Lake Placid, NY

Lake Placid, NY, was home to the 1932 and 1980 winter Olympics.  We were able to see three venues while we were there.

First we visited the ski jumping area.  We were able to take an elevator up to the top of the large jump and so out and see the track where they athletes jump. We were also lucky enough to be there when an athlete was doing two demonstration jumps for a tour group.  So we got to see her jump on the smaller of the two hills.  They do summer jumping with a watered plastic grass surface.

watered grass landing area, you can also go tubing on it on certain days

This is what the plastic grass and the plastic snow track look like

This is Gabby on the ski jump

The second venue we visited was the bobsledding track. There are actually two tracks, well kind of three.  The oldest one was just made of dirt and stones.  It was used in the 1932 Olympics.  The 1980 track was placed in the same footprint as the first one, but it was made of concrete.  The current track is a new layout and was completed in 2000, but it is still on the same hill.  The coolest part was that after we finished our tour of the track, we were allowed to walk down the bobsled run inside the concrete track.  It was a mile long walk and was quite steep in places, but incredibly fun.

Pictures of the old cement track

New track

Walking the track

Unbelievable how tall and steep the track is

Vintage bobsleds

Next we visited the hockey stadium where the 1980 "miracle on ice" occurred.  The US team won the gold medal over the Russian team.

We finished our tour of Lake Placid by visiting the Olympic torch.