One of the steepest terrain expansions in recent memory opened for the first time yesterday. The Utah Olympic Park in Park City opened up the Spencer F. Eccles Olympic Mountain Center, which is serviced by a Doppelmayr high-speed quad.
The twenty-five-acre expansion features two new steep trails. The first trail will be used for GS and Slalom training, and the other run is for mogul training. Lights for night shredding and snowmaking are also part of the expansion.
We were thrilled today to celebrate the grand opening of the new Spencer F. Eccles Olympic Mountain Center!
Thank you to the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Foundation and all of our incredible partners who made this project possible. pic.twitter.com/dUi5RWVmFs
— Utah Olympic Park (@UtahOlympicPark) March 1, 2023
Spencer Joseph, who is the Special Projects Reporter for Fox 13 Utah, was there for the event, and it looked like the conditions were great.
#HappeningNow the @UtahOlympicPark is opening up a whole new side of their facility that will help cement Utah’s legacy as a place for Winter Sports and MAYBE another Olympic Games 🤞🏼 we will have more on @fox13 at 5! pic.twitter.com/jHKv42deQH
— Spencer Joseph (@SpencerJosephTV) March 1, 2023
Also side note 📝 check out all the amazing Skiers ⛷️ and Snowboarders 🏂 getting ready to be the FIRST ones down the mountain. I sadly forgot my board 😔 @fox13 pic.twitter.com/DB9jKdufzx
— Spencer Joseph (@SpencerJosephTV) March 1, 2023
ITS OFFICIAL 🎿 Spencer Eccles (who the mountain is named after) takes the first chair lift up at @UtahOlympicPark for the opening of this new training venue. @fox13 pic.twitter.com/ucyPTsdVvj
— Spencer Joseph (@SpencerJosephTV) March 1, 2023
While this expansion is awesome, it’s sadly not open to the public. The facility will be available to local Olympic athletes, and schools’ ski race teams. If Salt Lake City does host the Winter Olympics in the future, they could use the venue for training or actual competitions.
I hope they have a public ski night sometime in the future, as it would be fun to make some GS turns on these steep runs.
A video report from KSL, which shows the ride up the chairlift, is below.
Image/Video Credits: Spencer Joseph (Fox 13), Utah Olympic Park, KSL