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Last July 24, a large contingent from Utah was in Paris for the International Olympic Committee’s awarding of the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. Meanwhile, back in Salt Lake City, thousands were gathered in the pre-dawn darkness in Washington Square, watching it all live. Suddenly, IOC President Thomas Bach made the announcement. Salt Lake City-Utah!
Thousands celebrate in Salt Lake City’s Washington Square as the IOC awards the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games to Salt Lake City-Utah.
Ski Utah President Nathan Rafferty and Salt Lake City-Utah Executive Chair and President Fraser Bullock were there in the Palais des Congrès de Paris. They joined Last Chair to reminisce on that proud day for Utah, and to look forward to nine years from now when the Games will return to the Wasatch.
“To be part of history was just surreal,” said Rafferty.
The 2002 Games were a breakout party for Utah. Rafferty likes to joke about focus group studies in the ‘90s. Target audiences were shown images of Utah’s red rock Delicate Arch, and they identified it with Arizona. When they saw photos of the iconic Snowbird tram, they thought of Colorado. Not any longer!
Fraser Bullock (center) is joined by Snowbasin's COO Davy Ratchford, and Olympic champion Picabo Street, at the top of the resort during an inspection by the IOC’s Future Host Commission in April, 2024. (Melissa Majchrzak @melissamajch)
Both Rafferty and Bullock are hardcore, passionate skiers. The snowy pitches of the Wasatch are their home. And both of them revel in showing off their home state.
“We're all in this together,” said Bullock. “We're all part of Utah. We want to host the world, so let's come together to do this for our communities as a whole – particularly for our kids.”
From skating to sliding to skiing, there are myriad events in the Olympic and Paralympic program. But none of them connect so directly to recreational participants as skiing and snowboarding. At Deer Valley Resort, you can actually ski the Olympic moguls course on Champion. At Park City Mountain, you can ride the halfpipe and slopestyle. At Soldier Hollow, you can cross country ski the Olympic and Paralympic trails. And at Snowbasin Resort, you can drop down the Grizzly and Wildflower downhill runs just like Lindsey Vonn.
After a very successful Winter Games in 2002, Utah skiers, citizens, and political leaders have long been excited about a return – with public opinion polls reaching over 80% support.
“The experience of ‘02 was magical,” said Bullock. “We were able to share with the world our great community and our great people. We have a different economic model than most hosts around the world and we can fund this on private revenue sources. So we can just focus on the upside of the games and the benefit they provide to our communities, to our nation, and to the world.”
Olympic champion Lindsey Vonn was a key contributor to the Salt Lake City-Utah 2034 presentation in Paris. (Ashley Detrick)
Bullock looks to the healthful aspects of outdoor recreation that are showcased by the Games as a real service to communities across Utah. Not only is it healthy recreation, but it's a connection to nature. It is the connection to teammates and healthy competition. And, there are so many values that can be learned through sport that this is a gift to our kids to be able to leverage the games to enable them to live more full lives by embracing sport.”
Rafferty can see that in the growth of the sport and the increasing numbers of kids taking advantage of Ski Utah passport programs. That is leading to the expansion of resorts with new terrain coming online. “Our resorts have really invested a ton in infrastructure, uphill capacity, all the things that you want when you're skiing at a world-class ski resort.”
The healthful Utah ski industry has been noticed not only by the International Olympic Committee but by future hosts, including the French Alps 2030, which has already sent two separate ski industry and government leadership delegations to see how Utah does it.
Salt Lake City-Utah 2034 will be one of the most sustainable and easily accessible Winter Games, with all venues within one hour’s drive of the Athlete Village at the University of Utah.
“They see a vibrant community that's really engaged in winter sport, that is making the investments that Nathan just talked about, that's important,” said Bullock. A year ago, officials from the IOC were treated to a mountaintop visit at Snowbasin to see the stunning downhill start atop the John Paul lift.
From their favorite Utah ski runs to their 2002 Olympic memories, Fraser Bullock and Nathan Rafferty provide great insights in this episode of Last Chair.
