Winter Comes to Sochi Mountains

(ATR) After eleven days of sunshine, balmy temperatures, and occasional rain, the Krasnaya Polyana Mountains finally received snowfall during Tuesday night’s men’s ski halfpipe event.

At times, thick, fluffy flakes fell from the night sky, creating an idyllic setting and transforming the Rosa Khutor Extreme Park and surrounding mountains into a winter wonderland, at least at the higher elevations.

"It’s very picturesque. It’s very wintery, a winter wonderland, compared to the previous days, which were very summery and summer Olympic-y," said Canadian halfpipe silver medalist Mike Riddle.

However, at the venue press center, about a ten-minute walk down from the halfpipe, aerials, and moguls courses, the wet snow resulted in soggy and messy conditions. Journalists traipsed through a mix of snow and mud, scurrying to buses after wrapping up stories well after midnight.

The fresh overnight snowfall gave Sochi its first daytime snow scenes under mostly sunny skies for Wednesday morning’s men’s giant slalom andsnowboard parallel giant slalom events. Pine trees covered in white looked pretty on television, giving Sochi its first true Winter Olympics-type feel. It was a welcome change from the foggy and rainy weather of the day previous.

Despite the beautiful winter postcard setting, the alpine skiing grandstand was far from capacity during the first run of the giant slalom as American Ted Ligety charged out to a commanding lead.

Although always difficult to predict mountain weather, the snowfall on Tuesday night might have been the last of these Winter Games. Temperatures are expected to rise again on Thursday, potentially above 60 degrees Fahrenheit in the mountains.

For the final weekend of the Games, mountain temperatures should hover around 50 degrees with a 70 percent chance of rain on Friday. Drier weather is forecast for Saturday and Sunday.

Written by Brian Pinelli

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