February 12, 2002 (PM) -- Black Tuesday, as referred to by the Utah Department of Transportation, started as predicted… massive traffic congestion as Olympic venues were spread all over the area. The Women’s Downhill at Snowbasin; Men’s Freestyle Moguls at Deer Valley; Ski Jumping and Luge events at the Utah Olympic Park; Curling in Ogden; Ice Hockey in Salt Lake… etc…

I headed out to the slopes of Deer Valley to catch the action of the Men’s Freestyle Moguls event. A couple of days ago, I was able to catch an angle from the side of the run after two security checks. The finals had started and I, along with another 50+ people, was planted in the right place and could see most of the course and hear all the action.

The first couple of competitors came down the course and I was able to shoot a few stills and some video. Then, the “Men in Yellow” came by and had everyone continue down the hill. Actually very threateningly told people to keep moving and physically escorted everyone off the run… this really put a damper on trying to find out how the US men were doing.

Men's Bump Jump

At that point, all I could do is ski down to the bottom and ride the lift back up and attempt to catch some action from the lift. While riding up, the huge scoreboard showed Moseley in the number 1 spot as the announcer introduced the Frenchman, Richard Gay. I tried to shoot this run from the moving chair and unfortunately, the view was filtered and blocked by trees… it was very disappointing. Then, I heard the announcer say, “We have a new leader”… I knew then that Jonny was not going to get the gold. At that point, the trip back up…going through security to get back on the lift and the security check to get back alongside the course run … would be fruitless as the event would be over with by then. But, I did get a couple of shots for the archives and memories of this historic Olympic Freestyle competition.

When I arrived back at the Park City Media Center, the results were in…Moseley did not medal. He came in 4th. The Gold went to Finland’s Janne Lahtela who won the World Cup event at Heavenly two seasons ago and has been on the podium more than any other mogulist since he won the Silver in Nagano in1998.

The big surprise… 19-year-old Travis Mayer from Steamboat Springs, Colorado, went on to win the Silver for the U.S. Taking the Bronze was the Frenchman, Richard Gay who beat Jonny Moseley. Jeremy Bloom from Breckenridge, Colorado came in 9th.

Curtis Fong on side run of event

News from the Women’s Downhill held in Snowbasin also came into the press center. The event was cancelled yesterday due to winds and was delayed two hours today until the wind subsided. Can you imagine the spectators who made the journey out, yesterday, to one of the parking lots, go through the security check, get herded onto a shuttle bus, walk up to the stadium, wait around in the cold for two hours, then be told that the event is cancelled… Then, the ordeal of shuttling back. Well, today’s rescheduled Women’s Downhill started the same way except there was a huge traffic back up, a couple of busses were reported to have broken down, and the event was delayed two hours, again due to wind… but, the event did get off by 12 noon. Did Picabo get the Gold? Unfortunately, not even close. Carole Montillet skied the fastest with a time of 1:39.56 to win Gold for France. Italian, Isolde Kostner won the Silver with a time of 1:40.01 and Austria’s Renate Goetschl took the Bronze with a time of 1:40.39.

The good news was that the U.S. best performance was turned in by South Tahoe’s own Jonna Mendes who placed 11th with a time of 1:40.97; and right behind her was her team mate, Kirsten Clark with a time of 1:41.03. Picabo Street finished 16th with a time of 1:41.17 - 1.61 seconds behind the leader and announced her retirement from competitive racing.

My last report from this location will be tomorrow morning. It’s been a great experience to be at the Winter Olympics!

February 12, 2002 (AM) -- What an awesome day it turned out to be… Why? I took some time off from the press duties of covering the Games and went to The Canyons to make turns. And what a resort this is turning out to be. Over 10 years ago I skied the then Park West, and if you were to check it out today… whoa! What a difference.

American Ski Company, same owners of Heavenly, have done an incredible job in transforming this resort to a great destination. The Grand Summit Resort & Conference Center is conveniently located just steps from the Flight of the Canyons Gondola. This property has it all including a swim-in swim-out pool. Across the plaza, the Sundial Lodge offers slopeside condominiums with style and views.

The mountain is huge! 3500 acres serviced by 16 lifts (5 are high speed quads) and they have a people mover, the Cabriolet open gondola, delivering guests from the parking lot to the village. Or you can take The Canyons complimentary shuttle that runs from Park City to the resort.

