The drought is over. After 33 years, 7 months and 2 Olympic games, Canada has won its first gold on Canadian soil. Freestyle skier, Alexandre Bolideau beat out heavy favourite and former Canadian skier, Dale Begg-Smith to take home gold in Men’s Moguls on Cypress Mountain tonight. This calls for a celebration. Downtown is going off, get out there and visit some of the team houses! I’ll be sleeping, too many late nights already.
Canadian Moguls Gold medallist, Alexandre Bilodeau
With the whole public relations and media hype around the Olympics, it has been a while since some of the athletes have been able to do what they came here to do. Last night, US National Halfpipe team rider Shaun White, coach Bud Keene and friends Gabe and Kevin came up to Grouse Mountain so that they could get back on snow after having not ridden for almost a week. The conditions weren’t too bad, the rain was there, but visibility was good, and thanks to our new Grouse Mountain Oakley Crowbars, Chuck and I were able to see without having to deal with foggy goggles. Stay posted for a segment introducing you to these goggles, they’re sick.
We got up to the top around 8pm and took a lap through the park on Cut, then head up on the Peak chair to Peak face, dropping in on some side hits. Shaun then ducked into the skicross drop in before we cut in to Expo. Next up was a lap around Heaven’s Sake, back into Expo and a couple more runs down Peak before heading in. The mission to get back on snow, get warmed and have some fun was a pretty big success. Big ups to Jeff Silcock for helping us out with this one.
We’ve got a lot more Olympic content you won’t find anywhere else coming up, so keep it locked to Grousepark.com.
Sam Masih
If you caught the opening ceremonies last night, you probably saw the opening snowboard sequence in the backcountry. If you were wondering who exactly dropped in through the rings with that burly indy, it was Grouse Mountain’s own Johnny Lyall. With a little help from Katal Innovations, makers of the big air bag, Johnny was able to air through the Olympic rings and ride out onto the floor of BC Place with the eyes of a few billion people on him. Here a picture from Matt Houghton’s blog on Push.ca.
Atta boy, J-Bone! Hope you’re having a good time in Barcelona.
Yesterday, the Olympic Torch Relay made it’s way through North Vancouver and to the top of Grouse Mountain. The flame came up on top of the Skyride in the hands of Canadian National Halfpipe team rider, Justin Lamoureux. To mark the occasion, a torch snow sculpture was also made, visible right as you go over the second tower. Here are a couple pictures.
In other news, it was snowing pretty hard up there, and actually felt like winter. Here’s to hoping it doesn’t rain and crush all hopes.
Cheers,
Sam
Hey all,
Oakley is having a bunch of PR events at Grouse throughout the course of the Olympics. You may have noticed the big buses at the base in the past couple of days. This Thursday, they’re bringing you a fashion show on the skating pond, starting at 5:30pm. It will feature some of Oakley’s top athletes and is sure to be a fun event for all, so if you’re free, get up there and check it out.
Cheers,
Sam
Hey Grouse!
This video may seem kind of random because of all the things that have been happening in Vancouver and Whistler lately (i.e. the Red Ledge, the Olympics coming up, strange snow patterns etc, etc). However, I have been watching this video over and over for the past 24 hours because I can’t get over how great it is. It must have been impossible to pick a winner because all of these riders threw down so hard. This is the video from the Olympic Heritage contest in Tahoe. I can almost guarantee you will enjoy it as much as I do!
Sha la la snowboarding is fun!
Bye!
With less than a month to go till the Olympic halfpipe event, it seems like Olympic gold has already been decided before the torch even reaches Vancouver. Shaun White threw down a Double McTwist 12 in practice at the Grand Prix. Given that he doesn’t fall, come February, the race won’t be for gold. It’ll be a duel for runner up.
