Your Own Olympic Legacy Tour
Art: Miles Parnell
Park City’s Olympic flame is still burning. Is yours? You can still visit the 2002 Winter Olympic venues, many of which are right here in Park City. Simply get up and go to experience a bit of Olympic legacy for yourself.
Are you up for the rush of sliding down the bobsled track (with a professional driver, of course) at 80 miles per hour, pulling four G’s? Whether you’re a high-performance athlete or just in for some serious recreation, a “Comet” bobsled ride on one of the world’s fastest tracks could be your ticket to Olympic glory. Or perhaps, instead of being one of the nervous three passengers behind an experienced driver, you’ll choose another kind of thrill: standing less than five feet away from the track as the sled whizzes by, screaming riders intact, at mind-bending speeds. You’re at the nearly 400-acre Utah Olympic Park, a mixture of visitor areas and sporting facilities that hosted 14 Olympic medal events. Discover the Park’s allure at your own pace with a self-guided walking tour or on a guided tour in the comfort of a shuttle bus. Don’t miss the highest-altitude jumps in the world, where ski jumpers fly up to 55 miles per hour, covering distances as great as two-and-a-half football fields. Look for the freestyle skiing hill, where athletes launch more than 50 feet into the air before flipping and twisting their way down to the landing. If you’re interested in the history of all skiing disciplines and really cool interactive displays, games, and topographic maps — they even feature a virtual reality ski theatre — stop for a time in the world-class Joe Quinney Winter Sports Center, home to the Alf Engen Ski Museum. www.olyparks.com.
Deer Valley Resort hosted the slalom, freestyle aerial and mogul events. If Olympians aren’t training on the resort’s Champion run, strap on your sticks and give it your best shot. Champion is one of the toughest mogul runs in the country and the largest on the international circuit. Test your slalom skills on the run named Big Stick just off the Carpenter Express lift. www.deervalley.com
Famous for the American sweep of the men’s snowboarding halfpipe event, Park City Mountain Resort is home to Utah’s most extensive snowboarding complex. Go play at the terrain parks — they have four of them — even a new one under the lights on Payday run for night-riders! In addition to the halfpipe event, PCMR hosted the snowboarding parallel giant slalom and the alpine giant slalom — all held in the Eagle Race Arena. www.parkcitymountain.com.
Maybe you desire movement of a smoother variety. How about cruising up to 31 kilometers of easy to intermediate cross-country skiing trails against the breathtaking backdrop of Mt. Timpanogos? At Soldier Hollow, in Midway, about a 20-minute drive from Park City, you can tour the very trails used for the biathlon, cross-country skiing, and Nordic combined events. Or spice it up a bit with the Olympic Biathlon Experience: test your shooting skills with either an air or .22 caliber rifle on the 50-meter target range. www.olyparks.com.
If you can carve out some more time for an Olympic legacy experience, you might be interested in visiting the other Olympic venues along the Wasatch. About an hour’s drive from Park City is Snowbasin Ski Area (www.snowbasin.com), which hosted the downhill and combined events. If you’re an advanced skier or rider, challenge yourself to the Olympic runs here: Grizzly (Men’s downhill) and Wildflower (Women’s downhill). Before you attack the course, though, be sure to take a quiet moment for view-appreciation. The vista from the start house is indeed spectacular.
The Peaks Ice Arena (www.peaksarena.com) in Provo and the E Center (www.utahgrizzlies.com) in West Valley City (site of Utah Grizzlies games) were home to the ice hockey events. The 400-meter Utah Olympic Oval (www.olyparks.com) in Kearns hosted speed skating, and the Salt Lake Ice Center/Delta Center (www.deltacenter.com) played host to figure skating and short track speed skating. This venue is located in the heart of downtown Salt Lake City and is home to the NBA’s Utah Jazz. The curling events were held at the Ice Sheet in Ogden (www.utahcurling. com), where you can take lessons on the art of the ancient Scottish game of curling.
Looking for a specific world-class event? All of Park City’s Olympic venues — Deer Valley Resort, Park City Mountain Resort, and the Utah Olympic Park — are scheduled to host international level competition this winter. See the calendars in this section for specific event listings.
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