Olympics

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Permalink Reply by JeffD on September 20, 2009 at 6:26pm

I hope not. The Olympics would ruin Steamboat....

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Permalink Reply by jg atl on September 21, 2009 at 8:00am

Two possibilities: slim and none

For there to be any Olympic events in Steamboat, somewhere like Denver would need to be the host city for all the other Winter Olympics events. My understanding is that the fine people from Denver have no interest in doing this. Any Denverites on the board here care to confirm?

Even if Denver did have a change in heart and somehow they were awarded a Winter Olympics, my guess is that the ski events would take place along I-70 corridor as it has much easier access from Denver. And some of the I-70 resorts have or are hosting World Cup events, so that would play into their favor.

BTW, I thoroughly enjoyed the Summer Olympics here in Atlanta. It was an amazing experience!!!

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Permalink Reply by skisteamboat on September 21, 2009 at 8:52am

They were going to be in Steamboat back in the 70's for the skiing events. Eventually, CO had a referendum and turned it down. You can still see some of the old Stagecoach ski area that was going to part of the Complex IIRC from the Thunderhead Building at the top of the Gondy.

Cheers

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Permalink Reply by Rick on September 27, 2009 at 6:06pm

I don't remember ever hearing Steamboat in the discussions before the '76 Olympics. The original site was near Loveland, then it was going to be an all-new area, that eventually got built as Beaver Creek (long after '76). Governor Lamm led the fight to not have them for financial reasons (then, a couple years later, Los Angeles showed how to MAKE money hosting the Summer Olymics).

But, my memory may not be perfect.

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Permalink Reply by skiwoods on September 22, 2009 at 10:37am

I doubt it would happen. Just wondering, what would be a GS run at Steamboat? Storm Peak to Cyclone, to Drop Out? I'm not sure if that's long enough.

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Permalink Reply by skisteamboat on September 23, 2009 at 3:58am

Back in 2006, the NCAA Championships were held at Steamboat. The GS was run from the top of the Thunderhead lift down Upper and Lower Concentration. We had to do a lot of slipping on the course to clear the snow. The Slalom was run on Howelsen Hill but could have been run on Sitz + See Me where a lot of JO and other events are run.

Cheers

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Permalink Reply by Cary on September 27, 2009 at 12:13pm

If Colorado ever did host the Olympics, it would be very unlikely that there would be any alpine events in Steamboat. However, there would be a much better chance that the nordic events would be held in Steamboat. Part of that has to do with altitude. I understand that there is a upper limit in elevation for these events. That is one reason that the NCAAs keep coming to Steamboat (back again this year). Most locations in Colorado are too high for the nordic portion (or if they are low enough, they don't get reliable snow).

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