The state is overflowing with new facilities for winter sports. Ski areas are buffed and ready. And athlete sightings are common, since they have been training and competing all winter to be ready for next February. Many of Utah's Olympic venues are open to the public, now that this winter's pre-Olympic competitions have ended. It's even getting easy to move around, with the near completion of the Interstate 5 overhaul through the Salt Lake Valley.
Buses shuttle skiers between Park City resorts, and city buses deliver skiers to all four ski areas.
Other popular resorts include Snowbird, Alta, Solitude and Brighton, all tucked away in canyons just east of the city's suburbs, and Snowbasin, where a new access road has lopped off 10 miles of driving from the state capital. And even at those, the Olympic courses take up only a small portion of the ski runs. It's possible to ski all day away from the Olympic hubbub. At Snowbasin near Ogden, snow riders can schuss the Olympic downhill now, only months before Daron Rahlves tries next February to win a medal for the United States. At Park City, skiers can have their photo taken as they leave the start house of the Olympic giant slalom at Park City Mountain Resort.