Just a short drive up Provo Canyon, Park City Olympic Park lays tucked away in the beautiful Wasatch Mountains.
The park is home to an array of fun summer activities and is open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission to the park is free of charge, but the rides, camps, tours and shows will require some of your money.
One place in the park to go to during the summer is a facility for athletes to practice their ski jumping by flying more than 60 feet in the air before landing in a 750,000-gallon pool. Visitors are welcome to observe the athletes practice their jumps.
“I love to bring my kids here so they can see where the Olympics were and watch these athletes jump,” said spectator Rachel Fisher. “It is a great place for them to come and play where it is a little cooler and most of what they like to do is free.”
Olympic Park hosts a freestyle jumping show every Saturday at 1 p.m. where the Flying Ace All-Stars exhibit their skiing skills. The show costs only $10 to attend.
“I love extreme sports,” said park visitor Ryan Palmer. “It is sweet to come here and see what these guys can pull off. I’ve tried it a couple times and it is a lot harder than it looks.”
The park was home to the 2002 Winter Olympics and has a museum exhibit of the games. There is also an Alf Engen Ski museum that is home to a variety of winter sports exhibits. Admission to the museum is free.
“The museum is really cool for me because I have been skiing my whole life,” said Jennifer Blackstone from Mesa, Ariz. “I really like to see what they have here and just know that the Olympics were so close to where I live.”
The park offers a way to really get a taste of the Olympics by hosting camps that train participants in the Olympic sports of ski jumping, luge and skeleton.
“My kids have asked me about joining some of the camps to learn what these athletes do here,” Fisher said. “I think we might put them in some in a couple years.”
The main attraction for adventure seekers is the bobsled ride. The ride costs $60 the first time and is half price for repeat riders. But be prepared because the ride reaches more than 70 mph.
“The rides here are sick, and it gives you a feel for what the Olympics would be like,” Palmer said. “The bobsled is the best. You get going crazy fast in that thing and it really gets your heart pumping.”
Olympic Park is a great way to escape from the city’s hot temperatures and get into the beautiful, cool mountains for a couple of hours.
“We come here almost every time we are in Utah,” said park visitor Travis Christensen from Denver. “It is just something different to do. It is an awesome place and most stuff is free. I would definitely recommend coming up here for a couple hours just to wander around and enjoy the mountains.”
