Utah Olympic Park - Utah Olympic Park - Park City & Deer Valley

Utah Olympic Park

The Utah Olympic Park was a competition venue for the 2002 Olympic Winter Games for Nordic jumping and the sliding sports of bobsleigh, luge and skeleton. The nearly 400-acre Park features a mixture of sporting facilities and visitor areas for an incredible Olympic experience. The state-of-the-art park hosted more than 300,000 visitors and 14 Olympic medal events in February 2002.

The Utah Olympic Park, a U.S. Olympic Training site, now serves as a year-round competition and training ground for recreational and high-performance athletes. Visitors can watch athletes in training, visit the Alf Engen Ski History Museum and the 2002 Eccles Winter Olympic Museum, race down the track in a bobsled, or learn how to steer your own skeleton or luge by taking an Intro camp. Admission to Utah Olympic Park is free.

The Park is owned by a non-profit organization, the Utah Athletic Foundation which is responsible for keeping the Park and the Utah Olympic Oval operating for use by future athletes, world champions and the general public.

Daily Guided Tours of Olympic Competition Sites

Travel to the top of the worlds highest altitude ski jumps and see the fastest bobsled, luge and skeleton track where Olympic history was made. Watch athletes in winter training as they ski jump off of the K90 and K120 Nordic hills and launch themselves into the air off the freestyle aerial kickers. Visit the interactive Alf Engen Ski Museum, which chronicles Utahs ski history, and the new 2002 Olympic Winter Games Museum. $7 adult, $5 youth senior.

Public Bobsled Rides Begin December 20
Go up to 80 miles per hour, experience 5 Gs of force and equivalent of a 40-story drop in less than a minute on a four person public passenger bobsled ride. An experienced driver takes three passengers on a thrilling ride down the entire length of the Olympic bobsled track. Participants must be 16 years of age and older. Cost is $200 per person.

Ziplines Send Riders Down Ski Hill On Cable
Go down the Xtreme Zipline the world's steepest zipline - at 50 miles per hour along the K120 ski jump hill. Experience the sensation of ski jumping as you slide down a cable in a harness to the base of the ski jumps. Weight restrictions apply. $20 (open to riders 100-275 lbs.)

Take a Chair Lift Ride to Top of K120 Ski Jump
Go on a chair lift ride to the top of the highest altitude ski jump at 7,130 feet. Look down on the Snyderville Basin from atop the K120 start house. We'll even give you a chair lift ride back down. $5 adults $3 youth & senior

Snow Zone
Test your sliding skills in the Snow Zone on classic tubes and head-first Airboards. Unlimited sledding for all ages can be enjoyed for one low price in the Snow Zone Adults $5 Seniors& Youth 3-17 $3

Visit the Utah Olympic Park's web site to learn more about their Events and Activities or to view their Calendar of Events.

All rates are for the 2008-09 winter season

Visit the Public Activities at Utah Olympic Park's web site.

*This information subject to change without notice. *This information courtesy of www.ParkCityInfo.com

Bobsled & Skeleton World Cup this Weekend at Utah Olympic Park

Fans can get a Glimpse of Local Stars this Weekend

PARK CITY, Utah (Dec. 6, 2010) The third stop of the bobsled and skeleton World Cup tour will take place in Park City, Utah from December 9th - 11th, 2010, where the U.S. team hopes to take full advantage competing on their home track.

The competition schedule is as follows, with all times listed in MST:

Thursday, December 9th, 2010: Men's skeleton at 9 am, women's skeleton at 1 pm

Friday, December 10th, 2010: Women's bobsled at 3:30 pm, men's two-man bobsled at 7 pm

Saturday, December 11th, 2010: Men's four-man bobsled at 4 pm

Hometown hero Steven Holcomb (Park City) expects to bring home gold for throngs of cheering friends and family in the men's bobsled events. Holcomb and his crew of Justin Olsen (San Antonio, Texas), Steve Langton (Melrose, Mass.) and Curt Tomasevicz (Shelby, Neb.) are ranked third in combined World Cup points behind Germans Manuel Machata and Karl Angerer. John Napier (Lake Placid, N.Y.) will compete in his second World Cup event since returning home from deployment in Afghanistan, and coaches anticipate him moving into the top ten. Ethan Albrecht-Carrie (North Tonowanda, N.Y.) is also expected to join the team for his second career World Cup.

After finishing eighth last week, local athletes Shauna Rohbock (Park City, Utah) and Valerie Fleming (Park City, Utah) are hungry to claim women's bobsled gold in front of a hometown crowd. Rohbock is only 22 points from third overall, and teammate Bree Schaaf (Bremerton, Wash.) is ranked fifth with a chance to break into the top three standings as well this week. Coaches expect a good result from rookie driver Jazmine Fenlator (Wayne, N.J.), who will make her World Cup debut on Friday.

Women's skeleton athlete Annie O'Shea (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.) broke the Park City start record during selection races in Nov. and has the opportunity to improve her 13th place standing while competing in familiar territory. Kimber Gabryszak (Park City, Utah) will compete in front of a hometown crowd and will look to improve her 17th place rank on the track where she started her career.

Matt Antoine (Prairie du Chien, Wisc.) is eager to move up from fourth overall into third this week, and will battle World Cup and Olympic champions to gain valuable points on U.S. soil. John Daly (Smithtown, N.Y.) and Eric Bernotas (Avondale, Pa.) are currently ranked 13th and 14th, respectively, and are expected to move into the top ten standings.

