FUNdamentals Ski Program
There is no ski program in North America like the FUNdamentals ski program. This skiing experience will provide kids with a multitude of skiing experiences in one package. Participants in this program will be exposed to all the ski disciplines: Cross country skiing, Nordic ski jumping, Free ride/ Freestyle skiing and Alpine skiing. The goal of the program is to enhance overall ski skills but more importantly provide an environment were youngsters are exposed to all of the ski sports and have FUN.

The program runs from January 5th to March 5th for a total of 16 sessions. Each ski discipline will have 4 sessions for the kids to experience that sport. The cost is $400.00 and that includes a season pass to the Canyons, instruction, cross country equipment and ski passes to White Pine and the UOP. All skiers must have their own helmet and alpine equipment. Skiers must be able to stop and turn easily on green circle terrain, ski in a wedge and or parallel ski.

Wednesday Night Town Challenge 2010
The Utah Olympic Park in conjunction with the Park City Nordic Ski Club and Maxwell’s East Coast Eatery are pleased to join forces to resurrect this unique and fun competition series. Teams of skiers will battle it out on the K20 meter and K40 meter jumps to see who can jump the farthest. Recruit 12 of your best friends to form a team that will have the opportunity to jump six nights during the winter. After each evenings competitions everyone is invited to Maxwell’s to have food, watch a video of the evenings action and win a prize in the weekly raffle.

The cost for each team is $700.00 which includes all instruction, hill and competition fees and a pre season training night. Competitions will take place starting January 13th, 20th, 27th, February 3rd, 10th and 7th. Training and competition are on Wednesday nights 5:30 – 8:00 p.m. Find a sponsor as weekly results will be posted in the Park record.

The only prerequisite is a pair of skis, a helmet, a team and the urge to fly!

For more information on these programs go to www.olyparks.com or call 435-658-4208

The following is an excerpt from an article originally published at ParkRecord.com:

Two soldiers who were wounded in combat will spend five days in December vacationing in Park City.
The trips came through the efforts of Christmas Can Cure and the Wounded Warrior Project. Fountain Green resident Bradley Chidester, Joseph Perez, of Logandale, Nev., and the men’s families were chosen to stay at Silver Star at Park City from Dec. 18-22.

“For these warriors and their families, returning to civilian life and coping with their disabilities has many challenges,” Christmas Can Cure spokesman Andre Carrier said in a prepared statement. “For many, the mental and physical strain only gets worse around the holidays with the added pressure, both emotional and financial, of providing a perfect Christmas for their families.”

Chidester, 27, was hurt in Iraq in October 2004 when shrapnel hit his face, arms and upper torso. Chidester was also shot in the leg as he exchanged gunfire with his attackers near Mosul.

Perez, 43, was injured in a mortar attack during a prison riot in Iraq in 2003. He suffered head, leg and spinal cord injuries.
“They were injured in war but they’re not in wheelchairs,” Christmas Can Cure spokeswoman Nina Lynch said in a telephone interview. “They’re definitely dealing with their wounds and dealing with post traumatic stress disorder.”

During their stay the two families will ski at Park City Mountain Resort, sled at Soldier Hollow and watch some of the world’s best freestyle aerialists at Utah Olympic Park.

“We’re very excited to have the Park City community on board,” Greg Lee, a spokesman for Christmas Can Cure, said in a prepared statement. “Not only is it one of the great ski towns, but it’s also home to the National Ability Center, the world’s premier rehabilitation and outreach facility for many men and women living with disabilities.”

The events scheduled for the families during their stay include “simulated” Christmas Eve and Christmas Day celebrations Dec. 19 and 20.

Click here to read the entire article.

