All Things Olympic in Utah

We always enjoy watching the Olympics on television, so of course we like visiting places that have hosted the Olympic Games. The Winter Olympics were in the area surrounding Salt Lake City in 2002. They hosted 2,399 athletes from 77 nations that competed in all types of winter sports for 17 days. Last year, this city found out they had been selected to host them again in 2034. So we spent some time touring some of the locations that have witnessed--and will witness again--the drama of the winter games.

Our first stop was Soldier Hollow Nordic Center. We found these tall banner signs at all the Olympic locations.

The signs include the name of the venue on one side, and then pictures of athletes that have competed in their sport there. This 1,280-acre venue hosted the cross country skiing and shooting events in 2002.

We will be seeing the Soldier Hollow Nordic Center building again in 2034. It has already been determined this is the best place for these endurance events that require a flatter surface.

The area around the nordic center features trails where the cross country skiers were practicing this summer. They use long skis with wheels on the bottom to train in the summer. We were sorry to find that we missed the competition they had earlier in the day. To walk the trails one must purchase a trail pass, and the visitor center was closed by the time we visited.

It was fun to find pictures taken right here in 2002 that featured the skiers participating in these Olympic events. They were skiing with rifles on their backs . .  .

because part of the competition was hitting targets along the course of the race.

Our next stop was Park City, Utah, which hosts many of the downhill ski venues. This is a ski town, with mountains adorned with ski lifts surrounding it. During the summer it was a sleepy tourist town with restaurants spilling into the streets and boutiques and other shops tempting visitors. Getting there early in the morning meant that most of the tourists were still sleeping and the streets were empty.

The Olympic banner in Park City indicates that snow boarding was one of the Olympic sports hosted here.

Our next stop was the Utah Olympic Park, where many more events were held. We signed up for the $15 tour to learn more about it.

While we waited for our tour time, we watched the ski jumpers practicing. In the summer they can use the facility's ski jumps that end in the pool.

Water is flowing down the ramps, making them slippery like snow. Jumpers of all ages were doing flips and spins off the ramps. The water was a more forgiving surface to land than a frozen mountain.

Hopefully they completed their rotation and entered the pool in the same posture they hope to land on the ski hill. Then they have to swim to the edge of the pool with those long skis still attached--another athletic feat to master.

The first part of our tour included the bob sled track, so Denisa was trying on a bob sled for size in the visitor center.

Our tour was led by a popular guide--Carl Roepke. We soon found that he was a past U.S. Olympian, and was raising two sons that are also aspiring to be Olympians. He obviously has a passion for the games, and he loves to share that with his tour groups. He explained how the ice is carefully layered in paper-thin layers on the cement bobsled track that he was standing inside.

Even when it is very cold outside, the winter sun can melt that ice and cause bumps and creases that aren't acceptable for bob sled racing. So the whole track has awnings that can be unfurled to shade the track on sunny winter days.

The olympic park offers a "bobsled experience" where visitors can purchase a ride on a wheeled sled in the summer. No one had purchased that expensive ticket this morning, but Carl had connections. He managed to have a loaded sled swoosh by us at 70 mph while we were watching.

The other two races that use an iced track are the luge (top) and the skeleton (bottom).

Thanks to our lovely models, we can show the proper way to ride both. Mark was on the luge, where riders are on their backs and go down the track feet first. Luge athletes start the race in a seated position, and then lay down flat as soon as possible.

Skeleton riders start with a sprint down the track before jumping face-down onto their sleds. They race with their chins very close to the ice, flying head first down the track.

Carl's sport was the luge. He was a member of U.S. Luge Team from 1983-88 and was the national master's champion in 2008 and 2009. He also told us that his oldest son starts college this fall, but will spend part of his first semester in Lake Placid, New York, training with the Olympic Skeleton Team. Carl took us to the very top of the course to show us the steep gate where luge and skeleton athletes start their races. He also shared with us that he has attended every one of the winter Olympic games as an English announcer since 2002. He had already been invited to work at the next Winter Olympics in 2026.

While we were shuttled around to these different sites in a van, the tour involved some walking and quite a few steps. This last stop took us through the Olympic entrance that the ski jumpers will see.