Transcript
|00:00:00| Tom Kelly: It seems like just yesterday, July 24th, Pioneer Day here in Utah, when the decision was put forward by the International Olympic Committee in Paris, that the games are coming back to Salt Lake City, Utah. And with me on Last Chair this week, happy to have back Fraser Bullock, the executive chair and president of the Salt Lake City-Utah, 2034 Games. And Nathan Rafferty from Utah. Gentlemen, welcome. Thanks for joining us on Last Chair.
|00:00:29| Nathan Rafferty: Thank you. Excited to be here. Thanks, Tom.
|00:00:31| Tom Kelly: Now, you guys are both ardent skiers. Been a pretty good season so far, and I know that we've still got a bunch more to go, but, you guys having fun out there this winter?
|00:00:42| Nathan Rafferty: Had a blast. I've skied with Fraser a little bit, and it seems like we got off to a little bit of a slow start, but numbers are ramping up and Miracle March is kicking in. We've had a few series of storms. I've been up in Little Cottonwood Canyon the last two days. And I'll tell you what. It feels like winter up there. They've had just over 400 inches of snow so far, and skiing is really good. And it sounds like later this week, it's going to get even better.
|00:01:08| Tom Kelly: Awesome. Fraser, you actually have a home in the Colony, right? On the slopes, underneath the Dreamcatcher. And so you're able to get out there and make some turns pretty frequently.
|00:01:20| Fraser Bullock: Yeah. I get out two to three times a week. In fact, yesterday morning I had first tracks at Deer Valley, which was just awesome. We got 18 thousand vertical feet in by 9:45. So that was a great day, great start. And there's nothing like being in the mountains with the sunshine on your shoulders just blasting down a run. I'll do that anytime I can take it.
|00:01:45| Tom Kelly: Well, I'm with you guys, so I want you both to think back to July 24th. It was Pioneer Day in Utah, and I think they kind of crafted it with the IOC to actually make the announcement on that day. But Fraser, you were there in Paris. You were up on stage with the IOC. So kind of take us back to that time when Utah was awarded the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games.
|00:02:06| Fraser Bullock: Well, we had been building towards that moment for years, and for the several months before the games or before the bid award, we had prepared our presentation. Every word, every image, every expression that we wanted to give to that particular audience of the IOC. And when it actually came to being on stage, we were ready. We were confident. We knew we had a great plan. We knew we had a great offering to the Olympic and Paralympic movements, and it was the culmination of all that work, and it really was just a moment of joy. And then when President Bach held up the sign and said, Salt Lake City-Utah 2034, everybody erupted in cheers and just hugging and just being so glad. But one of the interesting things in all of that in our presentation at the beginning when Governor Cox was speaking, we had a segment which was either going to be a slide or if there were people up at 2:30 in the morning in Utah, we were going to do a live feed from Utah. And indeed, there were thousands of people in Utah. So I remember that moment. Just the joy of sharing that experience halfway around the world with the people of Utah. It was a special moment.
|00:03:36| Tom Kelly: It was, and I know a lot of listeners were in Washington Square as a part of that crowd in the early morning hours. Nathan, you were there in Paris as a representative of Ski Utah, the ski industry here in our state. What was your experience to be a part of that historic occasion?
|00:03:50| Nathan Rafferty: Honestly, it was really surreal. When we got the invitation to go, my wife and I, we looked at each other, and we were like, how can we not go? We're gonna make this happen. And to be part of history was just surreal. And like Fraser said, you know, we'd been working towards this moment for so long, and then all of a sudden, you're in the room, and it's happening, and you have a pretty good idea of what's going to happen. It was, you know, the clock was counting down, and there you were in the room with the IOC, and they say Salt Lake City 2034. And, you know, I remember where I was when, uh, in 2002, when it was then Juan Antonio Samaranch, said, the games are coming to Salt Lake City. And how excited I was, and I must have been what was I, 20-something years old, and just how cool that was. And to just think towards 2034 and, um, you know, we have nine years to plan and get excited for the magic that is the Olympics.
