Carol & I visited Lake Placid Village just after my retirement in August 2020. The Village seriously followed virus guidelines including masks on sidewalk. Everything was a little stiff indoors for sure. Lake Placid hosted 2 notable winter olympics, 1932 (Sonja Henne) & 1980 (Miracle on Ice). Structures remain from both; It has a major ski mountain, touristy stuff, beautiful scenery as well as Lake Placid. Ironically the village of Lake Placid surrounds Mirror Lake which is not connected to it’s namesake. Check out the map. Some places were not visited like the 1932 Ice Skating building because of pandemic, and places visited like the Olympic Training Center with Ski Jump from 1980 where I have no pictures. The following are the Iphone pictures I have.
‘Open in Maps’ to Enlarge Map’: The Lake Placid Village sits SE of Lake Placid & Whiteface. We enetered area from SE On Rte 73 past Ski Jumping/Olympic Complex. The Crown Plaza was on a high hill at SW corner of Mirror Lake; See red marker. Notice the Lake Placid Marina NW of Mirror Lake with land bridge between: Start of our Lake Placid boat trip.
This is the view from our Crown Plaza Hotel Room looking at SW corner of Mirror Lake. Lake Placid Village revolves around this lake. Main Street runs N/S on W side of lake including restaurants, stores & both Olympic arenas. Walking up hill to this hotel was quite strenuous but allowed nice views. Ironically I sent this photo to old friend Joe Tavano, legendary Adirondacks skier, & he sent back a wintery picture from same room when he went to Lake Placid on a ski trip. 8/9/20
Crown Plaza has a very nice restaurant & sitting platform overlooking the lake, with a firepit. The following 2 pictures are sunset & dusk from almost the same perspective. We did eat in the restaurant but no meal on this vacation was memorable in the context of the pandemic. New York state was much stricter than New Jersey. Here you get to see more of the walkway around the restaurant and the shrubbery in the sun. That is Whiteface in the background. 8/12/20
This photo is about 45 minutes later. Outdoor lights are turned on. Everything is duller. Big mood change. This photo gives you a better perspective of how steep the walk to/from Main street was. It required a committment & at least 1 stop. If you go to bottom of that road towards the Post Office, then turn right on Main Street, the 1932 Olympic Ice Skating Pavilion is very close & the 1980 rink is not much further. Lake Placid is a small place with alot of international sports history. 8/12/20
We took several walks around this flat loop around Mirror Lake. This view is from the SE corner of Mirror Lake. We also rented bikes for 1 day I think. I had a pretty good spill at a construction site. This looks like a large lake from this perspective but is nothing like the main Lake Placid. 8/10/20
The village is not an overwhelming experience, A little grey like all ski towns. Definitely has the tourist focused stores. This was my usual stop for Sean at a beef jerky store. Restaurants were not great but that might have been because of the pandemic drill. 8/11/20
This is the only picture from or about a restaurant. Getting reservations at ‘The Cottage’ was a challenge. As I recall it had catchy, healthy, casual food with a great view. We also did go to an high-end Lake resort, while waiting for reservation, for a drink that day, probably at Mirror Lake Inn.8/12/20
The couple hour cruise on Lake Placid was probably the highlight of the trip. It begins on the SE end of Lake Placid just across from Mirror Lake at Lake Placid Marina & Boat Tours. Boats are in some cases the only way to access some homes. Certainly it is the only acess for tourists. The Lake is ringed by huge Houses if not estates. Bruce Springsteen used to rent a house for the summer because his daughter attended a horse riding training facility near the Ski Jumping Complex. This house was owned by Kate Smith of “God Bless America’ fame. There were several more celeberity related houses including one housing all of the US skiers during the Olympics. The trip was scenic & interesting. 8/12/20
This photo is from the Northern extreme of the tour at West Lake framing the Whiteface Mountains. The tour was conducted by college aged kids who provided a light & informal presentation. 8/12/20
