VANCOUVER - The venues for the Vancouver Olympics have received rave reviews during dress rehearsals but with the curtain about to rise on the 2010 Winter Games, Mother Nature has thrown a twist.

Organizers have been scrambling in the final days before Feb. 12 opening ceremonies to get the freestyle skiing and snowboard venue at Cypress Mountain ready to go.

Warm temperatures and rain have resulted in a lack of snow, forcing organizers to truck in snow from an adjacent peak and use straw bales to shore up the snowboard cross and ski-cross courses.

While it may be causing a few last-minute headaches, it's the only major sports venue-related issue Vancouver organizers have faced in the lead-up to the Games.

The facilities were completed on time and on budget and all of them hosted successful test events.

"In the outdoor venues this is the only challenge that we're working with, so I think we're pretty fortunate,'' said Tim Gayda, VANOC's vice-president of sport.

Organizers had spent $16.6 million upgrading Cypress Mountain. The ski hill, located on Vancouver's North Shore, will also host the aerials and moguls competitions.

Gian-Franco Kasper, president of the International Ski Federation, is confident the venue will be ready for the Games.

"We shouldn't panic because there is no snow,'' Kasper said in a recent interview with The Canadian Press. "If they get a snowfall two or three days before the competitions, that will be sufficient.''

And if that doesn't happen straw will work just fine, says Kasper.

"To build a base of straw, that is very good,'' Kasper said. "I remember even a downhill (race) at Val d'Isere which was 10 centimetres of snow on straw. That worked quite well.''

VANOC has spent $580 million building new venues or up upgrading current facilities.

Construction has ranged from the delicate beauty of the Richmond Olympic Oval, home of long-track speedskating, to the rugged challenge of the Whistler Sliding Centre, already being touted as one of the most difficult bobsled tracks in the world.

Jacques Rogge, president of the International Olympic Committee, said he's impressed with the field of play that has been prepared for the Games.

"It's state of the art,'' he said recently. "It's very well organized, very well prepared.

"I'm optimistic that it will be a great success.''

Sporting events will be held in Vancouver and in the mountain resort of Whistler, about 120 kilometres north.

Maybe the most impressive venue is the speedskating oval, built in the bedroom community of Richmond, about 14 kilometres from downtown Vancouver.

VANOC contributed $63.3 million towards construction of the building. It is part of a 33,750-square-metre, $178-million facility which will be used as a community recreation centre after the Olympics. Included in the centre are two international sized ice rinks which can be used for short-track speedskating.

The building is located on the banks of the Fraser River, near the Vancouver airport. Large panes of glass form the entire north wall, allowing natural light to flow in. They also afford an eye-catching view of the river and the North Shore Mountains. During the Games, however, the windows will be covered to accommodate TV lighting needs.

One of the building's signature features is its wooden ceiling. The wood was salvaged from trees killed by mountain pine beetles.

Brittany Schussler, a member of Canada's Olympic speedskating team, said the building stirs emotions.

"Everything that everybody says about it, all the great things, are true,'' said the Winnipeg native. "The natural light and the ceiling and the facilities, they're amazing.''

Chris Rudge, chief executive officer with the Canadian Olympic Committee, said the oval tops the iconic facilities built for Beijing's Summer Olympics.

"The oval is one of the greatest buildings ever created for Olympic competition,'' he said. "It is far beyond the Birds Nest or the Water Cube.

"Those were dramatic outside but once you got inside, they tended to be utilitarian and perfunctory from an athletics perspective. But when you go inside that Richmond Oval, it's breathtaking.''

The men's and women's gold-medal hockey games will be played at the 18,630-seat GM Place, the home of the NHL's Canucks. The building has undergone $18.5 million in upgrades and will be known as Canada Hockey Place during the Games.

Short-track speedskating and figure skating will be held at the 14,239-seat Pacific Coliseum, where the Vancouver Giants of the Western Hockey League play their games. The arena has received $19 million in upgrades.

Joannie Rochette, the six-time Canadian women's figure skating champion, said the coliseum has become a second home.

"It doesn't feel like a stressful Olympic rink to me because we've been there so often,'' she said.

Some of the initial concerns the short-track speedskaters had over the ice have been solved.

"I think we've been there enough that we've gotten used to it,'' said Edmonton's Jessica Gregg. "Our results in the Vancouver World Cup show that we can skate fast on it as well.''

Curling will be held in the $40-million Canada Olympic Centre while VANOC contributed $38.5 million toward building the UBC Thunderbird Arena, which will host both men's and women's preliminary hockey games.

For the first time in Winter Games history, the opening and closing ceremonies will be held indoors at B.C. Place.

In Whistler, the $119.7-million Whistler Olympic Park will host cross-country skiing, ski jumping and biathlon. Besides bobsled, the $104-million sliding centre will be the site for luge and skeleton. Another $27.6 million was spent improving Whistler Creekside, the venue for alpine skiing events

While the unseasonably warm temperatures are causing a sweat in Vancouver, snow isn't a problem in Whistler. By the end of January, more than nine metres of snow had fallen on the ski hill.

"Largely, the course that they've built right now is ready to run,'' said Gayda. "They've got a huge base that they started grooming from Day 1.

"It's almost like a block of ice that's a couple of metres deep so they're able to weather anything right now and they're feeling really, really good.''

The cross-country trails have also been groomed like the greens on a golf course.

"They're they're in maintenance mode so that every time they get a snowfall, they'll groom it out,'' said Gayda. "They're locked and loaded there too.''