Trip Tips For more information, visit: LakePlacid.com LPOM.org – Lake Placid Olympic Museum ORDA.org MirrorLakeInn.com Whiteface.com
The tracked X-C trails are perfectly beveled and sprinkled with
pine cone seeds spread by the wind. The tracks lock us in so we can concentrate on kicking and gliding – our skis slide straight and true, as we proceed along trails with names like Peggy’s Puddle, Dog Bone Cutoff, and Harry’s Hill that beg for an explanation as to their origins.
The newer bindings on our feet, called New Nordic Norm
(NNN), feature two thin raised ridges that fit into matching grooves in the soles of compatible ski boots. They are a vast improvement over wider 75 mm three-bin boots that used to mangle toes. Photo: Courtesy Mirror Lake Inn Resort and Spa
Above left: The Cottage Café is Lake Placid’s hip apres ski spot. Above: 100,000 lights on display every night all winter long, photographed from frozen Mirror Lake. Left: The AAA Four Diamond The View Restaurant in the Mirror Lake Inn.
a Stella as a folk singer performs in the lodge. There’s a Vermont Castings Defiant wood stove cranking out heat as incongruously, fish glide lazily in an aquarium, no doubt wondering what crazy humans these are in their DayGlo Spandex cross-country outfits.
“It wouldn’t be much different than the Vancouver 2010
Afterwards, we sit on rustic Adirondack twig chairs drinking
Coincidentally, we run into a friend, Wall Streeter Phil Erard,
82, former president of the New York chapter of the American
Olympic Winter Games which held alpine skiing events almost a
Alpine Club. Phil travels to Lake Placid regularly, preferring to take
two-hour drive away at the Whistler Creekside in Whistler, British
a bus from the Port Authority Bus Terminal to Albany, then renting
Columbia,” he tells us.
a car for the 2-1/2 hour drive north. The next day he finished a 25
km race in a respectable three hours.
Our $35 Olympic Sites Passport provides access to the 1932
Jack Shea arena where we find hockey parents from throughout
the northeast sitting in red plastic seats shouting encouragement
refreshing Adirondack mountain air stings slightly as we breathe.
Sunday morning arrives with temperatures in the 20’s. The
to their young pucksters. Lining one passageway is the Lake
We celebrate this relative heat wave with a brisk walk around the
Placid Hall of Fame which honors local luminaries including famed
compact 122-acre lake. A woman dressed in thin skintight athletic
singer Kate Smith, best known for her rendition of Irving Berlin’s
tights straps on her ice skates while her Labrador barks excitedly in
God Bless America. She summered on a nearby body of water
anticipation of a morning run.
called Lake Placid, for which the town is named, and is buried in
the local Saint Agnes Cemetery.
frozen lake covered in two feet of snow, full of locals and visitors
alike, skating, skiing, walking and dog sledding in this frosty winter
The passport is also valid at the Olympic Museum, where
We prefer a far slower pace so we can soak in the scene – a
you’d think 1980 was just last year. The “Miracle on Ice” game
destination.
plays on a continuous loop, and there are examples of Olympic
torches and uniforms from over the years.
for any open zipper, for stitching not quite seam-sealed. The gap
Tired Yet? Shudder the Thought
Anyone can learn to love winter here. As the temperature goes
Next up is a toboggan ride located downtown and built on a
envelops us in its warmth.
The cold is ever-present. It rears its frosty head and searches
between sunglasses and knit hat starts to ache. But we don’t mind. down, this friendly village with its abundance of winter activities 30-foot-high converted ski jump trestle. Signs warn that the sleds go so fast, they can burn nylon ski parkas from the friction against wooden chute. The sleds look barely changed from the 1930s and
About the Author: Jeff Blumenfeld, a frequent contributor to
glide another 1,000 feet once they reach the frozen lake surface.
Venu Magazine, is editor of ExpeditionNews.com, and author of
an adventure sponsorship book titled, Get Sponsored: A Funding
We head to the Mt. Van Hoevenburg Ski Center and its world
class cross country ski trails that range over 50 km (31 miles) of
Guide for Explorers, Adventurers, and Would-Be World Travelers
rolling Adirondack terrain. Rather than select waxable performance
(Skyhorse Publishing, 2014). He recently relocated to Boulder,
skis, we choose instead to rent a pair of Rossignol Positracks with
Colorado, where he reports it doesn’t get quite as cold as northern
waxless fishscale bases.
New York State. CONTEMPORARY CULTURE//MAGAZINE
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