Looking back, the Olympics played out like a Shakespearian play in reverse. Tragedy cast a pall over Vancouver before the first faux snowflake had fallen at Opening Ceremonies, when Georgian luger Nodar Kumaritashvili died after losing control of his sled on at the Olympic Sliding Centre. Steady village rains exacerbated the gloomy atmosphere in Whistler and Vancouver, as marquee alpine ski events were postponed due to soft snow and lousy light. But, as one would expect in this glorious landscape, nature came to the rescue, dispatching spring sunshine and 50+ temperatures, inviting guests into the streets and onto the patios. The American ski team, and Olympic team in general, established an historic run of dominance with Bode and Lindsey golds, among other medals, and Julia silvers, while the hosts finally evicted the albatross of never winning at home, when Alexandre Bilodeau, the first of several mythical Canadian narratives, took gold in Men’s moguls. All of Canada celebrated their first hero on the streets, while enticing visitors from across the globe to nosh elk, dance to live Acadian fiddle and accordion or wash down some Saskatchewan pilsner at the provincial houses. The Americans took the medal count for the first time since Lake Placid, not in 1980, but in 1932! There were favorites, like Shaun White, who is so much better than everyone else, he must use magic, and surprises, like first ever US medals (gold and silver!) by Bill Demong and Johnny Spillane in nordic combined. Canada’s much harangued “Own the Podium” campaign just needed an adjective, as in “Own the Top Podium,” because the host country set records for host gold medals with 14. But even owning everyone of the gold medals in the Royal Mint, folks lined up for over seven hours to see the medals in production, would lack luster for this typically humble citizenry if they failed to win medal in the national obsession: men’s hockey. Anxiety turned to panic after ho hum early performances against weaker opponents and a loss to rival USA. Considered the Golden Child since he was age 10, Sydney Crosby fulfilled his destiny yesterday when he scored the overtime winner. NBC, which had fumbled the first USA-Canada game, will hopefully take note that yesterday’s gold medal affair was watched by one out of every three Americans watching TV, an astounding figure, which should force the NHL owner’s hand to include NHL players in 2014. Wandering up Granville yesterday, as hundreds of thousands of flag bearers sang their national anthem, it occurred to me that even the Bard himself would have been hard pressed to script a better finale. For once, bragging rights belong to oh, let’s say Canada.

I’ll save full reflection of Vancouver 2010 for one last post tomorrow, because to watch the 2nd greatest hockey game of all time (if you have to ask about the first, you weren’t alive in 1980) between NHL teammates draped in their national sweaters will last as a highlight of my career. I spent the game in the Saskatchewan House, where 500 people stood and screamed throughout the game. The provincial houses were one of many unexpected hits as queues stretched city blocks to get into Northern Canada House, Atlantic Canada House and others. Visitors from around world will depart Vancouver with more than a visual of British Columbia’s astounding landscape, they’ve tasted oysters from Nova Scotia or barbecued bison burgers from Saskatchewan. I read an editorial this morning in the L.A. Times, written by a journalist I was with at the very party this past Friday night he excoriated in print today. I was shocked to read his sarcasm about his Canadian hosts, stating he couldn’t return to California fast enough. I’m confident that, not only were his opinions narrow minded and, at many times, downright cruel, he also saw a very different Canada then the vast majority of visitors, including this one. As the author of more than 50 articles a year detailing Canada from the whitewater rafting of the Yukon to the skiing of Mt. Tremblant, I can say without reservation that Canada shined gold medal bright as over the past 17 days. And, as scripted, The Games that began with the Great One’s torch will be remembered for the Next One’s overtime goal.

Standing among the gallery at 2010 Alpine Skiing events, I was impressed with the crowd’s perpetual enthusiasm displayed for every skier who breaks the finish line. The cheers elevate for Canadians, Americans and, especially, the Swiss, but anyone who’s skied on their edges knows how close these athletes ride the medal v. mash-up line. Alpine skiing stands with hockey as the marquee sport of these games. But unlike the latter, the USA Ski Team is a team in name only, as we’ve witnessed again in the media exacerbated Vonn-Mancuso tiff. I interviewed Julia (pictured) this fall for an Alaska Airlines cover story. A true California-Maui girl, she was unapologetic about her love of the spotlight, whether posing for a bikini calendar or designing her Tiara line of panties. “My designs and modeling are ways I express my creative side,” she told me last fall. “If it brings a little more exposure to skiing, all the better.” I keep thinking how hard it’s been for this “kind of beachy and laidback girl” to watch American media’s hyper focus on Vonn, who came into the Games as the most dominant skier in the world. Watching the final alpine event today, I wondered if the 2010 Winter Games will be remembered for Lindsey’s gold and Julia’s silver medal triumphs or Lindsey’s three DNF’s in four races. I hope for the former but, only recalling Bode’s Turin flame out coverage from 2006, fear the latter.

