Olympic organizers pledge to restore alpine ski mountain

Pyeongchang, South Korea (dpa) - Olympic organizers pledged on Friday to restore part of the mountain used for the alpine skiing speed events as part of of the uncertain legacy concerning Pyeongchang Games venues.Organizing committee POCOG spokeswoman Nancy Park said that POCOG had pledged to reforest the upper section at Jeongseon and would also work with the government on the lower part.Park said POCOG looked at various sites for the downhill and super-g races after being awarded the Games in 2011 but only the mountain at Jeongseon fulfilled the criteria of the ruling body FIS that the course must have a vertical drop between 800 and 1,100 metres.A large number of trees had to be cut but Park also insisted the environmental impact was minimised by staging the men‘s and women‘s races on the same course for the Olympics and that the course shape was changed several times to protect various habitats."We are committed to restore the upper portion," she said.The other venues with an unclear legacy are the speed skating rink and ice hockey arena in the coastal cluster at Gangneung.