Lake Placid: So Many Weather Sports, So Little Time

By BETH J. HARPAZ

Associated Press Writer

Skating on a frozen lake was fun. So was taking a dogsled ride, snowshoeing to an ice-encrusted gorge and learning how to cross-country ski be-neath snowcapped evergreens.

But after spending six hours outside in 5-degree weather, the very best part of visiting Lake Placid was warming up at the Lake Placid Pub & Brewery, washing down nachos and wings with great beer, followed by hot chocolate and — heaven! — s’mores made right at the table.

Apres ski, American-style, it doesn’t get much better than that – though soaking in the hotel hot tub a half-hour later wasn’t half-bad either.

The sheer variety of winter activities in the Lake Placid area, combined with good restaurants and other amenities, are what make this Adirondack Mountain resort town so special. Also unique is its Olympic history, as host of the 1932 and 1980 winter competitions. Athletes from the 1980 games will return to Lake Placid for a 25th anniversary commemoration, Feb. 12 to 27, that includes a torchlight parade, parties and sporting events that the public can join.

Visitors can choose among many ways to enjoy the snow, all within a 10- to 20-minute drive of the center of town. Whiteface Mountain is for down-hill skiers. For cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, head to either the Cascade Ski Center or Mount Van Hoevenberg, which was recently renamed the Verizon Sports Complex. Mount Van Hoeven-berg also offers rides in a luge or bobsled, but the two-minute thrills charge a fee.

You can ice skate at the Olympic Oval, on Lake Placid’s Main Street, or skate right on Mirror Lake (look for a glistening rectangle of ice near the public beach; you’ll see sand beneath the snow if it’s not too deep). Main Street is lined with hotels, eateries and shops, including an Eastern Mountain Sports outlet in case you need warm socks or gloves. A renovated 1920s movie pal-ace shows first-run films. Teams of dogs are stationed at the edge of the lake, behind the Hilton and the Best Western, to speed you across the ice on a sled ($5 for five minutes).

My husband, my sister and I — city folk who can’t tell a boot from a pole, all of us failures at downhill skiing — learned to cross-country ski in an hourlong lesson at Mount Van Hoevenberg. Our Zen-like teacher, Joe Kahn, taught us so well that we spent another couple of hours there on the wooded trails when our lesson was over.

The cross-country lesson, all-day trail pass and gear rental cost was reasonable. My kids had an equally wonderful experience improving their downhill skiing at the Kids Kampus at Whiteface Mountain, but it was more expensive, including helmets, for a five-hour class, gear rental, lift ticket and lunch.

The other highlight of our trip was trekking through the snow at High Falls Gorge to see roaring waterfalls framed by spectacular formations of ice. For $20, you get two rounds of footgear, access to the trails and snacks. First, you put “YakTrax” over your shoes — an elastic net of coils that gives traction on slippery surfaces — and hike to see the waterfalls.

When you come back, roast a marsh-mallow over an open fire, have some coffee or hot chocolate, and put on high-tech snowshoes for a hike over more challenging terrain. These are not your grandfather’s snowshoes; they look nothing like tennis rackets for your feet. Made by a company called Mountain Brand Safety, they have steel teeth to keep you from falling as you trek up and down icy rocks in the woods.

We never made it to the bobsled, the luge facility or the Olympic skating rinks. No doubt they’re a lot of fun, but we didn’t have time. We were too busy skiing, snowshoeing — and eating.