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New York State travel, Outdoors Adventures, Skiing/Riding/Snow Destinations

New York State’s Olympic Authority Ski Mountains Open for Season

December 23, 2024 krubin723 Leave a comment

*Skiing Gore Mountain, one of three New York State Olympic Authority ski destinations, with Whiteface and Belleayre, that have opened for the season © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

By Karen Rubin, Laini Miranda and Dave E. Leiberman, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

Governor Kathy Hochul celebrated the official start of the 2024-25 winter season with the daily opening of New York State Olympic Regional Development Authority (Olympic Authority) ski mountains, Gore, Whiteface and Belleayre Mountains.

These are the three largest of New York State’s 52 operating ski areas (the most of any state!). With ski areas located across the state, nearly every major New York metro area is within 90 minutes of top-tier winter recreation and makes skiing and riding an important contributor to employment and quality of life for residents throughout the state.

Our three-generation family rides the new Skyride Gondola to begin our visit at the top of the highest ski jump tower at Mt. Van Hoevenberg, one of four venues included in the Olympics Legacy Site Passport © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

“We are proud to welcome New Yorkers and visitors of our great State to our world-class ski resorts this winter season,” Governor Hochul said. “Our investments in these facilities have strengthened the state’s winter tourism industry, creating jobs, driving economic growth and enhancing the quality of life for residents. These resorts offer unparalleled opportunities for recreation, ensuring that New York remains a top destination for winter sports enthusiasts.”

Gore, Whiteface and Belleayre, as well as many of the ski mountains in New York State, offer programs for all ages and abilities. Adaptive snowsports programs offer individuals with cognitive and physical disabilities the opportunity to learn with certified instructors. There are also numerous opportunities for beginners up to masters. These include the 2024-25 SKI NY Free for Kids Passport Program granting third, fourth and fifth grade students to obtain a complimentary one-day lift ticket at participating New York State ski resorts and the College Club Program at Gore, Whiteface and Belleayre, open to any full-time college or university student to apply.

Whiteface Mountain

Whiteface continues to build on its legacy of excellence with several key enhancements. A new heated patio at the Bear Den Learning Center provides expanded space for dining, gathering and watching ski lessons. Snowmaking infrastructure has been upgraded with new pipes and high-efficiency snow guns on popular trails, along with a Snowmax injection system to ensure high-quality snow, even during warm conditions. The Cloudsplitter Gondola received a new haul rope to ensure reliable operations, while the addition of a winch-ready PistonBully 600 Snow Cat will help maintain optimal trail conditions. These improvements reinforce Whiteface’s status as a top destination for skiers and snowboarders of all abilities (whiteface.com).

What makes Whiteface Mountain so absolutely special (and worldclass) is that it is part of a Olympics complex where you not only can see training facilities and historic sites, but you can participate in many of them, including ice skating, bobsled, Nordic skiing and biathalon. And with the multi-million dollar investments in facilities, you may well see World Cup competition or training going on.

Mt. Van Hoevenberg: Building on the momentum of hosting the successful WHOOP UCI Mountain Bike World Series event in September, the Nordic ski area at Mt. Van Hoevenberg is gearing up for another full season of events taking place alongside daily recreational opportunities for cross-country skiers. This season’s event schedule includes local, regional, and national Nordic races, culminating with the SuperTour races March 29-30. Drawing on a 7.5 million gallon reservoir, the ski area at Mt. Van Hoevenberg is the home of the world’s largest snowmaking system dedicated to Nordic skiing.

*Olympic Jumping Complex is visited with a new Skyride Gondola, then an elevator to the top of the highest ski jump © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

The best way to experience Lake Placid, we discover, is with the Olympics Legacy Sites Passport, which provides access to the four Olympic venues and experiences – so even if you don’t ski, you can take the Cloudsplitter Gondola up to the summit of Little Whiteface to enjoy the spectacular view of the Adirondacks high peaks; go to the top of the highest ski jumping tower at the Olympic Jumping Complex to see what the ski jumpers see (terrifying); tour Mt. Van Hoevenberg where the sliding sports (bobsled, skeleton and luge), Nordic skiing, and Biathalon are held; and tour the Olympic Center, where you visit the museum that houses one of the best collections of Olympics memorabilia in the world, as well as the skating arenas. (The passport includes one admission to the four venues plus 10% off shopping and dining at all the Legacy Sites. (The Olympic Legacy Passport can be purchased at any of the venues (https://lakeplacidlegacysites.com/legacysitespassport/) Lake Placid Legacy Sites, 518-523-1655, https://lakeplacidlegacysites.com/

*During our visit to Mt. Van Hoevenberg, we get to watch practice runs for the two-person bobsled World Cup competition © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

When the Mt. Van Hoevenberg track isn’t being used for practice or competition, you can take the Bobsled Experience, where you are driven down the track with real bobsledders. You get to go through that famous Turn 10 but from Start 4, so it comes soon into the ride before you get going too fast, but you still reach speeds up to 50 mph on the lower half-mile of the track. (Be sure to reserve in advance; in summer, the bobsled uses wheels on concrete; $125/9+; $100/military, https://mtvanhoevenberg.com/todo/bobsled-experience/).

Also at Mt Van Hoevenberg you not only get to see the Olympic bobsled track but you can ride alongside on the Cliffside Coaster, the longest coaster in North America, which opened in 2020. As you ride up to the top, you hear the Olympic history of the track but once at the peak, you are in the driver’s seat and control the speed, navigating sharp corners, cliffside banks and long winding stretches (open daily in season but weather dependent; make reservations in advance; 31 Van Hoevenberg Way, Lake Placid, NY 12946, https://mtvanhoevenberg.com/todo/cliffside-coaster/).

At the Olympic Jumping Complex, you can also ride the new Sky Flyer Zipline adjacent to the ski jumps – and if the ski jumpers are practicing, you can seemingly fly alongside. ($20 off ticket price with the Legacy Passport).

Whiteface Mountain has no lodging of its own, but the Lake Placid/Adirondacks region has scores of truly fabulous accommodations, special in their own right:

High Peaks Resort is offering a Ski Adirondacks Package that includes a welcome beverage upon arrival, a $25 nightly property credit to use at Dancing Bears Restaurant, complimentary snowshoe rentals, complimentary admission to Whiteface Club & Resort Nordic Center for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, 10% off rentals at Cunningham’s Ski Barn, and a guaranteed 2:00 pm checkout. Après ski, visit the newly reimagined Lake House at High Peaks Resort for drinks, snacks and entertainment. Rates start at $249 per night, excluding taxes and fees.

Mirror Lake Inn in Lake Placid offers guests three unique opportunities this winter to learn from some of the ski world’s most successful athletes: Ski with Olympic Medalist Andrew Weibrecht, Nordic Ski with Olympic Medalist Andrea Henkel Burke, and the Your Turn Women’s Ski Clinic with Andrew and Lisa Densmore Ballard.

*Settling in to my lushna at East Wind Lake Placid Hotel © Dave E. Leiberman/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

On our last visit, we really enjoyed our stay at Eastwind Lake Placid, which offers a variety of lodging options including cabins and lushnas (6048 Sentinel Road, Lake Placid, 518-837-1882, https://www.eastwindhotels.com/lake-placid-overview). Also, the Golden Arrow Lakeside Resort, right on Mirror Lake, walking distance to attractions, shopping, dining, 2559 Main Street, Lake Placid www.golden-arrow.com, 844-209-8080.

Gore Mountain

Gore Mountain’s improvements align with its vision of becoming a premier year-round destination. Construction is underway on a new 18,300-square-foot lodge at the North Creek Ski Bowl, featuring a restaurant and two levels of outdoor patios due for completion in 2025. Ahead of the 2024-25 season, the old Hudson chairlift was replaced with a new detachable quad, providing access to trails for all skill levels. Additionally, the Northwoods Gondola cabins are being upgraded to accommodate modern skis and snowboards, ensuring greater comfort for guests. These upgrades position Gore as a hub for all-season recreation, strengthening the local economy.

Gore Mountain is New York State’s largest ski and ride resort with 439 skiable acres spanning four mountains (Gore, Bear Mountain, Burnt Ridge Mountain and Little Gore Mountain), a vertical drop of 2,537 feet from the summit at 3,600 ft, 108 trails (longest is 4.4 miles), accessed by 14 lifts. As a perennial blue-trail/intermediate skier, Gore Mountain is one of my favorite places to ski. Nestled in the Adirondacks, it offers expansive views of a real wilderness. You actually feel as if you were in the Rockies.

*The Lorca Adirondacks on Indian Lake © Dave E. Leiberman/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Gore Mountain has no on-mountain lodging but there are plenty of charming places throughout the Adirondacks, and marvelous dining in North Creek. Among them, Lorca Adirondacks at Indian Lake, about 40 minutes away, a historic motel that has been refurbished to year-round rustic luxury (Lorca ADK, Sabael, NY, 518-300-3916, [email protected], thelorca.com/adk). For a luxurious stay, choose The Sagamore, a historic, grand resort in Bolton Landing on Lake George, 45 minutes away (www.thesagamore.com).

Gore Mountain, 793 Peaceful Valley Road, North Creek, NY 12853, Snow Phone: 518-251-5026, info 518-251-2411, [email protected], goremountain.com.

Belleayre Mountain

Celebrating its 75th anniversary, Belleayre continues to enhance its facilities with several key improvements. Early season will have limited lodge and services in anticipation of a grand re-opening of Discovery Lodge to include a new rental center and tuning services. Snowmaking capabilities were upgraded with the installation of 20 new PoleCat fan guns and 30,000 feet of new piping, increasing efficiency even in warmer temperatures. A new learning area at the summit, complete with a carpet lift and easy-graded trail, offers beginners better snow conditions and inspiring views. Guests can also access the summit via the Catskill Thunder Gondola for a seamless learning experience.

Belleayre Mountain is especially popular with families because of its proximity (just about 2 ½ hours drive) and perfect size, with marvelous beginner trails and learn to ski programs, and a natural separation between beginner and advanced skiers.

There is no on-mountain lodging, but quaint inns and lodges nearby in Fleischmann’s, Pine Hill, Big Indian, Phoenicia, Margaretville and Shandaken – among them, the Lorca Catskills offering several cabin/cottage-style accommodations (Gooding Rd & Rt 42, Shandaken, NY 12480 [email protected], thelorca.com, 518-300-3916).

See more at www.belleayre.com/plan-your-visit/lodging/)

(Belleayre, Highmount, NY 12441, 800-942-6904, 845-254-5600, www.belleayre.com).

World Championship and World Cup Events at Olympic Venues

The New York State Olympic Regional Development Authority (Olympic Authority) 2024-2025 events calendar is highlighted by World Cup events in three different sports and the International Bobsled & Skeleton Federation (IBSF) World Championships set for March 2025.

“With recent state investments to renovate the sports infrastructure in Lake Placid, we’re building on our commitment to the enduring legacy of athletic prestige in the North Country,” Governor Hochul said.“By welcoming a host of exciting events over the coming months, we are tapping into the region’s history and invigorating the infrastructure and possibility it carries.”

Among the highlights: the return of International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) Aerials World Cup on January 18-19, and the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup, which will now include both men’s and women’s competitions, on February 7-9. The IBSF World Championships will take place over two weeks, from March 6 through March 16.