What else could add to a great day on the slopes with great snow… how about some great friends to share it with? Megan and ChristianWaczcowitz from Sierra-at-Tahoe and Alpen Sierra Coffee, respectively, to “Carve the Cord” on several of their 135 established runs. The Canyon offers a variety of runs with subtle terrain changes and groves or isles of trees in the middle giving the skier a more adventurous experience. Then, we went up to the top of the Ninety Nine Ninety lift to challenge the chutes and bowls up above… yes, indeed, we even hiked to the top of the peak to “Scarf the Gnar” and found some great snow, soft bumps, even north facing tree lined powder shots… It was all good!

While I was enjoying the uncrowded slopes at The Canyons, an over capacity crowd, estimated at nearly 30,000 spectators, were catching rays while the US Men’s Freestyle Snowboard Team was catching huge air in the Half Pipe Competition and destroying the rest of the field… Method Grabs, Backside 720’s - 1080’s – 900’s, Switch McTwist’s… The US Men’s Snowboard Team pulled out its full arsenal and scored big time.

The ’98 Nagano Bronze Medal winner, Ross Powers, took home the Gold with his best of two runs score of 46.1. The young compact style of Danny Kass thrilled the crowd and impressed the judges, and took the Silver Medal with a score of 42.5. And JJ Thomas bumped Tommy Czechine down to score a 42.1 to win the Bronze.

The Women’s DH was delayed and eventually cancelled due to unfavorable winds and will be run today. More reports on today’s action later today…

One other note: While enjoying lunch on the sundeck of the Red Pine Lodge, a infamous group of “masters” freestylers or “Hot Dog” skiers as we used to call them, stopped by to say hi… John “JC” Clendenin, Scott Brooksbank, “Air Born” Eddie Furguson, Scott Willoby and Bob Theobald… A Blast from the Past… all tearing up the slopes at The Canyons.

February 11, 2002 -- While walking back down Park City’s Main Street from the Media Center an opportunity to purchase tickets to the Men’s Downhill presented itself and I jumped on it. I would have to drive up to Ogden and do the Park n’ Ride thing and was ready to make take the challenge… or so I thought.

The Men’s Downhill is one of the premier events of the Winter Olympics and to be there, at the bottom of the course was a must do for this reporter. I fired up the Subaru Outback around 7:30am and headed out to Hwy 40 and then east on I-80… the back way to Ogden with out having to drive west to Salt Lake then I-15 north…

It was a beautiful drive as I have not been east of the junction on the Interstate. Up near Coalville, Hwy 84 heads towards Ogden through a picturesque canyon. We followed the signs and all the traffic to the exit leading to the parking lots. Right before us, two cars, they closed the exit and directed vehicle to continue on the Highway. We ended up driving another 15 minutes down the road to the I-15 junction and parked in the South Weber parking area… one of the very furthest parking lots and a 3/4 mile walk to where the buses were loading. I grabbed the boot bag and my skis as well as the cameras in the back pack and started heading to the bus loading zone… a couple of skiers were coming back alerting others who were carrying their skis that the buses would not let you take them on board and also reported that Snowbasin was not selling any more lift tickets for the day. It was disappointing and I ended up walking back to the car to leave the equipment. When I finally got to the loading area… yes, indeed there was scrutiny of the security check… empty all your pockets, turn on all equipment… walk thru metal detectors, etc… just like airport security, except no wands…then you were able to board the bus. The 14 mile drive back up the mostly two lane roadway and into Snowbasin was slow as miles of buses – a caravan… were still en route transporting hundreds of spectators to the stadium.

It was now past 10:00am, the start time for the event, and I knew I was missing the actions. As the bus neared the resort, you could not miss the snow fencing lining the awesome “Grizzly” course from the very top of the mountain. By the time the bus arrived and after the walk up to the finish corral, over half the racers had negotiated and finished their Olympic Downhill run… including Daron Rahvles from Truckee. It was disappointing not to see the start of the event and the transportation system to this venue did not work as well as Park City. Many other folks were disappointed, too! But, this was the legendary Olympic Downhill and I was fortunate to be there at the finish line along with 25,000 other enthusiastic fans.

From the bottom looking up the “Rendezvous Face”, racers came off the ridge, catching big air while negotiating a cranking left turn across the top followed by another cranking right turn down the final schuss.

A young USA racer by the name of Marco Sullivan, excited the crowd with an awesome run, coming from way back in the start list and finished in 9th position. The crowd in fact went wild! When it was all over, Fritz Strobl, known for winning the infamous Hannenkamm Downhill took Gold with a time of 1:39.13; while long term Norwegian champion, Lasse Kjus got the Silver with a time of 1:39.35; and the current World Cup leader, who was the favorite to win, Austrian, Stephan Eberharter, took the Bronze with a 1:39.41.