|00:04:55| Tom Kelly: Fraser. In an era where many cities around the world are a little bit skeptical about investing the energy and the money into doing a Games in Utah, it's really been quite different. You were running 80% plus public opinion validation throughout most of the bid. What is it that really has captured the fancy of the Utah public?
|00:05:17| Fraser Bullock: Well, I think the experience of ‘02 was magical, where the Games came off without a hitch, and we were able to share with the world our great community and our great people. And there's one other element that's important is we have a different economic model than most than most hosts around the world where we can fund this on private revenue sources such as sponsors and donors and broadcast revenues. And so there's not the debate of, do we want to put government money into the games? No, we don't need to. And so there's no controversy around that point. And we can just focus on the upside of the games and, and the benefit they provide to our communities, to our nation, and to the world.
|00:06:03| Tom Kelly: You also had strong political support up on Utah's Capitol Hill.
|00:06:07| Fraser Bullock: We did – completely unified support from all our political leaders, whether they were state leaders or whether they were municipal leaders, mayors. Everybody wants the games because they've seen them before, they've experienced them before, and we all want them back.
|00:06:25| Tom Kelly: Nathan, similarly, with the ski industry, strong support across the ski industry to bring these games back to our state.
|00:06:32| Nathan Rafferty: 100%. YTou know, I sit on the Utah Office of Tourism Board of Directors and have been there for a long time before the Olympics. We had … we did a study in trying to get a baseline of what people knew about Utah. And this company we hired went around the country and asked people they'd show them pictures of Utah and say, hey, what do you know about this? And they would show them a picture of skiing and Snowbird’s tram, and people would say, ahhh, I love Colorado. What a great spot. They would show them a picture of Delicate Arch in Arches National Park, and they'd look at it and say, ooh, Arizona. Love visiting Arizona. And, you know, they didn't have a perception of Utah. It wasn't that we had a misperception. We had no perception. And so the Olympics really helped us put us on the map. We are squarely on the map now. And, you know, I just get excited for 34 because, we put on such great games in ’02 when we really didn't know what we were doing. Imagine what we're going to do now when we have all this experience, having hosted it before. The confidence in having hosted it before, knowing what we can do. I'd say the sky's the limit.
|00:07:49| Tom Kelly: Fraser, let's talk about the key selling points of the bid. And I want to start with the legacy from 2002. It's really alive and well today.
|00:07:58| Fraser Bullock: The legacy is so important because having kids and athletes in sport is fundamental to the games movement, whether it's Olympics or Paralympics. And one of the things with that, the IOC was particularly impressed with going to our venues and seeing existing venues, but more importantly, seeing all the kids competing in sport. I remember President Bach at the speed skating oval engaging with all the little skaters, whether they're figure skaters or speed skaters, and just engaging with them every single stop. We had the opportunity to engage with young athletes. So the legacy is both a physical legacy of infrastructure relative to our venues, but what they enable is for our kids to get out there and participate in sport. And so we have a human legacy that's enabled by our physical legacy.
|00:08:57| Tom Kelly: Going back to 2002. You came on board around 1999, about three years before the games. But as I look back to the period of the ‘90s, the focus at that point from the organizing committee was really building structures, building ski jumps and ice rinks and sliding tracks. This time around, all of those are finished. So that emphasis on legacy, it really is there. And I think kids are really a big focus of the organizing committee even right now.
|00:09:24| Fraser Bullock: Yes. One of the things we see in our society today is kids need to get off screens and off couches and into sport. There's … not only is it healthy recreation, it's the connection to nature. It is the connection to teammates and healthy competition. And, there are so many values that can be learned through sport that this is a gift to our kids to be able to leverage the games to enable them to live more full lives by embracing sport. So that's one of the key missions we can focus on. Instead of worrying about this particular venue that might be behind schedule. Now we can focus on our communities, our families and our kids.