Other notable major events on the upcoming schedule are the FIS World Junior Championships for ski jumping and Nordic combined on February 11-16, the SuperTour Nordic Finals from March 27-30, and two major collegiate hockey tournaments – the Adirondack Invitational (November 29-30) and the ECAC Hockey men’s championships (March 21-22) – at the Olympic Center.

The FIS Freestyle Aerials World Cup competition returns to the Olympic Jumping Complex, Lake Placid, on January 18-19, 2025 © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

FIS Freestyle Aerials World Cup, January 18-19 – Olympic Jumping Complex: Men’s and women’s FIS Freestyle Aerials World Cup competition returns to the Olympic Jumping Complex for the first time since 2019 on January 18-19, 2025. An Olympic sport since the 1994 Lillehammer Games, aerials is a spectator-friendly discipline that showcases athletes performing acrobatic flips, spins and twists in the air for scores based on total air, form, and landing success.

Lake Placid is one of eight FIS Aerials World Cups on the 2024-25 calendar and will feature men’s and women’s individual events and a mixed team event. The season begins November 24, 2024, in Ruka, Finland, and concludes with the World Championships starting March 30, 2025. Lake Placid, a regular stop on the FIS Aerials World Cup tour between 1985 and 2019, is the second Aerials World Cup of the 2024-2025 season.

FIS Ski Jumping World Cup, February 7-9 – Olympic Jumping Complex: After successfully hosting FIS Ski Jumping World Cups for men over the last two years, the Olympic Authority announced the addition of individual women’s ski jumping events and a mixed team competition from February 7-9 on the large hill at the Olympic Jumping Complex.

Practicing for the 2024 Bobsled World Championships at Van Hoevenberg. This year’s event is taking place Mar. 6-16, 2025 © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

IBSF Bobsled and Skeleton World Championships, March 6-16 – Mt Van Hoevenberg: The IBSF World Championships is the season’s premier bobsled and skeleton event, providing the best sliding athletes in the world an opportunity to achieve career-defining moments. Mt Van Hoevenberg has hosted the Bobsled World Championships nine times since 1949, including the combined IBSF Bobsled & Skeleton World Championships in 2009 and 2012. The 2025 IBSF World Championships was originally scheduled to take place in 2021 but was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

World Champions will be crowned in Lake Placid across seven different disciplines: 4-Man Bobsleigh, 2-Woman Bobsleigh, 2-Man Bobsleigh, Women’s Monobob, Men’s Skeleton, Women’s Skeleton, and Skeleton Mixed Team. Winners will be determined by cumulative times over four heats, providing athletes a momentum boost as they continue preparation for the 2026 Milano Cortina Winter Olympic Games.

The IBSF World Championships were last held at Mt Van Hoevenberg in 2012 when Steven Holcomb piloted the USA sleds to victories in 2-man, 4-man, and the team competition. Holcomb, who famously ended a 62-year Olympic gold medal 4-man drought for Americans at the 2010 Vancouver Games, went on to win two silver medals in the 2014 Sochi Games.

State Support for Tourism Industry

Governor Hochul has maintained a strong commitment to supporting New York’s tourism industry – one of the State’s key economic drivers. New York State welcomed 291.5 million visitors in 2022, the largest number of visitors in its history, generating more than $78.6 billion in direct spending and $123 billion in total economic impact, which followed historic investments in tourism, economic development, outdoor recreation, transportation and other key sectors.

As part of that commitment, the Governor has supported significant investments of more than $600 million in the Olympic Authority facilities to help reposition the State of New York as a global winter sport destination. These investments have supported major sporting events like the 2023 FISU Winter World University Games held in Lake Placid last year. The major transformations and modernizations were executed with a focus on sustainability and financial responsibility. In tandem, event promoter and organizer WBD Sports recently achieved the ISO20121 certification for its commitment to sustainable event management. This certification approves the structured framework that integrates sustainability into their event management practices.

While in Lake Placid, be sure to visit the Olympic Museum, where you can see medals going back decades. New York State’s investment in year-round tourism has resulted in record numbers of visits and expenditures © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Since the Olympic Authority venue modernization projects began, overall visits to Olympic Authority facilities have been increasing markedly. Guest visits at all venues combined broke the one million mark for the first time in 2022-2023, hitting 1,014,292 total visits.

Though the Olympic Authority’s impact as a major driver of tourism and regional economies has traditionally occurred in winter, the investments made in these venues in recent years have greatly expanded that impact to one that’s year-round. From scenic gondola rides at all three mountains to the Whiteface Veterans’ Memorial Highway to the longest mountain coaster in North America at Mt. Van Hoevenberg to a new rail and zipline attraction being installed at Gore Mountain’s North Creek Ski Bowl, and many other non-winter activities and attractions, Olympic Authority venues are offering a wellspring of adventure throughout the year for all ages and all abilities.

More information at the Olympic Regional Development Authority, orda.org.

TOPNOTCH SKIING AT NEW YORK’S GORE MOUNTAIN IN THE ADIRONDACKS

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Driveable destinations, Family Travel, Museums and Exhibits, Places of History, See America, Skiing/Riding/Snow Destinations

Lake Placid, Where You Can Be Immersed in Olympic Sport, Spirit Year-Round

August 6, 2024 krubin723

By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

The Olympic spirit is everywhere in Lake Placid. You can almost hear the fanfare playing. It is infectious, and fun – and what is even better, you get to participate, to see and experience it for yourself.

While so many other Olympic venues shut down after the event, Lake Placid, which hosted one of the first winter Olympics, in 1932, and then again in 1980, the facilities have not just been upgraded, enhanced and once again entice World Cup and international sports events. Lake Placid is very much a four-season destination, an outdoors paradise where you can actually experience the same Olympic venues, attractions and activities year-round, along with the athletes who live and train here, and the world-class athletes who compete here.

It offers an ideal mix of activities to appeal to the most athletic and active, to those who prefer to spectate rather than participate – perfect for our three-generation family – skiers and nonskiers and infant.

*The venues of Lake Placid’s Olympics Legacy sites © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

The best way to experience Lake Placid, we discover, is with the Olympics Legacy Sites Passport, which provides access to the four Olympic venues and experiences – so even if you don’t ski, you can take the Cloudsplitter Gondola up to the summit of Little Whiteface to enjoy the spectacular view of the Adirondacks high peaks; go to the top of the highest ski jumping tower at the Olympic Jumping Complex to see what the ski jumpers see (terrifying); tour Mt. Van Hoevenberg where the sliding sports (bobsled, skeleton and luge), Nordic skiing, and Biathalon are held; and tour the Olympic Center, where you visit the museum that houses one of the best collections of Olympics memorabilia in the world, as well as the skating arenas. (The passport includes one admission to the four venues plus 10% off shopping and dining at all the Legacy Sites, https://olympicjumpingcomplex.com/legacysitespassport/)

But if you haven’t visited Lake Placid in the last few years, you wouldn’t know about any of these experiences. So much has changed. So much is new. So much is so special.

The New York State Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA, now more familiarly known as the Olympic Authority), which owns and manages the facilities here in Lake Placid (as well as Gore Mountain and Belleayre ski areas), since 2018 has not only upgraded and massively improved the facilities in order to continue to host major international competitions (providing opportunities to watch the competition, training and even meet athletes), but has added attractions and activities so that we can experience much the same thrill and excitement as the athletes, year round. We even get to see their sport through their eyes.

New SkyRide, Zipline at Olympic Jumping Complex

*The Olympic Jumping Complex is visited with a new Skyride Gondola, then an elevator to the top of the highest ski jump © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

At the Olympic Jumping Complex, we ride a new, scenic Skyride Gondola to the base of the towers (athletes used to have to take a chairlift), then walk a short distance to the glass-windowed elevator that takes us up to the top of the highest ski jump tower for the view that the jumpers get (terrifying), and the setting amid the High Peaks Region (open daily but subject to weather conditions).

*New attractions and experiences put you in the Lake Placid Olympics © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Today, this facility is the only sanctioned ski jumping facility in North America for winter and summer competition and training. For warm-weather practices, there is a kind of plastic grass that is sprayed with water, that apparently athletes like even better because it is more consistent than snow.

That is a really good thing because climate change will make Lake Placid one of only four premier winter facilities that will be able to host a winter Olympics by 2050, my ORDA guide, Jaime Collins, tells us.

The World Cup will be held here again in February 2025.

*It’s awesome to get to see and be in the places of the Olympic athletes, like riding up the elevator to the highest ski jump © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Here at the Olympic Jumping Complex, you can also ride the new Sky Flyer Zipline adjacent to the ski jumps – and if the ski jumpers are practicing, you can seemingly fly alongside. ($20 off ticket price with the Legacy Passport).

New Coaster Ride, Bobsled Experience at Mt Van Hoevenberg

At Mt Van Hoevenberg, home to the three sliding sports – bobsled, skeleton and luge – the Legacy Passport provides a tour that starts in the newly built Mountain Pass Lodge and the push track where you learn about elite athlete development, then taken by bus up the track for a guided walk inside the sliding track.

*A view of just a portion of Mt. Van Hoevenberg famous track © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Be sure to take in the view from the start area which offers the only place where you can get a view of all the Olympic venues at once: the Ski Jump complex, Whiteface Mountain, the track and Nordic center, and the Olympic Center in downtown Lake Placid. (Open daily; check daily updates page for current conditions and trail offerings.The pass also provides 10% off at Mt Van Hoevenberg’s 81-18 Café, Mountain Pass Mercantile and Swix Store.)

As it happens, our visit coincides with preparations for the final International Bobsled & Skeleton Federation (IBSF) World Cup competition of the 2023-2024 season and we get to watch some of the two-man bobsled practice and meet some of the athletes.

We learn that this track – with 17 curves and a vertical drop of 365 feet – is considered one of the most difficult and has one of the most famous and challenging turns in the world. Turn 10 winds 180 degrees into a 20 foot-high wall that, if hit right, can slingshot the sled for a gain 6 mph. “The G forces are so severe, that they can only practice 4-5 times a day,” our ORDA guide, Jaime Collins tells us.

When the track isn’t being used for practice or competition, you can take the Bobsled Experience, where you are driven down the track with real bobsledders. You get to go through that famous Turn 10 but from Start 4, so it comes soon into the ride before you get going too fast, but you still reach speeds up to 50 mph on the lower half-mile of the track. (Be sure to reserve in advance; in summer, the bobsled uses wheels on concrete; $125/9+; $100/military, https://mtvanhoevenberg.com/todo/bobsled-experience/).

The track is set up so spectators get a real close-up view (pro tip: the best place is where the track is shaped as a heart).

Mt. Van Hoevenberg is also the Olympic Nordic ski area and we just miss watching practices for the Junior National Nordic races at the Nordic stadium on the side of the lodge.

But non-Olympians can do cross-country skiing here, as well as actually experience the Biathlon, an Olympic event which combines shooting and cross-country skiing.

In summer, Mt. Van Hoevenberg becomes a mountain biking center – you can rent bikes and take lessons.

In fact, Lake Placid was selected as the only U.S. venue to host the World Cup mountain bike competition, which will be held September 27 – 29.