The U.S. Bobsled and Skeleton Federation would like to thank Whole Foods Market for preparing nutritious meals to the U.S. national team while they train and compete in Park City this week.

submitted by Amanda Bird, USBSF, Marketing & Communications Manager : The Park Record

For More Information on Park City and Deer Valley Contact:
Michael Lapay
Prudential Utah Real Estate
Mobile: 435-640-5700
Toll Free: 888-410-7653

mlapay@pureparkcityrealestate.com

http://www.pureparkcityrealestate.com/00B4D1

Posted on December 08, 2010 18:16:09 by Michael Lapay

Posted in Park City & Deer Valley Things To Do, Park City Info, Recreation in Park City, Utah Olympic Park

Luge World Cup Coming to Park City

Fourth Competition of World Cup to be Held at Utah Olympic Park

The free-for-all is coming to the Wasatch Range this month.

The fastest sleds in the world will race at the Utah Olympic Park December 16th - 18th, 2010 when the fourth Viessmann World Cup luge competition of the season is contested.

And it's free for all as no entry fees will be collected.

Nations Cup qualifying is set for December 16th, 2010 at 9 am. The women's Viessmann World Cup race is slated for December 17th, 2010 at 3:25 pm, while the program concludes December 18th, 2010 with doubles at 11:30 am, followed by the men's race at 3:30 pm.

Training takes place December 13th - 16th, 2010 on the 1,316 meter long, 17 turn Olympic track that saw USA Luge win silver and bronze medals in doubles during the 2002 Winter Games.

"We will always have great memories of the track in Park City," said USA Luge CEO Ron Rossi. "With our two Olympic medals in Nagano in 1998, Park City is not only our western home, but it's the scene of a monumental achievement in the history of our team. That was due, in part, to the wave of support we felt from American fans that day. We hope history will repeat itself and we can acquire some more World Cup medals before the holidays."

Since 2002, USA Luge has scored two World Cup doubles wins, a World Cup singles bronze and a World Championship doubles bronze medal on the Park City course, which is one of the fastest in the world.

One of the members of that 2002 silver medal-winning sled, Mark Grimmette, now retired from competition, will return to the scene as USA Luge's Sport Program Director.

A five-time Olympian who also scored a bronze medal in 1998, Grimmette brings a competitive squad to these races, including defending world champion Erin Hamlin, of Remsen, N.Y.

Hamlin, who established herself as a consistent contender a year ago with three World Cup bronze medals, recorded another bronze medal at the season opener in Igls, Austria November 27th, 2010, and was backed by the fifth place effort of Ashley Walden, of Westborough, Mass. and Lake Placid, N.Y. Julia Clukey, of Augusta, Maine was 11th in the event.

With those efforts, Hamlin and Walden qualified for spots on the 2011 World Championship team.

The U.S. squad will need that kind of depth to contend with a German team that has been undefeated in World Cup racing, amazingly, since 1997. Vancouver Olympic champion Tatyana Huefner and bronze medal-winner Natalie Geisenberger are the face of the German women's team. But Anke Wischnewski and junior Corinna Schwab are threats and would be stars with any other nation.

Bengt Walden, also of Lake Placid, led the U.S. men in Igls with a 15th place performance, while a second run spill dropped Chris Mazdzer, of Saranac Lake, N.Y., to 32nd. Both were members of the Vancouver Olympic team as was Tony Benshoof, of White Bear Lake, Minn. Benshoof, fourth at the 2006 Winter Olympics and eighth in Vancouver, however, is on leave from the national team as he attends to his ailing mother. Bountiful's Trent Matheson will return to the course where he learned to slide, while the fourth U.S. man will be Joe Mortensen, of Huntington Station, N.Y.

The doubles event will either become a wide-open competition due to the retirement of five Olympic sleds, or it will be dominated by the likes of Wolfgang and Andreas Linger. The Austrian brothers, with a wealth of experience, are the defending two-time Olympic gold medalists.

Christian Niccum, of Woodinville, Wash., with new partner Jayson Terdiman, of Berwick, Pa., debuted in Igls with a Nations Cup victory, followed by a fifth place in the World Cup race. The latter result secured their spot at the worlds in Italy.

The second American doubles entry will feature another Utahn who learned his craft in Park City. Torino Winter Olympian Preston Griffall, of Salt Lake City, the doubles back driver for Matt Mortensen, of Huntington Station, N.Y., will try to contend for a podium place and qualify for the world championships.

"I can't wait to head back to Park City," exclaimed Griffall. "It's been a couple of years since we've had a major event there and it's always nice to get back on home soil for a race! I grew up on the track in Park City, sliding there since I was 11 years old and the luge program had just started in Utah. Being a part of the Wasatch Luge Club and having Jon Owen as my first coach always brings back a huge sense of pride for me when I'm able to represent them in front of a home crowd."

Prior to the Park City events, the World Cup tour makes stops in Winterberg, Germany December 4th - 5th, 2010 and Calgary, Alberta, December 10th - 11th, 2010.

A total of nine World Cup races, and the World Championships in Cesana, Italy, January 29th - 30th, 2011, comprise the 2010-2011 schedule.

submitted by Sandy Caligiore, USA Luge : The Park Record

For More Information on Park City and Deer Valley Contact:
Michael Lapay
Prudential Utah Real Estate
Mobile: 435-640-5700
Toll Free: 888-410-7653

mlapay@pureparkcityrealestate.com

http://www.pureparkcityrealestate.com/00B4B9

Posted on December 06, 2010 15:28:24 by Michael Lapay

Posted in Park City & Deer Valley Things To Do, Cultural Events, Utah Olympic Park

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