Canada Olympic Park 2/10/08

Patrick would feel right at home here. 410 vertical feet, 5 runs between 3-4PM, then off to Calgary airport to fly home. COP has a decent terrain park and a big halfpipe, where a snowboard comp was just wrapping up. There is a skier/boardercross type slope also, that we skied slowly in the flat afternoon light. It was about 10F, and the surface was pretty much packed powder with no frozen granular like we saw at Nakiska. The acreage is tiny, but they do a good job of maintaining a decent surface. I didn't see race courses set up, but I suspect they are there sometimes.

For the out of town visitor with a few hours to kill, COP's tourist attractions are more interesting than the skiing. There's a 1998 Olympic Museum, and the bobsleigh/luge/skeleton track from the 1998 Games is still in use. It's used for training from October to at least March, and there is also an indoor facility, the Ice House, where they can continue training the starts during the warmer months.

The bobsleigh is open for public rides (with a professional driver of course) from 1-3PM on weekends for $150 per person, mostly reserved well in advance. It's a one minute ride but attains speeds of 120kph and up to 4.5 G's in force. There is also a zipline, most popular in summer, but does not run if temps are lower than -10C. So we did not get to try either of those.

And James was surprised with the Nakiska report. :lol:

Tony Crocker":1m6yr6vg said:

Patrick would feel right at home here. 410 vertical feet, 5 runs between 3-4PM, then off to Calgary airport to fly home.

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Too small. :-s I've seen COP, local Ottawa mole hills aren't in the same category. Plus there is more natural snow than COP.

And James was surprised with the Nakiska report. :lol:

Tony Crocker":1m6yr6vg said:

There's a 1998 Olympic Museum, and the bobsleigh/luge/skeleton track from the 1998 Games is still in use. .

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I suspect you meant the 1988 Olympic Museum. Nagano is a bit further than Calgary.

Tony Crocker":1m6yr6vg said:

The bobsleigh is open for public rides (with a professional driver of course).

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I know there is something like that at Lake Placid, I would love to try it, but never really looked into it.

My Wife and I did the Bobsled thing in Salt Lake City a few years back. It all looks so smooth on TV. There are 13 turns and from seat number 4 (The back seat) it was like 13 head on collisions at 45 MPH. The G forces push down on the top of your helmet so hard that it begins to obstruct you view. Your head smashes into the sides of the sled as you enter and exit every turn. The sound is unforgetable. The view is dizzying. At the end when they tell you to get out my legs were very shakey. My wife (in seat #3) just layed back on the floor of the sled and couldn't move.
Best money I've spent in a long time. Do it if you have the chance. You will never forget it.

Good for Tony, although something tells me there was an ulterior motive for the Nakiska and COP visits.
:wink:

There was a communications mixup or we actually might have had a chance to do that bobsleigh.

The only ulterior motive was the offer from Travel Alberta. With transportation and 2 days at the area I really liked (Castle) plus 2 days at Lake Louise and Sunshine (which we were going to show Ben anyway on the way to Chatter Creek), I certainly wasn't going to turn up my nose at Nakiska and COP.

And yes, they do add to the area count, now at 136. Adding to the area count is a modest motivator. There are quite a few small areas around Tahoe that I still haven't skied.

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