Oddly enough I have no pictures of the Marina. This photo from the previous night at dusk is looking down Mirror Lake to south, I’m almost convinced. We took a recon walk after dinner the night before the boat tour around Mirror Loop because word was it was very competitive getting spot on tour boat. I would have preferred having a picture through Marina to Whiteface because it was a peppy place with alot of activity as we tourists were mingling with homeowners taking their shopping to their house. Some homeowners do have road access. I have many pictures of lake but some nondescript only explainable because Iphone provides location & date/time of photo. 8/11/20
This sign says it all. We took the gondola up to the peak; Scenic ride! Quite a ski mountain & great views. 3,430 feet – The greatest vertical in the East! It dominates Lake Placid & is truly an international sports presence with 2 olympics. Like most major ski mountains in the NE it has a summer tourist angle. Owned by New York State.8/10/20
This is a gifted Italian stone commemorating the 10th Mountain Division’s contribution to WW2 campaign in Italy. The members also had a huge contribution to the post-war ski industry: At least 62 US Ski areas were started by 10th Mountain Division veterans including Whiteface according to this website. See https://skifederation.org/history-legendary-10th-mountain-division/ for a brief histroy of 10th Mountain including an old-school video. The 10th Mountain was reactivated in 1985 and stationed in the Adirondacks at Ft Drum in New York. 8/10/20
This is looking SW towards Lake Placid, the west Lake nearest the photo. This peak is the background to the previous pictures from the Village. These views are almost startling and I have alot of pictures of this view. Being such a nice clear sunny day was fortunate. You also can see how mountiany it is all sides around the lake. 8/10/20
This photo is on the end of the gondola ride coming down from the Whiteface peak. No particularly great view just a perspective on the height & some adjacent ski runs. Not sure why I did not get a more obviously gondola framed ride; next time. 8/10/20
High Falls Gorge. NE of Village & SE of Little Whiteface. We visited here after Whiteface. Privately owned & tightly managed: a tourist trap. It is about a 1 mile Nature hike, up & down some stairs and through some woods. It was ok. This photo shows the steps 8/10/20
Another Gorge photo showing proximity to Rte 86. We also visited John Brown home, Olympic Ski Jumping Complex, & outside The 1932 Ice Rink only (pandemic related), but no pictures. Missed Veterans Highway, Saranac Lake, & Algonquin Peak 8/10/20
Lake Placid Club (https://www.thelakeplacidclub.com) with a 18-hole Links & Mountain courses. SE corner of Mirror Lake. Not pristine but nice course layouts. Was told that Bode Miller would walk either of these courses after skiing practice at Whiteface. I played full Links Course early on August 10th and 9 holes Mountain in afternoon on August 12. This is hole 1 on Links. This picture is same perspective to picture on website. 8/10/20
This is an hour later on Links Course. probably Holes 4 or 5. Notice the 2 holes side by side & high links grass. I started on an overcast, foggy morning but got sunny later. Course was not very crowded; I was the 2nd golfer on the tee that morning. Hole 1 was alongsde hole 18 & I mistakenly hit drive down hole 18 fairway. Took a mulligan, naturally. 8/10/20
Played two days later around 3PM on Mountain Course after Lake Placid tour. Don’t remember much about this game, nor have any idea what hole this is. Not sure how mounatiny it was (unlike Killington Mountain Course) although Whiteface mountains are more prominent in background. Both courses had noteworthy architects (Alister MacKenzie) and played on by the likes of Jack Nicklaus. I guess when you are golfing in the Adirondacks you don’t expect Augusta. 8/12/20
What patriotic American sports fan does not remember the US hockey team (David) defeating the Russians (Goliath)? This was not the final game for the Gold Medal however, the US still had to beat Finland. This is the inside entrance to the rink. We had to hustle to get these access tickets on the morning we left because of the Pandemic complications.8/13/20
This is a photo of the Ice Skating rink. This is not an amazingly impressive facility notwithstanding the arena’s entrance self-proclaimed ‘Site of the Greaest Sporting Event of 20th Century’. That day they were either setting up or breaking down for a regional hockey event. Still a working local arena. https://lakeplacidolympiccenter.com/ 8/13/20