Part 4: Canada Olympic Park - October 11, 2015

11/4/2015

For my last full day in Alberta, I began the day with a plan to head West to visit the Canadian Rockies by way of Banff National Park. To get there, I drove on the Trans-Canadian Highway, and made a short visit to the Canada Olympic Park, (Also known as WinSport). One of the venues that hosted various events for the 1988 Winder Olympics hosted by Calgary.

Outside of the visitor center, you can "Feel the Rhythm" from one of the most popular movies made in connection to the 1988 Olympics, Cool Runnings. Near the parking lot, they have one of the bobsleds used for the movie on display. This was really cool to see one of the sleds used in the film, as I was a fan of the movie.

The park itself is still in use as it serves as a popular location for public skiing in the winter, as well as mountain biking in the summer. The ski jumps, which hosted the jumping events during the Winter Games, are still used for training by competitive jumpers as well.

Along with jumping events, the Olympic Park also hosted the luge and bobsled events. The bobsled course is still in place, and used for training to this day. The course is quite large, and has sections that went uphill as well as downhill.

What took me by surprise was how open the course was so that you could get up-close to it for some really cool pictures. I was also surprised to find out that they had ice on it even while not in use. Seeing it in person helps to give you a sense of just how crazy it could be to ride in a bobsled or luge with some incredibly steep turns.

Towards the end of the run near the finish line, you can see where the inspirational finish from Cool Runnings took place, as well as where several contestant during the 1988 Olympics would have celebrated their run time.

As neat as it was to visit Canada Olympic Park, it was only the beginning of the day as there were some scenic sights to enjoy ahead.

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Part 4: Canada Olympic Park - October 11, 2015