Right now we are just taking advantage of all our hard work last week. The weather has changed completely so it is actually pretty easy-going right now. We can just enjoy the moment, and get the speed races done. Enjoy it until the next storm comes, apparently on Monday night.

I think we have deserved some good times. It was very tough last week. Last night I slept 7 hours and all last week I probably slept 7 hours in total. Now it's perfect for everyone.

Instead of getting on the mountain at 2am, I could sleep until 5-5:30am. Then we had the jury inspection, had breakfast, had the free skiing, did some course setting and slipping and then prepared for the TCM. And tonight I will enjoy dinner with my colleague Jan to celebrate his birthday.

This morning I also felt that I need to go back home soon. To see my kids, and my wife. I have travelled a lot lately. But the season is over soon, another two weeks after the Games, and I can be home for a few days.

I have mostly been spending my time and energy on trying to find a way to get that one training run done. What is our best shot at it? It is not our wish to have to reschedule everything. So we are focused on securing the DH race for Wednesday. And for that we need the training done, no matter how creative we need to get with the options.

The situation on the course is dramatic: we have lots of new snow on top, wet and sticky snow in the middle and rained snow at the bottom. The middle part is the most challenging for us. We have been trying to push out as much of the snow as possible. Mix the old snow with new to change its structure a bit. We are hoping to make sure that there is no snow providing insulation on top of the course when it clears so that it can freeze evenly. This is tough work: stepping the course from the middle part all the way to the finish. For us and the many many volunteers. Stepping helps pack the snow so that its structure changes and it freezes well.

Within the jury, Jan is doing most of the detailed work with the Chief of Course Rick and the head of snowcat drivers Dale. They are definitely the main players right now for ensuring proper course preparation, they decide when and what is being done. Markus is assisting Jan in this. I am trying to keep the overview of the plans and the big picture of our possibilities for the 2 weeks ahead. Bruce, Chief of Race is managing the ladies' race organization while Pete as Chief of Competition is overall in charge of the entire Alpine venue at Creekside. So it is a good team.

Right now what we need is a break from Mother Nature. Luckily there seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel and Monday is lucking good, clear with the freezing level decreasing from the GS start all the way down to Creekside.

We used to have some great spring races here in Whistler when I was still racing. I think I even won twice here. That was in the late 1980s or mid-1990s. Then, in the late 1990s, the early season races did not work as well.

I arrived in Vancouver Saturday. Flew from Salzburg to Frankfurt to Vancouver. The Assistant Chief of Race picked me up at the airport and we had a good chat on the 2-hour drive over to Creekside. Everything looked ok on the weekend and even early this week even though it was relatively warm.

By now it's become clear for all of us that it will be hard work for a few days. Our main goal is to be ready to take advantage of any acceptable weather windows that we get.

Today, our plan was to use every window that we had with sufficient conditions even if that meant accepting some start stops in between. After the initial start some banks of fog appeared especially in the lower section. Racer #2 had good visibility during her run and the crash (we are happy to hear that she is ok!). After that more and more fog kept coming in and finally the poor visibility combined with the heavy snowfall made it impossible for us to keep the course clean.

The forecast for tomorrow looks like a lot of work for us. The snow cats are up for some serious grooming and snow removal if the forecast with quite some snow holds. We will especially be focused on the spill zones and areas outside the ideal line with our snow cleaning.

There are many more days to come. It is only the opening ceremony tomorrow. I will be on the course as of 2AM - see you there.