Head to British Columbia this winter and you'll be able to ski and snowboard like an Olympian.

OK, perhaps not as well. But you will be able to ski where Winter Olympics competitors will be skiing and snowboarding in just 15 months. The downhill courses for the 2010 games have been tweaked and set, the Nordic trails surveyed and cut and the superpipe designed and built.

And they'll all open to the public on Nov. 22.

''If you come up [then], you can ski exactly what the Olympians will ski,'' says John Aalberg, former U.S. Olympian and now director of Nordic sports for the Vancouver Olympics Committee.

The Nordic events in February 2010 will be contested in the Callaghan Valley south of Whistler, on a network of trails and jumps now called the Whistler Olympic Park.

''I grew up in Norway and have worked for the International Ski Federation all over the world, so I've seen a lot of venues,'' says Aalberg. ``This Nordic course is one of the most unique because you take a 10-kilometer road to get here and basically, you're in the wilderness, with huge trees -- cedar and hemlock and fir. And on a clear day, you have just an amazing view of the Black Tusk and (other) peaks around here.

``You've got very dramatic features. It's mystical. It's what you want as a Nordic skier.''

THREE VENUES

Cross-country, biathlon, Nordic combined and ski jumping competitions will be held at Whistler Olympic Park in 2010. Alpine ski events -- downhill, giant slalom, slalom, super-G and super combined -- will be contested on the slopes of Whistler Mountain in Whistler proper. Freestyle ski and snowboarding events will be waged at Cypress Mountain ski area in North Vancouver.

At all three venues, the public will find something to ski and snowboard on this winter.

Whistler Olympic Park offers a network of about 34 miles of trails (5k lit for night-skiing), including the 15k Olympic Trails, which will be marked. The opening this month also will mark the debut of the park's new day lodge, offering food service, ticket sales (a day pass costs $20 for adults) and rentals.

WORLD CUP EVENTS

The park will host a series of World Cup competitions in January as a shakedown cruise for 2010.

''The Olympic skiers will be here this season for the five World Cup events,'' says Aalberg, who raced for the U.S. team in 1992 and '94. ``We're going to let spectators, if they want, ski out on the trails and watch the races in their skis from trail-side. So you actually will get a more close-up view. We will not allow that during the actual Games.''

The park's network of trails is linked to another 30-mile network of trails operated by the wilderness lodge Callaghan Country (www.callaghancountry.com), so there actually are about 62 miles of trails available to the public in the valley.

''The subalpine farther up the valley offers a totally different experience,'' says Aalberg. ``We have quite a diverse set of trails. The beginner's trails, the green trails -- those are fairly close to the center. We go up from there with intermediate trails and on the far end we get into more advanced trails.''

The park's trail system opened to public skiing last year, even though the day lodge was not yet built.

``We had over 30,000 skiers last winter and got extremely positive feedback. These were competitors and recreational skiers of all kinds.''

To the north, for many years skiers and snowboarders have been ripping the runs that will host the 2010 alpine events.

Join the discussion

The Miami Herald is pleased to provide this opportunity to share information, experiences and observations about what's in the news. Some of the comments may be reprinted elsewhere in the site or in the newspaper. We encourage lively, open debate on the issues of the day, and ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, personal comments and remarks that are off point. In order to post comments, you must be a registered user of MiamiHerald.com. Your username will show along with the comments you post. Thank you for taking the time to offer your thoughts.

     Showing: Oldest first Newest first Most-recommended first Least-recommended first

@Nyx.AuthorDisplayName@ wrote on @Nyx.PostedAtTime@:

@Nyx.repliedToText@

@Nyx.replyAnswerText@

Reply to this Comment @Nyx.Recommender@ @Nyx.AbuseReporter@