[Alberta's Child]

Good point. I imagine it's got some tall mountains around it, eh?

It's worth noting that the last two Winter Olympics were held in places that really aren't ideal for a lot of winter sports. I understand Turin, Italy has pretty temperate winters and is just as likely to get rain in the winter as snow. And Vancouver, despite being so far north, is actually the most mild of major Canadian cities in the winter. Even in the mountain ski resorts the snow tends to be wet and heavy, and isn't as good for skiing as the areas in the interior of British Columbia.

[colorado tanker]

There is a small ski area in the mountains above Sochi, but it will take a lot of infrastructure improvements to get the area and access to it up to Olympic standards. I suppose an authoritarian regime like Czar Vlad's will spend whatever it takes to do that. Still, they better have lots of snowmaking equipment ready just in case.

And how much sense does it make to have the Olympics that close to a war zone and only a stone's throw from Chechen rebels???

I hear you about Vancouver. The X-games area was lower than the ski area and those people were skiing and boarding in slush at times.