The Utah Athletic Foundation (UAF) began a major project to re-invigorate its athlete development pipelines. This new approach was undertaken in response to: desires to increase participation at all levels of sport programming at our venues; interest to introduce more of the population to sport opportunities; and improve winter sport clubs since their success is our success. Along the way we further understood the lack of fundamental skills being focused on and the increase in inactivity of our youth. Under the direction of the UAF, sport and community workgroups were given the monumental task of transforming the UAF development pipeline and took an innovative approach to this challenge. Utah Sport for Life committees are established to lead the transformation. The Utah Athletic Foundation’s goals are to:

• Identify and share perspectives on how to best run youth sport and physical activity programs. We will do this by reaching out and collaborating with a broad set of sports, recreation, and health organizations in Utah.
• Introduce the concept of Long-Term Athlete Development (LTAD) into our own UAF Sports Programs and share this fundamental sport philosophy with others in Utah.
• Develop a Utah model for how we engage Utah’s youth in sport and physical fitness programs. This model will be branded “Utah Sport for Life,” and will incorporate a blend of best practices happening around the state as well as Long-Term Athlete Development (LTAD) concepts that work for our collective communities.
• Identify specific areas where the Utah Athletic Foundation could fill a unique niche and/or program void. Our role will be defined over time by listening to ideas, sharing stories, inviting feedback, and integrating our efforts.
• Effectively improve the program quality of youth sport efforts in Utah. The end result of these improvements will result in a population more engaged in physical activity and a better pipeline of athletes seeking their highest potential.
• Increase coordination, alignment, and effectiveness of Utah’s sport, recreation, and
  health-related organizations.
• Create physical literacy in all Utah children and improve the health of all Utahns through long-term participation in sports.

The creation of this Utah Sport for Life resource guide (completion December 2009) is one of the first steps accomplished in this effort. The Utah Athletic Foundation along with the sport and community partners will continue to accomplish the goals set for incorporating Utah Sport for Life principles into Utah communities.

Click here for more information about the partnership between Utah Olympic Park and Utah Sport For Life.

By Craig Kyle & Chris Yost (Writers) and Mike Choi & Sonia Oback (Art)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: Things were looking pretty grim for X-23– one of my favorite characters, at the end of last month’s issue of X-Force. Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost wouldn’t actually kill her, would they?!

The Story: X-23 is saved from more torture by an unlikely ally. Meanwhile, Wolverine desperately tries to locate X-23, while Elixir fights for his life. Also, the seeds continue to be planted for the upcoming Necrosia crossover.

What’s Good: X-Force #19 is at its best when the focus is on X-23’s current situation. Thankfully, the bulk of the book is devoted to it. X-23’s scenes are intense, brutal, and executed in a way that takes advantage of the character’s past and unique and slightly odd personality. Now, that’s not to say that the rest of the book is forgettable or anything because on a creative level, X-Force #19 is quite impressive.

Writers Craig Kyle and Chris Yost continue to weave a compelling, ambitious plot threads that take advantage of all different areas of “X” continuity. In that sense, X-Force #19 continues the trend of the series reading like no other “X” book on the stands. With Necrosia creeping closer, Kyle and Yost hammer home the sense that pretty much anyone could make a return (possibly even from the grave).

The artwork in X-Force #19 by Mike Choi and Sonia Oback is as expected, extremely slick, clean, and polished. From X-23’s bloody escape, to Wolfsbane’s battle with the Frost Giants, the cinematic visuals hit all the right notes. The characters look great, the action is executed with style, and the storytelling gets the job done.

What’s Not So Good: The problem with X-Force #19 is that you can’t help but get that sense that Craig Kyle and Chris Yost tried to cram too much into one book. The flow of action is often broken by a jump to either another set of characters or some sort of scene that’s laying the foundation for the near future. While I understand the need to jump around because so many threads are being juggled at once, each jump tends to kill whatever momentum is built up.

Visually, my only complaint is that the art team’s females all look pretty similar. While I’ve noticed that in the past, it’s particularly a problem in the latest issue of X-Force because so many females show up throughout the book. Sure they are all attractive and realistic looking, but they look like they all might be related in some way.

Conclusion: A comic like X-Force #19 is tough to grade. It does a lot right, yet for a couple of reasons, it never manages to come together in a satisfying way.

Grade: C+

-Kyle Posluszny

The following is an excerpt of an article published by the USOC:

The U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC) today announced the Utah Athletic Foundation (UAF) as a new Community Olympic Development Program (CODP). The UAF operates the Utah Olympic Oval (UOO) in Kearns, Utah, and the Utah Olympic Park (UOP) in Park City, Utah, and provides programs in 10 winter sports.