*A portion of the Cliffside Coaster track at Mt. Van Hoevenberg, the longest in North America © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Here at Mt Van Hoevenberg you not only get to see the Olympic bobsled track but you can ride alongside on the Cliffside Coaster, the longest coaster in North America, which opened in 2020. As you ride up to the top, you hear the Olympic history of the track but once at the peak, you are in the driver’s seat and control the speed, navigating sharp corners, cliffside banks and long winding stretches (open daily in season but weather dependent; make reservations in advance; 31 Van Hoevenberg Way, Lake Placid, NY 12946, https://mtvanhoevenberg.com/todo/cliffside-coaster/).

Skiers, NonSkiers Treated to View at Whiteface Mountain

At Whiteface Mountain, the Legacy Passport enables even nonskiers to experience the 15 minute ride on the scenic, eight-passenger Cloudsplitter Gondola from the Main Base Lodge to the top of Little Whiteface to enjoy the gorgeous view of the Adirondacks that the skiers get. (Open daily. The Legacy Passport gets you 10% off at these locations: 10% off at Whiteface: 4610’ Grille, Castle Gift Shop, Legends Café, and Brookside Apparel.)

You don’t have to be a skier to ride the Cloudsplitter Gondola to the summit of Little Whiteface for the view, included on the Olympic Legacy Sites Passport competition © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Another activity included on the Legacy Sites Passport is to drive (or bike) the Veterans’ Memorial Highway that rises over 2,300 feet in five miles, with scenic stops along the way. An elevator or 15-minute hike takes you to the summit of New York’s fifth highest peak. (Open daily, but subject to daily weather conditions, visit Whiteface Conditions).

Immersive New Museum at Olympic Center

The Olympic Center, in downtown Lake Placid, is really special. The Legacy Passport gives you admission to the Lake Placid Olympic Museum, which has one of the world’s largest collections of Winter Olympic memorabilia, and brilliantly tells the story of Lake Placid’s role in the development of winter sports and the Olympics.

*Lake Placid’s museum immerses you in its Olympics history and legacy © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

The state-of-the-art museum, which only has been opened two years, features interactive and engaging displays, 3D visualizations, experiential learning exhibits, marvelous videos, and interesting and intriguing artifacts. It is especially inspiring to see the names of local Olympians, some who are multi-generational.

*Speed down the Mt. Van Hoevenberg track in a bobsled in this virtual ride in Lake Placid’s Olympics Museum © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

The 3D and interactive displays are really superb. In one, you sit in a real bobsled and virtually speed down the actual bobsled track (thrilling); you can see exactly what the ski jumper sees flying off the jump.

The climax is sitting in a screening room to watch a 12-minute video of the highlights of the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” when the USA hockey team beat the Soviet Union. (Each year, there is a1980 Miracle on Ice fantasy camp – where participants get to play with the actual members of the team.)

In the museum, you get to really immerse into the personal stories of the Olympians, especially those with connections to Lake Placid.

*Lake Placid’s Olympics Museum has one of the largest collections of memorabilia, including medals, uniforms, torches, buttons © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

You learn that it wasn’t just good fortune why Lake Placid hosted one of the first winter Olympics, in 1932. Lake Placid really began America’s love affair with winter sports.

The first “modern” Olympics was held in 1896, and by the early 1900s, a Norwegian man known as “Jack Rabbit” introduced alpine and Nordic skiing to the Lake Placid area. The Lake Placid Club was formed by the strongest advocates of winter sports.

The high jumping venue, originally known as Intervales, hosted the first international ski jump competition here in 1921, drawing 3000 spectators – more than the local population.

The first winter Olympics was held in 1924, and the first gold medal was actually awarded to Charles Jewtraw, a speed skater, from Lake Placid .

The first gold medal won at the Lake Placid games was won by Lake Placid local, Jack Shea for speed skating (he won two gold in 1932,and was instrumental in the games returning to Lake Placid in 1980). His son, Jim Shea was a 1964 Olympian cross country skier, and his grandson, Jim Shea, Jr., was the men’s skeleton champion aat Salt lake City in 2002 (Jack Shea was killed by a drunk driver just two weeks before).

*The Herb Brooks arena is where the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” wowed the nation and the world, as the USA defeated the Soviet Union © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

You get to tour the famous ice arena, named for Herb Brooks, and the 1932 skating rink (really tiny seating area), and even go down to the locker room.

These historic skating rinks are open to the public for skating year-round, and we see some adorable kids starting their long journey to gold (open Tuesday – Saturday).

*Little ones start their journey to gold on the skating arena built for the 1932 Olympics Union © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

(The Olympic Center is open daily. The pass also provides 10% off at Olympic Center Roamers Café and Miracle Moments Store.)

Just across from the center is the Olympic speed skating oval, where Eric Heyden made history in 1980 for winning all five speed skating events. (He only agreed to one commercial endorsement, for Crest Toothpaste, to finance medical school and became an orthopedic surgeon.). In season, you, too, can skate on the Olympic oval well into the night (weather permitting.)

The Olympic Legacy Passport is $69/adult, $59 ages 19+, military and seniors and can be purchased at any of the venues (, https://lakeplacidlegacysites.com/legacysitespassport/). Lake Placid Legacy Sites, 518-523-1655, https://lakeplacidlegacysites.com/

Ski Whiteface

It’s March – spring skiing – and David, Laini and Karen get the ultimate Olympic experience of skiing Whiteface Mountain – even if you are stuck on the green and blue trails. David and Laini, though, were able to tour much of the mountain, tackling the advanced trails, and loved the long runs and sweeping mountain views. With the spring melt already underway, the alpine creek rushed beneath our chairlift rides and the Ausable River at the base had a Galway-esque feel. The lookout atop the Cloudsplitter Gondola was a gorgeous rest stop for us skiers as well as Laini’s non-skiing parents, who were able to enjoy the view and then easily take the gondola down. We discovered the beautiful mid-mountain lodge on our last run – a great lunch spot with high vaulted ceilings and huge pictures windows.

*Even skiing the intermediate trails, you feel the Olympic spirit on Whiteface Mountain© Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

March, when we visit, is often one of snowiest and most spectacular months for outdoor winter recreation, but this year, snow was lacking and it also was the warmest since 1905, so we aren’t able to do several of the winter activities, like riding the toboggan chute onto Mirror Lake, cross-country skiing, skating on the Olympic oval, and snowshoeing the Mt Van Hoevenberg East Trail (a hiking trail in summer).

In summer, Whiteface Mountain offers disk golf, hiking, the scenic gondola, and plans to resume mountain biking.

Food & Lodging

After our visit to the Olympic Center, we stroll Lake Placid’s charming main street and enjoy the shops, cafes, bistros.

*Lunching in a gondola at the Cottage at Mirror Lake Inn © Dave E. Leiberman/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

We stop for lunch at The Cottage at Mirror Lake Inn, (17 Mirror Lake Dr.) enjoying the meal in one of the actual ski gondolas overlooking Mirror Lake with spectacular views out to the Great Range of the Adirondack High Peaks (17 Mirror Lake Dr., 518-302-3045, mirrorlakeinn.com/dining/the-cottage)

Each night of our stay in Lake Placid, we had a marvelous cocktail/dining experience (so many to choose from and return to Lake Placid for):

Big Slide Brewery, where you eat beside the giant barrels of the brewery in a comfortable dining room and semi-open kitchen. Not your typical pub grub, its menu has pizaazz – snacks like marcona almonds in hop oil and thyme, Cake Placid pretzel nuggets with beer cheese, and tater tot poutine; sandwiches like a shaved steak sandwich with thinly-sliced ribeye, Sugarhouse Creamery Dutch Knuckle cheese, sautéed onions and Mushrooms and Horseradish Aioli; Tomahawk Pork Chop or chicken fried chicken over smoked ham grits; and pizzas cooked in a 700 degree brick oven. Tomahawk Pork Chop or chicken fried chicken over smoked ham grits (5686 Cascade Road, just over a mile from downtown, bigslidebrewery.com, 518) 523-7844.

*The view over Mirror Lake to the Great Range of the Adirondack High Peaks from The Cottage at Mirror Lake Inn at sundown © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Smoke Signals, also overlooking Mirror Lake (a gorgeous dining room and there is a patio overlooking the lake for outside dining), offering classic BBQ with some innovative twists, (2489 Main St., 518-523-2271, www.smokesignalsq.com).

We loved our culinary experience at Cafe Rustica, a quaint, old-fashioned (traditional) Italian restaurant (even the music was a throw-back) serving fabulous Northern Italian cuisine, like the Ravioli Carbonara (fresh wild mushroom ravioli, black pepper, organic egg, pancetta, baby peas, parmesan); Cavatelli Bolognese (rustica Bolognese sauce, cavatelli pasta, parmesan, rosemary oil); chicken Mediterraneo (kalamata olive, heart of plan, tomato, lemon, whitewine, capers, pepperoncini, linguini) (1936 Saranac Ave, Lake Placid, NY 12946, 518-523-7511, www.rusticalp.com)

East Wind Lake Placid Hotel

The East Wind Lake Placid Hotel, just a short distance off of Main Street, Lake Placid, proved perfect for our multi-generational getaway – like a small community of lodges and lushnas for a total of 29 units, each homey with dashes of luxury and high-style. My lushna (like a tiny house) was just the width of the (extremely comfortable) queen bed, and had all the comforts of home – refrigerator, coffee maker, bathroom, remote-controlled A/C. David and Laini and baby were comfortable in a spacious room in the house; grandparents Diane and Barry in the lodge.

*East Wind Lake Placid Hotel offers a variety of accommodations and lovely gathering places © Dave E. Leiberman/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

There are gathering areas – fire pits ringed with Adirondack chairs, a gorgeous reception room (open 24 hours, where coffee, tea and fruit are laid out, you can order breakfast, and there are cocktails and drinks at the bar); a lovely library/salon in one of the buildings (great for taking a conference call).

*East Wind Lake Placid Hotel offers a variety of accommodations and lovely gathering places © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Eastwind Lake Placid, 6048 Sentinel Road, Lake Placid,518-837-1882, https://www.eastwindhotels.com/lake-placid-overview.

For a luxury, resort-style experience: the historic Mirror Lake Inn Resort & Spa (77 Mirror Lake Dr, Lake Placid, NY 12946, 518-523-2544, mirrorlakeinn.com; and High Peaks Resort (2384 Saranac Avenue, Lake Placid, NY 12946, 800-755-5598, highpeaksresort.com).

*Mirror Lake Inn Resort & Spa, Lake Placid © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

High Falls Gorge

Definitely make time to visit High Falls Gorge, a 22-acre nature park, just a short drive beyond the entrance to Whiteface ski area. It is a 30-minute walk – about a mile – hugging the rockface, where you can go out onto overlooks and bridges and be very close to the series of cascading waterfalls formed by the Ausable River as it drops 115 feet. There is also a trail accessible for strollers or wheelchairs.

