Construction of the Olympic downhill for the 2018 Winter Olympic Games in South Korea is due to begin next month. The run, first mapped out two years ago, will descend from the is 1,560m high Mt. Gariwang.
However Korea’s largest environmental group, Green Korea, are reported to be against the run being created, according to the Korea Times. The group is urged the organizing committee for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics and Gangwon Province not top build the run but to use an existing run instead. The organizing committee say a new run must be built to meet IOC rules for the downhill.
The dispute centres on IOC terms and conditions for the downhill, the organizing committee say that these state the run must be 800m above sea level, requiring the construction of a new run in Gangwon’s case, however the environmentalists point to a ‘special circumstances’ section of the rules which says a slope can be located only 750m above sea level in “exceptional circumstances” which would allow an existing run at the existing Yongpyong Ski Resort to be used for the downhill.
Mt. Gariwang is reported to be of high ecological value and environmental activists have voiced opposition to the plan since 2011 says the Korea Times, saying cutting down trees on the mountain for a week-long ski event was a “dangerous trade-off.”
The Korean Forestry Service originally listed the mountain as a site for the “protection of flora genes and forest eco-systems,” with Korea’s unique native Wangsasure trees (a type of Aspen) growing there, but the government body has recently removed Mt. Gariwang from the list and approved resort construction, said the paper.