“We are excited to add the Community Olympic Development Program designation to our efforts in developing athletes in our core winter sports,” said Colin Hilton, UAF President and CEO. “In addition to cultivating sport-specific skills among the athletes, the programs also promote responsibility, leadership, teamwork and community involvement. We look forward to increasing the number of athletes participating in our core winter sports and powerfully continuing the Olympic legacy.”

Several programs are already in place at the UAF and carry the CODP designation, including sport development, coaching clinics, athlete seminars and a mentoring program. Among them:

• F.A.S.T. (Facilitated Athlete Sport Training) is a speedskating program at the UOO that offers individual training alongside world-class athletes.
• FLY Freestyle is a year-round aerials, moguls and freeride progressive program at the UOP that combines gymnastics with skiing.
• The UOP Bobsled and Skeleton Development Program provides professional coaching and a sequence of training opportunities for developing athletes, preparing them to maximize individual potential.
• Free coaching seminars and clinics center around the mission of “Helping Coaches Help Athletes,” and assist in developing world-class coaches to strengthen and expand athlete pipelines.
• Free seminars and workshops assist athletes with outside information to expand their personal training programs and development, covering topics such as sports psychology, nutrition, motivation strategies and media training.
• “Champions Creating Champions” is a mentoring program in development dedicated to inspiring and empowering young athletes. Working with local children in the Park City and Salt Lake City communities, young athletes will be partnered with their heroes to inspire and promote passion and courage.

While the sports of speedskating, freestyle skiing, bobsled and skeleton are currently part of the CODP designation, additional sport programs at the UOO and UOP which may in the future carry the CODP designation are figure skating, hockey, luge, cross-country skiing, ski jumping and nordic combined.

“The UAF has been a critical partner with the USOC, in part by enhancing their world-class facilities for America’s best winter sport athletes at the national and youth level,” said Alicia McConnell, USOC Director, Athlete Services and Programs. “Through the leadership of Colin Hilton, an environment of excellence has been created for both the national team-level athletes who will be heading to Vancouver early next year, as well as for youth development programs. We look forward to more young people in Utah having the opportunity to participate in Olympic winter sports.”

Click here for the entire article.

For most skiers, blue skies and fresh powder is about as good as it gets. For U.S. mogul skier, Shannon Bahrke, all the blue skies and fresh powder in the world amount to very little without a good cup of coffee to enjoy with friends at day’s end. So, after winning the first Olympic silver medal in U.S. moguls history at the 2002 Games, Bahrke formed the Silver Bean Coffee Co., and in doing so successfully combined two of her great loves: skiing and good coffee.

This is no ordinary coffee company. In addition to six different ski-themed blends with names like “Last Chair Decaf” and “Velvety Groomer,” Silver Bean carries a unique line of “athlete blends,” each one bearing the name and picture of a U.S. Ski Team athlete. As a way to help teammates pay for ever-increasing competition expenses Bahrke’s company gives a portion of each bag sold directly to those athletes, and another portion to a charity of their choice. Talk about a win-win-win! Consumers get good coffee, athletes get financial assistance, and their charities get a nice donation.

The Utah Olympic Park gift shop stocks a variety of the nearly two dozen different athlete blends. Stop by and pick up a bag or two. This may be your only chance to have Lindsey Van, Jeret Peterson, and Julia Mancuso over for coffee in the morning. And don’t forget to watch for Bahrke in Vancouver…She’s hoping to add a “Gold Blend” to the menu.

The following is an excerpt from an article published on August 12, 2009 by the Deseret News:

Olympians do it, so why not everyone? Why not … take a long slide, a couple of jumps, a few spins, a flip and put the hands in the air. Then quickly step to the podium for the medal ceremony.

Only in Utah, at all levels, anyway, and only at the Utah Olympic Park in Park City.

The Utah Olympic Park is known, obviously, best for the 2002 Olympics. Fourteen Olympic events were held there. Some have carried forward from the Games. Others haven’t.

Those that have carried over have started to attract a range of athletes, from complete beginners to experienced experts. And, they come here from around the world.

Colin Hilton, president/CEO of the Utah Athletic Foundation, overseer of the park, said roughly a third of the daily visitors are from local areas and two-thirds are out-of-state and foreign visitors. They come for a variety of reasons, but most arrive looking for a taste of the Olympics.

Click here to read the entire article.

