What if they threw an Olympics and nobody raced? I’ve been here at Whistler for almost a week now, and virtually every alpine race scheduled during the first five days has been postponed, either due to fog or warm, slushy snow conditions. And do you want to know what the irony is? The skiing for the public has been fabulous.

The snow has been falling regularly, and though it has been pretty darn wet near the mountain bottom (where the race course finishes), up higher the snow has been wonderful. Although some of the mountain terrain has been closed for races and training, the rest of the mountain has been wide open, with generally light crowds. It turns out that skiing Whistler during the Olympics is a fantastic idea if you like having the mountain to yourself most of the time.

Of course, if you came to Whistler with the intent to actually watch a race, the ever-changing schedule made that really difficult. I ran into Mercer Islanders Tom Romary, Chris Hughes, Martin Frogatt and Greg Brown, four guys who drove up to ski, with plans to watch the men’s downhill. Guess what: because they had to be back home for Valentine’s Day, they departed without seeing any ski racing at all. The downhill race scheduled for Saturday ran on Monday; sorry, boys.

I was a tad more fortunate. I had tickets to watch the men’s ski jumping at the Olympic Park venue, and it was a compelling competition. The outcome was in doubt until the very last jumper, Switzerland’s Simon Ammann, uncorked the longest jump of the event, enabling him to duplicate his gold medal win from the 2002 Olympic contest in Salt Lake City.

Ski jumping is clearly not a mainstream sport of North America. The United States did manage to have three athletes in the competition (the best finished 40th), but Canada didn’t have a single jumper in the event. So although there were not a lot of U.S. and Canadian flags evident, it was great to see the European nations out in full force. The Polish supporters were the loudest, Norway seemed to have the most fans, and the Czech Republic had the wildest outfits.

If the jumping event itself was riveting, the required bus transportation logistics were not. Though the Olympic Park is about a half-hour ride from Whistler Village, it took many spectators about two hours to wait for a bus to come back from the event. It seemed to me that there were plenty of buses, and there were plenty of volunteers, but someone neglected to establish communication between the two. I’m quite pleased I don’t have that job, as I wouldn’t have a lot of friends among the jumping fan base.

I also attended one of the luge runs, and unfortunately couldn’t watch it without thinking about the tragic fatal accident that had earlier killed the luger from the country of Georgia. Until I saw how fast these guys go on those tiny little sleds, I didn’t fully grasp the immensity of the crash. They go past so fast — just a blur, really, so when I saw the steel posts that he hit at around 90 mph, it was easy to understand how the outcome could be fatal. It made me wonder who grows up saying their dream is to ride a luge — count me out for that one.

Back in the Whistler Village itself, there are lots of people milling about, but not so many as to make it an obnoxious scene. It is festive, vibrant, energetic and quite beautiful. There are live bands playing on several stages set around town, and with television screens installed all around the village, the public can watch the music and other events without actually buying a ticket. At night the village is lit up even more than at Disneyland, and many times every visible hand holds a camera.

The stores seemed packed with people, the restaurants a little less so. With the Canadian dollar basically close to par with ours, nothing is really a bargain here. The must-have shopping item appears to be red Olympic mittens, and they sell out every time there is a new delivery.

OK, I want to make clear that my comments are only about what I am seeing here at Whistler. The snowboard and freestyle skiing events are being held at Cypress Mountain outside of Vancouver, where they really do have a big lack of snow. I won’t be going there or to Vancouver itself for any competitions either.

But if you become inspired to try and see some Olympic action, there seem to be tickets available for most events. I’m told that the hockey and figure skating finals are sold out, but otherwise you can probably find tickets. And there are empty hotel rooms available. The best part is driving up; the Canadians staffed every lane at the border crossing, so we had no wait at all before getting to meet and greet the friendly border agent inside the booth. It took us just about 4.5 hours to drive up to Whistler; it would be about three to Vancouver. If you are so inclined to make the Whistler scene, make sure to ask about obtaining a driving permit; otherwise, you won’t be allowed north of Squamish and will need to take a bus.

Lastly, I feel I should mention that weather problems relating to ski races at Whistler are really nothing new. Back in the 1990s, Whistler was a regular site for World Cup downhill races, and three years in a row, the best skiers in the world came here and never completed the competition. Ultimately, Whistler was dropped from the list of race locations due to its uncertain weather. I am sure that the Olympic selection committee took this information into account when choosing Whistler and probably just hoped for the best. With the overall Games running for almost three weeks, there should be time to get all the alpine events completed. Or is there? We are about to find out.

John Naye is a Mercer Island resident and the current president of the Western Region of the North American Snowsports Journalists Association. He can be reached by e-mail at jnaye@trekworks.com.

For more Olympics coverage see http://blogs.pnwlocalnews.com/olympics.