|00:10:08| Tom Kelly: The bid had three vision points. One was to elevate sport, elevate communities, and elevate the games experience. I want to really focus on communities because when you talk about youth, and you talk about sport, that's really impacting our communities in a very broad way, not just in sport, but bringing those communities together.
|00:10:26| Fraser Bullock: Yeah. … The games, when you see something that has 80% support, try to find 80% support in anything. And it's impossible except the games. And so we have the opportunity to unify our communities in a divided world, whether it's political, party, ethnicity or economic strata. It is the opportunity to ignore all of those and just say, we're all in this together. We're all part of Utah. We want to host the world, and let's come together to do this so we can do that for our communities as a whole. But then, particularly for our kids, we're looking at opportunities through the education system of teaching the Olympic and Paralympic values. We're looking at how we can build upon the great things that Ski Utah is doing, and the Passport program and other elements to get kids in sport that those are going to be key opportunities for us that we want to take advantage of over the next nine years.
|00:11:26| Tom Kelly: Fraser, from a sustainability perspective, you have all of these great venues. How are you able to utilize them for the 2034 games, and do you need to build anything else?
|00:11:37| Fraser Bullock: Well, fortunately, we have ten competition venues, and we don't need to build any more. We do have 40% more events, which is … thinking it's a staggering thought to have 40% more events, yet we can still fit them into our same venues. But it will be from a sustainability point of view, an optimal situation where we don't have to build one single new venue, although we'll do some temporary elements like big air that we're going to have right downtown, bring the sport to the people. It's going to be integrated into Medals Plaza. So it's not a new venue, but it's an expanded venue that's going to be very exciting.
|00:12:19| Tom Kelly: Let's talk about Paralympics. The 2002 games were really historic for the Paralympics. Can you tell our listeners about that?
|00:12:28| Fraser Bullock: Yes. For the first time in games history, the same organizing committee put on the Olympic Games as well as the Paralympic Games. And so we were completely integrated. And, when I talked to Paralympic athletes who competed in ‘02, they could see and feel the difference. They felt like they were a part of the overall big enterprise, and there was seamless integration between the two. And, some of my best memories are from the Paralympic Games, and so we were able to be part of two games, which was very special.
|00:13:01| Tom Kelly: Nathan, the ski industry is a vital part of the games. Many of the key venues competition events are being held at Utah ski resorts. Can you give us a little rundown on those resorts and how they're partnering up with the games for 2034?
|00:13:15| Nathan Rafferty: Sure. So we'll actually have the same resort partners as we did in oh two. Little bit of different shuffling of venues and what sports are where. But Deer Valley Resort, Park City Mountain, and Snowbasin are all just spectacular hosts, spectacular backdrops. They'll be better prepared, better infrastructure than they had in oh two. And, um, you know, I can't wait to, uh, be on the sidelines at some of those events. And, you know, take Deer Valley, for instance. You know, I don't know that there's a better venue for moguls and freestyle than there is at Deer Valley. That being said, I also went to snowboard halfpipe at Park City and it was just unbelievable in zero two and then the downhill course, we all loved to ski it now. I skied it just the other day, the Wildflower Downhill and Snowbasin – just a spectacular backdrop there. So you know one thing that is an advantage for the games and won us the games is also an advantage for skiing and tourism in Utah. And that's that proximity, these ski areas. Fraser I've seen a slide that he presents that shows an hour radius from downtown Salt Lake City. And all of our venues, like our ski areas are within that venue or hour radius. And it just makes, you know, people tell us the reason they come to Utah. Not just the greatest snow on Earth, but it's so easy to get to. And you land at the airport, and you're up in Park City or Snowbasin within an hour. And, um, that'll be the same for people who come to the games. You know, they're going to find a really compact, efficient experience.
|00:15:05| Tom Kelly: Fraser, I want to build on that a little bit and have you talk about some of those venues that were just spectacular in 2002, and let's start out with the Snowbasin speed events, the Wildflower Downhill for the women, the Grizzly Downhill for the men. They're back again.
