A Ski Racing Experience - A Day in the Life of a Volunteer Weasel Worker

The alarm jars me out of a deep sleep. As I open one eye to squint at the clock, I feel I’ve just gone to bed. Surely, it can’t be time to get up, not yet!

It’s 5:00 AM. I feel tired and stiff. What nonsense is this? But, then I remember. It’s day three of my time as a volunteer Whistler Weasel Worker. Did I really offer to do this? Did I travel all the way to Whistler for this? As I resist the urge to roll over and resume my slumber, I start to recall what brought me here and the two great days I have just had.

Quite by accident, I had stumbled onto the Whistler Weasel Worker’s Web site. I have some experience helping with ski races at my local ski club, but this was something on a completely different scale. Hundreds of volunteers gathering from across North America to build the course for a World Cup ski race. I was intrigued. How does one get involved in international ski racing?

As it turned out, it was easy, perhaps too easy. And here I was, in a strange bed, half way across the continent, at a ski area I had never visited, living with people I had known for just two days.

Getting involved had been a matter of registering on a Web site. A few weeks later, I received a very friendly phone call. I had been assigned to a course crew and my Crew Chief was calling to make introductions and to help me plan my visit to Whistler. If I could get myself to Whistler, I would be provided accommodation and be taken care of by local volunteers.

Each day has started with a 6:30 AM meeting at Dusty’s, a bar and restaurant at the Creekside base of Whistler Mountain. On arrival, volunteers check in to receive a lift ticket for the day, and then wait with their crewmates for a briefing by their Crew Chief. Coffee and muffins are nursed while our Crew Chief picks up a radio, a drill for installing safety nets, and meets with the Chief of Course to discuss the morning’s work. The place is a hive of activity. Some general announcements are made and the objectives of the day are described. Later, our Crew Chief gives us a rundown of our initial work assignment and ensures we were prepared for the day. After a last trip to the washroom, crews move outside to collect skis and board the gondola. It is 7:30 AM.

I am working on the ladies’ downhill course, which has been newly built in preparation for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. The 2008 Canadian Alpine Ski Championships will be the first races to be held on this new track. Two women’s World Cup races to follow will serve to confirm that the new track meets international ski racing standards.

Yesterday, as we skied away from the top of the Creekside gondola, it was hardly light. I felt fortunate though; some crews had drawn a “short straw” and were on an “early shift”. They had arrived at the top of the course an hour earlier, well before first light. My crew chief tells us that some of our senior people have been up most of the night riding in the snowcats, which are used to groom the track. Experienced volunteers serve to guide the drivers as to where nets and equipment are located, where the path of the racers will be (the “line”) and how the surface should be contoured.

One of our future jobs will be to create a hard surface on the track, so that early racers will not break through and create ruts. Snowcats are used for preliminary course grooming, but once the track is “in”, they cannot be used, for fear of breaking up the prepared surface. It will be up to volunteers on skis to “buff” the track into race condition, and to maintain it.

For the first few days, our job is to put in the safety systems; rows of netting strung on plastic poles. However, we have had to interrupt that task to make sure the nets do not get frozen into the fresh snow that fell overnight. Fresh snow is the bane of ski racing. Lots of snow is needed initially, to provide a good snow cover, but once work starts on preparing a course, fresh snow is not welcome. Safety nets have to be kept clear of snow and all loose snow has to be removed from the track.

Our crew is assigned to work on a particular section of the course. When we arrived each day, we met with the Section Chief in charge of the section to confirm the work to be done. We picked up shovels and rakes at the Gondola and our first task of the day was to clear the fresh snow away from safety nets we had installed the day before.

We moved down our section, half the crew on each side of the course, clearing the snow from the nets and scraping it back into the course, where the groomers could pick it up. Where the large A-Nets are suspended from overhead cables, crew members walked behind the net, shovelling new snow away from the base. They were often up to their waists in the soft snow.

From the bottom of our section, we “cycled” back to the top of our section. We did not ski to the bottom of the course, but “side-slipped” with our skis across the hill to help clean off and pack down the fresh snow in sections below our own. All around us, other crews were doing the same thing. There has been a good feeling of working with a great coordinated team.

Back at the top of our section, we resumed our work of installing B-net. This is two-meter wide netting that comes in 20-meter rolls, with polycarbonate (PC) poles attached every two meters for support. We picked up rolls of B-net from caches along the course and dragged or carried them into place.

