LAKE PLACID, N.Y. --- Whiteface/Lake Placid has a lot to offer this Memorial Day weekend. Whether you are a local or just visiting for the long weekend, there is plenty to do and take in.
An Olympic sites passport is the best way to enjoy the venues this Memorial Day weekend, giving you access to every one of the Olympic sites. Sold for $35 at the ORDA Store and all of our ticket offices, the Passport saves you time, money, and gets you into the venues at a good value.
Take a ride up the Veterans Memorial Highway. Open Saturday, Sunday and Monday from 8:45 am – 5:30 pm. New York’s fifth highest peak was recently repaved due to $12 million in state funding granted by Governor Andrew Cuomo. The eight mile ride to the summit is much smoother and more enjoyable than recent years. At the summit, you’ll find a castle built from native stone, a restaurant and gift shop, an elevator carved deep inside the mountain top itself and a truly spectacular 360-degree, panoramic view spanning hundreds of square miles reaching out to Vermont and Canada. Nowhere else is the beauty and vastness of the Adirondack Park so apparent and so easily accessible. $11 for car and driver, $8 for each additional passenger, or free with the Olympic sites passport.
Home to the fastest sports on ice, the Olympic Sports Complex is worth a visit. Take a guided tour of the facility and learn all about the historic 1932 and 1980 Olympic track. Hand-laid for the first Winter Olympics in the United States, the track was recently added to the National Register of Historic Places. Open Saturday, Sunday and Monday from 9 am – 4pm, the tour costs $9 for adults and $7 for juniors/seniors, or free with the Olympic sites passport.
Come out to the Olympic Jumping Complex for a self-guided tour of the ski jumps and freestyle kickers and watch as athletes soar hundreds of feet through the warm summer air. To get an athlete’s perspective, take the chairlift to the ski jumps' base, hop in the glassed-in elevator and ride to the top of the 120-meter jump. You can look out at the views and look down a launch ramp. Your visit to the jumping complex includes access to the freestyle training facilities. Open Saturday and Sunday from 9 am – 4 pm. General Admission is $8, or free with the Olympic sites passport.
High Peaks Cyclery is celebrating the opening of its Mt. Bike Center at Mt. Van Hoevenberg this weekend, May 23rd to 25th. Head out and ride from 10 am to 4 pm. Bike rentals, dirt camps, events, races, lessons and tours are available. There are over 30 km of trails for all abilities and levels. And new this summer: an upgraded obstacle course, Surley & Salsa Fat Bikes to rent and demo, full suspension Giant mountain bikes and a fleet of Anyroad (cyclocross style) gravel road bikes.
For more information, visit whiteface.com.
-- ORDA --
Established in 1982, the New York State Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) was created by the State of New York to manage the facilities used during the 1980 Olympic Winter Games at Lake Placid. ORDA operates Whiteface, Belleayre and Gore Mountain ski areas; the Olympic Sports Complex at Mt. Van Hoevenberg; the Olympic speed skating oval, Olympic jumping complex and Olympic arena. As host to international and national championships, the Authority has brought millions of athletes, spectator and participants to the region, resulting in significant economic development.