Some of the oldest rocks in the world are here – you can touch an Anorthosite boulder 1.5 billion years old (Anorthosite, the base rock for the Adirondacks, is the same rock found on the moon). In season, High Falls Gorge also offers rock climbing, tubing and white water rafting, as well as trails through the forest. (4761 NYS Route 86, Wilmington, NY 12997 518-946-2278, https://highfallsgorge.com/)

More travel planning information:

Lake Placid 800-44PLACID, www.lakeplacid.com

Whiteface Mountain Region Visitors Bureau, 518-523-1655, whitefaceregion.com

Visit Adirondacks.com, https://visitadirondacks.com/regions/lake-placid

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© 2024 Travel Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. Visit goingplacesfarandnear.com and travelwritersmagazine.com/TravelFeaturesSyndicate/. Blogging at goingplacesnearandfar.wordpress.com and moralcompasstravel.info. Visit instagram.com/going_places_far_and_near and instagram.com/bigbackpacktraveler/ Send comments or questions to [email protected]. Tweet @TravelFeatures. ‘Like’ us at facebook.com/NewsPhotoFeatures

Driveable adventures, Driveable destinations, Family Travel, Getaways, New York State travel, Outdoors Adventures, Skiing/Riding/Snow Destinations, Travel in a Time of Pandemic, Winter Holiday Travel

New York’s Adirondacks: Driveable Winter Olympic Playground

December 27, 2020 krubin723

Skiing Whiteface, Lake Placid, NY and feeling like an Olympian © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfandnear.com

by Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

Three of the best ski areas in New York are actually owned by New York State and operated by the Olympic Regional Development Authority – Whiteface and Gore Mountain in the Adirondacks and Belleayre in the Catskills. (Among the improvements ORDA has made is new RFID technology for direct-to-lift access and online purchasing so you can go directly from your car to the slopes; the ticket can be renewed online.)

Whiteface

Top of the list for ski areas with a world-class reputation is Whiteface, site of the 1932 and 1980 Olympics, where in addition to skiing, you can visit Olympic venues and even participate (biathalon, anyone? skate on the Olympic Oval, drive a coaster down the bobsled track).

Whiteface offers the greatest vertical, 3430 ft. from the summit at 4867 ft, of any lift-serviced mountain in the Northeast. This is a serious mountain – actually three mountains, Whiteface summit is a 4,867 ft.; Lookout Mountain tops at 4,000 ft.; Little Whiteface at 3,676 ft. – with more expert terrain, more long, rolling groomers (including the longest single intermediate run in the Northeast, the 2.1 mile-long Wilmington Trail) in the East. It offers 300 skiable acres: 89 runs (24% beginner, 44% intermediate, 33% advanced) and 53 acres of glades and 5 terrain parks, serviced by 13 lifts, including the gorgeous Cloudsplitter Gondola Ride that cuts an aerial path through the Adirondack Mountains on its way to the peak of Little Whiteface.

Skating on the Olympic Oval in Lake Placid © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com

Whiteface is my favorite ski destination in New York, largely because of Lake Placid, the ambiance and the extraordinary activities.

Experience the thrill of what it was like to be an Olympic Bobsledder during the 1980 Winter Games on the new Cliffside Mountain Coaster at Mt. Van Hoevenberg, which boasts being the longest year-round mountain coaster in the USA. You control the ride – you have the ability to go as slow or as fast as you’d like. Race your family & friends alongside the 1980 bobsled track to the bottom. During the scenic ride to the top of the Cliffside Coaster you learn about the inspiring Olympic history of the Lake Placid Sliding Center.

Other attractions and recent upgrades to the Olympic Sites include the new Sky Flyer Zipline at the Lake Placid Olympic Jumping Complex, the new SkyRide Experience, an 8-person gondola that brings guests from the Olympic Jumping Complex’s base lodge to the 90-meter and 120-meter ski jump towers, a new glass-enclosed elevator ride to the top of the ski jumps for a panoramic vista of the Adirondack High Peaks (and to experience what the jumpers see as they start to accelerate towards the end of the ramp!), new Nordic trails at Mt. Van Hovenberg (where you can try your hand at the biathalon).

In Lake Placid village, visit the Olympic Center, skate at the Herb Brooks Arena and on the Olympic oval, and visit the Lake Placid Olympic Museum.

*Golden Arrow Lakeside Resort, Lake Placid © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

There is no lodging on the mountain (it’s a wilderness area, after all), but many lovely inns, bnbs, hotels and resorts nearby, including the Whiteface Lodge Resort & Spa and Mirror Lake Inn Resort & Spa. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at the Golden Arrow Lakeside Resort, conveniently located in Lake Placid village, walking distance to everything, and accessible to a convenient shuttle bus to the mountain (www.golden-arrow.com).

Also High Peaks Resort which offers three unique lodging experiences overlooking Mirror Lake and the Adirondacks: The Resort, a traditional hotel featuring 105 guest rooms and suites (newly renovated in March 2020); the modern retro-vibe Lake House with 44 guest rooms; and the private and serene Waterfront Collection, featuring 28 guest rooms including 10 suites on the shores of Mirror Lake. Amenities available to all guests include the Spa & Salon at High Peaks Resort, two indoor and two outdoor heated pools, an indoor Jacuzzi, an on-site fully-equipped fitness center, and a full-service restaurant, Dancing Bears, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. Guests also enjoy private access to Mirror Lake with complimentary use of skates, along with admission to Lake Placid’s full-service Nordic Center, Cascade Ski Center, with more than 12 miles of groomed trails for cross country skiing and snowshoeing (complimentary use of showshoes). Dogs are welcome, with special canine-friendly treats and amenities. (High Peaks Resort, 2384 Saranac Avenue, Lake Placid, NY 12946, 518-523-4411, 800-755-5598, www.highpeaksresort.com)

The newest additions are The Lake Placid Inn (opened July 2020) and the Saranac Waterfront Lodge, an eco-luxe independent boutique hotel that opened Nov. 1, 2020.

Whiteface, Lake Placid, 800-462-6236, 518-946-2223; Olympic Center, 518-523-1655; vacation planning assistance at whitefacenewyork.com, lakeplacid.com, whiteface.com.

Gore Mountain

As a perennial blue-trail/intermediate skier, Gore Mountain is one of my favorite places to ski. Nestled in the Adirondacks, it offers expansive views of a real wilderness. You actually feel as if you were in the Rockies.

Gore Mountain is New York State’s largest ski and ride resort with. 439 skiable acres, it spans four mountains, including Gore, Bear Mountain, Burnt Ridge Mountain and Little Gore Mountain, a vertical drop of 2,537 feet from the summit at 3,600 ft, 121 trails (10% beginner, 50% intermediate and 40% advanced), including 110 alpine trails (longest is 4.4 miles), with 28 glades, 8 freestyle areas and 11 cross-country and snowshoe trails, all serviced by 14 lifts.

*Skiing Gore Mountain, in the Adirondacks © Laini Miranda/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

This season, Gore is unveiling two new lifts: a new quad replaces the High Peaks chair to deliver skiers toGore’s true summit, opening up fresh access to all four peaks and the entire Straight Brook Valley; and the Sunway Chair has been upgraded to a quad. The Cutoff trail in the Northwoods Area has been lengthened and redesigned to become an easier-rated trail. “Pete’s Paradise” now is an additional beginner option. There is also a significant increase in snowmaking capacity.

There is no on-mountain lodging, but there is the delightful Copperfield Inn (www.copperfieldinn.com/) in nearby North Creek which we enjoyed one Christmas; for a grand, luxurious stay, The Sagamore, in Bolton Landing on Lake George is 45 minutes away (www.thesagamore.com).

Gore Mountain, 793 Peaceful Valley Road, North Creek, NY 12853, Snow Phone: 518-251-5026, info 518-251-2411, [email protected], goremountain.com.

More Winter Adirondack Activities

In addition to skiing and snowboarding at Whiteface in Lake Placid and Gore Mountain in North Creek, there are plenty of other ways to embrace the cold in the Adirondacks: hiking (including five fire tower trails in Hamilton County that travelers can visit and climb even in the winter!), cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, snowmobiling, dogsledding, pond hockey, ice skating and ice fishing.

*Winter hike through Ausable Chasm, the Grand Canyon of the Adirondacks © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Mirror Lake has plenty of outdoor activities to enjoy on the ice, including skating, cross country skiing, toboggan rides, dog sledding and skating on the Olympic Oval, just as the Olympians did. The Wild Center in Tupper Lake transforms into a winter playground once the snow hits – Winter Wild Walk, a learn-to ice-fish program, snowshoeing, and some other outdoor winter programming and activities. Oak Mountain (about 2 hours from Lake Placid) is a small family-friendly ski resort ideal for avoiding crowds and offers skiing, snowboarding and tubing along with disc golf and free snowshoeing. Ausable Chasm, the Grand Canyon of the Adirondacks, offers winter tours of frozen waterfalls and spectacular sights, less than an hour from Lake Placid. And at the end of the day, Main Street Lake Placid has plenty of boutique shops and restaurants to welcome visitors in from the cold.

The Adirondack Wayfinder, a new virtual service that showcases the park through thematic road trip itineraries, takes the guesswork out of planning where to go by allowing users to search through a variety of curated itineraries that appeal to different interests, from outdoor recreation, wide-open spaces and family-friendly itineraries to dining, brewery tours, and more. (www.adirondackwayfinder.com)

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© 2020 Travel Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. Visit goingplacesfarandnear.com, www.huffingtonpost.com/author/karen-rubin, and travelwritersmagazine.com/TravelFeaturesSyndicate/. Blogging at goingplacesnearandfar.wordpress.com and moralcompasstravel.info. Send comments or questions to [email protected]. Tweet @TravelFeatures. ‘Like’ us at facebook.com/NewsPhotoFeatures

Family Travel, Holiday Travel, Where to Go Next, Winter Holiday Travel

Favorite Family Winter Holiday Places, Where Life-Long Memories are Made

December 8, 2018 krubin723

*Horse-drawn sleigh ride across a field at the Mountain Top Inn& Resort in the Vermont countryside is like a Currier & Ives painting come to life © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

by Karen Rubin

Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

There are lodgings you choose to hang your hat after skiing, and then there are lodgings you choose because they are absolutely enchanting, especially for the winter holidays, which have the added delight of providing proximity to great skiing – ideal for families when not everyone’s cup of tea is skiing. Here are some of our favorite places to spend the winter holidays:

Mountain Top Inn & Resort, where we had the most delightful Christmas last year, is breathtakingly enchanting, complete with rides on a horse-drawn sleigh gliding across its expansive fields, a Currier & Ives landscape come to life. The setting, on 350 acres with a 740-acre lake, and ringed by the Green Mountain National Forest, offers its own 60 km cross-country ski trail network; a small old-fashioned (natural) skating pond; snowshoeing (twilight tours available); snowmobiling; spa; hot tub; fire pits; and the coziest fireplaces. It’s also a 30 minute drive to Killington Mountain for downhill skiing (shuttle transportation available, 8:30 am, returning 4:30 pm; reserve in advance). Mountain Top Inn & Resort, 195 Mountain Top Road, Chittenden, Vermont 05737, 802-483-2311, www.MountainTopInn.com.