I had been concerned about my limited strength and skiing ability. However, my Crew Chief assured me that, as an intermediate skier of middle age, I would have little problem. There was work enough for people of all abilities including non-skiers. He warned our crew that people should never try to exceed their ability and to never risk injury. As he predicted, I have met men and women of all ages, from early 20’s into the 70’s. There has been no sign of any “macho” attitudes and everyone seems very quick to help one another.

As we worked, fresh rolls of netting were delivered to us by other crews and we steadily progressed down the hill. When it was time for a break, I realized that my skis and pack had been left where we first started work. I opted to keep working rather than walk 200 meters back up the slope to retrieve my gear. My Crew Chef grinned and pointed below us. All of our equipment was standing neatly in the snow, having been brought to us by one of the cycling crews. This outfit is organized!

Arriving back at the top of the Creekside gondola, we went into the large volunteer-run “Soup Tent” set up to help keep the volunteers nourished and warm. There were cauldrons of home-made soup and a variety of snacks and drinks. As we rested, people came by and asked how we were getting on. This ski racing fraternity has been very friendly and people are easy to meet.

After our break, our Crew Chief radioed a dispatcher to check for instructions. We were to delay our B-Net work and help with a side-slip of the entire course. This was my first opportunity to see the whole course and to visit the mid-section of Whistler Mountain. Instead of skiing down to where we had been working, we rode a higher lift that took us above the top of the women’s downhill course.

At the top of the course I encountered the course coordinators, whose voices I had heard everywhere, over the radios carried by all the crew chiefs. Together with the chief of Course, they were busy stage managing a coordinated side slip of the course. Detailed instruction had to be given to multiple crews. Crews headed off, one after another with everyone slipping sideways, skis across the hill.

We were held for a few minutes to form part of a “second wave”. I was a bit nervous. I had heard about how hard and fast and steep a downhill course can be. I received reassurance from my Crew Chief, who pointed out that it was “early days” and the track was still very soft. There would be lots “to hold on to”.

As it turned out, I was fine. The track was soft and we went very slowly. Each crew was fanned out to push the loose snow left by the crew before. It reminded me of a V-formation of geese. Apparently, this would be done many times before race day and the course would gradually “set up” and harden. Fertilizer may later be spread over the snow to help this hardening process.

On our way down the course, we passed volunteers with fire hoses and contraptions called “water bars”. They were using water from the mountain’s snowmaking system to increase the water content of the snow on the track. The fresh snow was too dry to compact properly. After this treatment, an overnight freeze would leave a rock-hard surface.

In the early afternoon, on one of our cycles, we stopped at Dusty’s for some lunch. The rest of the afternoon was spent placing more B-nets, sometimes three layers deep.

By 3:30PM the crew was clearly wearing out. We had had a long day and many of us were not accustomed to the exercise. It would take a few days to “get in shape”, but this was a great way of doing just that.

However, the day was definitively not over. Just before 4:00, we stopped at the bottom for the last time and walked to a large tent in a nearby parking lot. The Weasel Beer Tent is a tradition that dates from the early days of ski racing in Whistler. It is erected, organized and operated by volunteers. As we entered the tent, I was handed a cup bearing my name and directed to a bar where a volunteer was busily taping a cold keg. From 4:00 to 5:00 the Beer Tent filled up as workers found their way off the course. It was not long before the place was “humming”.

I sat with my crew at a picnic table. We talked about the day’s activities and how much we had accomplished. Our Crew Chief talked about what’s to come and the likely work for today. The Chief of Course came by and thanked us for our effort. Before long others joined us and the conversation moved on to other subjects. I have met many volunteers from the Vancouver region, from the USA and a few from Europe and Australia.

By 6:00, we were all thinking about dinner. Some were going back to the house to cook a meal and others were heading across the road for a “pub” dinner. I opted for the latter, as someone had offered to drive me home afterward.

There were ten in our party and we enjoyed a very congenial meal. I was back at home by 8:00PM, very much ready for bed. Everyone turned in early, as 5:00AM comes very soon. I’ve had two great days and have met many new people. I’m very comfortable with the people around me and am starting to look on them as friends. By the end of my stay, I think I will have developed some lasting relationships.

As my feet meet the floor, I am ready to face the day.