Olympic snowboarders finally began practicing at the much-maligned Cypress venue Sunday, and many fears were realized. Conditions on the low-altitude mountain are far less than ideal. "It's really pretty embarrassing," said 2002 Olympic gold medalist Ross Powers, who's acting as an analyst this year. Powers weighed in on the conditions after watching the snowboardcross and halfpipe practices. "I've seen worse, but it's certainly not what you'd expect for this level of competition."

U.S. halfpipe rider Scotty Lago expressed his thoughts on his Twitter account. "It was kinda beat but it will work."

Mountains in the Vancouver region have been suffering from wet and warm weather due to this year's strong El Nino pattern, which has sent this winter's storm track on a big vacation south. As a result, huge amounts of snow are being dumped on the lower 48 while starving the Canada's Pacific Northwest of its usual snowfall.

At Cypress this problem is compounded by its low altitude, of 2,900 feet. On Sunday the freezing level in the Vancouver region was at 5,900 feet. And Monday night it's expected to climb even higher with more rain in the forecast. As a result, many of the snowboarding events slated for Cypress this week are literally on thin ice.

On Sunday night, the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) announced the cancellation of 4,000 general admission tickets for the snowboardcross events being held on Monday and Tuesday. They described the standing- room area at the Cypress snowboard stadium "unsafe for spectators." From their statement:

"There is insufficient snow to move and build the standing- room area back up at the Cypress snowboard stadium. VANOC has protected sufficient contingency snow for field of play at Cypress Mountain..."

Even the outside threat of losing the popular snowbaording events is a nightmare scenario for VANOC, the IOC and Canada. Snowboarding has become one of the most popular Winter Olympic sports since its 1998 debut at the Nagano Games. Vancouver's halfpipe and snowboardcross features are still in marginal condition despite heroic efforts being put in by local officials to keep them in Olympic shape.

Despite the challenges, the majority of snowboarders are still are ready to roll.

Nate Holland, who just won his fifth straight gold medal in snowboardcross at the X Games, wasn't letting the Slurpee-like conditions bother him. "Training went great today," he posted on his Twitter page Sunday night. "The course is a little slushy but we had sunshine, pretty fun. Getting ready for the BIG SHOW."

It's taken a massive effort to keep the Cypress Mountain's Olympic arenas in functional condition this year due to a severe lack of snow. While most of the mountain is void of the white stuff (top) VANOC is making unprecedented efforts to keep courses like the halfpipe intact. Photos: Getty Images