The Sagamore, a grand historic hotel dating back to the 1880s that sits on a private 70-acre island on Lake George, is a sensational self-contained resort in one of America’s oldest tourism destinations. It is just 45 minutes from Gore Mountain, one of the best ski destinations in the East, certainly in New York State (a shuttle is provided); also nearby is West Mountain (downhill skiing, tubing, night skiing) and Crandall Park (cross country skiing, night skiing). The full-service resort offers ice skating, snowshoeing, indoor pool and spa, special holiday activities, (www.thesagamore.com, 866.384.1944)

*The Sagamore, a grand historic hotel dating back to the 1880s, is set on a private 70-acre island on Lake George © Karen Rubin/ goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Mohonk Mountain House has been enchanting guests for more than 100 years. Founded by the Smiley Family in 1869, the Victorian castle resort, a National Historic Landmark, is set on cliffs overlooking a lake, nestled in the Hudson Valley surrounded by 40,000 acres of pristine forest, only 90 miles north of New York City. Mohonk offers a world-class 30,000 sq. ft. “eco-friendly” spa, indoor pool, a spectacular skating pavilion, rock climbing, 85 miles of trails for snowshoeing and cross-country skiing. New winter “wellness” programming is designed to help guests combat the “winter blues” and embrace the beauty of the season, with new mindfulness offerings that include fireside meditation, winter forest bathing and mindfulness lectures. If you can pull yourself away from its warm embrace, downhill skiing in the Catskills (Hunter Mountain, Belleayre, Windham) is an hour away. (844-207-8372, www.mohonk.com)

Now an Omni Hotels resort, the elegant Mount Washington Hotel, “a favorite New England retreat of presidents, poets and celebrities,” is just across the road from New Hampshire’s largest ski area, Bretton Woods (yes, that famous mountain hotel where world leaders signed the 1944 Treaty of Bretton Woods ending the gold standard in, fittingly, the Gold Room), with numerous trails and glades and three terrain parks. The grand resort has its own cross-country skiing on the golf course; one of the longest zip line tours in New England (year-round); a full-service 25,000 sq. ft. spa; two 4-diamond dining rooms (one is a former speakeasy) and sleigh rides. (www.omnihotels.com/hotels/bretton-woods-mount-washington)

Stockbridge, Massachusetts is another utterly picturesque New England village which is like a Norman Rockwell painting of Americana – in fact, its Main Street is immortalized in Rockwell’s “Stockbridge Main Street at Christmas” that includes the Red Lion Inn, where we stayed one Christmas – so much character! The Red Lion has been welcoming travelers to the Berkshires since 1773, one of New England’s few inns that has been operated continuously since before 1800. It is beyond charming – with early American furnishings, much of which has been in place for a century. It has hosted five presidents and other notables including Nathaniel Hawthorne, William Cullen Bryant, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. And much to do in Stockbridge, including the not-to-be-missed visit to the Norman Rockwell Museum, as well as Arrowhead Museum, the home of Herman Melville, in Pittsfield. (www.redlioninn.com).

We were able to combine our delightful holiday stay at the Red Lion with downhill skiing and snowboarding at Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort, the largest ski and snowboard resort in southern New England (37 Corey Road, Hancock MA 01237, www.jiminypeak.com, 413-738-5500).

A great source for fascinating places is Historic Hotels of America, www.historichotels.org and www.historichotelsworldwide.com, where you can find the perfect destination hotel or resort, intimately connected to the heritage, the people, the personality of the place, wherever you are headed.

Skiing, a Great Way to Spend the Holidays

Skiing (and snowboarding) is the great equalizer for families, something that is adventurous and gets the adrenalin rushing, where you feel a satisfied sense of accomplishment, and where kids can show up their parents. The resorts, especially the self-contained ones built around a small village with cute cafes and boutiques, all do a superb job of being festive. And there’s nothing better after a vigorous, bracing day on the slopes, than coming back and getting cozy in the condo with hot chocolate, or smore’s over a firepit, or a steamy Jacuzzi, or setting out for the skating rink or hopping a gondola to a mountaintop restaurant.

*Park City’s historic Main Street. The Hyatt Centric provides a free shuttle into the town each evening © Karen Rubin/ goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Park City, Utah, goes all out for the holidays and the town itself is utterly charming with sensational restaurants, boutiques, and you can fly out in the morning to Salt Lake City and be on the slopes, just 35 minutes away, by 1 pm. Park City Mountain celebrates the holiday season with Snowfest: a 16-day winter festival, Dec. 22-Jan. 6, featuring après ski events, musical acts, village entertainers, and activities including ice sculptures, s’mores roasting, meet-and-greets with the avalanche dogs and more. Activities will be presented at both the Park City Mountain Village and Canyons Village each day. On Monday, Dec. 24, Park City’s 56^th annual Christmas Eve Torchlight Parade takes place, a tradition as old as the resort itself, when 100 Park City instructors ski down with lit torches creating a beautiful scene on the Mountain, joined by Santa Claus. The resort, the largest in the US with 7300 acres of terrain, two distinct base areas, nine hotels, two dozen restaurants and a new eight-passenger gondola, does an excellent job of interconnecting with Park City itself, a most charming Western town. Book 7 days in advance online for discounts on lift tickets; check out holiday packages, events and lodging and updates on terrain and weather reports at ParkCityMountain.com. (Also visit snow.com for info on all the Vail Resorts.)

*The intoxicating view at Park City Mountain, Utah, which after being combined with The Canyons, is now the biggest ski area in the US © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

The Hyatt Centric at the Canyons base, which has been a superb lodging for our stay and has its own lift for ski in/out convenience, and is just a five-minute walk to the shops and restaurants, let us use the outdoor heated pool, hot tubs, sauna and lockers after we were checked out. Our two-bedroom condo (the hotel has 27 two-bedroom suites, which can be turned into 3 bedroom suites, and 15 one-bedroom suites) is unbelievably spacious, outfitted with every possible amenity including a full-kitchen, a dining table that seats eight, three TVs, a Jacuzzi bathtub in the master bedroom, four balconies, windows everywhere there open up to the gorgeous outdoors, and washer/dryer (so convenient when you ski).The hotel also offers a free nighttime shuttle into historic Park City (parkcity.centric.hyatt.com).

Similarly, Lake Placid is a charming village that is the hub for Whiteface in the Adirondacks in upstate New York. Plenty to do, from the Olympic ice skating oval and museum downtown, to Olympic venues (you can even do bobsled, skeleton, biathalon, go up the Ski Jump towers, cross-country – even if there is someone in the family who doesn’t ski, or even if do, there is so much to enrich a trip. (Try to also fit in a hike through Ausable Chasm, incredible in winter). It’s not for nothing SKI Magazine named Lake Placid #1 ski town for Off-Hill activities.

The Bobsled Experience: Lake Placid is the only area in the Northeast where you can experience bobsled, luge and skeleton. You get to “slide” with a professional driver and pusher © Karen Rubin/ goingplacesfarandnear.com

We loved our festive holiday stay at the Golden Arrow Lakeside Resort, which offers a shuttle bus up to Whiteface, but also is a hub for all that Lake Placid offers: walking distance to the Olympic Oval ice skating rink and museum or ice skate on Mirror Lake just outside the resort; lovely shops and restaurants, and the local “toboggan roller coaster.” Also dog-sledding across the frozen surface of Mirror Lake and guided snowshoeing at Mt. Van Hoevenberg. (www.golden-arrow.com, 844-209-8080)

Other favorite New York State ski destinations: Gore Mountain in the Adirondacks (North Creek is a delightful village to stay), Belleayre, Windham, Hunter Mountain in the Catskills. (See Ski New York, www.iskiny.com, for more ideas.)

Other favorites for the holiday vibe as well as great skiing: Smugglers Notch (a complete, self-contained mountain destination that is tops for families), Mount Snow, Stratton (now part of Ikon Pass) and Okemo (now part of Vail Resorts’ Epic Pass) in the Northeast (see SkiVermont.com); Heavenly and Northstar around Lake Tahoe, California; Vail, Breckenridge (a historic town), Keystone Resort (sensational for families, easy to reach from Denver International Airport) in Colorado. Great source for ski holidays, Ski.com, a ski-specializing travel agency.

Warmer-Weather Winter Favorites

St. Simons Island is one of Georgia’s Golden Isles, lying midway between Savannah, Georgia and Jacksonville, Florida. The islands are a popular resort playground, offering a mix of natural beauty, rich history and quaint charm, coupled with the allure of inviting year-round weather (winter temps are in the low 60s). Visitors are enchanted by the natural canopy of moss-draped live oaks and the memorable Tree Spirits, hand-carved images of weathered faces that immortalize the area’s sailors who lost their lives at sea. The King and Prince, a member of Historic Hotels of America, offers a complete resort experience, including oceanfront dining, beachfront activities to horseback riding, tennis, biking and fishing. A variety of tours are available that provide samplings of the area’s history and culture, whether by foot, bike, trolley or boat.There are five oceanfront pools including a heated pool; enjoy golf at its famous The King and Prince Golf Course, and tennis. What I especially love is the opportunity to explore St. Simons – especially by bike. There are also dolphin cruises, shrimp boat excursion, kayaking, historic trolley tours of the island. Take time to explore Fort Frederica National Monument (which was an entire settlement, dating from 1736), Christ Church, and St. Simons Lighthouse & Museum. (www.kingandprince.com, 800-342-0212; member of Historic Hotels of America, historichotels.org.)

Eau Palm Resort in Manalapan, on Palm Beach Island, is an intimate ocean retreat, luxurious and comfortable; traditional and modern; playful and indulgent, situated on seven private Atlantic beachfront acres, magnificently landscaped with lush gardens and exquisite pools © Karen Rubin/ goingplacesfarandnear.com

Eau Palm Resort in Manalapan, on Palm Beach Island, is a very special place. An intimate ocean retreat, it is both luxurious and comfortable; traditional and modern; playful and indulgent. Situated on the sweeping back drop of Florida’s Gold Coast with seven private Atlantic beachfront acres, magnificently landscaped with lush gardens and exquisite pools, it is one of only two Forbes Five-Star resorts in Palm Beach and eight in Florida. The award-winning Eau Spa is not to be missed. The resort offers an imaginative array of activities, from stand-up paddleboarding, to snorkeling in aquamarine waters, to surfing lessons, tennis. Borrow a complimentary cruiser bike to explore Palm Beach on a fabulous recreational trail. Palm Beach also offers many wonderful museums and historic attractions also, like the Flagler Museum; try to fit in a visit to the Palm Beach Zoo if you can pull yourself from the beach and the stunning pools. (www.eaupalmbeach.com, 800-328-0170).

One of our favorite places is the Colony Hotel & Cabana Club, Delray Beach, Florida – if Cole Porter were a hotel, it would be this one, and just steps away from Delray Beach (I think one of the nicest, most scenic beaches on the Florida’s Atlantic coast); the hotel even has its own private beachfront country club. Delray Beach is a sumptuous confection of art and culture, once voted “America’s Most Fun Small Town.” Among the features are complimentary breakfast buffet; wifi at hotel & club; fitness room; weekend live entertainment; walk to beach and access to private beach club with a saltwater pool). (www.thecolonyhotel.com, 561-276-4123, 800-552-2363; a member of Historic Hotels of America, historichotels.org.)

