THE BEST ADVENTURE PARK IN THE WORLD!
It's all this: a place where you can watch an amazing show of the best freestyle skiers in the world---or ride a speeding all-metal alpine slide, one of the longest in North America---and see the race suit and skis Ted Ligety wore when he won gold in the 2006 Olympics, as well as gold medal skates and skis and uniforms from the 2002 Games---or sign up for an athlete's camp and learn how to pilot a luge or skeleton down a mile-long track of ice, or right now in summer, ski down a kicker and do the best trick you can before you plunge into the bubbling pool.
It's Utah Olympic Park, and it's a legacy that still brings the world to the Wasatch Front.
"We serve as an official Olympic training site. We train national teams of bobsled, skeleton, luge, freestyle, Nordic jumping. We have national team members from China, Australia, Croatia, Canada and other countries as well, because we have a one of a kind facility, the best facilities in North America," says Colin Hilton, President/CEO of the Utah Athletic Foundation, which oversees Utah Olympic Park (UOP) and the Olympic Speedskating Oval in Kearns.
UOP is also for wannabe athletes and spectators as well. The Flying Aces freestyle show every Saturday throughout the summer attracts thousands of people to watch top athletes fly 70 feet above the pool before slipping into the glittering blue water with barely a splash.
"We came here for a conference and went online to see what was available in Park City, and we had to see this. The show was fantastic," said Todd Apo of Honolulu, Hawaii.
The eyes of Jonah, his seven-year-old son, were glowing. "I think I could do that," he said, looking at the rippling water.
Connor Scannel, eight, was doing it. After the show, Connor's mother Kelly watched as her son, in wetsuit, helmet and skis, flipped off the smallest kicker. They live in San Francisco. Connor skis at Squaw Valley. They come here so he can practice in the summer.
"I just started competing in moguls and got a first and a second. I want to make it to the Olympics," he said with total conviction.
Connor was part of the training session that followed the show. Beginners were going down the bunny ramp for the first time as part of a three-day camp. Olympians were practicing tricks off the big kickers. It wasn't choreographed, but it was a show just the same.
One of the most skilled was Warren Shouldice, who was sixth in the 2006 torino Olympics. The 24-year-old says UOP is a super well-run facility, and very necessary.
"Without this place, we freestylers couldn't do what we do. We have to learn the tricks on water, because we can't learn them on snow," he says. To prove his point, he turns around and shows the long scar down the back of his neck. He broke that neck while doing a trick and had to have two vertebrae fused.
Shouldice says it's worth the drive from Calgary every few weeks. "It's only abut 13 hours, and we rent nearby condos," he explained.
Down a curving road are the green-lined jumps, covered with a fringed surface that acts much like snow and allows the jumps to be used in summer for both training and competition
In the lobby of the Alf Engen Museum near the entrance, Doug Yeaman of Park City is taking some out-of-town friends for a bobsled ride. In summer, the sleds have wheels. He loves the fact that UOP is in his back yard. "There's nothing like it. the bobsled is way past anything you'd find at Lagoon or anywhere else in your entire life. there's nothing like it," he says.
The museum is pretty good as well. People line up for the pinball "jump," a game where players test their skill by flipping a lever as a ball rolls down the jump, trying to get it to fly off the jump as far as possible. Scores are displayed after the ball lands. The avalanche demo is breathtaking. A mountain of snow takes about 12 seconds to explode through a rock canyon and into the camera with stunning force. People watch it over and over again. They stop in the circular Ski Theater to watch a racer's eye view of the downhill course at Snowbasin at 80 miles an hour and a skier's view of riding fluff through trees at Alta on a powder day.
But up the stairs from the ski museum is where the heart is. That is the 2002 Olympic museum. It has figure skater's suits of lights, uniforms and medals from the Salt Lake Games, even one of the winning curling stones that you can actually touch and lift. Jut put your hand through the wide hole in the plastic case and feel the stone that won gold on the Ogden ice.
There is a repeating tape of 2002 Olympic highlights; and lowlights too, like the speedskating crash that made the famous "Ohno, second!" when Steven Bradbury from Australia, who had been in last place, stepped past the fallen skaters to an unbelievable gold medal.
For those who were here then, it's a wonderful reliving of memories. Those who weren't can still catch the excitement and pride of what the Wasatch Front did.
"It's so emotional," says Susan Atkinson, of Scottsdale, Arizona, standing in front of the repeating video. "After you've been to an Olympics, there's something about it, the passion in the air..." She blinked rapidly. "Revisit it, and it still brings tears to your eyes," she says.
Scott Waite is the supervisor in charge of the public area, including the "Gravity Zone" of the rides. The alpine slide is as popular as the zip line that goes along the biggest ski jump. People will gladly wait an hour to experience the rides. Waite says that on Saturday, the Park's busiest day, between 2,500-3,000 people come throughout the day. Cars fill the parking lot and line both sides of the winding road up to UOP.
"The purpose of this facility is to get a pipeline of athletes who want to experience what it's like to be a freestyle skier or jumper or a slider on the track, and then to give them a place to continue with their training. Every summer, we find a few people who are very good," he says.
Plus, anyone who wants exciting winter recreation doesn't have to settle for mere skis or snowboards; not when they can ride something the size of a cafeteria tray down a track of ice at 70 miles an hour.
Colin Hilton explains that the winter camps are not the only option for those with a need for speed.
"If you want to do skeleton, you take an introduction camp, then joint the USBSF (the sport's governing body); then you can join a local club. They offer weekly sliding times for those who meet the criteria to slide. If you're in a club, it's about $9 a run. If you prefer luge, the Wasatch Luge Club is available," Hilton says.
In summer, UOP gets about 5,000 visitors a week. Admission is free, except for Saturday mornings, when a $10 admission fee includes the Flying Aces show as well. When the show is over, admission is again free.
It's very definitely a big tourist attraction, but don't let the tourists have all the fun. Even a walk in the park is exciting, if it's the Utah Olympic Park.