The three-story Joe Quinney Winter Sports Center is the home of the Alf Engen Ski Museum, Intermountain Ski Hall of Fame, Ecker Cafe, retail gift shop, 2002 Eccles Winter Olympic Museum and a conference/meeting room. Prior to the 2002 Games, the $10 million sports center served as the media center for journalists covering the Olympic events at the Utah Olympic Park.

The namesake is Joe Quinney, often referred to as the “father of Utah’s ski industry,” being the original incorporator of the Salt Lake Winter Sports Association in 1938, which later became the Alta Ski Lifts Company. Quinney was born in Logan, Utah and educated at the Utah Agricultural College, now Utah State University, and then Harvard Law School. Quinney died in 1983 at the age of 90.

The Quinney Center also features the Intermountain Ski Hall of Fame which enshrined its inaugural class in September 2002. The Hall of Famers are Junior Bounous, Zane Doyle, the Engen brothers – Alf, Sverre and Karre “Corey” – Gretchen Fraser, W. Averell Harriman and Joseph Quinney.

In the Park’s Olympic Legacy Plaza, two heroic size, eight-foot bronze statutes of Joe Quinney and Alf Engen were unveiled in September 2002. The sculptures were created by Alpine artist Kraig Varner.

This year’s meeting (June 14-16) will focus on developing regional and global strategies for addressing the intertwined issues of energy, climate change and water. The meeting is being hosted by Utah Governor and Western Governors’ Association Chairman Jon M. Huntsman, Jr., and his wife Mary Kaye and Lt. Governor Gary Herbert.

Expected at the meeting are eleven Western Governors and three Western Canadian Premiers and 500 attendees including Obama Administration officials, other VIPs and industry and non-governmental leaders from ound the West, across the country and around the world.

Attendees will enjoy a casual reception and dinner at the Utah Olympic Park. Opportunities include watching Olympic ski jumpers practice aerial acrobatics, complete with landing in a splash pool, and touring the Alf Engen Ski Museum and 2002 Games exhibit.

Featured Speakers include:

• Robert Zoellick, World Bank
• Sec. Tom Vilsack, USDA
• Sec. Ken Salazar, Interior
• Sec. Steven Chu, DOE
• Nick Bridge, British Embassy
• Jon Wellinghoff, FERC
• Nancy Sutley, CEQ
• Frank Luntz, pollster
• Dr. Susan Shirk, UCSD

Click HERE for more information.

From FunVacationIdeas.com:

Another great destination to consider is the Utah Olympic Park in Park City. This Park was also a venue for the Olympics, in this case the 2002 Winter Games. It has since opened its doors (and its slopes) to the public, offering winter sports activities and classes to anyone and everyone. If you’ve ever been interested about a winter sport you saw on TV, you can definitely try it out – safely and under close supervision – in Utah.

The Utah Olympic Park has facilities for most of the sports included in the Winter Olympics, including bobsled, luge and skeleton. The Park employs several qualified trainers for each sport, and you could even. There are even seasonal classes taught by world-renowned professionals and experts in the sport.

In addition to its sports facilities, the Utah Olympic Park also has rides that will give you a winter-cold adrenaline rush. One of its most popular attractions is the bobsled ride, the Comet, where you get the feel of a real bobsled run with up to 5 G’s of force against your body. Another is the Xtreme Zipline – the steepest zipline in the world – where you are strapped into a harness and ‘zip’ down the slope at up to 50mph.

Click HERE to read the entire blog post.

Entering the Utah Olympic Park, the majestic Olympic K90 and K120 jumps greet visitors as they drive up the entry road. A total of six nordic jumps have been built at the Park with a K10, K20, K40, K64, K90 and K120. The K90 and K120 do not refer to hill heights, but rather the average distance covered by jumpers – 90 meters and 120 meters, respectively, indicated by the K Point. For jumps shorter or longer than the K Point, points are subtracted or added during competitions. Plastic runways on the jumps and landing zones allow for summer jumping. Jumpers land on a synthetic surface that looks like green shingles. The in-run is designed with porcelain grooves that allow jumpers to shoot down the track even if the first snowflake is months away. Ski jumpers fly up to 55 miles per hour and cover distances as great as one and a half football fields. At 7,130 feet, the Park’s K90 and K120 are the highest-altitude world-class jumps on the planet.