*Colony Hotel, Delray Beach, Florida is a luscious confection that has you singing Cole Porter songs © Karen Rubin/ goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Another way to get into the spirit of “America’s Most Fun Small Town” is a stay at the Crane’s BeachHouse Hotel & Tiki Bar, which puts you right in the middle of all the activity Delray Beach offers, including a short walk to the beach, and yet makes you feel so far away, in some tranquil, private tropical retreat. It’s whimsical and fun. A fabulous buffet breakfast is served under the thatch roof of the tiki bar. (cranesbeachhouse.com, 561-278-1700, 866-372-7263).

Leave time to explore Gumbo Limbo Nature Center, Wakodahatchee (best birding anywhere), Loxahatchee (kayak or canoe in the Everglades, look for alligators!) and Morikami Museum & Japanese Gardens.

The Broadmoor in Colorado Springs is wrapping up its centennial celebrations with the recent unveiling of its largest, grandest holiday gingerbread display ever, a 13 ½-foot-tall, 11×11-120-square-foot gingerbread replica of the original 1918 Broadmoor resort. Situated at the gateway to the Colorado Rocky Mountains in Colorado Springs, The Broadmoor and its Wilderness Experience properties of The Ranch at Emerald Valley, Cloud Camp and Fishing Camp encompass 5,000 acres. The resort campus has 784 rooms, suites and cottages. It includes championship golf courses, a Forbes Five-Star spa and fitness center, indoor pool, nationally recognized tennis staff and program, 24 retail boutiques and 10 restaurants and 10 additional cafes and lounges, including Colorado’s only Forbes Five-Star and AAA Five-Diamond restaurant Penrose Room. Other activities include falconry, guided mountain biking, hiking, rock-climbing tours, fly-fishing, paintball and more. The Broadmoor owns and manages attractions that include Seven Falls and The Broadmoor Soaring Adventure zip-line courses. During the winter season, Broadmoor guests may choose from a wide selection of complimentary weekend activities and classes designed to enlighten, excite, educate—or simply enjoy, including cooking classes, wine and spirits demos, fly casting instruction, golf instruction, dance classes, fitness classes. Holiday activities include Christmas dining events, face painting, carnival games, laser tag, and story time. Nearby activities include: Bear Creek Nature Center, Cave of the Winds, Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, Children’s Museum, Florissant Fossil Beds, Hiking in North Cheyenne Canyon, Manitou Cliff Dwellings, ProRodeo Hall of Fame, The Rocky Mountain Dinosaur Resource Center, Royal Gorge Bridge, World Figure Skating Museum and Hall of Fame, The Broadmoor Seven Falls, Western Museum of Mining, and World Ice Skating Arena. (www.broadmoor.com, 855-634-7711)

More Holiday Travel Ideas

Cruising is a great way for families to be together for the holidays. Royal Caribbean Cruise Line, Disney Cruise Line, Norwegian Cruise Line and Princess Cruises do a superb job for families, with spectacular entertainment, waterparks and other mind-blowing activities on board and age-appropriate children’s activity programs and dining options. These floating resorts bring families together around activities and interests, dining and entertainment, adding in the incalculable delight in exploring new places. Our family treasures our multi-generational reunion on a Carnival cruise during Christmas week that called at Key West and Cozumel (Mexico), both such colorful places. Your travel agent can best advise on choosing a ship, a cruiseline, an itinerary; also visit cruisecritic.com.

*Visit Harry Potter at Hogwarts at Universal Studios Orlando © Karen Rubin/ goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Theme parks really deck the halls for the holidays, with parades, decorations, special activities. Our favorites include Universal Studios Orlando (loved our stay at the Loews Portofino), DisneyWorld (we had a really fun time at the Coco Key Hotel outside Disney, with its own waterpark and shuttle transport to the park), Busch Gardens Tampa (an outstanding zoo as much as it is a theme park) and Busch Gardens Williamsburg.

Close to home and an absolutely delightful theme park destination is Hershey Park (particularly great for families with younger kids): Its most festive seasonal event of the year, Hersheypark Christmas Candylane includes 4 million lights in a choreographed light show, 45 rides and coasters, entertainment, a visit with Santa. “Hersheypark Christmas Candylane Package,” available on select dates Nov. 16 – Dec. 29, includes one night accommodations at The Hotel Hershey (a grand, historic hotel) or Hershey Lodge resort and one day Hersheypark admission for the whole family, milk & cookie delivery, admission for 1 vehicle to Hershey Sweet Lights attraction. Also visit ZooAmerica, an 11-acre zoo with 200 animals open year-round. (www.hersheypark.com, 717-534-3900).

*Taking a trail ride at Pine Ridge Dude Ranch © Karen Rubin/ goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Dude ranches are a hoot; no matter your age, you wind up being a kid again. We had an entirely different holiday experience the Christmas we spent at Pine Ridge Dude Ranch (formerly the Pinegrove Ranch, was acquired this year by the former barn manager and two long-time guests). It’s an old-fashioned all-inclusive Catskills Mountains family resort with horses and a “Toy Story” cowboy vibe. So festive, warm, friendly and utterly delightful. It’s a nonstop giggle for children of all ages. Parents will slip back into their own childhoods while making new childhood memories for their own kids. There are activities galore, indoor pool, even laser tag, archery, tubing, iceskating, plus nightly shows and entertainment, three meals daily plus snacks and the holiday atmosphere is so special. Riding horses over snow-covered trails is really special. They regularly offer specials for Christmas and holiday times (some families return each year). Pine Ridge Dude Ranch, 30 Cherrytown Road, Kerhonkson N.Y. 12446, Ulster County, 845-626-7345, [email protected], www.pineridgeduderanch.com.

Rocking Horse Ranch is a perennial family favorite. In the best tradition of Catskills resorts (all-inclusive) and dude ranch, it offers unlimited horseback riding, an indoor water park, live shows and entertainment, meals and tastings. Activities include bungee trampoline, rock climbing wall, mountain tubing, a spa and “exotic wildlife” exhibit (600 State Route 44/55, Highland, NY 12528, 800-647-2624, www.rockinghorseranch.com).

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© 2018 Travel Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. Visit goingplacesfarandnear.com, www.huffingtonpost.com/author/karen-rubin , and travelwritersmagazine.com/TravelFeaturesSyndicate/. Blogging at goingplacesnearandfar.wordpress.com and moralcompasstravel.info. Send comments or questions to [email protected]. Tweet @TravelFeatures. ‘Like’ us at facebook.com/NewsPhotoFeatures

Family Travel, Outdoors Adventures, Skiing/Riding/Snow Destinations

New York’s Olympic Regional Development Authority Continues to Make Improvements at Whiteface, Gore, Belleayre Mountains

December 9, 2017 krubin723 1 Comment

*Nestled in the Adirondacks, Gore Mountain offers expansive views of a real wilderness © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

By Karen Rubin, Travel Features Syndicate, goingplacesfarandnear.com

Believe it or not, New York State, with more than 50 ski areas, has more ski areas than any other state in the country and the biggest vertical ski drop east of the Mississippi; New York is the 4^th in terms of skier visits, after Colorado, California and Vermont. The ski areas range from pleasant family-friendly nearby areas that are ideal to learn to ski or ride, to the two-time Olympic mountain, Whiteface.

The three ski areas owned and under the aegis of New York State’s Olympic Regional Development Agency (ORDA) – Whiteface, Gore and Belleayre – are continuing to implement dramatic improvements and programs like SkiNY3 and Parallel from the Start programs, along with state-wide-programs like free skiing programs for 3rd and 4th graders, to entice new skiers.

The three ORDA areas have multi-lesson packages and lift tickets that allow the flexibility of using them on nonconsecutive days and at the different areas.

Already this season, major competitions have been held to decide who the athletes to represent the United States at the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea, including five major international events at Whiteface – in bob sled and skeleton, figure skating, luge, freestyle aerial.

Whiteface Mountain, Lake Placid

Whiteface is New York State’s Olympic Mountain, with actual Olympic facilities all around Lake Placid that you can take part in, as well as special attractions that altogether make for a unique winter experience: skating on the Olympic Speedskating Oval, plunging down the Olympic Bobsled Track where you can try bobsled or skeleton (truly thrilling); touring the Ski Jumping Complex; Nordic skiing on the Olympic course, and testing your own mettle at the biathlon, a sport that combines cross-country skiing with riflery (lesson available), visiting the Olympic Museum.

*Whiteface, Lake Placid, is where you can experience Olympic sports such as bobsled on an Olympic track © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Whiteface offers the greatest vertical (3,430 ft. of any lift-serviced mountain in the Northeast, mile after mile of groomed cruising trails with 98% snowmaking coverage.

This is a serious mountain, with more expert terrain, more long, rolling groomers (including the longest single intermediate run in the Northeast, the 2.1 mile-long Wilmington Trail). Whiteface summit is a 4,867 ft.; Lookout Mountain tops at 4,000 ft.; Little Whiteface at 3,676 ft.. Whiteface offers the highest skiable terrain, The Slides, at 4,650 ft. elevation. In all, explore 288 skiable acres including 35 inbounds, off-piste double-black diamond wilderness terrain (“The Sliders”, conditions permitting) and 58 acres of tree skiing. There is terrain for everyone: 38% rated expert; 42% intermediate and 20% beginner. Among the lifts is an eight-passenger gondola and a high-speed detachable quad.

There have been extensive improvements on the mountain over the past three years.

There’s so much to do in and around Lake Placid (even a slide onto the lake once it freezes over), that it actually competes for time on the mountain, but richly fills the time after the lifts close down; an all-access Olympic Sites Passport is $35 (provides discounts on attractions and experiences): the Lake Placid Olympic Museum; speed skating oval, Olympic Jumping Complex, Snow Tubing, Bobsled and skeleton experiences, cross country skiing, biathalon.

*Ski like an Olympian at Whiteface, Lake Placid © Karen Rubin/ goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Save up to 50% on lift tickets by purchasing in advance online at whiteface.com; Frequent skier cards, valid at Whiteface, Gore and Belleayre give you the first day free, 50% off nonholiday weekday skiing, 25% off weekends and holidays and every 6^th day free ($99 for ages 20+, $79 for students 13-19; $59 for ages 7-12).

There is no lodging on the mountain (it’s a wilderness area, after all), but many lovely inns, bnbs, hotels and resorts nearby, including the Whiteface Lodge Resort & Spa, Mirror Lake Inn Resort & Spa. We thoroughly enjoyed our stay at the Golden Arrow Lakeside Resort, conveniently located in Lake Placid village, walking distance to everything, and accessible to a convenient shuttle bus to the mountain (www.golden-arrow.com).

Whiteface, Lake Placid, 800-462-6236, 518-946-2223; Olympic Center, 518-523-1655; vacation planning assistance at whitefacenewyork.com, lakeplacid.com, whiteface.com.

Gore Mountain

Gore Mountain is one of my favorite places to ski. Nestled in the Adirondacks, it offers expansive views of a real wilderness. You actually feel as if you were in the Rockies.

This season, guests will benefit from major renovations to three lodges.

At the base area there are two two large additions which will streamline the rental process and facilitate getting back on the mountain.

