Tanzi Propst/Park Record
For more than two decades, Utah Olympic Park has celebrated the Winter Olympics, most notably the last time they were held in Utah in 2002.
The event is now gearing up for the announcement of the 2034 Winter Olympics venue. On July 24, a free event will take place from 4 p.m. to 9 p.m., featuring athlete meet-and-greets, food, giveaways, a Flying Ace All-Stars freestyle show and live music by Freedog.
And all summer long, it offers mountain adventures and free museums to soak up the Olympic fever that reaches its peak with the Paris Summer Games – and the final vote on Salt Lake City's bid for 2034.
As a nonprofit organization, the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation oversees programs for the public and elite athletes and maintains Olympic venues, which include Utah Olympic Park, Utah Olympic Oval and Soldier Hollow Nordic Center. Its mission is to create champions and inspire the public to celebrate the region’s Olympic legacy.
The acronym SPORT sums up its main objective: it provides sport programs to encourage youth and community members to participate in winter sports; Public programs to educate people; Olympic the venues it continues to improve to be “Olympic ready” by meeting Olympic standards for sports competitions by 2027; Ingenious management aimed at cultivating diversity and environmental sustainability; and Prosperous communities by promoting healthy values and partnering with Utah cities, towns and other organizations.
The sites serve as recreation centers for the community, as well as training grounds for elite athletes.
Built a year before the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, the Utah Olympic Oval in Kearns features two full-size rinks for public skating, hockey and instruction in ice sports, including curling and speed skating, the latter of which is rarely played in an ice rink. The 5-acre venue is home to the state's only 400-meter speed skating oval and a 442-meter, four-lane running track.
Soldier Hollow hosts major competitions, from the U.S. Cross-Country Ski Championships to the annual Soldier Hollow Classic Sheepdog Championships. In the summer, it is the center of adventure summer camps for children ages 6 to 11 who participate in weekly themes around hiking and mountain biking. Every Saturday, Soldier Hollow’s Biathlon Experience introduces participants to the sport, allowing them to shoot on one of the few North American shooting ranges certified for World Cup competition. Private reservations allow groups to compete on the biathlon course by hiking in the summer or by ski or snowshoe in the winter.
But the place most people visit is Utah Olympic Park. This 400-acre park in Park City features one of only four toboggan runs in North America, six ski jumps, two major museums and a host of adventure activities.
One of the most unique activities, the Bobsled Experience, pairs up to three passengers with a professional driver. Participants race along the bobsleigh, skeleton and luge track used at the 2002 Games. Reaching a top speed of 112 km/h in less than a minute, the track includes the 15 turns that Olympians raced.
“Some of the turns require 3 Gs, which is three times your body weight,” said Kole Nordmann, UOP’s marketing manager. “It’s a vigorous ride. You feel a little shaken up in there. It’s like a roller coaster.”
This year, the Bobsled experience has been enhanced in that guests will have a morning or afternoon time slot in their purchased ticket, as opposed to a specific time slot, for greater flexibility.
If bobsledding seems too intense, especially for those with past or recent injuries, UOP offers plenty of other adventures. The Summer Gold Pass includes 3.5 hours of unlimited alpine sliding, tubing, ziplining, airbag jumps from 5 to 15 feet high, chairlift rides, an action tower and ropes courses. You can also book the activities individually.
The park's newest attraction, Action Tower, opened last summer. Designed for younger kids who aren't big enough for rides like Extreme Tubing, it features a smaller tubing track and a large slide with a huge airbag landing.
Visitors can experience the thrill of skiing down the ski jumps with Extreme Tubing. The activity takes place on the jumps used by Olympic athletes: the K64 and the K90. In summer, the tubes slide on a special plastic surface that acts like snow.
“You can't see the bottom when you're being pushed,” he said. “It's really crazy because you're going 50 mph.”
Meanwhile, the Extreme Zipline safely simulates what it's like to fly off the K120 ski jump. It starts at the edge of the K120 as you soar through the air at around 50 mph.
The Discovery Ropes Course, which ranges from 10 to 15 feet in height, welcomes young beginners, while the Canyon Course offers an intermediate ropes course with log traverses, swings and problem-solving features. The Summit Course climbs up to 55 feet in height for advanced participants.
“Over the last ten years we’ve really ramped up our mountain adventure business,” he said. “There’s something for everyone, every age and every budget.”
As an official Olympic training site, UOP also hosts the Flying Ace All-Stars freestyle shows on summer weekends, where Olympians and national team skiers and snowboarders perform acrobatic jumps off ramps. This choreographed musical production features 12 to 15 athletes soaring up to 60 feet in the air, spinning and somersaulting, before landing in the pool.
“It shows people how the athletes train,” he said, referring to the ramps of different sizes and the tricks they perform. “It’s almost like a fireworks display.”
UOP also offers summer camps for kids through August 9, from skateboarding to sailing. Plus, Park City Ski & Snowboard offers group and private lessons to learn tricks from the ramps to the pool.
“One of the main goals is to get young people involved in the sport,” said Annie Bommer, executive director of the Alf Engen Ski Museum. “Athletes train here to achieve their dream of competing in the Olympics, and the program has really grown. The bobsleigh track is a big part of that. The training facilities have been used and upgraded continuously… which is one of the things that could help us get the 2034 Olympics.”