This is the tallest ski jump in the world at 7,310 feet.  There are only two ski jumps like this in the United States--this one and the one in Lake Placid (which we have also visited). This is where Carl's youngest son, Auggie hangs out. As we looked down that long and steep jump, it was hard to imagine riding with your skis pointed straight down and jumping at the end. Yikes!

After that very informative tour, we spent some time in the Olympic Museum that was free to all visitors. They had samples of the medals made for the 2002 Olympics.

They also had pictures and props from the Olympics held in Utah. This white bison was part of the opening ceremony performance that kicked off the 2002 Winter Olympics. Manipulated by a host of puppeteers inside the massive bison, it was just one of the wild west animals that filled the stadium in the "Land of Enchantment" show.

That over-sized bison puppet head was hanging from the wall in the museum, almost too big to fit into the camera lens.

The Olympic Center offers lots of memorabilia, and some hands-on exhibits. Visitors can choose from many different backgrounds to snap a picture at the visitor center. 

Before we left the center, we asked about the ski jump competition that Carl had mentioned during our tour. The public relations person explained that the tickets were $25 each. But then she also explained that they had been given some complimentary tickets if we were interested. We're always interested in free!

Our next stop was the Olympic Cauldron Park at the University of Utah football stadium. It was here that the Olympic flame burned for 16 days in February, 2002. Besides finding another olympic banner, we also found a fine collection of photos from the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City.

After spending the rest of the day in Salt Lake City, we returned to the Olympic Center to watch the Springer Tourney ski jump competition with our free tickets. This is the 26th annual event, that includes a week of training sessions with mentoring from the U.S. national team. While we had seen the tallest ski jump from the top on our tour, this was our first look from the bottom. It's interesting to see that they have already emblazoned the 2034 olympics date on the smaller jump on the left.

In order to make the plastic surface slippery like snow, the sprinklers were started as it got close to the time for the competition to begin. That was the sign for the jumpers to head up the chair lift to the top of the jump.

We thought it was interesting to watch all the jumps, but we were especially watching Carl's son, Auggie. We've learned that the outfits they wear are regulated. They can't be too loose, because that would give them wings that would help them fly through the air better than the other jumpers.

With the binoculars, we could see that the jumpers had started arriving at the top, along with the coaches that were checking them in.

Their view from the top shows that they have several different movable benches to sit on before they zoom down that very steep ramp. Most ski jump competitions award the most points for landing the furthest down the ramp. But this is a unique "target competition" that rewards precision over raw length. Each participant must spin a wheel that will land on a value between 70 to 135 meters. Then they are awarded points based on how close they get to their uniquely spun target landing distance. If they spin 70 meters, they would want to start from a lower bench because they don't want to fly far down the ramp at the end. If they spin 135 meters, they'll need to start at one of the benches closest to the top to give them time to build up the most speed.

This competition allows skiers of all ages to compete together. We were surprised to see some jumpers that looked to be around 12, all the way up to adults. We watched as the girls and boys flew off the end of the ramp, and became airborne. Keeping their skis closer together and under their bodies will help them fly further if they got one of those longer jump lengths.

With our untrained eyes we can't tell for sure, but we think Auggie's form looks pretty good.

It was also hard for our untrained eyes to tell exactly where they landed on the hill on the right.

Our good camera is pretty good at focusing on flying animals, and also flying ski jumpers.

Based on the facial expression, we're thinking that Auggie wasn't thrilled with his latest jump. After going full speed down a steep mountain, the jumpers have a surprisingly small amount of space to come to a stop before plowing into the crowd.

They did three rounds of jumping, and during lulls in the competition we were entertained by the Lone Buffalo Band. Rumor has it that an old couple traveling through the area even did some dancing at the ski jump competition.

Another activity available to tourists was riding an inner tube down the smaller landing ramp. You can get a better idea of how big those ramps are when you see the smaller ramp on the left with an adult riding on a tube down it. From the screams we heard from the riders, it must be a thrilling ride.

At the end of the evening, cash awards were given to the jumpers that came closest to their random jump lengths. First place was awarded $1,250, and he was only a total of six meters off from his three targets. That may sound like a big pay-out for a single competition. But the expenses to participate in these extreme nordic sports is very high. These future Olympians need all the help they can get to fulfill their dreams of representing the United States one day.

We've had a good day of exploring all things Olympic in Utah. We feel like we've rubbed elbows with past and future Olympians, and spent a little time understanding more about their world.