Tour the Utah Olympic Park in Park City
Salt Lake City hosts the world when the Winter Olympics returns to the city in 2034. This is the second time the city hosts the event. And the Utah Olympic Park in Park City is gearing up for the world.
The Utah Olympic Park served as the location for many events in the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. Park City will be the venue for ski jumping, bobsled, luge, and skeleton during the games.
We got the opportunity to visit the Utah Olympic Park recently and toured the facilities ahead of the Olympic Games. On our visit, we tooled about the museum and toured the sporting venues. We even witnessed some skeleton runs on the course.
Here’s everything to know for a visit to the Park City location.
Where is the Utah Olympic Park
The Utah Olympic Park is in Park City, Utah, about a 40 minute drive from Salt Lake City. The mountain town famously holds the Sundance Film Festival yearly.
But, the ski town also provided venues for the 2002 Olympic Games, and is set to hold events at the upcoming 2-34 Winter Olympic Games.
What You’ll See at the Utah Olympic Park
Today, you can see the ski jump site and the tracks for the bobsled and luge/skeleton events.
You also can see a ski jump pool used during the summer months for training.
The site houses the Joe Quinney Winter Sports Center. A museum of Utah winter sports is located on the first floor. The second floor of the museum showcases the 2002 Winter Olympic Games. The museum has gear worn by some of the quintessential names of those games, including Apolo Anton Ohno and Kelly Clark.
It is free to visit the sports center and museum.
But, you also can take a paid tour of the complex. The one-hour tour takes you by bus to the ski jump area and the bobsled and luge tracks.
Additionally, the adventure seekers can book a bobsled session.
The Museum
Utah Ski History
We arrived at the Utah Olympic Park long before our afternoon tour commenced. That gave us ample time to peruse the museum.
The bottom floor of the museum pays homage to Utah ski history. Displays features those prominent Utah residents who helped put the state on the world skiing radar.
There are displays about the intermountain ski hall of fame. You also learn about Joe Quiney and ski legend Alf Engen, an emigrant to the United States and Utah.
We also learned about the 10th Mountain Division. The division formed during WWII after the U.S. military attempted to teach paratroopers to ski in Alta, Utah. But members of the National Ski Patrol, who helped train the non-skiing paratroopers, thought it wiser to teach skilled skiers to train as soldiers. They made their petition to the U.S. War Department, and the 10th Mountain Division formed.
The first floor also displays a history and evolution of snow boarding.
The 2002 Olympic Games
As you proceed upstairs to the museum’s second floor, you are immersed in lore of the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympic Games.
My daughter and I visited Utah Olympic Park. She was born after the 2002 Games. So the museum was all unfamiliar to her.
However, I felt transported back in time as I looked at displays featuring the Olympic athletes I easily recalled.
It was fun to look at the uniforms worn by some of the athletes. We admired the Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals awarded during the 19th Winter Games.
We got to see the signed uniform of the 1980 U.S. Men’s Hockey Team, which miraculously defeated a far superior Soviet crew to win gold in Lake Placid.
The museum showcases some of the costumes and props used during the opening ceremonies.
We got to see a wall of international pin trading, which was a popular past time during the games.
And, lastly, we saw a carboard cutout torch with 2034 painted on. Already, Utah Olympic ark is preparing for the 27th Winter Games.
Touring the Olympic Park Sites
After spending time in the museum, it was time to head downstairs for our one-hour tour of the park site.
Our tour guide began the hour showing our group a luge, skeleton and bobsled. Park City will host these events in 2034, as it did in 2002. It was fascinating to see the petite luge and skeleton, knowing that athletes race down an icy track at speeds of 80 mph.
Jumping Pool
After our initial introduction, we were led out to the summer jumping pool. During the warmer months, ski jumpers use the jumping pool to practice their skills. I don’t know what is more preferable, a jump in frigid winter winds, or a jump with a big water splash at the end.
On to the sled tracks
After admiring the jumping pools, we got in a bus and our guide drove us up the mountainside to the bobsled and luge tracks.
We fortunately toured on a day when there were competitions on both tracks earlier in the day. This meant that both tracks were primed for practice runs during our time.
Our guide led us to a viewing platform where we got to watch a couple of skeleton practice runs. You can watch one of those runs in the video below.
View this post on Instagram
We stood near the start of the run, which allowed us six to eight seconds to see each athlete start their run before disappearing down the icy track. We could see the running clock and the finish time, but nothing else after the participant slid from view.
I thought about watching these events on TV during each Olympics. The tracks are lined with viewers watching racers on a small sliver of the tracks. After seeing our short six second view of the training runs, I had to chuckle thinking about the thousands of attendees who wait for hours to see a small section of each Olympic run.
We also saw a rare feat. One skeleton athlete took a run on the steeper, faster bobsled track. Our tour guide said she had only heard of one other person attempt to run skeleton on that track. So, the five people on our tour got to witness a small piece of history that afternoon.
You can purchase your own bobsled experience at the park, allowing you to slide down the track and experience the G Forces.
The Ski Jumps
Following our visit to the sled tracks, we loaded up on the bus and headed down the mountain to the two Olympic ski jumps.
The view from the top of each jump is amazing. You can see the size of the 90 meter and 120 meter hills. Amazingly, we could not see most of the landing area from the top of the jumps. There is no way I would ever be able to overcome my fear to go on one of those jumps.
@familywelltraveled Utah Olympic Park. #olympics #saltlakecity2034 #luge #bobsled #skeleton #skijumping #Utah #familytravel #parkcityutah ♬ Let’s Go – JAXSON GAMBLE
Final Thoughts:
My daughter told me after visiting the Utah Olympic Park that she was unsure she would enjoy the experience. But, she really enjoyed her entire time at the site.
I think part of the reason is that the Utah Olympic Park did a great job of taking us to the 2002 Winter Olympic Games, while also highlighting the 2034 Games.
We also found our tour informative and fascinating. Yes, we got lucky on our visit and got to see people taking practice runs. Even without that serendipitous event, our tour guide was engaging and continued to pique our interest during the one-hour tour.
We would certainly return to the Utah Olympic Park. Who knows? We may even brave it and take a bobsled experience of our own.
You May Also Enjoy:
We take a trip to the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs.
Discover an out of this world experience at Colorado’s Space Foundation Discovery Center.
Discover the London Bridge in Lake Havasu City, Arizona.
All photos and content are by Family Well Traveled and use of photos or content without permission will result in legal action.
