Archive for December, 2008
Accommodation for Winter 2010 Olympics… A Status Update
If you are planning to attend the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games as a spectator, you may be wondering where to find accommodation in the Vancouver area.
In general, conventional booking engines will not accept hotel reservations more than twelve months in advance. Attempts to book a Vancouver hotel rooms on Expedia as of December 24, 2008 returned the error message “We can only accept dates that occur between 24/12/2008 and 19/11/2009. Please enter a new date.” Similar attempts using Travelocity returned much the same result.
There are, however, viable accommodation options for spectators wanting to book accommodations during the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Your first option is to rent the home of a Vancouver-area resident. Not all Vancouver residents want to attend Olympic events in 2010. Many will prefer to escape (perhaps to warmer climates) during the 2010 Games.
What is a private rental likely to cost? Using a sample of about 200 listings from the website Rent 2010, local homeowners are seeking a nightly rate of about $350 (CAD) per bedroom (on average). A number of pro-active travelers have even placed Accommodation-Seeker listings of their own on Rent 2010, and on other popular websites such as Craigslist.
Your second option is to arrange for a hotel room through a reputable tour company. While conventional booking through Expedia and Travelocity are not yet possible, a handful of operators have managed to pre-arrange a limited number of rooms for their clients. A sample of hotel package rates can now be found at Rent 2010’s Hotel Info page.
As February 2010 is still more than a year away, travelers are advised to explore a range of accommodation options before making their bookings. Contact the hotel tour operators, speak to several Vancouver homeowners, and consider advertising your own needs pro-actively as an “accommodation-seeker”. Your early and thorough travel planning will greatly enhance your enjoyment of the Winter Games in 2010.
Tower Collapse at Blackcomb Mountain
On December 15, 2008 one of the ski lift towers at Blackcomb Mountain collapsed. Blackcomb Mountain at Whistler Resort will be the site of the Alpine Events for the 2010 Olympics. The tower that collapsed was the #4 tower on the Excalibur gondola. Vanoc did not yet have plans to use the lift as part of the transportation to or from any Olympic venues. The collapse is thought to be due to ice formation within the tower itself, with the expanding ice causing the tower to crack at the point where the upper portion of the tower was spliced to the lower portion of the tower. The lift was just 3 years old, and had passed inspections as recently as last October.
Fifty-three passengers were stranded in the unheated gondola cars for several hours during the evacuation. Twelve people reported minor injuries, the worst injury being a fractured vertebrae. One staff member was cut during the evacuation effort.
On Dec. 23, 1995, an accident on the Quicksilver ski lift killed two men and injured nine other people.
In 2002, a five-year-old girl fell about 35 feet from the Creekside Gondola at Whistler when a latch malfunctioned and the car door opened. Soft snow cushioned her fall and she survived.
Update from the Inside
Remember the friend that I told you about that has been selected as a volunteer for the Vancouver Games? Well, he is back with some more inside information for us. And this time he has pictures.
Basically [November 27, 2008] was a one on one interview then a 4 hour orientation. At the beginning they brought out one of the official Olympic torches from the Torino games and you had to hold it while you introduced yourself. Seems I’ll be helping in one of the skiing sports but I have to wait till they send me an offer which can be as late as summer ‘09 but apparently will be much sooner as they want me to help with the Freestyle World Cup in February ‘09, but nothing is official.
The orientation was info on the expectations of a volunteer and a lot of team building exercises but no training. We did get a cool looking information binder that explains a lot more. We also got a sticker and a pin.
I sent you a picture of the binder, sticker and pin as well as the welcome letter and periodically I’ll send you scans of key pages from the binder.
I’ll let you know if and/or when I get an offer from them.
I am very happy to have a connection on the inside of the Olympics, but I really do wish that it was me. If the 2016 Olympics make it to Chicago, I’ll be one of the first to volunteer.
Torch Relay is set for 2010
Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torch Relay to connect and inspire Canadians from coast to coast to coast
The torch relay doesn’t actually begin until October 30, 2009, but Vancouver Olympic officials have recently revealed the Relay route and are accepting applications for torchbearers. This Canadian relay sounds like it will be quite impressive. It promises to be the longest domestic relay in Olympic history, covering around 28,000 miles (45000 km). The relay route passes through more than 1,000 communities and will be within a one hour drive of more than 90% of every person living in Canada.
The flame will even travel to Alert, Nunavut, the northern-most permanently inhabited place in the world. This will bring the Olympic flame within 560 miles (900 km) of the North Pole (maybe Santa will get to be one of the torchbearers)!
The torch itself and the torchbearer uniform will be unveiled early in 2009.
You can see this historic relay route on this Interactive Map of the Torch Relay Route.
The sacred Olympic Flame is lit in an ancient ritual in Olympia, Greece, site of the first Olympic Games. After a short run through Greece, the Olympic Flame arrives in Athens, where it is handed over to a representative from the Host Country.
From there, the Olympic Flame will make a trans-Atlantic flight and arrive in Canada, signaling the start of the longest Olympic Torch Relay to take place in a single country.
The 2010 Olympic Torch Relay, proudly presented by Coca-Cola and RBC, will connect Canadians in every province and territory, throughout a 45,000-kilometre journey, over approximately 100 days, and involving 12,000 torchbearers. The journey of the flame will culminate at BC Place on February 12, 2010 with the lighting of the Olympic Cauldron, signaling the start of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games.
If you are interested in applying to become one of the 12,000 torchbearers (Canadians only) you can find out more about the application process on the official website. The two main sponsors of the relay are Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and Coca-Cola. The each have similar, but different application criteria. Coca-Cola wants to inspire people to “Live Olympic on the Coke Side of Life” by asking for applicants “who demonstrate a commitment to embodying the spirit of the Olympic Games and taking positive action around living actively, protecting the environment and the creation of a more positive reality.” RBC is looking for people that “Help Create a better Canada.” All that applicants need to do is go to the website and give their “personal pledge to do something small or large in their daily lives that will make Canada an even better place to live.”
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