WHISTLER, British Columbia -- The problem with watching luge, skeleton or bobsleigh live at the venue is that the sports are too fast and too big.
This is not a problem exclusive to the sliding sports. Many of Winter Olympics events are huge. For the downhill skiing races, the best you can do is about three gates worth of action. If you're at the bottom of the hill, you'll find you have to remind yourself to stop watching the huge video screen when the athlete is in range. (More than once I heard a downhiller slide to a stop behind me while I was turned to watch TV.)
The Whistler Sliding Centre is big, hilly and not always amenable to spectating. Go too high on the course and the racers are barely moving (relatively). Move down to some turns and the competitors race by at a hard-to-see angle.
So thank goodness for Turn 16, also known as Thunderbird, on the Whistler track. The turn sits in a kind of amphitheater, offering fans almost 180 degrees of sliding satisfaction. A video board plays the run as it happens, a scoreboard tracks the times and beyond that is a beautiful mountain view.
Most of the spectators gather here, so it's loud, as well. You just have to deal with the snow and mud.
The best view? That belongs to the racers on the track.
Notes: Below are two photos I wanted to share from the Sliding Centre. The first is of an impromptu memorial for Nodar Kumaritashvili behind Turn 16, near the wall constructed after his death.
The second is the low-tech solution to sunshine. Shades are installed up and down the track. Here on Turn 16, workers hold down the shades until the racer hits Turn 14 or so. Once the racer passes, a pole with a hook on the end is used to pull the shade handle down.
