Let the Games Begin

Plan your own Gold Medal Games around the 2010 Winter Olympics

By Patricia Bates

Before the 2010 Winter Olympics get underway in British Columbia a year from this February, let the games begin for meeting planners interested in going to Vancouver and Whistler.

Team-building exercises in the snow and ice can make champions of even the most amateur athlete in your group. No one has to qualify for anything as demanding as the luge to receive a medal or as flawless as a Lutz to get a perfect 10 from the judges.

For inspiration, special appearances by one of 3,300 Canadian Olympians can also be booked through Olympic Voice during your conference in British Columbia. Under the program by the Canadian Olympic Committee (COC), they can bring home the gold when it comes to motivating your attendees.

VANCOUVER
Whether beginner, intermediate or advanced, Snow School is where your group can train for your own Olympics at Grouse Mountain. There’s no sitting around a roaring fire with a cast on pretending they can’t ski anymore. This is where everyone can get the bunny slope basics.

Snow School is also where adults can learn to snowboard, and they even get a report card afterward. At the Peak Chalet of Vancouver, they can compare grades (and maybe flips and turns) at a private party later on Grouse Mountain.

For would-be leaders who like to put their foot down, the Snowshoe Adventure Challenge is a good alternative. Walking around Grouse Mountain can give them a sense of direction, especially when they are using their Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) coordinates along with a trail map and instructions.

Victory can be claimed after orienteering through the Munday Alpine Snowshoe Park, where they earn points at each marker. Those who get to the finish line first can have a Snowshoe Fondue with cheese and chocolate at a reception at the Peak Chalet.

If your participants don’t know a double-axel from a triple-toe loop, they can still go on the outdoor 3,000-square-foot Ice Skating Pond at Grouse Mountain. As the only rink of its kind on the West Coast, they will glide along at their own speed high above Vancouver.

The less active can be chauffeured around in a Sno-Limo through the forests at Grouse Mountain. They will ride in gravity-powered, multi-passenger vehicles around hills with titles like The Cut, Buckhorn and Heaven’s Sake at up to 4,100 feet above sea level. Afterward, they can be off to drinks and dinner at the nearby observatory.

Grab the Olympic “rings” on Sea Quest Scavenger Hunts in the coves and inlets around Vancouver. Teams have to sail boats over a 12-square mile radius in Howe Sound using only a list of questions, a navigational map and a cell phone. Through Sewell’s Marina, the three-person crews and their skippers have to decide which route to take as they look for answers about nature over their two-and-a-half hours on the ocean. Weather-permitting—even in February—the groups from eight to 180 members can go on the Sea Quest in covered vessels.

On these fact-finding expeditions, the innovative get bonus points for being creative. After the scores are tallied, they are given ribbons, hats or other awards. Then, it’s on to the galley for a meal at the Boathouse Restaurant in Horseshoe Bay or Doc Morgan’s Inn at Snug Cove on Bowen Island.

A Salmon Fishing Derby may not be among the trials for the 2010 Winter Olympics, but it is definitely competitive in Vancouver. All year around, anglers can hook a King salmon in the Straights of Georgia around Howe Sound.

With the plunging temperatures, the Chinook like to nibble on herring and anchovies along the Chinook Squamish River. Sewell’s Marina will equip three to five persons on a charter with the tackle, along with the bait to reel in up to the 25-pounders in a weigh-off on the shore.

WHISTLER
You can feel the adrenaline rush of the slalom without taking to the Olympic course on a Ziptrek Winter Twilight Tour through the Old Growth Rainforest in Whistler. In a harness, each individual flies through the darkness on a wire past 4,000 glowing lights on Blackcomb Mountain.

The participants wear headlamps on the trail of canopied bridges and boardwalks to reach the sheltered decks. Then, they get propel themselves from 200 to 1,000 feet along the five Ziptrek lines more than 150 feet above the valley floor. In the elements, Ziptrek can also outfit everyone in rain gear to gloves.

To warm up, take the Zip ‘n Chili Dinner Tour where the steaming hot soup will be ready for your guests later at an A-frame cabin near Fitsimmons Creek. By the fireside, they can have cocoa and cookies on Blackcomb Mountain.

VICTORIA
Like hang time on a ski jump, every second counts during the Urban Olympics at The Poets Cove Resort & Spa in Pender Cove near Victoria. Each person has to be at the top of their game to win on Pender Island.

These feats are organized for groups of eight to 40 through the Poets Cove Activities Centre. As one of their partners, Canadian Outback Adventures can also design the themes around Survivor, The Amazing Race, CSI, The Apprentice or Power of One.

OTHER B.C. ADVENTURES
Never mind that snow tubing or dog sledding has yet to be approved for the Olympics. You can still be a contender for it at The Hills Snow Park at the Hills Health Ranch at 108 Mile Ranch, which is about five hours north of Vancouver.

This Nordic ski facility has 150 km of trails for all levels, along with up to 1,000 vertical feet of elevations in the Cariboo region of the Province. If your group wants to have its own marathon, they could do so in the wilderness. For the aches and pains afterward, they can also soothe them at the indoor pool, spa or hot tubs.

The Snow Coach leaves weekly for Hills Health Ranch, which has more than 25,000 acres for cross-country to downhill. It also has two outdoor rinks, along with one of the largest groomed skating track systems in Canada. And, trails abound for snowmobilers.

At your meeting, have some pageantry at your closing ceremonies. After a horse-drawn sleigh ride, attendees can toast marshmallows around a bonfire in the 32-foot tepee. Or, they can raise a glass to each other in one of three lounges on the grounds.

TOURISM CONTACTS:

Tourism British Columbia
BestCities.Net (Tourism Vancouver’s convention bureau alliance with eight partners on five continents)
Tourism Vancouver
Tourism Whistler
Tourism Victoria

Photo: Ziplining at Fitzsimmons Creek, Whistler. Tourism BC/Toshi Kawano