Winter Olympics Experience
If you watch the Winter Olympics and find yourself wondering “Could I do that?” there are ways to find out. Mere mortals can test their skill and courage at winter’s daunting games without traveling to Italy’s Milano Cortina Games.
The adrenaline thrills of sledding can be had firsthand in many places across North America. Whistler/Blackcomb, British Columbia, the 2010 Olympics venue, has preserved almost all of its facilities, including the Whistler Sliding Centre, which offers year-round bobsled rides (on wheels in summer) driven by pros at more than 60 mph. For an even scarier experience, after a brief intro, you can go solo—and ride headfirst—on a skeleton sled, just inches from the track. Mt. Van Hoevenberg (at Lake Placid, New York State’s 1980 Olympic venue) also offers both piloted bobsled and solo skeleton. You can experience bobsled rides at the Utah Olympic Park in Park City.
The biathlon’s combination of sprinting on cross-country skis and target shooting can be attempted at Whistler/Blackcomb, along with Lake Placid. Outside Salt Lake City, at Soldier Hollow, the 2002 Olympic Nordic venue, you can take your best shots year-round (on foot in summer).
At Lake Placid you can also lace up rental speed skates and challenge Eric Heiden’s record performances at the 1980 games there. If you prefer gliding to racing, Lake Placid has regularly scheduled public figure skating clinics. The Utah Olympic Park is one of the only places on earth you can try introductory ski jumping, but only in summer, skiing down plastic fake snow and leaping into a pool. In downtown Salt Lake City you can take a two-hour curling lesson.
Utah’s Deer Valley, which hosted Olympic slalom, freestyle moguls and aerial events, offers a robust “Ski With a Champion,” program where you enjoy a private day (or half day) on the slopes with one of several former Olympians and other champions. Combine this with a stay at the luxury ski-in/out St. Regis Deer Valley and it’s a skier’s bucket-list fantasy trip. Deer Valley doesn’t allow snowboarding, but Canada’s Whistler does and offers both in its “Ski or Ride With an Olympian” program, with one of 13 Canadian team veterans.