|00:15:19| Fraser Bullock: Well, I still remember putting up snow fencing in a blizzard at 4 a.m. for a test event because I wanted to experience what our workers and volunteers were doing. But I remember getting on the top of Grizzly for the first time, and it's a 67-degree pitch. And it was like I was thinking, how on earth do these elite athletes come out of the start house and just point their skis straight down and go? It was just mind-blowing to see that. And, Grizzly and Wildflower are some of the best speed event competition venues or runs in the world, and we get to see that again and be able to experience that. And I would encourage people, if you're ever up at Snowbasin, go to the top of Grizzly and just have a look.
|00:16:11| Tom Kelly: You know, that little Allen Peak tram is spectacular. I was actually up there a couple of weeks ago, and I decided to drop in, but tourists can do that. Nathan, have you been out of the starts up there?
|00:16:20| Nathan Rafferty: I have, I was just up there just last week. And what's so cool? You get up there on a clear day, and you feel like you could parachute into Ogden. It's … you're looking right down in, you know, on one side, on the west side into Ogden, and then you turn your skis around, and they hit something like 70 miles an hour in the first five seconds of their run. It is, you know, full tilt right from the get-go. It's pretty exciting.
|00:16:43| Tom Kelly: Let's go to the other end of the spectrum. Fraser. Soldier Hollow was a magnificent venue in 2002. And just to give folks an idea, that's probably the single busiest venue with cross country, biathlon, and nordic combined, but it was a real festival out at Soldier Hollow in 2002.
|00:17:01| Fraser Bullock: Well, it was a great example. It was a pristine venue. I remember going out there a couple of days before the start of the games, and it was just gorgeous. Everything had been groomed perfectly, and the advantage of Soldier Hollow is the view lines. The sight lines. You can see virtually the entire competition, which is very, very unique. But then the other thing that happened was the whole … the communities surrounding Soldier Hollow put on the Western experience because people from around the world recognize that this is the American West. And so they had all elements of the Western experience. And I remember one, and I went out there several times, and I was walking into the venue, and there's this tree on the left as you're going i,n and up in that tree was a mountain lion. And I thought, how did they do that? And it was there for four days, and I guess it was just random. But even the animal life was participating in the spirit of the games.
|00:17:58| Tom Kelly: I hadn't heard that story before. That's spectacular. One last thing before we take a quick show break. Fraser, snowboarding had come into the Olympics in 1998, so it wasn't a debut in Salt Lake City, but it was for sure a breakout.
|00:18:12| Fraser Bullock: Well, it sure was with the snowboard halfpipe with I remember being there with Mitt (Romney) and Ann (Romney), and my wife Jennifer as we were watching that competition. It was a bluebird sunny day, and I remember Ross Powers just ascending to unbelievable heights and Danny Kass and then seeing the USA sweep the podium on that particular day, it was probably one of the most iconic days ever. And then going to Medals Plaza that night and seeing the three American flags. Gold, silver, bronze were just. That was an amazing day and amazing experience.
|00:18:52| Tom Kelly: Nathan, that was a breakout for that whole sport here in Utah.
|00:18:56| Nathan Rafferty: It really was. And, you know, it was one of the highlights for me for sure. And like you said, it was relatively new to the Olympics. But that's, you know, a stadium built right there at Park City at the bottom of that halfpipe blue sky. And it was electric. You know, on so many occasions at the Olympics, I feel like somebody flips a switch, and the magic just takes over. And that was one of the moments there for me … that magical moment at Park City.
|00:19:25| Tom Kelly: We're going to take a short show break. We'll be right back on Last Chair with Nathan Rafferty and Fraser Bullock. We're back on Last Chair.
|00:19:50| Tom Kelly: My guests today, Nathan Rafferty from Ski Utah. Fraser Bullock from Salt Lake City-Utah 2034. Nathan, let's go to you first. We've talked about the ski industry and the role that it's played in this, but you have an incredibly vibrant ski industry here in Utah with the resort side, the equipment side, suppliers. Talk a little bit about that industry and how the games are going to impact it over the next nine years.
