Salt Lake Olympics!

2002 Winter Olympics, Salt Lake City, Utah
PGS Snowboard Finals by Michelle Juneau

Where There's a Will…… – My Olympic Experience

We at Bomber Industries gave one of our reporters a Mission: Michelle, your mission, if you accept it, will be to see how inexpensively and fast you can make it to the Salt Lake City Olympics and back. Mission: Accepted! We sent her off with only $35, a bagel, and a camera. See what happens:

Have SUV? – Instant hotel room. That's the first thing I thought of when making the impromptu decision to accept the mission and drive to the Olympic games. It's only 8 hours, right in my backyard practically. Got to go. The chance of a lifetime.

So I packed up the dogs, threw my sleeping bag in the car and my rationed bagel and took off. It turned out to be more like 10 hours, in the middle of the night and snowing, but what a trip. (What a way to spend Valentine's Day!) At first glance, all I could think of was how Utah has a lot of nothing – for a very long time. Then the sun came up and I saw the mountains. I didn't realize how amazing living in Salt Lake City could be.

So I packed up the dogs, threw my sleeping bag in the car and my rationed bagel and took off. It turned out to be more like 10 hours, in the middle of the night and snowing, but what a trip. (What a way to spend Valentine's Day!) At first glance, all I could think of was how Utah has a lot of nothing – for a very long time. Then the sun came up and I saw the mountains. I didn't realize how amazing living in Salt Lake City could be.

After a 2 hour sleep in the back of the car (with the dogs) I ate my bagel and geared up for the day. 2 cameras, tape recorder (just in case I got to interview someone, yeah…..), and binoculars all in the backpack. Plus, it's about –5F so I'm carrying extra clothes. Get on the bus. To see an Olympic event you must ride the bus. Thousands of people were being shuttled everywhere! Luckily, it's free, since I have already spent $1 on coffee. The events are all taking place within a range of about 50 miles of each other. Some are at Park City, some at Deer Valley, and others in Salt Lake City itself. I happened to be at Park City for the Men's and Women's Parallel GS Finals. After getting off the bus still completely hopeful, and walking 15 blocks to get to the resort, I saw the course. Shimmering in the sun and cold, it was inspiring. Can't wait – I hope I get in. Did I forget to mention I didn't have a ticket for the event??? No problem, scalping is legal in Utah (go figure). I should be able to find something with my $34 US bills.

As you are being herded from bus to resort the streets are lined with scalpers. "Does anyone have a ticket to sell? Does anyone need a ticket" is what you hear.

Funny enough, it is usually coming from the same person. They are buying and selling within minutes. Ticket prices – a whopping $300 at some point! Yea, well, I guess I will be watching from the sidelines. I can just hike up the slope and check it out. Oh, those are the prices for watching from the side. These were general admission prices for hiking up the slope sometimes almost to the top of the course. Great if you don't mind the altitude. I still had my $34 and lots of hope, but it was diminishing. I walked up to the security area. There are at least 10 security lines to get in – all packed with people. It's 8 am. The event starts at 10am. 2 hours to go and people are already lined up. From where I am standing I can see the course – but even with binoculars I can't tell what color suits the fore runners are wearing. Ok- definitely a challenge. No ticket, can't see. Plan B – ask a local!

Snowboard instructors are lining up waiting for classes. Not too many people taking lessons. In fact, the entire day I saw approximately 5 people come down the slopes. I think I saw about 10 on the chair lift. Ironic, 'huh? I ask the instructor "where's the best place to watch the event if you don't have a ticket". In a strong Aussie accent he says "The PigPen Saloon – right over there. They have a great window that overlooks the slopes. Beer is served at 10". So off I go. It's 8:30am, and I'm sitting in a bar. Fabulous! The owner comes over. "Need something?" Not really, I said. "It's ok for you to watch the event here if you want. Where you from?" Summit county, I said. "did you come to see what real mountains are like?" That's exactly right – ha ha. We talked about previous events and the crowds. "Yea, people are scalping tickets all over. Once the event starts I hear you can get them really cheap. But you want to make sure the crowds are down – you'll buy a ticket and won't make it through the security line in time". That's when I knew I needed to try a different approach

