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CALLAGHAN VALLEY, B.C. — The Callaghan Valley seems a study in monochrome, with the darkness of the pines trying hard to poke through two metres of thick snow.
The only splashes of colour in the entire panorama, apart from three red snow blowers in the parking lot, are an array of yellow, green and blue blurs hurtling down the side of the mountain at more than 90 kilometres an hour and then launching themselves into space.
These blurs are athletes from across North America practising their ski jumping, whooshing through the air and landing with a loud crack at the bottom of the hill.
Just six days after the very first athlete bravely tested the potential of the new ski jump hill at Whistler Olympic Park in the Callaghan Valley, 110 kilometres north of Vancouver, the venue is hosting its first national and international competitions.
Nearly 90 athletes from Canada and the United States will be competing from today until Jan. 5 across four competitions: the Canadian National Championships and North American Juniors in both ski jumping and Nordic combined events.
Ski jumping conjures up immediate images of an almost foolhardy defiance of gravity, with skiers leaning so far forward that they seem to kiss the tips of their long skis, while the Nordic combined, the less well-known of the two sports, pits competitors in cross-country ski races as well as in ski jumping.
With clear skies, no wind and sweeping views from the top of the jump that take in the Metal Dome Glacier and Brandywine Mountain, John Heilig, the sport manager for ski jumping and Nordic combined at Whistler Olympic Park, watches the athletes practise.
He is clearly thrilled by the prospect of ski jumping coming at last to the Callaghan Valley.
"Canadian athletes are having the opportunity to train on this hill, to get familiar with it for events and to push forward with their overall development," Mr. Heilig said. "From my perspective, the competition will help us understand the venue a little bit more, prepare ourselves to operate it effectively. We also get the chance to train our volunteers and staff to run the big event."
The big event, of course, is the 2010 Winter Olympic Games, due to start in just over two years time.
At the bottom of the hill, 16-year-old ski jumper Karl Denney of Grand Rapids, Minn., is gathering up his skis and heading for the chairlift. He arrived with the rest of his team on Monday and is taking as many jumps as possible to prepare for his competition, the North American Juniors. He declares himself a fan of the new facility.
"I just got back from Lake Placid and I kind of like this one better," he said. "The track is really smooth, it seems like a very well-sculpted jump."
Wesley Savill of Calgary, a Nordic combined athlete, has tried both the jump and the cross-country circuit since arriving on Dec. 27.
Ranked No. 1 at the junior level in his sport in Canada, the 18-year-old said Callaghan Valley is equal to the best international hills.
"I've competed in a few places around the world and this is a winter paradise," Mr. Savill said. "The fly on the hill is amazing. The cross-country course is a great place to train, it's very difficult and a good test. The uphills are long and steep and the downhills are fast and short.
"I've got a pretty good chance of going to the Olympics in 2010. I'm hopeful. This is a great course, so I hope I can do it."
About a third of the competitors this weekend are women who will be unable to accompany the men to the 2010 Games because both ski jumping and Nordic combined are male-only events. Some were bittersweet in their appraisal of the venue.
"That's the only thing that sucks about jumping here, it's so great and we're having such a good time, and you go up the chairlift and in the back of your mind all you can think about is the fact that we can't be here in 2010 just because we're girls," said 16-year-old Zoya Lynch of Calgary, a member of the 2008 Women's National Ski Jumping team.
Her American counterpart, Jessica Jerome, who was third in the world in 2006, agreed. "It is really disappointing because we're out here training with the guys and we're jumping the same calibre," said the 20-year-old from Park City, Utah.
Canadian Katie Willis of Calgary came second in the world junior ski jump championships in Tarvisio, Italy, in March last year, and is ranked seventh in the world. She said she hoped the International Olympic Committee would change its mind and add women's ski jumping and Nordic combined to the list of sports for the Vancouver-Whistler Games.
"I think we deserve it and it's the right thing to do," she said. "The women have shown great potential and Canadians have won medals at international competitions. Canada is supposed to be fair and equal for everyone. We need to take the initiative to turn it around."
