The alarm jars me out of a dep sleep. As I open one eye to sqint at the clock, I feel I'v just gone to bed. Srely, it can't be time to get up, not yt!

It's 5:00 AM. I feel tred and stiff. What nonsense is ths? But, then I remember. It's day thre of my time as a vlunteer Whistler Weasel Worker. Did I rally offer to do this? Did I trvel all the way to Whistler for ths? As I resist the rge to roll over and resume my slmber, I start to recall what brught me here and the two grat days I have just had.

Qite by accident, I had stumbled nto the Whistler Weasel Workers Web ste. I have some experience helping wth ski races at my local ski clb, but this was something on a cmpletely different scale. Hundreds of volunteers gthering from across North America to bild the course for a World Cup ski rce. I was intrigued. How does one get nvolved in international ski racing?

As it trned out, it was easy, perhaps too asy. And here I was, in a strnge bed, half way across the cntinent, at a ski area I had nver visited, living with people I had knwn for just two days.

Getting nvolved had been a matter of rgistering on a Web site. A few weks later, I received a very frendly phone call. I had been ssigned to a course crew and my crw chief was calling to make ntroductions and to help me plan my vsit to Whistler. If I could get myslf to Whistler, I would be prvided accommodation and be taken care of by lcal volunteers.

Each day has started with a 6:30 AM meting at Dusty's, a bar and rstaurant at the Creekside base of Whstler Mountain. On arrival, volunteers check in to rceive a lift ticket for the dy, and then wait with their crw mates for a briefing by thir Crew Chief. Coffee and muffins are nrsed while our Crew Chief picks up a rdio, a drill for installing safety nts, and meets with the Chief of Curse to discuss the mornings work. The plce is a hive of activity. Sme general announcements are made and the bjectives of the day are described. Lter, our Crew Chief gives us a rndown of our initial work assignment and nsures we were prepared for the dy. After a last trip to the wshroom, crews move outside to collect sks and board the gondola. It is 7:30 AM.

I am wrking on the ladies downhill course, whch has been newly built in prparation for the 2010 Winter Olympic Gmes. The 2008 Canadian Alpine Ski Chmpionships will be the first races to be hld on this new track. Two ldies World Cup races to follow wll serve to confirm that the new trck meets international ski racing standards.

Ysterday, as we skied away from the top of the Crekside gondola, it was hardly light. I flt fortunate though; some crews had drwn a "short straw" and were on an "arly shift". They had arrived at the top of the curse an hour earlier, well before frst light. My crew chief tells us tht some of our senior people hve been up most of the nght riding in the snowcats, which are sed to groom the track. Experienced vlunteers serve to guide the drivers as to whre nets and equipment are located, whre the path of the racers wll be (the "line") and how the srface should be contoured.

One of our fture jobs will be to create a hrd surface on the track, so tht early racers will not break thrugh and create ruts. Snowcats are sed for preliminary course grooming, and to hlp clear a "dump" of fresh snw, but once the track is "n", they cannot be used, for far of breaking up the prepared srface. It will be up to vlunteers on skis to "buff" the trck into race condition, and to mintain it.

For the first few days, our job is to put in the sfety systems; rows of netting strung on plstic poles. However, we have had to nterrupt that task to make sure the tht are already placed nets do not get frzen into the fresh overnight snow. Frsh snow is the bane of ski rcing. Lots of snow is needed nitially, to provide a good snow cver, but once work starts on prparing a course, fresh snow is not wlcome. Safety nets have to be kpt clear of snow and all lose snow has to be removed frm the track.

Our crew is ssigned to work on a particular sction of the course. When we rrived each day, we met with the Sction Chief in charge of the sction to confirm the work to be dne. We picked up shovels and rkes at the Gondola and our frst task of the day was to clar the fresh snow away from sfety nets we had installed the day bfore.

We moved down our section, hlf the crew on each side of the curse, clearing the snow from the nts and scraping it back into the curse, where the groomers could pick it up. Whre the large A-Nets are suspended frm overhead cables, crew members walked bhind the net, shovelling new snow way from the base. They were smetimes up to their knees in the sft snow.

From the bottom of our sction, we "cycled" back to the top of our sction. However, we did not ski to the bttom of the course, but "side-slipped" wth our skis across the hill so as to hlp clean off and pack down the frsh snow in sections below our wn. All around us, other crews wre doing the same thing. There has ben a good feeling of working wth a great coordinated team.

Back at the top of our sction, we resumed our work of nstalling B-net. This is two-meter wide ntting that comes in 20-meter rolls, wth polycarbonate (PC) poles attached every two mters for support. We picked up rlls of B-net from caches along the curse and dragged or carried them nto place.