At 10am I go outside. The crowds have intensified to incredible numbers. There are at least 5,000 people herded outside the "entry". There are at least another 8,000 people inside the gates trying to get through security. As they would let a crowd through, more people were piling up. The line was not getting smaller! I watched this parade for about ½ hour. After realizing that my chances of seeing the event were fading fast, I sat down outside to watch the first racers go down the hill. Unbelivable! To me, it was amusing. I was just glad I had not spent $300 on a ticket to stand in line (the people standing in line could not see the event). A guy is running around the crowd "does anyone have tickets??? I need a ticket!" I asked him if he checked outside the resort, there were many people selling. "They want $95!" And the event had been going on for 25 minutes already. A woman sits next to me. "That's another $100 down the drain. We're never getting in on time". The line finally starts to dwindle. I see a guy with tickets in his hand, and another guy buying them. He's got one left. How much?I ask. Face Value. How much is that? $45. Dang, I only have $34. "I'll take your $34, I just don't want to go". WAHOOO!!!! Talk about being in the right place at the right time! I'm IN!!!!! It takes me another ½ hour to get through security (the lines were very small by now). As the checker is tearing my ticket for entry, she says "You're finally here". I said "you just don't know……".

Inside of the gates there is another little pseudo world. Food, drinks, and schwag is being sold. Plus programs and other things you can't get "outside". I feel so privileged! The crowd starts cheering. With coveted ticket in hand I run to the other side of the grandstand and up the hill to see what is going on. I come around the corner and see the venue – it is breathtaking (either that or the altitude and me running up the stairs)!!!! Thousands of people poured into the stands and closing in on the tiny fence that holds us back. I look around to find a better spot, but I realize the crowds are about 10 people thick. That's general admission for you. Lisa Kosglow has just had her first run. The flags are flying and the crowd is going insane! Patriotism at it's best.

I pick a spot right next to the speakers (it had the fewest people). I call Bomber – "I'M IN!!! I GOT A TICKET! IF YOU TRY TO CALL BACK, I CAN'T HEAR THE PHONE!", as they are snickering on the other end. And there I stand, just trying to take it all in. The sun was shining and by now it had warmed up to a nice 35F. You could feel the crowd pulsating as the MC would shout "Racers on course!". Music was blaring and the MC's were hyping up the crowd to an immeasurable amount of energy. Artists such as No Doubt "I'm just a girl" for the women racers and Beastie Boys for the men blasting from the speakers had spectators dancing and cheering. All eyes were on the athletes coming down the hill, breaking the speeds I am scared to do in my car, much less on a piece of wood. With skin tight suits that I thought for sure would rip as they bent over, the disqualifier rounds proceeded. The crowds went wild for the Americans, and were silent when they took a turn for the worst. But when Chris Klug's name was put on the board for the next heat, the entire crowd went crazy. Everyone from all over the world was cheering this guy on. To be honest, I think people were cheering just to be cheering. That's what the energy level was like in this stadium.

It came down to the medallists. The French (Gold and Silver) and Italians take it for the Women's, and Switzerland, Sweden and USA take it for the Men's. At this point the crowds were thinning out just a bit, and I stepped up closer to the front. I must have been standing next to Klug's friends, because they all had foam hands that said "Chris Klug" on them, and after he won the bronze they were all on their cell phones saying "Chris just won the Bronze!!!!" Then, the crowd turned and started shifting to the right. I turned to look as someone said "there he is!!!!". Mr Klug, you have just won the Bronze medal for USA. What are you going to do now? - "I want to celebrate with my friends". And there he was, hugging and high-fiving the crowd. Since I couldn't get anywhere near him, I decided to make a beeline for the fence. And there I was, standing just a few feet away from the Flower Ceremony and the fastest men and women on snowboards in the world. You had to smile, standing there watching the excitement and relief on the faces of these athletes, listening to the crowd go nuts. I admit it, I was caught up in the excitement and glamour!

I do have to give the city of Salt Lake and the organizers of the Olympics a thumbs up for moving mass amounts of crowds in a short amount of time. Thousands of people to shuttle back to parking lots and other venues and they did it very smoothly and as quick as possible. I have to give them thumbs down for not having readily available maps of the entire Olympic games. If you wanted to know where the opening ceremonies were, or where the medals were given and at what times, you just had to keep asking until you found someone that knew the answer. It was definitely a scavenger hunt to find things. All I have to say is it was well worth the 20 hours in 2 days that I spent in the car, and my $34 ticket. But when the vote comes up in your city to host the Olympic Games, think about what it would be like to get to work in all of that chaos!

Mission Accomplished – bring on the next one!