Some snow and a few more volunteers in specific areas.
Those two things are on the wish list of the Quesnel-Lhtako BC Winter Games Society.
President Brian Balkwill says five of the 16 events are snow dependent and they are working on a plan B, and even a plan C.
“We’ve got contingency plans for competitions if we have some snow, you know we’ll modify the competition structure. If we have no snow, hopefully that’s not the case, we’ll ensure that the athletes have a great games experience. We’re already working on different types of events to make sure every athlete has a great time here.”
Balkwill says the alpine skiing should be fine as it will just be held further up the mountain, and biathlon for example could have the athletes run instead of cross country ski if need be.
He says they do have a snow making machine out at Hallis Lake but it does have its limits.
“It’s pretty rudimentary. The big challenge of course is it needs to be cold enough, typically around -10 to make snow, otherwise you’re just spraying water. So we’ve been using it a bit this year to get some snow in the stadium and we were successful when it was cold enough, but this temperature is not a lot of help for us.
Balkwill says that is also just in the stadium and doesn’t really help them out on the trails.
On the volunteer front, he says they can still use some help in specific areas.
“We’re over 13 hundred volunteers and we’ve just got a couple of holes that we’re trying to fill, one being first aid people at our venues. Anybody out there that has a level one first aid ticket, we’d certainly like to talk to you. We probably in the mid 20’s is what we need there, 20 some shifts to fill there.”
Balkwill says the other area where they can still use some help is in accommodation and specifically hosts for the night shifts in the schools.
