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Historic Olympic halfpipe is history
By Dennis Romboy, Deseret News Olympic specialist
PARK CITY — The thousands of delirious fans are gone. The head-banging music has stopped. Snowboarding silver medalist Danny Kass is probably prowling the town with a can of spray paint.
The Olympic halfpipe venue is dead.
From the cab of his yellow snow groomer, Jeff Frost recalled with amazement the events of one of the most historic days in U.S. Winter Olympics history as he chugged up the dark, snow-covered hillside. He has work to do.
Frost loves his job. But today, he hates it.
Monday evening, just a few hours after three U.S. snowboarders pulled off a stunning sweep in the Olympic halfpipe contest, Frost and his crew unceremoniously chewed up their forum of glory.
The halfpipe or superpipe, so named because of its dimensions, was buried by the time Ross Powers, Kass and J.J. Thomas had gold, silver and bronze, respectively, draped around their necks at the Olympic Medals Plaza.
"It's like losing your first born, plowing this in," said Frost as he guided piles of sugary snow into the 525-foot long, 17-foot deep channel with his Bombardier BR 275. "It really is."
Halfpipes usually melt away by late spring. But to make way for snowboard parallel giant slalom Thursday and Friday and giant slalom skiing at Park City Mountain Resort next week, the Salt Lake Organizing Committee had to fill in the largest and perhaps best pipe ever used in world competition.
The Olympic layout at the resort was planned to maintain the same finish area for both the freestyle and alpine events. Groomers now focus all their energy into creating a hard-packed racing surface. They will push snow, till it and let it set up overnight. They'll do it again if it's not right.
Still, those like Frost who had a hand in the 15-day pipe-building project hated to see it go in about three hours.
"Snowboarders are probably mad," said Brad Williams, SLOC sport venue manager and Bombardier product management director. "That was one helluva pipe."
Powers, who launched himself higher out of the halfpipe Monday than at any time in his career, called it awesome. His teammate Tommy Czeschin, who finished sixth, called it perfect.
Four U.S. Olympic medals, including Kelly Clark's gold, were won in the pipe Sunday and Monday. All seven American men and women riders earned a place in the finals, with no one finishing lower than sixth.
"I was watching them rip down the pipe and it made me sad," said Charlie Lansche, Park City venue press chief. "Some of America's most glorious moments of any Olympics took place right out there the past two days."
At the bottom of the hill, Frost again shakes his head in awe about Monday's terrific snowboarding, the crowd, the energy.
"It was perfect all the way around," he said.
E-mail: romboy@desnews.com
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February 13, 2002
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