Snow still being ferried to Cypress

Lorry loads of snow will continue to be dumped at Vancouver's troubled Winter Olympic venue of Cypress Mountain until Tuesday, organisers said as they scramble to get the site ready in time.

A view of the non-Olympic competition side of the Cypress Mountain ski slopes on February 6. Lorry loads of snow will continue to be dumped at Vancouver's troubled Winter Olympic venue of Cypress Mountain until Tuesday, organisers said on Monday.

The freestyle and snowboard venue, just to the north of Vancouver, has been plagued by a drastic lack of snow caused by the warm temperatures which have seen the city enjoying unseasonal highs of around 10C (50F).

In an effort to get the venue ready, organisers took the controversial decision to ban media from the site until Tuesday when training resumes.

"The final snow will be brought in on Tuesday and we will be ready to go," said Dave Cobb, the VANOC deputy chief executive.

Cobb added that there were no regrets of not having scheduled the freestyle events at Whistler which has enjoyed high snowfalls and will be the venue for skiing, ski jumping and the sliding events.

"We could have had weather problems at Whistler and having more events there would have added to the challenges of getting people up there," he said.

"Cypress will be fantastic. When the events start, no-one will say we should have moved to Whistler."

International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge said he had no concerns and ruled out any events being cancelled or moved.

"I have no concerns whatsoever," he said.

"There is no Plan B. I assure you that there will be no events cancelled because of a lack of snow."

Competitors, who have been forced to switch training to Whistler, shrugged off the problems they were facing.

America's mogul hopeful Hannah Kearney, a former world champion, said she had put up with far more demanding conditions.

"In Italy we literally skied on a pile of snow on a dirt road so this is a big improvement," said the 23-year-old.

"We're all going to be in the same boat here. As an athlete you prepare for it and you come in mentally tough.

"I'm really excited about this lack of snow because now I don't have to answer questions about myself. I only have to answer questions about snow."