As organizers of the 2010 Winter Olympics are well aware, rock slides are not unusual along British Columbia's Sea to Sky Highway.

A massive slide that is blocking the main route between Olympic venues Whistler and Vancouver for is once again raising concerns about what could happen when the games are on.

But in all the splashy promotion for the 2010 games, you won't find any mention of what's sometimes called the killer highway.

The treacherous, windy stretch from Vancouver to Whistler is notorious for its road-closing crashes and rock slides. In 1991, a slide that occurred to the north of Lion's Bay closed the sea to sky for 12 days, costing $7 million to repair.

In the last century there have been more than 14 major slides and countless accidents. The lives of dozens of British Columbians have ended here.

For local Olympic organizers, the Sea to Sky has always been the biggest risk. Long ago, they identified it as the achilles heel of the games.

"It's a real issue and for our bid to succeed we need a strong transportation component," said (Olympic) Bid Corp. President Jack Poole, back in 2002.

The government is well aware of those concerns and is spending $600 million on road upgrades. But the rock slide that occurred just before midnight Tuesday wasn't one of the areas identified for improvement.

The rock slide took even trained officials by surprise. If the same thing were to happen during the Olympics, there's no backup plan. And that has critics worried.

"We just can't afford not to have a plan to deal with an issue like this. We have to have a contingency plan. Our reputation is on the line,'' said BC New Democratic Party MLA Harry Bains.

B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell says safety is paramount, but an alternate route isn't being planned.

"Right now I would not jump up and say we should spend billions on another road through a natural watershed,'' he said.

Officials at the Vancouver Olympic Organizing Committee (VANOC) wouldn't answer questions Wednesday. But in a statement they said a similar event in 2010 wouldn't delay the games as athletes and Olympic personnel will be housed in the Whistler area. But ticket-paying spectators are out of luck.

Until then, highway improvements continue and are supposed to be complete by fall 2009. That's just a few months before the opening ceremonies, and the world will be watching.

With a report by CTV British Columbia's Jim Beatty.