Olympic Jumping Complex
5486 Cascade RoadWe made it to Lake Placid.
We took a little family vacation/figure skating competition trip to Upstate New York last week. We went through Canada and stopped at Niagara Falls along the way as well as a great little brewery in downtown Niagara.
We could have made the entire trip in one day but it was much cheaper to get a hotel near Syracuse for Saturday night then drive the rest of the way on Sunday. The first time one of our kids stepped on the ice was in the evening on Sunday so we didn’t need to be there super early.
We got up Sunday morning and had breakfast at a Friendly’s in Liverpool, NY before continuing the drive north to Lake Placid. It was about a three hour drive with a little extra time built in for bathroom stops.
We got to town about 2:00 and J called our hotel to see if we could get in. We weren’t staying in one of the nice hotels downtown. J found an old roadside motel on the way in to town that was pretty cheap. It wasn’t the nicest looking in town and didn’t have the best amenities but many, did they have some comfortable beds. I don’t know if any of us had ever slept that well in a hotel for five nights before.
The hotel gave J the access code for the room and we moved our stuff in for the week. Once we were done with that, J and L really wanted to take B and I to one of the Olympic Legacy Sites that they loved last year.
The Olympic Jumping Complex is just south of the village of Lake Placid inside the Town of North Elba (Towns kind of function like Townships in Michigan. The Village of Lake Placid is within the Town of North Elba). The complex is on Cascade Road just north of River Road. I’ll get to it in a bit but you can see the ski jump tower for miles around it. It’s really, really hard to miss.
When you get to the complex, you come to a large parking lot that is used during events. Drive past that and head down to the lower parking lot. You’ll be in front of Intervales Base Lodge where you start your tour of the complex.
Right inside the door is the line to get in. You can either purchase your tickets just for this site or they do have Legacy Sites Passport which pays for itself as long as you go to all of the sites. We probably should have done that because we did want to go up to White Face Mountain and if we had done it, we also would have went to Mt. Van Hoevenberg where the sliding events where held. The Olympic Museum at the Olympic Center is also included. We did do that because we spent all week at the Olympic Center but I’ll go in to that a little more when I blog about the ice rink. Since we didn’t do the passport, tickets were $20/each for J, L, and I and $15 for B. That ticket is just for the Skyride to get us to the halfway point of the jumps but there isn’t any other fee once you pay for the ride.
This area also has a small gift shop. We had planned on doing some souvenir shopping downtown so we didn’t really look too much at what was in the store.
The rest of the building has a bit of lodge-y feeling to it. There is a room with some tables and then there is a really nice covered deck area that you can sit and watch what’s going on at the ski jump hills.
The ski jumping hills are just a few feet off of that deck. There are some beginner hills that eventually work their way up to the large centerpiece of the complex used for national and international competitions. The complex has both an HS100 (100m) which is considered a “normal jump” in international jumping and a HS128 (128m hill size), considered a “large” hill in international competition.
They also have the podium from the 1980 games on the deck. If it’s anything like the Olympic center, I’m sure it’s still being used for events that happen there today.
From there, it’s time to hit the Skyride. There are three gondolas that take you up to the top of the hill. They don’t stop moving so you have to keep walking to get in one. The doors open and close automatically so you know when it’s time to get up and get moving when you get to the top.
It’s a quick ride to the top of the hill. The gondolas take you to a level where you’re pretty high up but there’s still more to go. It’s actually about the area where the largest of the ski jumps ends and the landing bad begins. On the side of the giant concrete structure is a large sign welcoming competitors to the hill.
The structure also has some reminders that Olympic games took place on these hills.
There are some cabins not too far from the hill and a rock with a plaque for Ronald Mackenzie. He was the President of the Olympic Committee in Lake Placid and had a heart attack and died on the day they were dedicating the complex in 1978.
There’s more to see at this level…and I’ll get back to that, but for now, we’re heading up.
You don’t have to walk stairs to get to that top of that structure fortunately. There is an elevator to get you to the top and back down. It’s included in your ticket for the Skyride. You do have to show it again. I guess in theory someone could walk to the hill and try to take the elevator but it’s not something I would do.
The elevator is a glass elevator that gives you pretty amazing views of the Adirondack Mountains on your way to the top.
At the top is a little indoor area with a small lounge. They have a video playing about the 1980 games on repeat and there are a couple of chairs if you’re inclined to sit and watch.
You can walk out on a platform from here that gives you even more amazing views of the surrounding mountains.
And you can even see the Olympic Center in downtown Lake Placid sitting up on a hill in the distance.
If you turn around, there is a metal staircase that will take you up even higher. This one you do have to walk but it’s not really all that far.
And from the top of that staircase, you look straight down on the HS128 jump with the Adirondack’s in the background. This has to be an amazing view for athletes as they’re racing down this hill.
From this height, you can really get a feel for the difference in the hill heights. That HS100 hill looks pretty far down even though I’m sure the view from the top is still just as scary.
We hung around at the top for a while just enjoying the view then we headed back down the elevator. There is another viewing platform at this level and it gets you a little bit closer look at the hills themself. There is a coaches viewing platform right on the HS128 and right next to it, you can get a real good look at the bottom of the HS100 hill.
There’s also a better look at the judges building which is off to the south of both hills.
Before we headed back down, we took some time to read some of the plaques around the jump. There are lot of informational boards that explain what you’re looking at. This one explains how they jump in the summer months. The slides themselves aren’t super different but instead of landing on snow, they land on a type of AstroTurf grass.
Back at the bottom of the hill, there are a couple of plaques marking the 1932 and 1980 games. Both games took place on this hill but the 60M jump used in 1932 was torn down in 1977 and replaced with the jumps that stand there today.
So…this is supposedly a food blog…but we’ve been over this. I blog about our travels. It’s a journal that not many people read anymore. Still, I should throw something food related in to this post, right?
There is a little snack shop back at the Lodge. It’s the same place you buy your tickets and it’s mostly drinks, chips, snacks, and ice cream, but there is a small menu if you need something for the kids to snack on. I’m actually kind of surprised they didn’t have a bigger snack shop in the lodge as there is quite a bit of space and tables between the gift shop and the outdoor deck. Still, if you need something small, they have something to eat and drink at least. We didn’t buy anything because we just came for a car ride full of snacks and drinks. Plus we were heading to dinner in a few hours after a trip to the Olympic Center for L to get in a practice session.
This was a cool stop and really the only touristy thing we did outside of Niagara Falls. J and L were so excited to bring “the boys” to the hill this year. They went last year and thought it was the coolest thing. It is really neat to see this stuff up close. We only really see ski jumping every four years at the Olympics but there are athletes training almost every morning on this hill. We didn’t see any of that but it’s amazing to see what they see just before they push off.
SW Michigan Dining 