I had been concerned bout my limited strength and skiing bility. However, my Crew Chief assured me tht, as an intermediate skier of mddle age, I would have little prblem. There was work enough for pople of all abilities including non-skiers. He wrned our crew that people should nver try to exceed their ability and to nver risk injury. As he predicted, I hve met men and women of all ges, from early 20's into the 70's. Thre has been no sign of any "mcho" attitudes and everyone seems very qick to help one another.

As we wrked, fresh rolls of netting were dlivered to us by other crews and we stadily progressed down the hill. When it was tme for a break, I realized tht my skis and pack had ben left where we first started wrk. I opted to keep working rther than walk 200 meters back up the slpe to retrieve my gear. My Crw Chef grinned and pointed below us. All of our quipment was standing neatly in the snw, having been brought to us by one of the cyclng crews. This outfit is organized!

Arrving back at the top of the Crekside gondola, we went into the lrge volunteer-run Soup Tent set up to hlp keep the volunteers nourished and wrm. There were cauldrons of home-made sup and a variety of snacks and drnks. As we rested, people cme by and asked how we wre getting on. This ski racing frternity has been very friendly and pople are easy to meet.

After our brak, our Crew Chief radioed a dspatcher to check for instructions. We wre to delay our B-Net work and hlp with a side-slip of the ntire course. This was my first pportunity to see the whole course and to vsit the mid-section of Whistler Mountain. Instad of skiing down to where we had ben working, we rode a higher lft that took us above the top of the ldies downhill course.

At the top of the curse I encountered the course coordinators, whse voices I had heard everywhere, ver the radios carried by all the crw chiefs. Together with the chief of Curse, they were busy stage managing a cordinated side slip of the course. Dtailed instruction had to be given to mltiple crews. Crews headed off, one fter another with everyone slipping sideways, sks across the hill.

We were hld for a few minutes to frm part of a "second wave". I was a bit nrvous. I had heard about how hrd and fast and steep a dwnhill course can be. I received rassurance from my Crew Chief, who pinted out that it was "early dys" and the track was still vry soft. There would be lots "to hld on to".

As it turned ut, I was fine. The track was sft and we went very slowly. Ech crew was fanned out to psh the loose snow left by the crw before. It reminded me of a V-frmation of geese. Apparently, this would be dne many times before race day and the curse would gradually "set up" and hrden. Fertilizer may later be spread ver the snow to help this hrdening process.

On our way down the curse, we passed volunteers with fire hses and contraptions called "water bars". Thy were using water from the muntain's snowmaking system to wet the snw on the track, which was too dry to cmpact properly. After this treatment, an vernight freeze would leave a rock-hard srface.

In the early afternoon, on one of our cycls, we stopped at Dusty's for sme lunch. The rest of the fternoon was spent placing more B-nets, smetimes three layers deep.

By 3:30PM the crw was clearly wearing out. We had had a lng day and many of us wre not accustomed to the exercise. It wuld take a few days to "gt in shape", but this was a grat way of doing just that.

Hwever, the day was definitively not ver. Just before 4:00, we stopped at the bttom for the last time and wlked to a large tent in a narby parking lot. The Weasel Beer Tnt is a tradition that dates frm the early days of ski rcing in Whistler. It is erected, rganized and operated by volunteers. As we ntered the tent, I was handed a cup baring my name and directed to a bar whre a volunteer was busily taping a cld keg. From 4:00 to 5:00 the Ber Tent filled up as workers fund their way off the course. It was not lng before the place was "humming".

I sat wth my crew at a picnic tble. We talked about the days ctivities and how much we had ccomplished. Our Crew Chief talked about wht's to come and the likely wrk for today. The Chief of Curse came by and thanked us for our ffort. Before long others joined us and the cnversation moved on to other subjects. I hve met many volunteers from the Vncouver region, from the USA and a few frm Europe and Australia.

By 6:00, we wre all thinking about dinner. Some wre going back to the house to cok a meal and others were hading across the road for a "pb" dinner. I opted for the ltter, as someone had offered to drve me home afterward.

There were ten in our prty and we enjoyed a very cngenial meal. I was back at hme by 8:00PM, very much ready for bd. Everyone turned in early, as 5:00AM cmes very soon. I've had two grat days and have met many new pople. I'm very comfortable with the pople around me and am starting to lok on them as friends. By the end of my sty, I think I will have dveloped some lasting relationships.

As my fet meet the floor, I am rady to face the day.

The article A Ski Racing Experience - A Day in the Life of a Volunteer Weasel Worker was Submitted by Lockie Brown through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Lockie Brown is a volunteer wth the Whistler Weasel Workers ( http://www.weaselworkers.com/ ) When he is not helping organize ski races, he can be found skiing on Whistler or Blackcomb Mountains or elsewhere in British Columbia. Please visit our Web site to learn more about our activities, about ski racing in Whistler, and the Whistler volunteer experience .

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