tickets for the ski cross later next week had been canceled. They're pretty bummed...they flew all the way up from Terrace for only a few events and now its too late/expensive to get anything else to replace it with.

[Wookie]

We drove from Calgary monday morning for the halfpipe.

Now we have nothing to do until our drive home friday. . . joy

[Wookie]

and we got friends and family tickets 6 hours later :)

[vicphoenix13]

They never should have held events at Cypress in the first place.

Alex Bilodeau, Maelle Ricker, Jenn Heil and Mike Robertson don't have a problem with Cypress.

[wooohooo]

Alex Bilodeau, Maelle Ricker, Jenn Heil and Mike Robertson don't have a problem with Cypress.

I don't think that was the point of his comment. Of course they don't have a problem with it but the amount of cancellations and everything for spectators and fans is starting to get out of control.

[wooohooo]

I really feel sorry for everyone traveling from out of town just to have it canceled. People take time off and spend their vacation time to see the Olympics... just to have it canceled. Awesome.

What is with the fencing off with the torch?

[vicphoenix13]

I don't think that was the point of his comment. Of course they don't have a problem with it but the amount of cancellations and everything for spectators and fans is starting to get out of control.

My point is that if the athletes who are representing our country do well at Cypress, I could care less about the logistical issues involving spectators. If the freestyle skiing was at Whistler, I am sure there would be problems there as well considering what has happened at the Dave Murray downhill course.

[wooohooo]

My point is that if the athletes who are representing our country do well at Cypress, I could care less about the logistical issues involving spectators. If the freestyle skiing was at Whistler, I am sure there would be problems there as well considering what has happened at the Dave Murray downhill course.

I know what you were trying to say but also the other part of the Olympic experience for these athletes is having all those fans cheer for you. What does winning gold feel like when there's no one to cheer for you?

[GGG]

I had men's snowboard cross tickets that were canceled. I for one do not believe that they were canceled for safety as stated at all. Essentially the Cypress venue was built for less people then they sold tickets for so the easiest way to solve the problem was to eat a million dollars in tickets rather then deal with the bad press of people being out there in the rain cold with no where to warm up or eat food.

After talking to some people who had cyprus tickets for the early events they thought it was the most misrible experience ever except for the medals. So yes VANOC should have planned better but given the situation they might have made a bad situation better.

[Smell My Finger]

Vanoc is coming accross as arrogant refusing to admit fault of anything.

Anyone that has done Whistler will tell you they get more snow and better overall conditions but no Vanoc wanted Cypress Mountain. Karma.

Seaside + Ski Mountain + winter = fog and rain.

Vanoc amuses me that they ignored logic.

[SebC]

Alex Bilodeau, Maelle Ricker, Jenn Heil and Mike Robertson don't have a problem with Cypress.Only because it rains on the enemy too!

And your fans, apparently.

This board is infested with hate (or maybe a bunch of twelve year olds).

We get it you hate everything to do with Vancouver. Move on.

No, you don't get it. I'm here to enjoy the games. Stuff like having my ticket (to men's halfpipe) cancelled makes it difficult. Sure, I'm getting my ticket refunded, but I sold my extra ticket at a profit and I'm betting VANOC's not going to refund me what I would have gotten for it. So yeah, not only do I lose my ticket, I'm losing money as well. It's kind of a kick in the nuts. Even stuff like not having "open in new window/tab" or "back" button on the pages that have the fan-to-fan prices really makes it harder to enjoy the games.

However, I believe I may have done some others a service by warning them about the situation. I'm trying to help others have the best experience they can. It's no different from the party thread.

[llama64]

Vanoc is coming accross as arrogant refusing to admit fault of anything.


VANOC's communications from the start have been just plain awful. Watch for the 2010 Olympics to become a staple case study for poor communications and reputation management.

And Vancouver as a whole is suffering for it since many people can't seem to separate the two bodies.

[valo403]

I had men's snowboard cross tickets that were canceled. I for one do not believe that they were canceled for safety as stated at all. Essentially the Cypress venue was built for less people then they sold tickets for so the easiest way to solve the problem was to eat a million dollars in tickets rather then deal with the bad press of people being out there in the rain cold with no where to warm up or eat food.