|00:19:59| Nathan Rafferty: You know, we really do. … Our industry has grown so much over the last 20 years when we hosted the games in oh two. We were about at about 3 million skier visits. We're now, two years ago did over 7 million skier visits. And I think we're going to settle into kind of a happy spot at that 6.5 million skier visit spot. But, um, our resorts have really invested a ton in infrastructure, uphill capacity, all the things that you want, when you're skiing at a world-class ski resort. So, you know, can't be more excited for 2034.
|00:20:41| Tom Kelly: Let's build on that investment aspect, because one of the things that has really struck me in Utah over the last, let's call it five years, maybe ten years, is that investment? You look at the Deer Valley East Village expansion, you look at the new high-speed super tech lifts that are going in at so many resorts, base area infrastructure. It's a really vibrant ski industry economy here.
|00:21:04| Nathan Rafferty: It really is. It's it's now a $2.7 billion industry. Last year that was spending at … you know for our industry last year. And if I it's hard to remember when you wind the clock back what the resorts were like in ‘02. Certainly. Deer Valley East, I mean, Snowbasin was reinvented for the Olympics. It was a smaller, oldish ski area. And, they basically built a brand new state-of-the-art ski area over the top of the, of the previous one have since expanded that terrain dramatically. You know some of the best ski lodge facilities in the world. And, you know, we've got nine years and it's been it's going to be full tilt going up to the games. And Deer Valley will essentially build another ski resort right next door to what they have now. All the infrastructure there, cover their parking lot at the bottom with a whole new village. You know, and that's just one spot. So we're seeing infrastructure like no other, you know, really improving this product. And, the ski industry is no different than any other business where you really have to stay on top of improving your game. And that's not just infrastructure, but that's service, uh, infrastructure, transportation, getting people into and out of all our great resorts.
|00:22:26| Tom Kelly: Fraser, what does this health of the industry in Utah mean to the International Olympic Committee?
|00:22:31| Fraser Bullock: Well, what it does is, is they see a vibrant community that's really engaged in winter sport, that is making the investments that Nathan just talked about, that's important. And when we brought the Future Host Commission of the International Olympic Committee here in April, we took them to the top of Snow Basin, and they could see the vistas up there, the great and the skiers there. And they just loved that resort and the beautiful view you could see down in Eden and the valley down there in the reservoir, Pineview Reservoir. And you just get this great feeling of what it's like to be in Utah, on the tops of our mountains, and at these beautiful resorts. So they just loved every aspect of Utah and our venues.
|00:23:26| Tom Kelly: Fraser, in addition to the International Olympic Committee coming to visit, you've had two delegations from the French Alps 2030 Olympics that have come here mainly to really look at what the Utah ski industry is doing.
|00:23:39| Fraser Bullock: Well and that's one of the great opportunities of the games. It brings the world together. And now our French Alps partners are best friends. We took them around to various elements of our games. In fact, I just got a request to shoot a short video, which I did because they wanted to show the partnership with Utah when they kicked off. Really, their government and organizing committee partnership over in France. And so we have great friends there, and we'll collaborate with them over the years. So these the impact of the games has so many opportunities, including great partnerships with the French Alps.
|00:24:24| Tom Kelly: Fraser … or actually, Nathan, I'm going to go to you on this one. One of the aspects that the French Alps folks had been looking at is how Utah's ski resorts are able to do so much summer business. I think this is something that, you know, we're all skiers. We think about when the snow comes, but the Utah resorts have really built amazing businesses in the summertime.
