2014 Olympics: Warm Weather Turns Sochi Into 'Slushy'

Mountain temperatures at the Winter Olympics hovered in the 50s on Wednesday, drawing complaints from snow-sport competitors about slushy conditions in weather expected to reach the 60s this week.

Billy Demong, an American who won a gold medal in Vancouver but didn't medal in Sochi, said the snow Wednesday at the Nordic Combined competition felt like "skiing on a layer of fur."

The event, which combines cross-country skiing and ski jumping, was held at the RusSki Gorki Ski Jumping Center. The venue is about 2,000 feet above sea level, the lowest and warmest of the Sochi snow-sport venues.
Taylor Fletcher, also on the U.S. team, said parts of the track were more brown than white. "I don't know if it's snow or mud," Fletcher said. Some of the white sections included snow that was "packed firm," he said, but a good portion was slush: "It hooks your skis and makes everything slower."

Germany's Eric Frenzel, who took the gold medal by six seconds in the Nordic Combined, said he loved the conditions. "I think the organizers did an excellent job," he said after his win.

Quiz
 Sochi 2014 or London 2012?
Mikko Martikainen, a Finnish snow expert who is helping at the RusSki Gorki venue, said operators have been blowing snow there with three machines that work at above-freezing temperatures. "We will manage," he said Wednesday.

Sochi organizers had promised the weather in the mountains rising from this Black Sea summer resort town wouldn't be a problem. When competitors began arriving ahead of the Feb. 7 opening ceremony, the mountains were below-freezing at night. Cold weather in December and January kept a thick layer of snow at higher elevations.
Then the weather turned and, to preserve snow quality, workers began sprinkling a chemically manipulated salt, which creates a thin layer of water that freezes after contact with the existing snow, forming a slick surface.

It works temporarily, even if the snow gets a bit slushy. But after a few days,  it can transform snow into what skiers described as mashed potatoes.
"This really resembles spring skiing," said U.S. Biathlon president Max Cobb. He is overseeing technical aspects of the biathlon course, which is located at an elevation of about 4,800 feet, the highest of Sochi's venues. "It's not as if the athletes haven't seen this before. It's just rare for the Olympics."

Cobb said workers salted parts of the biathlon course Tuesday and planned to salt the full course Thursday. "Anytime you're working with a salt, it's really frustrating," he said.

U.S. cross-country skiers described the snow as "sugary" during Tuesday's women's sprint race. Russian cross-country racer Anton Gafarov fell and broke his ski that day, later blaming the poor conditions. "The course isn't fit for an Olympics," he told a Russian sports news outlet.

International Olympics Committee Communications Director Mark Adams on Wednesday called concerns about the snow premature. "I was at some of the events yesterday and it doesn't seem to be an issue," he said. "I gather snow is coming at the weekend and that temperatures will go down."
American snowboarder Hannah Teter, who finished fourth in the women's halfpipe Wednesday, said conditions had improved over the past few days after workers scrambled to address complaints.

"It is, like, a hundred million times better today," Teter said after Wednesday's qualifying round. "I couldn't do any of my tricks in practice. It was just the worst pipe I'd ever been in in my life. But to show up today and have it be good was a blessing in disguise because it was like, 'Oh, this is so easy! This is what it's supposed to be like!'"

The warm weather may have helped snowboarder Sarka Pancochova of the Czech Republic. She crashed Sunday in the women's slopestyle competition and her helmet split nearly in half. Tests cleared her to compete Wednesday in the half-pipe. "I was lucky the snow was so soft," she said.

Sasha Rearick, a U.S. coach, said "within five minutes there can be a huge difference" in course conditions.

Dominique Gisin, of Switzerland, who shared a gold medal in the downhill event Wednesday with Tina Mazem said she was glad she raced early.

"For me, the course was perfect," Gisin said. "… I was sure lucky that I could start in front."

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