The cliffs and frozen waterfalls around Lake Placid provide some of the best ice-climbing opportunities in the East. GARY FRANCOIS/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Lake Placid

Beautiful landscapes and a strong Olympic legacy have created exciting opportunities, superb facilities for winter sports lovers

Web posted December 27, 1998

 If you go

By Mike Hendricks
Associated Press

LAKE PLACID, N.Y. -- The half-hour drive along New York Route 73 in midwinter shows why Lake Placid is such a special place when snow is on the ground.

On the right, ice climbers work their way up the frozen Roaring Brook Falls. On the left, snowshoers trudge up Cascade Mountain. A few minutes down the road is the turnoff for the Olympic cross-country course. Then the road goes past the curious-looking Olympic ski-jump towers.

Looming to the north is Whiteface Mountain, site of some of the most challenging downhill skiing east of the Rockies.

The road leads to Lake Placid, host to the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics and one of the most complete winter resorts in the country.

Lake Placid is surrounded by the Adirondack mountain backcountry. The 6-million-acre Adirondack State Park is preserved by some of the toughest land-use regulations in the country.

One of the nation's first resort areas, Lake Placid attracted families such as the Rockefellers and Whitneys, who built lavish vacation lodges deep in the forests more than a century ago.

The facilities left from the two Winter Olympics, combined with the preserved wilderness, have turned the Lake Placid area into a backcountry playground an easy day's drive from New York City, Montreal or Boston.

Facilities left from the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympics allow ice skaters to enjoy a professional training environment and make the area a playground for winter sports enthusiasts. GARY FRANCOIS/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Those Olympics also left a legacy of restaurants, hotels and sports facilities.

Winter vacationers can stay at hotels that range from luxurious to rustic. There are bobsledding, luge, skating, skiing, dog-sledding and ice-fishing opportunities.

A major reason to come to Lake Placid is Whiteface Mountain. What distinguishes Whiteface from all other ski mountains in the East is its 3,216-foot vertical drop, steepest east of the Rockies. The 65 trails at Whiteface are evenly divided among beginner, intermediate and expert skiers.

The unplowed five-mile road to the summit is a popular route for hardy cross-country skiers, and the descent is a thrill.

Tony Goodwin knows all about cross-country skiing around Lake Placid, a region with hundreds of miles of trails. By his reckoning, he is on skis at least 100 days every winter. When he is not skiing, he is snowshoeing or skating on the frozen ponds.

``What makes the Lake Placid area unique among the Eastern resorts, and to a certain extent even some Western resorts, is the amount of expansive wilderness open to skiers that provides a totally different level of experience from the highly developed resorts,'' says Mr. Goodwin, director of the Adirondack Ski Touring Council.

A cross-country skier can choose between the deep snow and mountainous terrain of the backcountry or miles and miles of maintained trails.

Lake Placid and the surrounding Adirondack State Park offer serene snowy slopes as well as some of the most challenging downhill skiing in North America. GARY FRANCOIS/ASSOCIATED PRESS

A highlight for cross-country skiers is the 30-mile Jackrabbit Trail, which connects to several ski centers as it winds its way from Keene through Lake Placid and Saranac Lake to Paul Smith's, a small village.

Then there is Mount Van Hovenberg Cross-Country Ski Center at the site of the Olympic, World Cup and National Championship events.

Winter vacationers can skate around the Olympic Speed Skating Oval, where Eric Heiden won a record five gold medals in the 1980 Winter Olympic Games. Would-be Olympians can take lessons at the Olympic oval. Over at Mount Van Hovenberg, they can ride the luge and bobsled where the Olympians competed and trained.

Elevator and chairlift rides to the top of the 26-story ski jumping towers provide panoramic views of the Adirondack landscape.

The more extreme sports are gaining in popularity around Lake Placid, among those who like their winter sports with an edge -- those who like the adrenaline rush.

Skiing on Whiteface got more extreme last winter with the opening of ``The Slides'' to the most daring -- and most expert -- skiers. The slides are hundreds of feet of treeless, sheer rock face high up the mountain. Promoters call it ``the greatest lift-accessed backcountry skiing around.''

The skier who ventures onto the Whiteface slides will encounter frozen waterfalls, cliffs and steep, ungroomed snow during runs that last from 15 to 45 minutes.

The cliffs and frozen waterfalls around Lake Placid provide some of the best ice-climbing opportunities. At The Mountaineer, an outdoor outfitter in nearby Keene, ice-climbing tools have been outselling ski equipment for the past few years, according to Vinny McClelland, the manager.

The Mountaineer sponsors an annual ice-climbing festival that brings some top climbers to dig their crampons into the ice on Poke-O-Moonshine Mountain, Chapel Pond Slabs, Pitchoff Mountain and Roaring Brook Falls.

If you go

GETTING THERE: Lake Placid is 305 miles from Philadelphia, 198 miles from Boston and 246 miles from New York City. To get there, take Exit 30 off the Adirondack Northway and proceed west on New York Route 73 for about 20 miles.

INFORMATION: For general information or lodging assistance, call or write the Lake Placid/Essex County Convention and Visitors Bureau, Olympic Center, Lake Placid, NY 12946; (800) 447-5224 or (518) 523-2445; fax, (518) 523-2605. Web site, http://lakeplacid.com/.

WHITEFACE MOUNTAIN: Lift ticket rates are $39 a day or $159 a week for adults and $20 a day to $100 a week for students; (518) 946-7175. Web site, www.lakeplacid.com or www.orda.org.

CROSS-COUNTRY SKIING: Cascade Cross Country Ski Center, (518) 523-9605, or Web site, www.cascadeski.com

Jackrabbit Trail Ski Conditions, (518) 523-1365.

Olympic Sports Complex at Mount Van Hoevenberg, (518) 523-2811 or (800) 462-6236.

ICE-CLIMBING GUIDE SERVICES: Adirondack Rock & River Guide Service Inc., P.O. Box 219, Keene, NY 12942; (518) 576-2041, Fax (518) 576-9827.

Alpine Adventures Inc., Route 73, P.O. Box 179, Keene, NY 12942-0179; (518) 576-9881; Fax, (518) 576-9574. Web site, mailalpineadven.com