|00:24:47| Nathan Rafferty: They really have. And it used to be not, you know, not so long ago that you come middle of April, the flip the switch off, turn the ski areas off. And and that was it. But the summer business, you know these are businesses and they really tricky to sustain your business on five months of business. So they've found ways to get people into the mountains enjoying our mountains year-round. You look at the mountain biking that happens at most of our ski areas. You know, Deer Valley’s trail system is one of the best in North America. You know, you can ride to the top of the tram at Snowbird. You can ride on top of the tram to the top of Snowbird these days. And whether it's Oktoberfest there or up at Snowbasin, Powder Mountain. You know, all our ski areas have something going on in the summer. And, and, and I do want to go back for one second just to say that while we only have three resorts that are venues for the games, we have 15 ski areas in the state of Utah, and they're all going to benefit, because when people watch games in, whether it's Milan-Cortina or in the French Alps, they don't necessarily remember just the name of that resort. They remember Utah. And they're … and we all share in that, whether it's Sundance, Brian Head, people are going to remember Utah 2034, and they're going to see the images and, and want to come and be part of that, whether it's after or before the games.
|00:26:19| Tom Kelly: Fraser, to that point, of all the Ski Utah venues benefiting from this, you also have an objective to spread this message across all 29 counties of the state.
|00:26:29| Fraser Bullock: Yes, we want these to be Utah's games and being able to reach out to them. One of the ideas we have, and we're going to do a listening tour to kick it off across the state to understand the perspectives of different individuals, brainstorm with them how we can engage all 29 counties. A couple of ideas come to mind. One is through the education system, where we can teach the Olympic and Paralympic values to our school kids and get them engaged. The other one is through the education system, to have them maybe adopt a country where they understand more about Norway or other countries that are part of the games. And then, finally, during the Games, we can have live sites all across the state where there's a gathering place in each of the 29 counties or places where people can come together to enjoy the celebration and watching of the games.
|00:27:25| Tom Kelly: Fraser, it's a little bit under nine years until the games, so it's a pretty long run-up, longer than is normal for an Olympic Games. What happens next? What should people expect now with that long a lead-up?
|00:27:38| Fraser Bullock: Well, the next three years are what we call the Utah phase. And as part of that phase, we want to do our listening tour to gather information, ideas of how we can spread the value of the games to all our communities. The other one is we want to understand how we can have an overall infrastructure strategy for the state where we we're not going to lead that, but we can be a catalyst because there are so many initiatives that need to get done and want to get done and maybe involve Washington, DC. And we can be a catalyst to help coalesce around those key elements of infrastructure strategy and help with that as we move forward. And there's certain areas that would certainly benefit the games, such as up in Park City and Kimball Junction and transportation up there. But really, in many areas that could benefit how we move people around in particular.
|00:28:36| Tom Kelly: Nathan, you have passport programs at Ski Utah that have been monumentally successful in getting kids into skiing and snowboarding. How can those programs get energized now as we lead up to 2034?
|00:28:50| Nathan Rafferty: Yeah, and I think our focus is going to be growing those lovers of mountain culture. And, we have these passport programs that are super inexpensive ways to participate in skiing and snowboarding. And that's the fourth, fifth and sixth grade passport program, 69 bucks. And you get a couple lift tickets to three lift tickets to each resort in the state. But we want to grow that program, and we want to use the Olympics as a catalyst to get people off their couches, off their screens, and onto the snow and, you know, just really grow that love of mountain culture in Utah.
|00:29:29| Tom Kelly: As we wind up, I want to ask each of you. What does success look like for you in 2034? Nathan? What does success look like?
|00:29:38| Nathan Rafferty: You know, I think success, it's a great question, is finishing that Games and having people hold Utah in a different light, something that we can all be really proud of. Having put on a Games that welcome people and, most importantly, that Utah was seen as a catalyst in uniting not just the athletes, but all the spectators over the world.
|00:30:07| Tom Kelly: Fraser, what does success look like for you?
|00:30:10| Fraser Bullock: A few components. Number one, we have to have successful games where people around the world embrace them, love them, and we're economically successful. But that's the foundation now we build around that for the next nine years. How do we bring unity to our state, to our country, and how do we engage youth in sport? But then we also want to look at Post-games 2034 should set us up for a future Games, whether it's 2050 or some future date where the legacy once again builds, continues to grow long into the future.
|00:30:52| Tom Kelly: We want to wrap it up with our Fresh Tracks section. So a few more questions for each of you. I'm going to go to you first. Nathan, your favorite moment from the 2002 Games.
