Utah
Olympic Park
Olympic sites and frights!
Utah hosted the Winter Olympics in 2002. You can ski by Deer
Valley’s mogul and aerial ski venues, and see where the Slalom and
GS races plus snowboarding events were held at Park City.
Then visit the Olympic Park free of charge, tour the museum, see the
huge Nordic jumps, and have you picture taken with the Torch. You
can even ride the official bobsled track, the only full track open
to the public in the world. Now for the disclaimer: I have done some
“sick sports” (heli-skiing, para-sailing, swimming with stingrays)
but the Olympic Bobsled is the craziest, wildest, fastest (and
longest) minute of my life.
Our bobsled orientation was loaded with warnings that this is a
“severe, intense and violent ride where you will experience 5Gs”.
Several times we were told, “full refunds are available, no
questions asked, up until the time your sled starts down the track,
but don’t ask for you money back after that.” These clues, and the
iron-clad waiver, are all indications that you are about to be
thrashed and compressed, akin to sliding down a frozen waterfall in
a metal trash can.
Our Olympic pilot Stephan took the driver’s seat (and the brake
control – I later wished he had given it to me), and I sat behind
him in the four man deathsled – sorry, I meant bobsled. We
accelerated quickly down the glassy track and by Turn 6 my helmeted
head was thrust into my chest with irreversible force (this was the
5Gs and 80mphs we had been warned about). The next 9 Turns I cannot
account for (just a lot of praying – which I rarely do). I heard a
lot of banging – which turned out to be my head against the side of
the sled. Finally I felt the sweet sensation of braking and our 51
seconds of fame (just 6 seconds off Olympic gold time) was over. The
neck pain and bruising on my arms however lasted several days as a
memento – I also got a keepsake pin – all for $200. Amusement park
ride junkies be warned – this is Universal Studio’s Hulk or Disney’s
Tower of Terror multiplied by a factor of 12. For the only full
track bobsled open to untrained (read: clueless) riders in the world
(no one else dares?), visit
www.olyparks.com.
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