The ski jumping facilities were constructed to minimize the impact on the environment and meet strict competition and safety guidelines. The North-facing placement of the K90 and K120 ski jumps prevents prevailing winds from blowing directly uphill, ensuring adequate snow cover on the jumps and reducing reliance on snowmaking equipment. The ski jump ramps were built into the mountainside to eliminate the need to erect massive skier runway ramps that would have protruded from the ridgeline and reshaped the mountain face.

A 2.3 kilometer cross-country track was built in the summer of 2002 where the temporary Olympic spectator stands had been located. The loop allows nordic combined athletes to participate in cross-country skiing as well as ski jumping while on the Utah Olympic Park grounds.

MUST READ HISTORY: Ammann wins gold in K120 ski jumping

The Joe Quinney Winter Sports Center and Alf Engen Ski Museum were funded entirely with private donations. Total cost of the building: $10.5M. Major contributions were given by the Quinney and Eccles families.

The Quinney Center was desgined by Edwards & Daniels Architects (EDA) and constructed by Jacobson Construction Co. The exhibits in the Alf Engen Ski Museum were crafted by Academy Studios of San Francisco.

The Alf Engen Ski Museum is the only regional ski museum in the United States to be named for an individual. All others are named for regional locations. (Sun Valley Museum, Colorado Ski Museum, etc.)

To date, over 8,100 students have participated in the museum’s field-trip program since its inception in 2002. Grant monies have enabled us to pay all field-trip costs, thus giving many students their first time ever mountain experience.

The “Peak Conditions” display explaining the weather conditions that create Utah’s renown powder snow, was donated by KSL television. Len Randolph, KSL meteorologist who narrates the video, was most supportive of our efforts and was instrumental in producing the informational presentation and encouraging KSL to donate the display.

Alf Engen passed away in July, 1997, at the age of 88. He taught skiing at Alta until 1989, retiring at the age of 80.

In 1999, the Salt Lake Tribune named Alf the “Athlete of the 21st Century.”

Alf’s trophies tell many unique stories:

• The spoons and other utensils are prizes won by Alf in Norway for competitions in skiing, soccer, and singing.
• The watch was won by Alf in a 1930s jumping tournament. He replaced the band with a woman’s watchband and presented it to his wife-to-be, Evelyn Pack, as an engagement gift.
• The baton was presented to Alf by Maurice Abravanel, conductor of the Utah Symphony, as a tribute to his leadership in the community.
• The 1936 Wheaties (“Breakfast of Champions”) cereal box featured Alf as one of its champions. Inclusion on this box cost Alf his place on the 1936 Olympic team because he was declared a professional. As Alf loved to say, “I never got paid, but I got lots of Wheaties. All of Salt Lake City got Wheaties.”

Click HERE for more interesting facts.

The following is an excerpt from an eHow.com article detailing the 6 essential steps to visiting the Utah Olympic Park:

The Utah Olympic Park, home of the 2002 Winter Olympics, is a place where spectators can watch ski jumpers race downhill on the K90 and K120 jumps at up to fifty miles per hour, even in the summer! Warm weather visitors can also watch aerial jumpers twist and flip up to 70 feet in the air before splashing into a pool containing 750,000 gallons of water. There are competitions during the winter months, camps for all ages and a museum open year-round. If you enjoy participating in the fun, check out the Zip Lines, Alpine Slide and bobsled run.

1. Decide when you would like to visit.
2. Arrange transportation.
3. Visit the Alf Engen Ski Museum inside of the Joe Quinney Winter Sports Center.
4. Go to the upper level of the Joe Quinney Winter Sports Center to the 2002 Eccles Olympic Museum.
5. Go outside to watch the skiers.
6. Buy ride tickets.

Click HERE to read the entire article.

Lois Friedland writes at About.com: Adventure Travel the Top 10 Reasons to visit the Utah Olympic Park. Here is an excerpt:

If you’ve ever watched Olympians sliding down a bobsled track at 90 miles an hour and wondered if you could do it, or you’ve been curious if you’ve the guts to slide down a nordic ski jump, visit the Utah Olympic Park located just outside Park City, Utah. At this playground for adventurous travelers, which is open summer and winter, you can ride in a bobsled moving at 4- to 5 Gs, take an extreme zipline ride — or simply learn more about the 2002 Winter Olympic Games on a tour while your friends challenge themselves in these special sporting venues.