After talking to some people who had cyprus tickets for the early events they thought it was the most misrible experience ever except for the medals. So yes VANOC should have planned better but given the situation they might have made a bad situation better.

This may be the most ridiculous thing I have ever read. Absolutely hilarious.

VANOC chose to eat a few million dollars? That was a choice they wanted to make? Let's see, what's worse press, cancelling thousands of tickets which is a large public statement, or having people stand around in the cold so they can later moan anonymously on the internet. Which of those attracts more press attention? Which of those does more damage to VANOC's bottomline?

Also convenient of you to ignore the fact that people who were at Cyrpess saw large holes in the now closed spectator area, no safety concern at all :rolleyes:

[Smell My Finger]

This article is hillarious pointing out all the things VANOC has failed at.

http://ca.sports.yahoo.com/olympics/news?slug=ap-glitchgames&prov=ap&type=lgns

[OldDutch]

I remember the games in Calgary having their fair share of problems too. Don't get me wrong, but Calgarians complaining about the weather in Vancouver are being a bit hypocritical.

http://www.nytimes.com/1988/03/01/sports/88-winter-olympics-small-town-trend-fading.html?pagewanted=1

While Samaranch was lavish in his praise, pointing out that the longest Winter Games ever staged were free of security and political problems, he did express some concern over the effects of unusual weather.

Warm winds - Chinooks, as they are known - and winds in general forced some events to be postponed and created problems for others. Inaccurate Information

Organizers have defended themselves, pointing out weather patterns for more than 20 years were studied before deciding on the exact location of the events.

Pound took a slightly different view, suggesting that organizing committees from cities seeking the Games may not always include accurate information.

''The only thing worse than an outright liar is a statistician,'' said Pound. ''Some of the best fiction is written in bid books.''

Samaranch said that in the future the I.O.C. would insist upon ''much more strict'' study of proposed locations for various venues.

''I have told those study commissions of the national Olympic committees and the international federations that their reports must be much more concrete and precise than we got here,'' Samaranch said.

[Bertuzzied]

28000 standing room tickets have been cancelled. Crazy.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601079&sid=aFGlJZQAK.qE

[wooohooo]

Is the normal practice to use hay bales? That just seems a little stupid to me. Anytime it melts those things become a pillow. Could they not use those outdoor ramps?

[SOMBRI2]

VANOC's communications from the start have been just plain awful. Watch for the 2010 Olympics to become a staple case study for poor communications and reputation management.

And Vancouver as a whole is suffering for it since many people can't seem to separate the two bodies.

when is the last time canada had a major sporting event? i would think of the u21 world cup of soccer across the nation. i don't know how good or bad that one was in terms of organizing. but i am not surprised at all vanoc is catching fire every where.

world skills in calgary last sept was a disaster as well.

[Sidney Crosby's Hat]

I remember the games in Calgary having their fair share of problems too. Don't get me wrong, but Calgarians complaining about the weather in Vancouver are being a bit hypocritical.

http://www.nytimes.com/1988/03/01/sports/88-winter-olympics-small-town-trend-fading.html?pagewanted=1



Funny that after that article came out, Lillehammer ended up with the '94 Olympics anyway.

[shadetree]

I remember the games in Calgary having their fair share of problems too. Don't get me wrong, but Calgarians complaining about the weather in Vancouver are being a bit hypocritical.

I don't think most reasonable people are blaming the actual city of Vancouver, or even the weather. The weather is what it is. You can't control it (unless you're Beijing, and you seed the clouds to rain 3 weeks in advance of the Olympics ;)).

However, there are many things that have gone wrong that could have been controlled. Transportation, venue selection, concessions, ticket cancellations (a direct result of venue selection), using prototype "green" ice resurfacing machines, fencing off the Cauldron with ugly chain link fencing, the Billion dollar athletes village that BC residents are going to be paying for for years....

The city and the spirit of the people is what's keeping these games from being an even bigger disaster.

[vicphoenix13]

I know what you were trying to say but also the other part of the Olympic experience for these athletes is having all those fans cheer for you. What does winning gold feel like when there's no one to cheer for you?

I think what happened was that Vanoc sold way too many tickets. They did this because increasing construction and security costs means the organizing committee needs more revenue. But the problem is that some of the outdoor venues aren't built for standing room spectators. That's an oversight they have to own.