Foreign Olympic Teams May Train in Pinedale

by Jennifer Binning

Pinedale and White Pine ski resort may be playing host to Olympic caliber ski teams soon, says Max Lundberg with the resort.

In preparation for the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, nordic and alpine ski teams from many nations are trying to find training sites that are similar to the Olympic venues where they will be competing. With the early snow we receive in Pinedale, along with our altitude and climate, Pinedale may just fit the bill for a foreign team looking for a nice, low-key place to train for a chance at gold.

Mr. Lundberg said the Norwegians have visited White Pine and Pinedale, and the Spanish and Japanese teams have called him for information on the area. Mr. Lundberg notes that by and large, the people calling were friends of his, and that the inquiries were only initial ones with no firm plans being made at this point. Should a team choose White Pine as its training site, it would bring in not only the athletes, but also the entire support staff of coaches, doctors, massage therapists, wax technicians, and many, many other assistants.

On more solid footing was the progress of the lift and lodge at White Pine. If all goes well, the chairs will be in place on the lift by about the third week in October, when Mr. Lundberg hopes to perform a load test of the chairlift. Workers are awaiting the delivery of an operators' building for the top and bottom of the lift, which is being assembled elsewhere and trucked into the prepared site.

The lodge itself is a little behind schedule, but the building is expected to be under a roof by the end of next week, and everyone is pleased that electricity is now available to help the work progress more quickly.

Mr. Lundberg also noted that White Pine is just about to begin selling season passes, and he expects to advertise a pre-season ticket sale within the next few weeks. Season ticket prices have not been finalized yet.

Now all they need is snow...