*Skiing Gore Mountain © Karen Rubin/goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Last season, Gore introduced Nordic skiing, turning its old tubing park into a cross-country ski area –– which will have snowmaking on 3.7 km of its 5 km trails. The new area was so successful last year (even opening by Thanksgiving) that Gore is hosting the NYS Nordic Championships. The Ski Bowl where the Nordic area is also has a half pipe, border skier cross and twilight skiing (til 9 pm).

Gore participates in the I Ski NY Free Passport for 3^rd graders; also, kids under 19 ski free with an adult.

Gore Mountain is 30 miles away from Lake George and the magnificent grand, historic Sagamore Resort & Spa, Bolton Landing (www.thesagamore.com).

We loved our stay at the delightful Copperfield Inn in North Creek (www.copperfieldinn.com/), a truly charming village that is just outside the entrance to Gore Mountain, with lovely bistro restaurants and shops. A shuttle bus operates from North Creek and the surrounding properties to the mountain, as well as the train station.

Gore Mountain, 793 Peaceful Valley Road, North Creek, NY 12853, Snow Phone: 518-251-5026, info 518-251-2411, goremountain.com.

Belleayre Mountain

Belleayre boasts a new gondola this season (part of an $8 million investment in the mountain), the first one in the Catskills (third in New York State). The 60-car gondola whisks guests from the lower lodge to the summit, bottom to top in just 7 minutes.

A new trail was opened in conjunction with the new gondola: the Deer Run extension trail starts just to the right of Tomahawk Lift parking lot, crosses under the access road via a skier tunnel, and winds down to the lower area popping out just above Running Bear into Iroquois. The mid-section of Deer Run, just above the shale bank, is widened to create a more natural fall line, while on the upper sections, the natural rollers are filled in, creating less of a pitch for easier intermediate skiing from the summit.

*This season, Belleayre opens the new Catskill Thunder gondola.*

The new “Catskill Thunder” gondola will operate year-round – and open up the mountain for mountain biking (now you have to hike up) as well as for wedding and party rentals at the summit. In the next five years, there are plans to open cross-country skiing on the summit’s plateau with snowmaking – which will make for a fairly unique experience.

Belleayre is bigger than people realize but what is especially wonderful about Belleayre, particularly for families, is the natural separation between the beginner area on the lower mountain, and the intermediate and advanced trails at the top. It’s snowmaking and grooming is highly rated. This year, beginner terrain has been doubled in area, and separates snowsports lessons from the general public. Also, gladed terrain is being expanded.

Belleayre is a very family-friendly, comfortable mountain, all the more popular because of its close proximity to New York City – just about 2 ½ hours away.

Belleayre offers a Learn to Ski package at $79 that includes a lift ticket for the lower mountain, rental, two-hour lesson; a three-day package is $169 (it doesn’t have to be consecutive days, you can split them up), and even take the lessons among the three ORDA mountains, Gore and Whiteface.

You can save up to 40% on the price of a lift ticket by purchasing in advance online.

Belleayre does not have lodging at the mountain but there are delightful BnBs, lodges and inns close by (check the website for lodges that offer Ski & Stay packages which provide savings up to 50% on lift tickets.)

Belleayre Mountain is located off of State Route 28 in Highmount, NY, just hours from New York City.

(Belleayre, Highmount, NY 12441, 800-942-6904, 845-254,5600, www.belleayre.com).

I Ski NY

The Discover NY Ski Day will be held on Thursday January 18th and offers discounted lift tickets starting at $12 and discounted learn-to-ski/snowboard packages start at $25. It is open for all and the tickets are typically 8 hour tickets. The Learn-To-Ski/Snowboard packages start at $25 and give people who never skied or snowboarded or haven’t been on the slopes in a long time the opportunity to get on the slopes again. Full details and sales at https://www.iskiny.com/ski-deals/discover-ny-ski-day.

NYC Winter Jam, a free winter sports festival for New Yorkers of all ages will return on January 27, 2018. Presented by NYC Parks, I Love NY, I SKI NY, and the Olympic Regional Development Authority, Winter Jam is a great opportunity to experience skiing, snowshoeing, and winter as a whole. Gore Mountain will blow lots of fresh snow in the heart of Manhattan for all to enjoy. Location and time yet to be determined. Details will be available at nycgovparks.org.

The I SKI NY Free For Kids Passport Program returns for the 2017-18 ski season. For the 2017-18 ski season, I SKI NY is once again offering the award winning “Free for Kids Passport” program for 3rd and 4th graders. The program allows a 3rd or 4th grader to learn to ski or ride for free at all participating ski areas and / or also ski for free when an adult ticket is purchased. The program is free, but there is a small processing fee to enroll. More information at ISKINY.com.

*Golden Arrow lodge at Lake Placid, ideally situated for skiing Whiteface. Many lodges are participating in I Ski NY ski & stay packages© Karen Rubin/ goingplacesfarandnear.com*

Ski & Stay: The Ski Areas of New York (ISKINY) has teamed up with lodging properties to bring you three special ski & stay weekends this winter (January 5 – 6, February 2 – 3, March 2 – 3). Ski and stay two nights you get a third one free.

Guests can choose to add on the Thursday night before or the Sunday night after for their free lodging and skiing. The promotion is subject to availability and may not be combined with any other offers. The third night lodging and day skiing can be used for a Thursday stay Friday day skiing/riding or Sunday stay Monday day skiing/riding. Lodging for two nights and lift tickets must be purchased for the two days and you will get third free.

Contact the selected hotel directly and identify this promotion as “I SKI NY SKI and STAY” to arrange reservations. Lift tickets will be provided at check in or at the resort ticket window.

For information on all New York State’s ski areas, visit www.iskiny.com/explore-new-york/mountains.

Find Ski & Stay packages at www.iskiny.com/ski-deals/ski-stay.

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© 2017 Travel Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. Visit goingplacesfarandnear.com, www.huffingtonpost.com/author/karen-rubin , and travelwritersmagazine.com/TravelFeaturesSyndicate/. Blogging at goingplacesnearandfar.wordpress.com and moralcompasstravel.info. Send comments or questions to [email protected]. Tweet @TravelFeatures. ‘Like’ us at facebook.com/NewsPhotoFeatures

Skiing/Riding/Snow Destinations

Lake Placid, NYS’s Winter Resort, Where You Can Ski and Bobsled like an Olympian

December 17, 2013 krubin723 1 Comment

At Lake Placid, New York's Bobsled Experience, ride with a driver and a pusher down the same track that is used in international competition © 2013 Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com — *At Lake Placid, New York’s Bobsled Experience, ride with a driver and a pusher down the same track that is used in international competition © 2013 Karen Rubin/news-photos-features.com*

The three of us stuff ourselves into the bobsled behind the driver and take hold of a strap along the inside; the “pusher” takes a running start, pushes us off and jumps in behind me, and we begin our descent.

Heart pounding, I feel the rush as our bobsled picks up speed, and we race around the sequence of curves. David calls out “Right,” then “Left” so we lean into the curve to pick up even more speed (he’s not the driver and can’t even see the track in front of him, but we get that extra thrill).

View slideshow: Skiing, bobsledding at Lake Placid Olympic venues

Even though our Bobsled Experience at the Lake Placid Olympic Sports Complex is only half of the length that is used for international competition (literally a half mile, versus one mile), we reach speeds of 55 mph, hitting the turns at 2Gs of force and come away with much greater appreciation for what the competitors do who reach speeds of 85 mph and register 5 Gs at the turns in the course of a mile.

We can’t see the track, we feel it. And we can’t hear it, but we know that there is a track announcer announcing our progress as we whip around one turn and another – the turns have names and reputations – all giving us that extra facet of our Olympic experience.

We reach bottom in 47 seconds according to the scoreboard.

This is just one of the many extraordinary experiences of winter in Lake Placid, which has had the distinction of hosting two winter Olympics – 1932 and 1980 (most famous for the “Miracle on Ice” USA hockey defeat of the Soviet Union).

Few places have such a storied tradition .

Later, at the Olympic Museum in the Olympic skating stadium on Main Street, I appreciate so much more seeing the equipment the early Olympians used, and learning the answer to the question that Eric raised as we arrived at Whiteface Mountain, why did the Olympics come here?

Lake Placid was one of America’s first resorts, and was America’s first winter resort, and as the host of only the third winter Olympics, it developed many facilities – like the bobsled track – that were firsts for North America.

There is no other place in the Northeast to do bobsled, no other place to see a World Cup or international style competition like bobsled, luge, or ski jumping; and because Lake Placid continues to be a major training facility for top athletes, you can watch training exercises.

Olympics are part of the spirit that imbues the community here – kids who grow up here are very likely to pursue some sort of sport.

In fact, Lake Placid is the only community in United States that has sent an athlete to every winter Olympics since the first one in 1924. The very first Olympic medal of the very first winter Olympics in Chamonix was won by a Lake Placid speed skater Charles Jewtraw, for the 500-meter speed skate (which we get to see later at the Olympics Museum on Main Street).

But the thrill is not just that you might see the athletes in training, but that you can ski, cross-country ski, skate, and do such things as bobsled, luge and skeleton, even biathalon on the same Olympic and international competition tracks. This experience gives you a context and an appreciation when you see competitions.

You also appreciate Lake Placid as a destination, with a special allure that brought the earliest visitors.

Today, it is particularly distinctive because it draws so many international visitors – Canadians, to be sure, considering its proximity to our northern neighbor, but also many Europeans who feel quite at home in a village with a Bavarian feel, and the spiking mountain peaks of Whiteface and the Adirondacks, and people from India and other locales around the globe. No doubt drawn by Lake Placid’s Olympic fame and its mystique, their very presence perpetuates the Olympic ideal of globalism.

This is all the more remarkable because of Lake Placid, itself – a tiny, dare I say modest, and unpretentious village. where development has been limited by virtue of being contained within the state’s Adirondack Preserve, so there is a quaint quality, a tradition and heritage that adds so much to the experience.

And since there are no slopeside lodgings at Whiteface, you come to Lake Placid, and ski Whiteface. This means that Lake Placid is a true destination, offering such variety and interest that skiing or snowboarding is just one of the many pleasures and experiences.

Many of the attractions in the area are oriented around the Olympics. Largely because of its heritage, the Olympic feats that were achieved here will never be matched again. The very proximity of the Olympic sports venues to each other is unusual today: within a 10-mile radius, you have Whiteface, the Olympic Center, the ski jumps, the skating venues – and all offer very special experiences for visitors today.

We all get to be Olympian, or at least have a taste of what it is to compete at that level.

It is especially exciting to know this isn’t a tourist track, but the real thing.

That’s what you realize at the Bobsled Experience, which is part of the Olympic Sports Complex.

The track we are on is used for international competition, such as the February 2000 Winter Goodwill Games as well as by the world’s best athletes for training.

“It is regarded as one of the best – not the fastest, but is demanding and technically challenging. You have to be on your game,” says Jon Lundin of the Olympic Regional Development Authority that manages the Olympic venues including Whiteface Mountain.

The upstairs lounge where we waited for our turn and where non-Bobsled guests can watch video of their loved one coming down the track or just watch the event unfold – has a fascinating exhibit about the track and the Olympic bobsled and luge, with some sleds and wonderful historic photos.