The reflections have begun across Canada about the success of the Games, the world’s impression and the emergence of “Canaditude.” Observing the Granville masses while reclining upon Sanafir's 2nd floor "beds," it’s clear the host citizens enjoy their new found bravado, breaking out in team chants and national anthem renditions of various harmonic quality after Canada narrowly escaped a late Slovakian rally to score its destiny in the Men’s Hockey gold medal game against the USA. The countries, long thought to be the friendliest neighbors in the world, last faced off in 2002 when Canada took the gold on American soil. Should the Americans upset the Canadian’s self-proclaimed “Dream Team” tomorrow, the effect on USA hockey development may rival that of the 1980 “Miracle on Ice.” Even though most of the current Americans weren’t even born in 1980, each has benefitted from hockey’s surge in popularity during the 80’s with increased funding, more international tournaments and more NHL opportunity. Of course, there are plenty of other stories here in Vancouver: Canada’s record tying 4 medals yesterday, the late end choke by Canadian curling skip Cheryl Bernard, but only one event draws rain drenched Canadians into the street by the thousands until well after 3am, and it isn’t today’s Men’s Curling final. FYI - Tickets to watch the Gold Medal Game at the Molson Hockey House (not at the arena!) run to $1,500.

The snow is falling as I write in Whistler, even at village altitude. The snow cloud hovering over both ski hills may spell more challenges for Olympic alpine events, but for those of us who love skiing here all the time, the new snow is most welcome. Most people on the rest of the continent don’t realize that the Pacific Northwest’s best skiing often comes in March. Local hoteliers say March is looking pretty good between the 2010 Paralympics, Gay Whistler Winter Pride and regular bookings, but numbers will still be low due to the Olympic Aversion, i.e. the month with historically great snow and potentially discounted rooms may be the best valued visit to Whistler for years to come. Having skied virtually alone all morning off Whistler’s Harmony Chair in knee-deep powder, I suggest you consider coming to Whistler in March to go for your personal gold outside and to warm up by the Flame.

Canada House is a closed environment reserved for friends and families of Olympic athletes. Security made it very clear that no active media is allowed past the door. This is as natural a casual environment as you can find at the Games, but cameras were still flashing everywhere when I went inside to celebrate Canada’s gold and silver medals in the two-women bobsleigh, as well the Canadian hockey team’s drubbing of rival Russia, the team most pundits considered the spoiler to Canada gold in its national pastime. Naturally I grabbed my camera to catch a few shots of the day’s heroines who were posing up a storm, when they weren’t workin’ it on the makeshift dance floor, led by gold medalist Helen Moyes (pictured). Moyes and co. continued the refreshing legacy of the Canadian medalists’ unfettered, and intoxicating, exuberance. But Moyes and teammates also display a different legacy: North American development programs in Lake Placid, Park City (the US women took bronze last night) and Calgary. It used to be the Germans and Swiss arrived at the sliding venue, collected their brass and departed. As Canada considers significant cuts in athlete development, the decision makers may want to swing by Canada House on a night like last night to soak in a little medal euphoria- and perhaps stir it up with latest heroes Humphries, Moyes, Upperton and Brown.

When I was playing hockey in high school, my mom would ring a large cowbell at all of my games. I wasn’t surprised to hear that familiar clang during my college career, when she would leave work at noon, drive to New England for my game and then drive home, usually going straight to work the next day. The sacrifice parents make for their children’s athletics is well documented, but I remain impressed by the parental role for world class athletes, like the families of Kaillie Humphries and Heather Moyse, who took the gold medal in Two Women Bobsleigh tonight at the Olympic Sliding Centre in Whistler. Their collective look of satisfied exhaustion suggested they’d just attended their daughter’s wedding. The Olympics also provide an opportunity for multigenerational spectators to explore together, like the three generations of Victoria, B.C. women (pictured) I met two days ago on the Aquabus coming from Granville Island to Yaletown. The youngest daughter, in town to volunteer at the wildly popular Royal Canadian Mint, was directing the tour, about which her grandmother had this to say to her granddaughter, “It’s so wonderful to experience the Olympics through your eyes.” Surely the parents and grandparents of the Olympic athletes must be thinking the same thought, as they wear their silly hats and ring their cowbells.