1. Go 80 MPH on the Bobsled — Luge –Skeleton Track
2. Try the World’s Steepest Zipline
3. Speed Down the Quicksilver Alpine Slide
4. Learn Freestyle Skiing and Snowboarding Tricks Flipping into the
   Training Pool
5. Tame Tours of the Utah Olympic Park
6. Take Your Picture by a Bobsled in the Olympic Museum
7. Play in the Snow Zone or Explore the Adventure Park
8. Want to Learn an Olympic Sport?
9. Pricing Includes Gold, Silver and Bronze Packages for a Family Fun Day
10. Learn More About Utah Olympic Park

Click HERE to read the entire article.

The Alf Engen Ski Museum is one of two impressive anchor exhibits of the Joe Quinney Winter Sports Center. The George Eccles 2002 Olympic Winter Games museum is the other. Here you are more than a spectator – you’re a participant! That’s because our state-of-the-art interactive and virtual exhibits place you in the epicenter of the past, present and future of winter sports in the Intermountain Region, including an Olympic downhill course. That’s a great way to experience one of the most extensive collections of ski and Olympic/Paralympic Winter Games memorabilia in the U.S. The museum’s comprehensive educational component gives school children a skiing-based foundation to study subjects such as the water cycle, physics and Utah’s colorful history.

• 1989 The idea of a ski museum originated when a group of ski history enthusiasts, headed by Alan Engen, realized the need for a facility recognizing those ski and snow sport pioneers and athletes who had made significant contributions to winter sports in the Intermountain Region. A small A-frame structure was first considered as a repository for Alf Engen’s considerable collection of trophies and awards as well as other historical memorabilia. However, the building “grew” into a 29,000 square foot structure, thanks to contributions from the Janet Quinney Lawson Foundation, David and Shar Quinney and many other generous donors. The location of the museum was determined by two factors: its close proximity to storied Ecker Hill and to the venues of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games.
• August, 1993 Alf Engen Ski Museum Foundation is formally establised as a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization.
• August, 1999 Formal site dedication for proposed Joe Quinney Winter Sports Center building.
• March, 2000 Groundbreaking for the Quinney Center. Utah Winter Sports Park is renamed Utah Olympic Park.
• September, 2001 Joe Quinney Winter Sports Center building is loaned to the Salt Lake Organizing Committee to serve as a media center during the 2002 Winter Games.
• March, 2002 Displays and exhibits are installed in the Alf Engen Ski Museum.
• July, 2002 Public Grand Opening of the building.
• September, 2002 Bronze sculptures of Joe Quiney and Alf Engen, crafted by Kraig Varner of Lehi, Utah, and funded by the Quinney and Engen families, are unveiled. The inaugural class of Intermountain Ski Hall of Fame is inducted.
• May, 2004 Alf Engen Ski Museum Foundaiton sells the Quinney Center to the Utah Athletic Foundation.
• June, 2005 Grand Opening of the George Eccles Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Winter Games Museum. Intermountain Ski Hall of Fame is renamed the Will and Jean Pickett Intermountain Ski Hall of Fame in honor of two local contributors to ski history.
• May, 2006 Alf Engen Ski Museum receives “Best of State” honors in the “Museum and Attractions” category.
• September, 2007 New museum entry, highlighting each decade’s skiing history, is installed.

From First Tracks!! Online Ski Magazine:

Park City, UT – The Canyons Resort has announced an exclusive summer partnership with the ski resort’s neighbor, the Utah Olympic Park. Guests at The Canyons and guests at the Utah Olympic Park will be eligible for discounts on specific activities at each respective venue.

Guests who visit the Utah Olympic Park, known affectionately around Park City as UOP, will be offered discounts on gondola rides and disc golf at The Canyons with purchase of UOP activities. Guests of The Canyons will be offered discounts on UOP activities, including: Xtreme Zipline, Ultra Zipline, Quicksilver Alpine Slide, Summer Comet Bobsled, K120 chairlift rides and Utah Olympic Park Tours with their purchase of an activity at The Canyons.

During the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, UOP welcomed more than 300,000 visitors during 16 days of competition, and was the site of 14 events – three in ski jumping, three in nordic combined, three in bobsled, three in luge and two in skeleton.

