Soldier Hollow is a cross-country ski resort located 53 miles (85 km) southeast of Salt Lake City in Wasatch Mountain State Park, Utah, United States. The resort was created for the 2002 Winter Olympics, and during the games it hosted the biathlon, cross-country skiing and the cross country skiing portion of the Nordic combined events. Since hosting the Olympics, it has been developed as a cross-country skiing, tubing, and snowshoeing resort, while featuring mountain biking and golfing in the summer. On May 1, 2016, the venue operation contract transferred from the Soldier Hollow Legacy Foundation to the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation, which owns and operates several Olympic and Paralympic legacy venues elsewhere in the state.
Video Soldier Hollow
History
Pre-Olympics
Soldier Hollow is located in the southeastern-most part of Wasatch Mountain State Park, a 21,592 acres (8,738 ha) nature preserve created in 1961, which became a state park in 1968. Soldier Hollow's location within the state park did not carry a name until Olympic organizers coined it Soldier Hollow. This name was chosen because of its proximity to Soldier Springs, a summer campsite used by Ute Indians, U.S. Army surveyors of the 1850's and others. Prior to becoming a state park certain locations within the park were used for farming and grazing activities, while much of the remainder was used recreationally by locals. In the last quarter of the 20th century the state park service had been approached by private developers hoping to build luxury hotels, golf courses and other attractions within the park, but none of these plans ever came to fruition.
Resort development
The Soldier Hollow venue was one of only three which was built and designed by the Salt Lake Organizing Committee (SLOC) specifically for the 2002 Winter Olympics; with the others being the Utah Olympic Park and Utah Olympic Oval. The Soldier Hollow location was chosen by SLOC as an Olympic venue in October 1997, over several other possible locations including Sherwood Hills near Logan, Utah. Preliminary work began soon after the venue site was chosen, but major construction didn't start until 1999. Work at the venue had been completed enough (80% complete) to host its first major event, U.S. Cross Country Championships, on January 8, 2000. Construction on the venue's day lodge began with a groundbreaking ceremony on July 5, 2000. The lodge was completed in December 2000 and dedicated on January 5, 2001. The venue cost SLOC $22 million USD to construct.
2002 Winter Olympics & Paralympics
During the 2002 games Soldier Hollow hosted the biathlon, cross-country skiing, and Nordic combined events. The venue itself hosted 64,160 biathlon spectators, 99,320 cross-country spectators, and 1,794 Nordic combined spectators during these events. During the 2002 Winter Paralympics the venue hosted the biathlon and cross-country events.
Soldier Hollow was the furthest venue from Salt Lake City with an estimated drive time of 2-2.5 hours from downtown during the games. Because of this distance from any large population centers, a special Western Experience was created at the venue's spectator plaza to give visitors activities to do between competitions. The Western Experience included music and entertainment, a mountain rendezvous, pioneer reenactments, cowboy camps, wild mustang exhibit and American Indian displays, along with concession stands.
In order to help cut down on vehicle traffic in the local canyons during the games, and to give spectators a unique experience, SLOC reached an agreement with the historic Heber Valley Railroad to transport spectators to the Soldier Hollow venue. A special station was constructed along the railroad tracks near the venue which would allow for two to four trains, carrying 200 passengers each, per day. The Heber Valley Railroad's numbers 618 and 75 steam-engines, were joined by the Nevada Northern Railway Museum's number 93 steam-engine, in pulling eight-car trains full of passengers, to the Soldier Hollow depot where they disembarked and continued to the venue entrance on a horse-drawn sleigh.
Maps Soldier Hollow
The resort today
The resort has been developed as a cross-country skiing, tubing, and snowshoeing resort with nearby horse-pulled sleigh riding during the winter months, while featuring mountain biking, golfing, a popular music festival and an international sheepdog competition in the summer. It is owned by the State of Utah and part of Wasatch Mountain State Park. The Division of State Parks and Recreation contracted management of the venue to a non-profit foundation.
Music festival
The Wasatch Mountain Music Festival will be held at Soldier Hollow on July 14 - 16, 2017. Under the direction and management of Vibrant America and the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation, this festival of Americana music - bluegrass, country, Texas swing, folk, gypsy jazz - has an ideal setting within a Wasatch Mountain cove.
The large grassy staging area has two stages for non-stop music with a talented and diverse lineup of national recording artists and favorite local performers.
There are overnight camping spaces, vendor booths and food court, family hiking or biking trails, and nearby horseback riding or covered wagon rides, along with a pioneer living history encampment with children activities. The Heber Valley Railroad has scheduled a special "music train" to bring patrons to the event.
With a mission to educate as well as entertain, the Wasatch Mountain Music Festival will offer workshops from professionals, singer/songwriter showcases, music activities for children and opportunities for all musicians to jam and build relationships.
Sheepdog competition
The site is also home to the Soldier Hollow Classic Sheepdog Championship and Festival, held on Labor Day weekend each year. Called the "world's foremost sheepdog trial" with some 28,000 people in attendance, the event will be four day event held September 1-4, 2017.
References
External links
- Soldier Hollow Resort - Official website
- Ski Utah - Resort Profile
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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