The Ogden-area delegation includes Ogden Mayor Ben Nadolski, Weber County Commissioner Jim Harvey, Snowbasin Resort Chief Operating Officer and General Manager Davy Ratchford and Visit Ogden President and CEO Sara Toliver.

On Thursday, the Standard-Examiner received a press release from the party about their first day on the ground at Milano-Cortina 26.

“The journey itself provided an immediate lesson in Olympic-scale logistics,” the release said. “With limited mountain access routes and international crowds converging on the region, even arrival requires significant coordination and patience. Just hours after checking in, the delegation was up at 6:00 a.m. to board transportation back into Cortina’s city center to begin their first full day inside the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Observer Program.”

Nadolski said that officials were learning from even the trip between home and northern Italy.

“This was our first real lesson before the program even started,” he said in the release. “After 27 straight hours of travel, you quickly understand how critical transportation planning, access routes, and crowd management are to the overall experience. If getting into a host community is difficult, that shapes perception immediately.”

The delegation joined officials from the Utah Olympic Organizing Committee, Summit County, Park City, and other partners to examine city operations and venue delivery at the Tofane Alpine Skiing Centre and the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium.

“They were also joined by senior IOC officials and members of the Milan-Cortina Organizing Committee — the very leaders directly responsible for organizing and delivering the Games currently underway,” the release said. “Those officials shared candid, first-hand accounts of operational successes, difficult adjustments, and unexpected challenges.”

Nadolski said this is going to be an important learning experience.

“As key decision-makers continue working through important planning decisions for the Utah Games, Ogden is poised and prepared to play an important role,” he said in the release. “We don’t yet know exactly what that role will entail, but this experience helps us understand what we would be committing our community to do — and what we may not be in the best position to take on.

“You don’t host the biggest athletic event in the world without doing serious homework. We need to know what we’re committing our city to. This program is helping us evaluate our full offering of opportunities and experiences, identify the partners we’ll need to engage to be successful, and determine how we proceed responsibly from here.”

According to the release, participants spent the first day studying:

• “Signage, city dressing, and wayfinding for international audiences
• Volunteer recruitment, training, and deployment
• Sanitation, cleaning, and waste management systems
• Communication strategies with residents to minimize disruption
• Integration between venue operations and broader city services”

However, the delegation isn’t just looking at the physical structures that make up the venues.

“Hosting the Olympic Games isn’t just about competition venues,” Harvey said in the release. “It’s about protecting quality of life for residents while welcoming the world. Seeing how Cortina is balancing those priorities gives us perspective that simply can’t be learned from a report.”

Toliver said they are going to gain a sense of the whole experience for people.

“The Games create a global spotlight moment,” she said in the release. “But the legacy depends on how well the experience is delivered — from the airport arrival to the cleanliness of venues to how visitors feel when they leave. We’re studying those details carefully.”

The release adds that the observers will be working well into the evening.

“This evening, the delegation will go behind the scenes at the Cortina Curling Olympic Stadium to examine real-time event delivery operations,” the release said. “Observers will meet with officials from World Curling, the sport’s international governing body, and gain insight into the coordination required between international federations, venue managers, security teams, and workforce leaders.”

The Ogden-area delegation will be in Italy for a week.