Sochi 2014

Today, March 1st, the greater Capital Region just completed its first significant snow event since Halloween. Snow reached about a foot at our house, with much higher totals to the north and in the hill towns.

That got me curious about snowfall in Russia. I found a couple stories about snowfall breaking 130-year-old records in St. Petersburg back in 2009, but not much else. But, I did find several updates about progress in constructing the venues for the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. (Only 708 days left!) Here are a few highlights.

This past week, competitors including Lindsay Vonn tried out the newly built women's downhill course. Although there was some concern about jumps being too high, the overall opinion was that it's definitely an Olympic caliber venue.

Development of new mountainside villages within the "Olympic Zone" also is under way and a recent report indicates they're being built with sustainability in mind. The Sochi 2014 Organizing Committee, in partnership with Russian Regional Environmental Centre and the Sochi City Administration, are proposing developing these villages in accord with the U.N. global initiative "Agenda for the XXI Century." Some residents of the three villages - Esto-Sadok, Galitsyno, and Chereshnya - also were surveyed for input and feedback.

And, the 2014 mascots recently celebrated their first birthday! To mark the occasion, commemorative postage stamp sheets were issued featuring the three Olympic mascots, the Polar Bear, the Leopard and the Hare, and the two Paralympic mascots, the Ray of Light and the Snowflake.

Lastly, if you'd like to download wallpaper for your computer or mobile device, you can find them here within the official site.