Vancouver Olympic organizers have temporarily closed part of the spectator area of the snowboarding venue at weather-beaten Cypress Mountain because of safety concerns brought on by rain.

Officials said Sunday that heavy, warm rains over the past two days have washed away almost a foot of snow in the general admission standing room area for snowboard cross events, slated to start Monday.

The area has become pockmarked with potholes and workers are sinking into thigh-high puddles said organizers, making the section unsafe for spectators.

The area will remain closed Monday and Tuesday, the organizing committee, known as VANOC, said in a statement late Sunday.

"With safety the top priority and with the snowboard cross events starting in less than 24 hours, there is insufficient snow to move and build the standing room area back up at the Cypress snowboard stadium," organizers said in a statement.

Dave Cobb, deputy executive director for the organizing committee, said safety was the priority.

"It's really disappointing because taking away the opportunity for one ticket holder to see an event is too many, but we have to look at safety first. It was a relatively easy decision to make (Sunday), but a very disappointing one," Cobb told reporters.

The closure affects 8,000 spectators over the two days of the men's and women's snowboard cross.

Organizers rolled out an extensive public outreach campaign to advise spectators of the changes and that they shouldn't show up at the bus hubs on Monday as they won't be allowed up the mountain.

Cobb said the committee was trying to figure out if any athletes' families may have been affected and would try and work with the various national Olympic committees to try and provide tickets for them in the grandstand area.

Spectators who have tickets for the grandstand seating and those with general admission to freestyle skiing aerials competitions later on are not affected by the closure.

The $50 ticket price will be refunded, as will the price of the bus ticket up the mountain.

The refunds will cost organizers more than $400,000, but won't blow a hole in the budget large enough to cause any concerns, Cobb said.

Olympic officials struggled to get the courses at Cypress ready in spring-like conditions and ended up trucking and flying in snow.

But since competition has begun, they said they need to conserve what snow there is for the events and not move any to rebuild the spectator areas.

Organizers said they are exploring other ways of building back the general admission zones, which account for about 40 per cent of the 10,000 seats available to the events.

A cold rain has been pelting the area for the last 48 hours, and snowboard-cross training sessions were cancelled Saturday to preserve the waterlogged track. Two days of training on the Olympic halfpipe at the mountain had already been cancelled due to the conditions.

When it hasn't been raining, fog has threatened to shut down training.

Olympic organizers said they have enough snow to maintain the event tracks but won't build the spectator area back up.

"Our priority has to be delivering the field of play, and I think we're hearing the athletes speak very positively about the fields of play. They look fantastic on television," Cobb said.

Cypress is also home to freestyle skiing, which takes place on a nearby part of the mountain. The moguls competition went as planned on the weekend and organizers said the freestyle general admission section is not affected.

Decisions have not been made on whether similar cancellations will take place for other events at the snowboard stadium, including the snowboard halfpipe on Feb. 17 and 18, ski cross on Feb. 21 and 23, or snowboard parallel giant slalom on Feb. 26 and 27.

Officials said fans who have general admission standing room tickets to the snowboard cross events will get refunds after the Games are over, including anyone who purchased the tickets from VANOC's official fan-to-fan marketplace.

The events affected at Cypress Mountain include:

Wednesday, February 17, 2010 (Priced at $65)

  • Men's snowboard halfpipe (SB003): 1:05 pm, 5:15 pm and 7:15 pm (Pacific Time) - Price category B only

Thursday, February 18, 2010 (Priced at $65)

  • Ladies' snowboard halfpipe (SB004): 12:30 pm, 4:00 pm, 6:00 pm (Pacific Time) - Price category B only

Sunday, February 21, 2010 (Priced at $50)

  • Men's freestyle skiing ski cross (FR004): 9:15 am and 12:15 pm (Pacific Time) - Price category B only

Tuesday, February 23, 2010 (Priced at $50)

  • Ladies' freestyle skiing ski cross (FR006): 10:00 am and 1:00 pm (Pacific Time) - Price category B only - Price category B only

Friday, February 26, 2010 (Priced at $50)

  • Ladies' snowboard parallel giant slalom (SB005): 10:30 am and 1:00 pm (Pacific Time) - Price category B only

Saturday, February 27, 2010 (Priced at $50)

  • Men's snowboard parallel giant slalom (SB006): 10:00 am and 12:15 pm Price category B only

Spectators who are not impacted by this cancellation and refund are:

  • Spectators who have tickets for seating in the grandstand (priced at $150) for Olympic men's and ladies' snowboard halfpipe on February 17 and 18; ski cross (priced at $125) on February 21 and 23; and snowboard parallel giant slalom (priced at $125) on February 26 and 27 at Cypress Mountain.
  • Spectators who have general admission standing room tickets for freestyle skiing aerials competitions later in the Games. This sport discipline is held in a separate stadium at Cypress Mountain.
  • Those holding sport event tickets for all Whistler venues