Ski and Snowboard

The month of February during a Winter Olympic year is always exciting. I would say it is definitely the best reason for anybody to have an excuse to watch TV for an absurd amount of time, every day, for two weeks. But the winter Olympics is so much more for the town of Park City who can proudly boast that we have seven truly local Parkites competing in the 2010 Olympic Games. This is a bit long for a blog I know, but when you have this many local Olympians to brag about, the brevity of a blog can easily be ignored.

Brett Camerota is 24, a Nordic combined athlete, and besides being born in Salt Lake has spent his entire life in Park City. Camerota was 10^th after the jumping portion of the Nordic combined and came out in 36^th after the cross country skiing portion.

Steve Holcomb, “little Steve” as his family calls him, is a 30-year-old native of Park City. Holcomb was a football player and ski racer before discovering bobsled at the 2002 Olympics. His sheer power of his 5’10” 210lb body has made him a major threat in the bobsledding world where he intends to stay.

Anders Johnson, the youngest of the locals group at 20, is a Ski Jumper who qualified for his first Olympics at age 16! An interesting thing about Anders is that his older sister Alyssa is a part of the women’s ski jumping team that has been fighting to have their place in the Olympics for many years now. Anders does a great job representing both he and his sister on the world stage and no doubt looks forward to competing with his sister at the Olympics in the next winter games (we are keeping our fingers crossed for these women, you should too!)

Ted Ligety, the Torino surprise, is a 25-year-old native who has lived and trained here his entire life with the Park City Ski Team. Ligety won gold in the Men’s alpine combined (slalom and downhill in one day) in 2006 and has been a force to reckon with ever since. And if you are interested in wearing your ski gear in Olympian fashion check out www.shredoptics.com it is Ligety’s very own Goggle, Sunglass and Helmet brand!

On the ladies side of alpine skiing is 22-year-old Megan McJames. While possibly the sweetest and most soft spoken person you will ever meet on the street, steer clear on the race hill. Her small frame may not look like much against some of the other women you may see, but her power and desire make her a hulk of the hill on course.

Nate Roberts is a 26-year-old Moguls man. You would never know that he was out for the 2008-2009 season with a knee injury when watching him fly down the course with ease. And even though he ended in 16^th, a position he is not used to being in, fans can bet that he will be back on the podium soon enough. That seems to be the Roberts way.

So show your Olympic and American pride and brag to your friends about the town you got to visit which hosts more Winter Olympic athletes than any other.

Enjoy this last weekend of the 2010 Winter Games. Go team USA and Go Park City!

Last weekend we enjoyed the exciting Visa Freestyle International World Cup events at Deer Valley Resort. Top freestyle competitors from around the world visited and gave their all in some thrilling competition.

We enjoyed seeing outstanding results from Heather McPhie and many other exceptional athletes. Many competitors were vying for spots on their own nations’ Olympic teams while also seeking to shine at Deer Valley. After Thursday’s competitions we had an awesome time on Main Street. [click here for results]

 

While the Snow Gods seemed to be resting a bit, the mood was still upbeat and happy. We headed out to historic Main Street Thursday night for a wonderful concert in the street. The music was great and we enjoyed mixing with locals and visitors alike. My personal favorite part of the night was the spectacular display of fireworks that only Park City knows how to light up! Why a concert in the street you may ask? Because that’s a Park City Main Street tradition.

Then we headed back up to Deer Valley on Friday the 15th and Saturday the 16th to watch more of the world’s best freestylers bump, flip and fly high. There were just so many amazing performances by some of the world’s best athletes, and it was a great preview of next month’s Winter Olympic Games. Also, it was such a wonderful way to start a great weekend in Park City!

NBC’s Natalie Morales Gets Big Air at Utah’s Olympic Sports Park

Park City is home to many of the top US winter sports athletes, which is not too surprising considering that the US Ski and Snowboard teams are based in Park City, Utah!  NBC’s Today Show featured a nice segment this week in which Natalie Morales visited Park City to meet with some of the national team athletes, dance with them, and try a quick training session to take on the ski jumps at Utah’s Winter Sports Park.  Fortunately, beneath these huge jumps is a nice landing in an aerated pool (the airflow from the bottom of the pool makes the water landings less brutal on the legs and body).

Check out this video on the NBC website to see Natalie take in some fun Park City moments.  She proved herself a real “trooper” in learning to try jumps that many people would not go near….. and she got to feature some of America’s top athletes on the Today Show!

NBC’s Natalie Morales Gets Big Air at Utah’s Olympic Sports Park

A historic day for American ski racing: Bode Miller just set the new American record for most World Cup victories with his 28th title, and he did it in dramatic fashion! Bode won the Men’s Combined (Downhill + Slalom) in the famed Hahnenkamm races in Kitzbuhel, Austria, and in the downhill he put down a spectacular run right on the edge of survival – he was going so fast he even clipped the course fence at 150+ kph on a curve but managed to stay on his skis. He tied for 2nd in the downhill but his results in the slalom + downhill awarded him the overall victory for the Men’s Combined event. Watch this phenomenal ride into the ski racing history books:

Click here to view YouTube video of his remarkable downhill run