|00:31:02| Nathan Rafferty: You know, it had to be opening ceremonies and that flag marching into the stadium. I was in New York on September 11th, and, you know, shaped many things in my life. And to be in that stadium, uh, and you really could hear a pin drop when that flag walked in and, and there was a time where I thought, are we going to have the games? And then I quickly realized, we have to have the games. You know, it is the great unifier. And after that moment, uh, like none other.
|00:31:35| Tom Kelly: Fraser, how about you? And it's okay if you have the same one.
|00:31:38| Fraser Bullock: Well, I did have the same one, but, uh, I'm going to do one from competition. And for me, it was the men's sled hockey final gold medal match where USA came from being the worst in the world a year previous to winning the gold medal game in a shootout at the end. And what those athletes accomplished in 12 months is just nothing short of inspirational.
|00:32:06| Tom Kelly: One of the athletes, Manny Guerra from that team, is on your board now.
|00:32:10| Fraser Bullock: He is. And he's so excited, and he's gone on to a great technology career in sport career. And so he will be … I was just talking to him the other day, and we were reminiscing about ‘02. Those memories never go away.
|00:32:26| Tom Kelly: They don't. How about your favorite ski run in Utah, Nathan? Favorite ski run?
|00:32:32| Nathan Rafferty: Tom, you can't ask me that question. It just it just doesn't, It's hard.
|00:32:37| Tom Kelly: You could. You could be safe, and you could make it a backcountry run. Then you don't.
|00:32:41| Nathan Rafferty: You're saying pick your favorite child. Any run with two feet of the Greatest Snow on Earth. How about that for being politically safe?
|00:32:50| Tom Kelly: I'll take that. Fraser?
|00:32:51| Fraser Bullock: Yeah, mine's Crowning Glory off of Peak Five. And then switching over to Sanctuary on the lower half. It's a long run. That's two lifts, and you can just let your skis run. It's spectacular.
|00:33:04| Tom Kelly: I love that one, too. How about an Olympic or Paralympic athlete that has really impacted you? Nathan.
|00:33:13| Nathan Rafferty: Wow. That's a really good question. You know, probably somebody like Ted Ligety because, you know, growing up in or having lived in Park City for the last 25 years. You know, Ted was just a kid, and he grew up there. I know his parents better than I know Ted, and I guess to see somebody kind of come full circle, go from Park City local to a world champion. And then now I see him kicking around town with his kids and riding mountain bikes and, uh, you know, just a great full circle moment.
|00:33:46| Tom Kelly: It's a good one. Fraser?
|00:33:48| Fraser Bullock: So many. That's one of the benefits or privileges of this opportunity, but one who's been particularly impactful to the shaping of our games as Lindsey Vonn. We're going to do something that's never been done before, and we're going to have the Athlete Families Initiative to take … to help take care of the families of athletes who are competing in our games. And that was something that she started in a conversation with me, that the moment I heard it, I said, this is a game changer. It's the right thing to do, and it will be spectacular to show the world the value of families and how they support our athletes and their journeys to their to the games.
|00:34:31| Tom Kelly: Lindsey Vonn is a great one. A Minnesota native who now makes Utah her home. And in fact, I encourage you folks, go to YouTube and check out her CBS Sunday Morning piece recently. Really, really good profile on her and the things that are important in her life. Okay, last question. And this is going to probably be the most difficult in one word. Just one word. What do the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter games mean to Utah? Nathan. One word.
|00:35:00| Nathan Rafferty: Inspiration.
|00:35:01| Tom Kelly: Inspiration. Fraser.
|00:35:03| Fraser Bullock: Unity.
|00:35:04| Tom Kelly: Inspiration and unity. Gentlemen, I want to thank you for taking time out of your ski days to come here and join us on Last Chair. We're really looking forward to those Games in 2034.
|00:35:16| Nathan Rafferty: Always a pleasure. Thanks, Tom.
|00:35:18| Fraser Bullock: Thank you.