This was the first bobsled run constructed in the United States, in advance of the 1932 Olympics. It cost $135,000 to build the track (a small fortune for the tiny village of Lake Placid); and construction began 1930, when the country had already plunged into the Great Depression. The curves of the 1 1/2 mile earthen track, we learn, became world famous: “Whiteface, Shady, Little S, and Zig Zag were respected and feared curves throughout the world.” Hometown heroes Curtis and Herbert Stevens won gold in the two-man bobsled (they were the only team to heat their runners between runs), while the four-man gold-medal team included Billy Fiske and Eddie Eagan, a gold medalist in boxing, who was “along for ride,” who became one of only a few athletes to win gold in both summer and winter Olympics.

The upper half-mile of the track was incredibly dangerous; as a result, the Whiteface, hairpin curve, was only used for the 1932 Olympics.

We realize that like Eddie Eagan, we are “along for the ride” – essentially ballast for the sled, but thrilled nonetheless. You can pack your group as many as four into a sled with the professional driver and pusher. They do about 300-400 runs a day, if you can believe it.

You can also do Skeleton and Luge at select times.

The Skeleton Experience is where you individually ride what looks like your childhood sled, and lying on your stomach, rocket down the ice chute, reaching speeds of up to 40 mph.

There are two kinds of Luge that you can experience: The Regular Athlete, which is offered only four times a year for the public, and the Rocket Luge, only offered Christmas Day using a modified sled but you start higher on track, covering three-quarters of a mile ($65).

We are told that Luge is often called the fastest sport on ice – a test of nerves you travel feet first solo down the track on a sled. There are only five Luge classic events offered during the year at Lake Placid – most uniquely, the Dec 31 New Year’s Eve Party (Riders need to be 13 years old; reservations required at 518-523-4436 or [email protected]).

Our Bobsled Experience is complete when we are handed a copy of the photo they took in front of the sled when we landed at the bottom, a Bobsled Experience pin, and a tee-shirt (all included!), and, after we fill out a survey for Chevy Suburban, the commercial sponsor (and when you get in the SUV for the ride up to the top, you do appreciate the car), we even get a backpack.

There is so much more for visitors to enjoy of the Olympic Experience.

Olympic Ski Jumps, Biathalon, Cross-Country

On the way to our Bobsled Experience from Whiteface Mountain, we emerge from the River Road (this backcountry “shortcut” from Whiteface to Mt. Van Hoevenberg, and get our first look at the imposing 90 and 120-meter Olympic Ski Jump Towers – intimidating even from where we are.

You can ride up a glass look-out elevator to the skydeck of the 120 meter tower (about 26 stories high) for the scenic view of the High Peaks. You approach the elevator via chairlift, which rides up the steep landing hill. Ski jumpers train at the facility year-round. There is access to the breathtaking outside start gate.

This is a year-round activity: Jumping on the 90 meter hill in summertime is possible thanks to a porcelain tile in-run that propels the skiers down the ramp. They land on a synthetic surface that looks like a thatched roof.

Also, there are weekend clinics for beginner ski jumpers of all ages through the New York Ski Educational Foundation (NYSEF). Call 518- 523-1900; (the elevator ride is included in The Olympic Passport,$32).

You can also visit the Freestyle Park where there are the aerial ski launching ramps (known as “kickers”) for freestyle skiing athletes to propel themselves as high as 60 feet in the air to complete rotation and twist maneuvers. In the winter, the snow-covered kickers sit atop a steep, snow-packed landing hill.

In the summer and fall, you can watch aerialists train and compete in the state-of- the-art park as they launch themselves off the ramps and land in a 750,000 gallon heated pool with an impact reducing aerating system. Adjacent to the pool, there is trampoline training. The combination of “tramps and ramps” finds athletes perfecting their tricks in the off-season. You can watch competition and training from surrounding bleachers. In July and August, they offer Wet ‘n Wild Wednesdays, where world-class aerial skiers perform for visitors. Events are scheduled throughout the year.

There is also snow tubing here at the Olympic Jumping Complex, day and some nights (open until 7 pm on Friday and Saturday; $9/hour) You get to catapult yourself down a 700 foot chute Olympic Jumping Complex

The Olympic Sports Complex also includes the Biathalon Center (the sport that combines cross-country skiing with riflery) – and sure enough, you can take part in that, as well. You get to take a freestyle skiing lesson and then test your marksmanship with a 22-caliber rifle and shoot at the same targets used during the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano, Japan (or just go onto the shooting range) (the Discovery Biathlon is $55 with lesson, trail pass, rental, biathlon; $36 for range and lesson; in summer, you can just shoot at the rifle range for $15; http://www.whiteface.com/activities/be-biathlete.)

You even can ski the 50 kilometer 1980 Olympic cross-country course, at Mt. Van Hoevenberg. But you shouldn’t be intimidated: there are cross-country ski trails for all levels and abilities, www.whiteface.com/activities/cross-country-skiing.

But if you would like to have an Olympic experience, each year, there is a cross-country ski race on the Olympic trails at Mt. Van Hoevenberg, called the Loppett and Kort Loppett, http://www.whiteface.com/events/lake-placid-loppet. You can chose to ski the full 50k in the Loppett event, utilizing all of the trails from the 1980 Olympic Games, or race in the Kort Loppett, a 25k race.

Whiteface Mountain

Our Olympic experience began this day on Whiteface Mountain about nine miles outside of Lake Placid village, where we are staying at The Golden Arrow Lakeside Resort, literally on Lake Placid (there is a free shuttle bus we could take that leaves from across the street, but we find it more convenient to take the car; parking is not difficult at all, but there is premium slopeside parking at $15/day).

There are many superlatives that attach to Whiteface Mountain: it has the greatest vertical drop, 3430 ft, East of the Rockies – but what distinguishes Whiteface more than anything is character and tradition.

You can ski and ride the trails of the 1980 Winter games: the Men’s Downhill, from Cloudspin to Broadway to Lower Valley; the Women’s, from Skyward to East Street to Lower Valley; the Men’s Giant Slalom course, Thruway onto Lower Valley and the Women’s, down Parkway onto Lower Valley, and the Slalom course on Mountain Run.

At Lower Valley, you see the race finish, the hut where the judges and announcers would have sat, and the race board.

One of the distinctive features that adds to the experience is the number of international visitors that come to Whiteface and Lake Placid- Lake Placid’s proximity to Canada is a natural draw but we also met any number of European visitors. No doubt drawn by Lake Placid’s Olympic fame and its mystique, their very presence perpetuates the Olympic ideal of globalism.

We breeze through the rental process – they have very fine Rossignol equipment – and are impressed by the services in the base lodge, and soon make our way to the Cloudsplitter Gondola that takes us up to Little Whiteface at 3676 feet. The trails from here are blacks and one blue, Excelsior, which gives a lovely view of the surrounding Adirondack peaks.

New this year is snowmaking on Hoyt’s High Trail. Hoyt’s High Trail has always relied on Mother Nature to cover its 1,400 feet of vertical. As a result, the 4,700 foot long expert trail, cut in 2008 and named in honor of Whiteface veteran ski patroller Jim Hoyt Sr., has only been open for a handful of days. That has changed now with the installation of snowmaking.

Intermediate and advanced skiers can start on the Gondola to Little Whiteface, at 3676 feet elevation, from which there is only one blue trail (Excelsior) which is not particularly difficult, and multiple black trails.

Ski down to the Summit Quad to get to the highest point that is served by lift, Top Station at 4386 (Whiteface summit is at 4867), from which there are blue and black trails down.

Because we visited so early in the season, the Lookout Mountain lift was not yet open, but I really wanted to do the Wilmington Trail, a blue that meanders 2.2 miles (the longest on the mountain).

The trails, like many of the older ski areas, tend to be narrow especially from the top, and Whiteface is known to get icy (best to ski as early as possible in the day). Whiteface offers a snow guarantee, whereby you can get a refund on your lift ticket within the first hour if conditions not great.

There aren’t any green trails from the summits (Excelsior is a relatively easy blue), but there is an entire learning area, Kids Kampus, that is separated from the main mountain area, and reached by a delightful sequence of greens from Facelift lift – a shuttle bus from the main base lodge brings kids to the Kids Kampus, where the learning programs are housed. Bear’s Den Nursery is for non-skiers 1-6; Play-n-Ski is for ages 4-6; there is a a new Burton Riglet Park for beginner riders 3-6; Junior Adventure skiing and riding for all ability levels for ages 7-12; and Teen Experience for 13-16 skiers and riders of all ability levels.

During our stay, I was happiest (I must confess) on a sequence of green trails accessed by FaceLift: Easy Street and Boreen, down to the base. On this day, it had the best snow and the best views (which help me zone into my skiing), and I could really just relax and enjoy my skiing.

In all, Whiteface offers 86 trails – over 22 miles of skiing and riding. It claims the greatest vertical drop in the east, at 3,430, from a base of 1220 to The Slides, at 4,650 (the highest lift goes to 4,386).

There are some beautiful eateries at midmountain: Boule’s, a bistro serving fine foods and crepes; and the Mid-Station Lodge, serving up traditional resort fare, which also has a magnificent view.

The base has a nice selection as well – Base Camp Market, Cloudspin Lounge, Black Bear Cafe and J Lohr Cafe and Wine Bar.

Other practical considerations: you can check your skis with unlimited access for $5 for 24 hours; and $4 for bin, or you can rent a locker (which can accommodate up to 3 sets) for $15 for a 24-hour period.

There is a premium slopeside parking lot for $15/day on weekends, holidays, $12 for midweek/nonholiday.

With all that the Lake Placid area offers, you need to build in extra time in your visit. The Whiteface lift tickets allow for such flexibility to take a day off to explore, 2 out of 3 days, 3 out of 4, 4 out of 5) – to have this extraordinary experience of getting a taste of what it is to be an Olympian.

Indeed, what makes Whiteface Mountain special is Lake Placid – the history, tradition. This is a real place, not a creation of a ski resort.

For information, www.whiteface.com, where you can prearrange trip, get tickets to special events, track snow conditions, see live webcam, book ski/stay packages.

Whiteface, 5021 Route 86, Wilmington, NY 12997, Phone: (518) 946-2223 / Coca-Cola Snow Phone: 877-SKIFACE, Email: [email protected]

Olympic Sports Complex, 220 Bob Run, Route 73, Lake Placid, NY 12946, Phone: (518) 523-4436,Email: [email protected]

Olympic Center, 2634 Main Street, Lake Placid, NY 12946, Phone: (800) 462-6236 / (518) 523-1655,Email: [email protected]

See next: Lake Placid, New York’s Quintessential Winter Resort Destination

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Going Places, Far & Near

Tag Archives: Lake Placid

New York State’s Olympic Authority Ski Mountains Open for Season

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Lake Placid, Where You Can Be Immersed in Olympic Sport, Spirit Year-Round

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New York’s Adirondacks: Driveable Winter Olympic Playground

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Favorite Family Winter Holiday Places, Where Life-Long Memories are Made

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New York’s Olympic Regional Development Authority Continues to Make Improvements at Whiteface, Gore, Belleayre Mountains

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Lake Placid, NYS’s Winter Resort, Where You Can Ski and Bobsled like an Olympian

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Because travel is a life-enhancing, relationship building, world-changing experience

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Because travel is a life-enhancing, relationship building, world-changing experience