Sometimes when I'm bored, I imagine exciting things I would build if I were up-to-my-ears-in-dough rich, like a climbing wall coming out of my own swimming pool. Well, here's the Park City olympic practice facility, and it's really something straight out of those daydreams. They have five different ramps (the big aerial is to the left) on the side of a giant pool. It's apparently one-of-a-kind, frequented by the likes of Tanner Hall and Matt Reichman, even. Because falling onto ice from 50 feet in the air has a way of injuring people, the athletes come here to work the kinks out of their latest twists and twirls before they take them to the slopes. As if launching off a ramp into a clear blue pool weren't cool enough, get this- you see the froth? As the skiers glide down the ramp, they (aquatic gnomes, I imagine) release compressed air from the bottom of the pool to break up the surface into pillowy bubbles, so if you botch your back-full-full with a twist, no problem- you'll be spared the belly-flop. Quite the contrary, I'll bet it feels like plunging into a refreshing cologne ad.
7.30.2008
Awesome
Sometimes when I'm bored, I imagine exciting things I would build if I were up-to-my-ears-in-dough rich, like a climbing wall coming out of my own swimming pool. Well, here's the Park City olympic practice facility, and it's really something straight out of those daydreams. They have five different ramps (the big aerial is to the left) on the side of a giant pool. It's apparently one-of-a-kind, frequented by the likes of Tanner Hall and Matt Reichman, even. Because falling onto ice from 50 feet in the air has a way of injuring people, the athletes come here to work the kinks out of their latest twists and twirls before they take them to the slopes. As if launching off a ramp into a clear blue pool weren't cool enough, get this- you see the froth? As the skiers glide down the ramp, they (aquatic gnomes, I imagine) release compressed air from the bottom of the pool to break up the surface into pillowy bubbles, so if you botch your back-full-full with a twist, no problem- you'll be spared the belly-flop. Quite the contrary, I'll bet it feels like plunging into a refreshing cologne ad.
