Lake Placid is a winter town that happens to be open in summer, not the other way around. Two Winter Olympics, and nearly every venue is still operating.
Free or nearly free
Mirror Lake. The village clears a skating loop directly on the ice. Bring skates or rent in town. In the middle of a village, on a frozen lake, surrounded by mountains — this is the postcard and it costs nothing.
The toboggan chute runs from the shore out onto the lake ice. Cheap, fast, and the highlight for most children.
Ski jump training. When the jumpers are practicing you can watch from the base of the complex. Check the schedule.
Worth paying for
Whiteface. Real skiing, real beginner terrain, a good ski school. Twenty minutes from the village.
Mt. Van Hoevenberg bobsled. A passenger run down an Olympic track. There’s a height and age minimum — check before promising it to a child.
The Olympic Center. Public skating in the 1980 rink, plus the museum. If a youth game is on, that’s the better version.
Cross-country at Mt. Van Hoevenberg. Groomed Olympic trails, rentals on site, and beginner loops that a first-timer can manage.
By age
Toddlers and preschool — Mirror Lake skating, the toboggan chute, Main Street. Skip the bobsled and the jump tower.
Five to eight — add Whiteface’s beginner area, the Olympic Center, cross-country at Van Hoevenberg.
Nine and up — bobsled if they meet the minimum, real skiing at Whiteface, and the 1980 story starts to mean something.
Practical
- Two hours fifteen from Albany, and Route 73 through Keene is a mountain road in weather. Exit 34 and Route 9N is the safe alternative.
- February school break fills the town. Book well ahead.
- Layers. The village is one temperature; Whiteface’s summit is another entirely.