Anyone who has played competitive sports knows how challenging it would be for a gay athlete in the locker room. While racial epithets have all but disappeared from dressing room banter, gay-related derision has hardly subsided. Dean Nelson (pictured) founded Whistler Pride House to spread awareness about homophobia in sport.

He and colleagues at Gay Whistler have also created a relaxing space for gays and straights alike to enjoy a glass of wine, watch the Games and learn more about efforts to support high performance gay athletes like spokesperson Mark Tewksbury, a Canadian Gold Medalist swimmer, who has spoken often about the pressure he felt to remain closeted until after his athletic career. Sculptor Edmund Haakonson's nude "Hockey Player" also generates buzz. Whistler Pride House is located in Pan Pacific Village Centre, one of the village’s best properties, which joins Fairmont Chateau Whistler and the Delta Hotel to partner with the 18th Annual “Gay Whistler Winter Pride” ski week from March 1st - 8th. Winter Pride drew 2,800 participants last year. “I’m very pleased with the response Pride House has received from the community and from international media,” Thomas told me this morning, but he notes that even Pride House itself provides a window into the challenges gays and lesbians face in sport. “A few current female athletes have come in, but it was clear they were very nervous to be here." There are plenty of other challenges, as well. While Canada grants full rights to it lesbian and gay citizens, the 2012 London Summer Games  will include many of the world's most intolerant countries.

Shaun White may be on the L.A. and New York talk show circuit, but Maelle Ricker, Canada’s Gold Medalist in Snowboard-Cross, wouldn’t be anywhere else but home. I spoke with Maelle this afternoon in an exclusive conversation about how she prepared for her competition and what she thinks of being an Olympic Champion in her hometown of Vancouver. After our twenty-minute discussion, I still can’t tell if she naturally smiles all the time or if she’s simply overjoyed with her success. I assume the former. The humble pioneer, she’s the first Canadian woman to win gold in Canada, keeps her medal in her pocket, never mentioning it until asked. “I was very fortunate to find record snow in Whistler during November, when I came back between trainings to practice on my own, cruising all over Whistler’s west side and down Peak to Creek,” Ricker recalls. She doesn’t remember much of her historic race, however. “I had a sense I was ahead but I never looked back because the course was way too technical to take my eyes off it. I only realized I’d won when I looked up into the crowd and saw everyone going bananas. Then I looked for my mom.” As we talk, it’s challenging not to get lost in the sparkle of Ricker’s eyes; she’s a poster child for the fresh-faced good life of ski resort living. Yet, even when discussing her own historic achievement, the gilt of this Olympic Champion’s personality shines. “It was a blast walking through the village,” Maelle smiled, “Because I got to watch Ashleigh McIvor’s gold medal run in skier-cross, and she was awesome.”

Two summers ago, I traveled with my family via Rocky Mountaineer from Vancouver to Jasper, Alberta. It remains one of the great trips of my lifetime. Today, I boarded the Alberta Train to travel from Vancouver back to Whistler, also among the prettiest train rides I’ve experienced. The 1988 Calgary Winter Olympics set the standard for Winter Olympic operational success, turning a profit and establishing a legacy for the training of Canadian athletes. It’s fitting that Alberta has leased the Rocky Mountaineer, the standard in luxurious train travel across Western Canada, with trips from Vancouver to Banff and Jasper via Whistler and Kamloops.

This morning, the Alberta Train left early from North Vancouver, snaking along Lions Bay while offering vistas of B.C.’s spectacular Coast Range Mountains. Having driven the Sea to Sky Highway scores of times, it’s a pleasure to gaze out over Howe Sound and into the Cheakamus Canyon with no worry of steering or oncoming traffic. The Coast Range is a beautiful set of mountains, and comparing this range with others is geologically unfair. Regardless, I’ll state unequivocally that there are no mountains in the lower continent that compare with the Canadian Rockies. Taking the Alberta Train along the Coast Range is a perfect reminder that there is plenty more of western Canada to explore that has nothing to do with skiing, snowboarding or bobsleigh.