Daron Rahlves finished 16th with a time of 1:40.84 and nearly blew up off the “Flintlock” jumps where got way too much air and hang time before landing off his line… he attacked and fought back valiantly to make up time, but was not able to overcome the time lost in the air.

After the event, there were long lines for the buses as well as for food and everything else… The refreshment stands were also reported to run out of food. I ran into several other folks from Tahoe who were either enjoying being there or were helping with the course and other areas.

I stuck around to catch the training run of the Women’s Downhill. Heavenly’s Jonna Mendes came down the course greeted by a large roar from the remaining spectators. The other US Women also had great runs, including Kirsten Clark, Carolyn Lalive and Picabo Street who excited the crowd with a great run. The Women’s Downhill is set for Monday and Picabo is in top form for a medal. Jonna also has a lot more confidence and could also vie for a medal. We will all know by Monday afternoon as the start time is set for 10:00 am.

While at Snowbasin, the Women’s Snowboard Half Pipe Competition was held at Park City Mountain Resort and America won its first gold medal as 18 year old, Kelly Clark outscored the world’s best with numerous Big Air, Tail & Frontside Side Grabs, Backside 540’s, a 720 and McTwist’s.

Getting back into Park City also had it challenges as it was difficult to get back to the Park Hotel on Main Street. Road blocks and Police were directing all traffic to go out of town … It was extremely frustrating driving around town in loops and being directed in the opposite direction… but, finally I negotiated some different side roads and an illegal U-Turn got me where I need to go.

If you are still planning to attend the games and will be driving out… there is no parking in Park City. I am paying way too much for the privilege of having my car. I have an access pass as well as a parking pass that needs to be displayed in the vehicle at all times. Parking tickets are $150 fine and you could be towed away. The joke has been this place should be called “No Park City”.

February 9, 2002 (PM) -- I took the shuttle bus up to Deer Valley’s Silver Lake Lodge and accessed the mountain to ski down toward the freestyle mogul course where the women were competing. Security was much more evident, today. The slopes were bare of skiers on Deer Valley’s slopes, so if you want to come and get lots of legendary meticulously groomed runs in … now’s the time to come. It took about 15 minutes to get through the security check before loading on the lift. Not too bad but when you consider there were only 6 skiers in front of me and about 100 chair went by. Everyone had to open back packs, turn on their cameras, cell phones, video recorders, etc. and prove that these were authentic items… plus, then you had to be subjected to arms out and wand-sensor, up, down, around, in, out and about you body…before you they let you on the lift.

From above I was able to shoot down on the Finish Area and the Grand Stands where over 10,000 spectators filled every seat. The view was incredible. I then skied further down the run and waited to pass another security inspection area to access the run the neared the venue to the bottom. After waiting at least 30 minutes for this security check, I was able to shoot a few more shots and some video of the final runs and the crowd going insane when Shannon Bahrke came down. I also witnessed Hannah Hardaway’s runs and the gold metal winning run of Kari Traa. If you saw it on the tube…you saw it!

28 year old, Kari Traa, bronze medallist at Nagano, captured the Gold with Tahoe City’s Shannon Bahrke made us all proud by taking Silver and the Nagano Gold medallist, Tae Satoya settled for the Bronze. It was incredible to see the sea of spectators depart the Finish Stadium and the transportation system was certainly tested, today.

Later on, thousand of visitors enjoyed hanging on Main Street. There were lines outside the Roots Store, official supplier of the US Ski Team, to purchase their commemorative berets, hats, fleeces, sweats, etc… Cash registers are definitely ringing in Park City. Even the Budweiser Clydesdales are being pranced up and down Main Street… and everyone is in a party attitude… Let the Games Continue….

February 9, 2002 (AM) -- If you were anywhere near a TV Last night… or, live at the Olympic Stadium, what an incredible Opening Ceremonies it was. The American Flag from the WTC certainly brought tears to my eyes…. "Light the Fire Within" was the theme, inspiring everyone and the Olympic athletes to go after their dreams. The program also told the world the great story of the Westward Expansion including Native Americans and the driving of the golden spike joining the East with the West, by railroad, at Promentary Point, just north of Salt Lake.

Before the joining of the Railroad, it took 6 months to cross from East to West… after this monumental feat, it took 6 days….What was also spectacular was the total audience participation, the fireworks, the music… a great - the best opening ceremonies of any Winter Games…