This summer, experience activities like a gondola ride to 8,000 feet at The Canyons and mountain bike on the miles of trails that connect with Park City’s massive trail network around the resort, or spend an afternoon playing disc golf on a brand new 18-hole course. Combine these activities with hitting 70 m.p.h. on the Olympic bobsled track, or the Xtreme Zipline, one of the steepest ziplines in the world which drops nearly 500 feet at 40 to 50 miles per hour, or the Quicksilver Alpine Slide, a smooth, curvy European style slide with a stainless steel track.

Every Saturday during the summer, check out the high-flying action as Olympians and national ski team athletes put on a 25-minute freestyle aerial show for spectators. Skiers and snowboarders soar up to 60 feet in the air and perform acrobatic feats before landing in a 750,000 gallon splash pool, all choreographed to music. Showtime is at 1:00 p.m.

Then, grab your picnic basket and head over to The Canyons for the free Saturday Summer Concert Series, starting on July 18th. All concerts are scheduled from 6:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and the Cabriolet lift will run from 4:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. for guest parking.

Click HERE to read more of First Tracks!! Online Ski Magazine: The ski and snowboard world at your keyboard

The freestyle aerials training pool opened in July 1993, and is the summer training site for many world-class aerialists, including Olympians Shannon Bahrke, Emily Cook, Jeret Peterson and Ryan St. Onge. The pool contains 750,000 gallons of water and is “bubbled” to soften the impact of landing. The highest of the four primary kickers can launch these airborne athletes nearly 70 feet in the air, and allows the aerialists to perform several twists and flips.

The Utah Olympic Park offers a variety of one-day, three-day, six-day and seasonal public freestyle camps. During the summer months, the Flying Ace All Stars are featured in a 30-minute freestyle aerial show on Saturdays at 1:00.

Freestyle aerials is a year-round sport at the Park. A winter freestyle hill and terrain park area are used for various competitions and training on snow. When the snow comes, kickers are built on the hillside between the nordic jumps and splash pool. The Park staff offers coaching and programming for all levels of athlete development.

Try it for yourself!

From ParkCity.tv:

Utah Olympic Park was awarded Utah Best of State in the category of Museums/Attractions. The Utah Olympic Park is home to the three-story Joe Quinney Winter Sports Center that houses the Alf Engen Ski Museum, Intermountain Ski Hall of Fame and the 2002 Eccles Olympic Winter Games Museum. This world-class facility highlights the history of all skiing disciplines in the Intermountain region through interactive touch screen displays, videos, virtual reality ski theater, games and topographic maps. Visitors can relive the glory of the 2002 Olympic Winter Games through a gallery of visual highlights and artifacts from the 2002 Games. Admission to the museums is free.

The UOP has the World’s Steepest Zipline, where guests can ride up to 50 mph down the K120 Nordic jump hill. The Quicksilver Alpine Slide is a European-style alpine slide that allows riders to weave down a narrow course with 18 turns that concludes at the base of the K-64 ski jump. Riders on the Quicksilver can experience the same thrill as a luge, skeleton or bobsled athlete. Guided Tours are available daily of the UOP’s track, jumps and freestyle pool.

The Utah Olympic Park was also awarded Utah Best of State in the category of Recreation/Sports Program. The Utah Olympic Park offers many sport programs for beginning to elite athletes year-round. Introductory programs for athletes of all ages and abilities along with a unique specialized life-long development and training model is what sets Utah Athletic Foundation programs apart. Kids learn fundamental movement skills combined with a variety of sports like gymnastics, swimming, freestyle, Nordic ski jumping and more.

The Utah Athletic Foundation in cooperation with the Park City Ice Rink, Black Diamond Gymnastics, Park City Racquet Club, the National Ability Center, New Park Recreational Facility, the Summit County Health Department and Park City Karate Dojo are proud to offer the first FUNdamental Sport camp for the summer of 2009.

Sports FUNdamentals Summer Camp provides kids ages 8—10 an opportunity to learn basic movement skills combined with an introduction to a variety of sports like gymnastics, tennis, swimming and soccer. The Camp builds confidence and allows kids to participate in more sport activities and promotes life-long physical fitness. In addition, campers have the opportunity to experience a variety of winter sports such as freestyle skiing, luge, Nordic ski jumping, bobsled and skeleton at our Olympic Venue.

