Canada Olympic Park facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Canada Olympic Park |
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Canada Olympic Park, Summer 2005
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| Location | Calgary, Alberta, Canada |
| Coordinates | 51°04′47″N 114°12′57″W / 51.07972°N 114.21583°W |
| Top elevation | 1,250 m (4,100 ft) |
| Base elevation | 1,130 m (3,710 ft) |
| Skiable area | 0.4 km2 (0.15 sq mi) |
| Runs | 3 25% - Easy 55% - Intermediate 20% - Terrain Park |
| Longest run | 639 m (2,096 ft) |
| Lift system | 4 chairlifts, 4 magic carpet |
| Snowfall | 1.14 m (3.7 ft) /year |
| Website | WinSport |
Canada Olympic Park (COP) is an exciting place in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It used to be called Paskapoo Ski Hill. This big park is where people can ski, train for sports, and even compete! WinSport owns and runs it.
Today, COP is used by top athletes to train and by everyone else for fun activities. It was a main spot for the 1988 Winter Olympics. Big events like ski jumping, bobsleigh, and luge happened here. You can find the park in western Calgary, near the Trans-Canada Highway. It's also close to communities like Cougar Ridge, Bowness, and Valley Ridge.
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The 1988 Winter Olympics at COP
Canada Olympic Park is famous for being a key location during the XV Olympic Winter Games in Calgary in 1988. It was the main place for many exciting events. These included bobsleigh, luge, nordic combined, ski jumping, and freestyle skiing. The bobsleigh and luge events took place on what is now the bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton track.
Fun Activities at Canada Olympic Park
COP offers many activities all year round! In winter, you can enjoy downhill skiing, snowboarding, cross-country skiing, ski jumping, bobsleigh, and luge. When summer arrives, the park changes to warm-weather fun. You can try mountain biking, zip-lining, and even summer camps. The park also has indoor facilities open all year. These include arenas, fitness centers, and an indoor ice track.
Skiing and Snowboarding Adventures
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Canada Olympic Park is a popular spot for skiing and snowboarding. It's great because you don't have to drive far to the mountains. The ski hill has three main areas. There's a section for downhill racing, a casual area for relaxed skiing, and an awesome terrain park.
The terrain park is really special. In 2006, its halfpipe was made to be just like the one used in the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. The park also has other cool features like spines, handrails, and tables for tricks.
COP has six lifts that are used regularly. These include two fast four-person chairlifts and four Magic Carpets. There's also a single chair that goes to a smaller ski jump.
How COP Makes Snow
Canada Olympic Park mostly uses man-made snow for its ski runs. Snowmaking usually starts in early November and continues until early February, depending on the weather. The park has lots of snowmaking machines. These include automated fan guns and stick guns. A special pump station provides high-pressure water and air. When running at full power, the park uses about 850,000 liters of water every hour!
Ski Jumping Facility
WinSport also runs a ski jumping area at Canada Olympic Park. It has six jumps, from small K4 jumps to large K95 jumps. Three of these jumps (K18, K38, and K63) are used all year. The K4 and K89 jumps are used only in the summer. The biggest jump, the K95, is no longer used for jumping. It's now a cool place for parties! On average, about 28,000 jumps happen here each year. Most of these are in the summer. The Altius Nordic SC club calls this ski jump venue home.
Mountain Biking Fun
In the summer, Canada Olympic Park becomes a great place for mountain biking. A high-speed chairlift takes riders and their bikes up the hill. There are many trails on the west side of the hill. These trails have cool features like ladder stunts and singletrack paths. The east side has regular trails with fewer stunts. COP also has a large dirt jump park and a trials park. Summer sports camps run all season, offering activities from luge to ski jumping.
WinSport Arenas
In 2011, WinSport opened its amazing ice facility. It has four ice rinks! One is an international-sized arena that can seat 3,000 people. The other three are NHL-sized rinks. These arenas are used for curling, figure skating, speed skating, ringette, and ice hockey. They have also hosted concerts, shows, and other sports events.
The WinSport Arena rinks were used for the 2023 World Ringette Championships.
Markin MacPhail Centre
In 2014, WinSport finished building the Markin MacPhail Centre. It's named after its generous supporters, Allan Markin and Keith MacPhail. This center is a training hub for Canadian athletes who are at a high level in their sports. It includes the ice arenas, a gymnasium, and a medical center for athlete treatment and recovery. It also has an office tower where the National Sport School and several national sport organizations are located.
Calgary Surge Basketball
The Calgary Surge is a professional Canadian basketball team. They play in the Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL). Since their first season in 2022, the team has played their home games at Canada Olympic Park (COP).
Canada's Sports Hall of Fame
On October 28, 2008, Calgary was chosen to be the permanent home for Canada's Sports Hall of Fame (CSHOF). The land for this new building was given by the former Calgary Olympic Development Association (CODA), now called Canadian Winter Sport Institute or WinSport Canada. The project cost C$50 million. About C$30 million was used to build the venue, and another C$20 million went into an endowment fund for operating costs. It opened to the public on July 1, 2011, during Canada Day celebrations. The old Olympic Museum and Hall of Fame became a training site for athletes. This made the CSHOF the only sports-related museum there.
Climate at Canada Olympic Park
Canada Olympic Park, like the rest of Calgary, has a dry climate. It has warm summers and cold, dry winters. The weather can change a lot in winter, sometimes becoming mild.
Future Plans for COP
On June 11, 2012, City Hall councillors voted against a big plan from WinSport Canada. This plan was to turn some land at the base of COP into a large shopping area. The vote was 9–5 against it. However, WinSport can still redevelop the land with smaller projects over time. These projects need to be "sustainable."
See also
