Park City Poised for Fun and Games

The Games begin in six days and, consequently, so do the Olympics.

From the lighting of the torch on Friday to its snuffing out Feb. 24, Salt Lake City will have become a whole new animal--a party animal. So will the surrounding communities, especially Park City, often dubbed “Sin City” by the Mormons.

In the next several days tourists will be flooding into Utah’s great white north, to be on hand for the spectacle that is the 2002 Olympic Winter Games, but also to be part of the spectacle.

A large percentage will be coming from Southern California, and those packing skis or snowboards will be delighted to know that this week’s storm left a blanket of powder three feet thick in places.

They might also make note that Park City’s primary Olympic venues, Deer Valley Resort and Park City Mountain Resort, are open even on Olympic competition days, with 96% of their terrain available to the general public.

“There are still a lot of people who think they can’t ski or snowboard here,” said Michelle Palmer, spokeswoman at Park City Mountain Resort.

PCMR’s Eagle Race Arena, site of snowboarding halfpipe and giant slalom events, and Alpine giant slalom events, is located on the northernmost portion of the front face of the mountain, so event spectators are funneled in that direction, while skiers and boarders can ride the lifts to their favorite runs without too much interference.

Or so said Palmer. There will be 16,000 ticket holders streaming through the main entrance on event days, so lift-ticket holders might want to access the slopes via Town Lift on Main Street.

Deer Valley Resort spectators--the facility has moguls, aerials and slalom events--will be using the main Snow Park base entrance, while skiers (snowboarders are not allowed at Deer Valley) will be using the Silver Lake entrance higher up the mountain.

But enough about mountain logistics. Once the Games begin, the flurry of activity will go well beyond the slopes.

On Feb. 9, the first athletes will be honored for their performances at Olympic Medals Plaza in Salt Lake City. Later that evening, in the plaza’s amphitheater, the Dave Matthews Band will give its first Olympic performance.

On Feb. 10 at Park City Mountain Resort, Olympic women snowboarders will be rocking and rolling on the halfpipe. Later that evening, at Harry O’s on nearby Main Street, Smashmouth will be rocking and rolling on stage.

On Feb. 11, back at Olympic Medals Plaza, the Foo Fighters will pick up where Dave Matthews left off.

You get the picture....

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Salt Lake City and Park City are the two main center stages for Olympic entertainment, and consequently, the Games.

Salt Lake City may have more headliners--Barenaked Ladies, Sheryl Crow, Creed and Train to name a few others. But Park City, with three Olympic venues (Utah Olympic Park being the third), figures to be just as lively, if not more so.

Park City’s historic Main Street, which is open only to pedestrian traffic throughout the Games, has events or attractions scheduled daily from 10 a.m.-11 p.m. The Egyptian Theater is staying open beyond that, showing “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” nightly at midnight.

Main Street will be buzzing day and night. Skiers and snowboarders can now glide directly into its heart, thanks to the completion in December of Town Bridge, a one-million-pound structure that “connects the mountain resort to the town that supports the resort,” Palmer said.

Town Lift, which traverses a line of aerial tramway towers once used to transport silver during Park City’s mining era, provides access back to the slopes and is reachable via shuttle during the Games.

“Town Bridge is unique to Utah,” Palmer said. “Telluride [in Colorado] has its gondola and Aspen [Colo.] has trails leading directly into town. Now we have the Town Bridge.”

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Park City Mountain Resort’s Legacy Lodge Stadium Club, which recently obtained a license to sell liquor, is featuring live video feeds of Olympic action and daily autograph sessions with past and present Olympic athletes.

The Salt Lake Olympic Committee has use of the facility for six days, charging $125 a day. The resort is using it the other 11 days, charging only $12 for basically the same thing, according to Palmer.

Athletes scheduled to attend: Picabo Street, Donna Weinbrecht, Jim Craig, Phil Mahre, Nadia Comaneci, Evander Holyfield, Shannon Dunn, Rosalynn Sumners, Eric Schlopy, Paul Wylie, Jenni Meno and Todd Sand, Elvis Stojko, Bart Conner, Eric Bergoust, Ildiko Strehli, Ashley Hayden, and members of the American men’s and women’s bobsled teams.

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Many athletes have yet to make their way across the Utah state line. Among them, snowboarding halfpipe specialists Tommy Czeschin, Ross Powers and Danny Kass, who are at Mammoth Mountain through today “looking to shake the pre-Olympic jitters,” a resort spokeswoman said.

The three have chosen, at the behest of Coach Pete del Giudice, to train at the Eastern Sierra resort’s superpipe to “get back to the basics before facing the pressure of the Olympics.”