This week, the Utah Olympic Park will offer uphilling passes for the first time ever, but only 400 of them.
Park officials pitch this as an exclusive experience for outdoor enthusiasts to explore terrain previously reserved for athletes and training programs. But the unique part, at least around here, is passholders will be able to follow the designated routes up during the day. Park City Mountain limits uphilling to after dark and before the mountain opens, and only on the prescribed path. Deer Valley doesn’t allow uphilling at all.
The Olympic Park’s ticket sales open at 9 a.m. Thursday, with uphilling terrain opening New Year’s Day.
“We’ve never offered anything to the public like this,” said Marketing Manager Kole Nordmann. “Selling out at 400 tickets will allow us to kind of set a barometer for future years to see how far we can actually take it.”
Nordmann said he anticipates uphill passes will sell out quickly, likely within the first day of release.
“I’ve had so many communications with folks planning to refresh their browsers at 9 a.m. to secure a pass. It’s that kind of excitement behind this,” said Nordmann.
Passholders will have access to terrain that has historically been off-limits due to the park’s commitment to supporting athlete training.
“I think it’s something people are really clamoring for because it’s a little more exclusive. It’s different terrain that no one has ever been on, and I think people are super excited to try it out,” said Nordmann.
Public access to park facilities will end at the uphill route in order to continue to prioritize the athletes who need these training resources to be available.
“Athlete training comes first,” said Nordmann. “Our biggest motivator is to make sure the athletes can train.”
The Utah Olympic Park serves as a training ground for Park City Ski and Snowboard, the University of Utah Ski Team and Rowmark Ski School, among others.
The uphill routes will be cordoned off from the other lifts and trails with netting and maintained by mountain operations.
Upon a pass purchase, folks are required to attend an orientation session at the Utah Olympic Park to acknowledge all the rules and regulations set forth by the foundation and pick up the pass in person. The pass is an armband that uphillers will wear on their outermost layer to signal to mountain operations that they are part of the uphill traffic.
The Utah Olympic Park mountain operations team has been responsible for much of the trail, logistics and oversight for this uphill initiative.
“They’ve really taken it on as a big project and they’ve had a vested interest in it, because they’re all skiers, too,” said Nordmann. “A lot of work has gone into it. We’ve cleared a lot of trees out over the summer and in the fall to make room for that, we’ve made a new path, which is kind of on the northerly side of Olympic Hopeful, our big Alpine run.”
The routes will be open from Jan. 1 to April 1.
“These dates are very weather dependent, we could use a little bit more snow, or some colder temps to make more snow,” said Nordmann.
The uphill trails will be open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. and passes cost $234, an ode to the upcoming 2034 Winter Olympic Games.