After we finished business in Promontory, Utah we planned to stay for a ski weekend in Park City. During our visit, hubby really wanted to try the Winter Comet Bobsled Ride at Utah Olympic Park. Since we wanted to ski three days and had the condo for four, this was a great addition to our “rest” day .
Utah Olympic Park was built ahead of the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Winter Games. During the 2002 games the park hosted bobsled, skeleton, Luge, Nordic Ski Jumping, and Nordic Combined events. Today, the venue is an active, official U.S. Olympic Training Site, providing a training center for Olympic and development level athletes.
The bobsled ride is only offered during the winter months so we were on the tail end of the season. Although we arrived early afternoon, our tickets were for the last session of the day. This gave us ample time to tour all of the displays in the museum. Most of them are dedicated to the Winter Olympics hosted by Salt Lake City in 2002 and feature costumes and souvenirs from the games. The museum also has a nice cafe if you need a drink or snack while you’re waiting for activities.
Before our ride, we attended a safety session in the museum auditorium, signed safety waivers, and were divided into groups of three. Afterwards, we boarded a mini-bus to take us up to the track where we were outfitted with safety gear. The track area has a nice, heated lounge/waiting area and there was a streaming video of each sled’s ride and time at various points along the track.
Here are some photos we took at the track.
Each bobsled is guided by a professional driver and has room for three riders. The track features 10 turns and the sled can reach speeds up to 70 mph. The person in the back of the bobsled experiences the most G-force which can be between 4-5 times the force of gravity. They tell everyone to keep their chin tucked into the neck to diminish the effects of the G-force.
When it was are turn we boarded a bus with our bobsled to take us to the top of the run. Our bobsled’s time was 47.09 seconds with 66.5 mph achieved over 3,200 feet of length and a 235 foot vertical drop. We got commemorative certificates for our ride. Although I have to admit I was apprehensive about the ride, it happened so fast and was less scary than most roller coasters. It was a fun experience and I have a new respect for the bobsled and luge Olympians!
