Post by aaosmts19 on Jun 7, 2008 22:02:54 GMT -5
The Olympic Park up in Park City was the home of bobsled, luge, skeleton, nordic tracks during the 2002 Olympics. It is also currently the home of the Freesytle / Aerial / Splash Pool.
From:
www.olyparks.com/uop/pool.asp
"The freestyle aerials training pool opened in July 1993, and is the summer training site for many world-class aerialists, including Olympic medalists Eric Bergoust and Joe Pack. 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, 30-minute freestyle aerial shows normally take place on Saturdays at 1:00. The Terrain Park makes its debut at the Utah Olympic Park this winter offering jumps and a ski play area, and it serves as the location for many freestyle camps. The Utah Olympic Park has also been the site of the sold-out Ultimate Airwave freestyle aerials show which occurs in late summer."
In my trip to SLC a few weeks ago I spent an afternoon watching these amazing athletes.
The view, first of all, is gorgeous. This shot is looking back down the 2-mile driveway into the park, back toward Kimball Juncton. Note the three sections between the poles...these are trampolines that folks train on. The center one is uncovered, the 2 on either side have tarps on them.
This picture shows skiiers arriving. It was about 59 degrees, and I can't imagine how cold the water must have been, even if the sun was out. You'll see that they put on some sort of a loose fitting rubber suit. I didn't really see any form-fitting wet suits; but what I noticed about this suit (see the woman in the orange suit) is that when they landed in the water there was enough air inside that it provided some sort of buoyancy. They also wore life jackets. Not only did it provide the obvious protection for the water, but I thought it also provided protection from the ski tips slamming into their back if they landed wrong!
This shot shows the various kickers, providing a variety of heights. The surface had what looked like plastic 'hairs', which were dampened by water sprayed on it from both sides of it. No ski lifts here! Everyone had to walk up the steps to the top.
This is the end of each of the 4 kickers...you can see that they are different sizes. The day that I was there everyone was using the shortest kicker. I like the colors and the logos in this picture.
Walking up to the top.....
Ready, set, go!
Love this shot....she's dripping wet, IN HEAVY SKIBOOTS, hauling the skis up those steps, to do it all over again. I watched about 12 skiers do this for 2 hours, when I left. I have no idea how much longer they trained, but it must be exhausting .....
Walking up to the top, only to do it again, and again, and again...
From:
www.olyparks.com/uop/pool.asp
"The freestyle aerials training pool opened in July 1993, and is the summer training site for many world-class aerialists, including Olympic medalists Eric Bergoust and Joe Pack. 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, 30-minute freestyle aerial shows normally take place on Saturdays at 1:00. The Terrain Park makes its debut at the Utah Olympic Park this winter offering jumps and a ski play area, and it serves as the location for many freestyle camps. The Utah Olympic Park has also been the site of the sold-out Ultimate Airwave freestyle aerials show which occurs in late summer."
In my trip to SLC a few weeks ago I spent an afternoon watching these amazing athletes.
The view, first of all, is gorgeous. This shot is looking back down the 2-mile driveway into the park, back toward Kimball Juncton. Note the three sections between the poles...these are trampolines that folks train on. The center one is uncovered, the 2 on either side have tarps on them.
This picture shows skiiers arriving. It was about 59 degrees, and I can't imagine how cold the water must have been, even if the sun was out. You'll see that they put on some sort of a loose fitting rubber suit. I didn't really see any form-fitting wet suits; but what I noticed about this suit (see the woman in the orange suit) is that when they landed in the water there was enough air inside that it provided some sort of buoyancy. They also wore life jackets. Not only did it provide the obvious protection for the water, but I thought it also provided protection from the ski tips slamming into their back if they landed wrong!
This shot shows the various kickers, providing a variety of heights. The surface had what looked like plastic 'hairs', which were dampened by water sprayed on it from both sides of it. No ski lifts here! Everyone had to walk up the steps to the top.
This is the end of each of the 4 kickers...you can see that they are different sizes. The day that I was there everyone was using the shortest kicker. I like the colors and the logos in this picture.
Walking up to the top.....
Ready, set, go!
Love this shot....she's dripping wet, IN HEAVY SKIBOOTS, hauling the skis up those steps, to do it all over again. I watched about 12 skiers do this for 2 hours, when I left. I have no idea how much longer they trained, but it must be exhausting .....
Walking up to the top, only to do it again, and again, and again...
The training that all of these athletes go through is just so incredible! Thanks for sharing your pics with us. 