Leadership and life skills activities are built in each week to promote self esteem and self worth. The camp builds on the Utah Athletic Foundation’s commitment to offer a variety of sporting and recreational activities that are encouraging, empowering and most of all fun.

Click HERE for more details!

An excerpt from a HowStuffWorks.com article:

Visitors to this Park City attraction can test their mettle in some of the Olympic sports the venue hosted in 2002, including luge, bobsled, and ski jumping. They can also watch Olympic hopefuls train for the next winter games. The park is also a favorite with freestyle aerialist skiers, who train in the summer by landing from their flips, twists, and jumps in a 750,000-gallon splash pool. The 389-acre facility includes Nordic jumps of six different lengths; a 1,335-meter track with five start areas for bobsled, luge and skeleton; freestyle aerials training areas; and a lodge, a ski museum, and an Olympic Winter Games Museum.

During the summer, kids ages 6 through 12 can participate in a day camp to learn ski jumping. Other camps are available for kids ages 8 through 14 who want to test their skills at ice hockey, speed skating, luge, bobsled, ski jumping, freestyle skiing, biathlon, curling, and skeleton. Every Saturday during the summer, the Flying Ace All-Stars skiers and snowboarders present a 25-minute show, soaring up to 60 feet in the air and performing acrobatic feats before landing in the splash pool.

In winter, intermediate skiers can take a half-day Nordic ski-jumping lesson. By the end of the session, visitors will be soaring off the ten-kilometer jump — quick learners can attempt an even longer one. Half-day slopeside ski-jumping lessons are also available for kids. There are luge and skeleton lessons for those 13 and older. Tours of the facility and the two museums are offered in summer and winter.

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The construction of the 15 curve and 1,335 meter (8/10ths of a mile) bobsled, skeleton and luge track took 30 months to complete at the cost of about $25 million. The milestone of 100,000 sleds rocketing down one of the fastest tracks in the world since its opening was reached in November 2002. The Utah Olympic Park hosted its first World Cup bobsled event in November 1998, and it continues to be a regular stop on the international World Cup tour in all three sliding sports.

Milestones in the track’s history include the groundbreaking date of June 3, 1994; completion date of December 28, 1996; and the grand opening on January 25, 1997. The first run on the track was completed by luger Jon Owen from the tourist start on January 10, 1997.

The track features five start houses, known as bobsled start, skeleton start, men’s start, women’s start and junior start. There is also a designated on-track tourist start for a public passenger ride program. The sport of luge is timed to the thousandth (.001) of a second while bobsled and skeleton are timed to the hundredth (.01). Only track records during competition are recognized. Infrared and visible light photocells are used for timing.

Other facts and figures about the track are 297,000 watts of track lighting, 62 water hydrants, 24 cameras, 49 timing points and eight scoreboards. A $1 million retractable shading system protects the course from sun and snow, reducing energy usage by 25 percent and eliminating the need to clear snow from the track.

The track generally opens in October and closes at the end of February for the winter sliding season. The process to make ice on the track requires 18 days. A crew of Utah Olympic Park employees maintains a two-week, 24-hour effort to ice the track. The crews leap-frog each other down the track every 20 minutes, plugging into 62 hydrants and spraying the track with hundreds of layers of ice. An additional four-day period is necessary to shape and hone the ice.

The Refrigeration Plant is responsible for creating and monitoring the ice conditions on the track. It has the efficient capability to drop the temperature of the track to below freezing within two hours with outside air temperatures of 80 degrees (F). The track has 59 temperature probes to monitor the ice temperature along the entire length of the track. The track is divided into three zones and the ice temperature in each zone can be adjusted as necessitated by weather conditions. The plant has won various awards for its safety, efficiency and engineering.

The Utah Olympic Park’s steep terrain presented unique challenges for its designers, who crafted the facility carefully to meet demanding competition requirements and limit impact to the land and its wildlife. The bobsled/skeleton/luge course follows the mountain’s natural contours, allowing it to blend in with the landscape. More than three-quarters of the Park remains naturally vegetated, and the Park is home to elk, moose, deer, birds and numerous small mammals.