Olympic torch arrives in Whistler

The Olympic flame arrived to an emotional welcome Friday in Whistler, B.C., theresort community that will soon welcome the world to the Winter Games.

Just days beforeit lights the cauldron at the opening ceremonies in Vancouver, the torch stopped at Olympic venues for the first time since the 2010 relay began more than three months ago.

It has been seven years since Vancouver and Whistler were awarded the Games, but dreams of staging the Olympics in this quiet mountain paradise stretch back much further.

'It's exciting. It's the fire!' Whistler resident Melanie Whittal

"Whistler has been waiting for this for 50 years, and it's finally happening," said torchbearer Jim Moodie, who carried the flame in front of a large sunlit Inukshuk with ski jumpers launching into the air in the distance.

"I've been skiing up here since it opened in 1966 and to actually have this moment is really, really special."

Taken to event sites

The torch was taken to the ski jumps at Whistler Olympic Park, as test jumpers flew through the air and landed on packed snow. The flame also passed through the biathlon stadium and cross-country skiing areas of the park.

Melanie Whittal, a volunteer from the Vancouver-area city of Ladner who will be working at the park during the Olympics, said that for her, the torch's arrival means the Olympics have already started.

"It's the start of all the Games," said Whittal, 48, who sells outdoor and ski equipment. "We've followed the journey of the torch all the way from the beginning. It's exciting.It's the fire!"

On Friday evening, the flame was carried on a snowmobile up Whistler Mountain, site of the alpine events.

At the top of the mountain, Canadian freestyle skier Julia Murray, whose late father, Dave Murray, was an original member of the famed Crazy Canuck downhill team, handed the flame over to another former Crazy Canuck, Steve Podborski.

Podborski, who won bronze at the 1980 Olympics and is a member of the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame, planned to ski with the torch to a waiting celebration at the bottom of the slopes.

The Olympic flame was lit in Greece last October at a ceremony that used the rays of the sun and a special mirror to start the fire.

Since arriving in Victoria shortly after, organizers have staged the longest-ever domestic Olympic torch relay, passing through every province and territory and stretching as far north as the outpost of Alert, Nunavut.

The relay ends next Friday when the flame will light a cauldron at the opening ceremonies in Vancouver, setting off more than two weeks of Olympic competition.