Lake Placid Olympic Center
2750 Main St, Lake Placid, NY
Lake Placid, NY
The heart of a village that hosted the Winter Olympics twice, home to the arena where an underdog American hockey team pulled off the Miracle on Ice.
The Lake Placid Olympic Center is the heart of a village with a remarkable distinction: this small Adirondack town has hosted the Winter Olympic Games twice, in 1932 and again in 1980. The center's arenas held the figure skating, hockey, and ceremonies of those games, and the complex remains a working hub for skating, hockey, and winter sports, along with a museum devoted to the village's Olympic history.
It is best known for a single game. In 1980, in the arena here, a team of American college hockey players stunned the world by defeating the heavily favored Soviet squad, a victory so improbable it became known as the Miracle on Ice and one of the most famous moments in American sports. To stand in that arena is to stand where that upset happened, in a mountain village that has twice welcomed the world.
What Guests Love
- Standing in the arena where the 1980 Miracle on Ice hockey game was played
- A museum tracing two Winter Olympics held in one small mountain village
- Watching skaters on the historic Olympic ice
- A base for exploring Whiteface, the ski jumps, the bobsled track, and the High Peaks
Worth Knowing
- The center keeps regular hours and hosts events, so check the schedule if you want to see the ice in use
- Lake Placid is a busy resort village, so lodging and parking fill during peak winter and summer weekends
- The Olympic museum and venues welcome visitors; some venue activities are seasonal
- The village sits at altitude in the mountains, so bring layers even in the warmer months
Details
Lake Placid, NY
Learn about Lake Placid Olympic Center
A mountain village and two Olympic Games
Lake Placid grew up as a resort in the Adirondack High Peaks, drawing visitors to its lakes in summer and its snow in winter. Its winter-sports reputation won it the 1932 Winter Olympics, an astonishing prize for so small a village, and the games brought new arenas, ski jumps, and a bobsled run to the mountains.
Nearly half a century later, in 1980, the Olympics returned to Lake Placid, making it one of the few places on earth to host the Winter Games twice. The 1980 games expanded the venues and cemented the village's identity as a winter-sports capital. This land lies within the Adirondack homeland long traveled by the Mohawk of the Haudenosaunee and by Algonquian-speaking peoples, whose presence in the region continues.
The Miracle on Ice
The most famous moment in the arena came on a February evening in 1980, during the Cold War, when the United States men's hockey team, made up of amateur and college players, faced the Soviet Union's team, widely considered the best in the world and all but unbeatable. Few gave the young Americans any chance.
In one of the great upsets in sports history, the American team won, sending the crowd in the arena into a frenzy as the announcer cried out asking if anyone believed in miracles. The victory, remembered ever after as the Miracle on Ice, carried enormous meaning in its Cold War moment and remains a touchstone of American sports. The arena where it happened still stands at the center of the Olympic complex.
The venues and the museum
The Olympic Center itself holds several ice arenas, including the historic rink, still used for skating, hockey, and events, along with an Olympic museum that tells the story of the two games through artifacts, medals, torches, and film. Visitors can often watch skaters and teams practicing on the storied ice.
Beyond the center, the region keeps its Olympic venues alive as attractions and training sites. The towering ski jumps rise just outside the village, the bobsled and luge track winds down a nearby mountain, and Whiteface Mountain, the alpine venue, offers skiing in winter and a scenic road and gondola in the warmer months. Together they let visitors experience the full sweep of the winter games.
The High Peaks around it
Lake Placid sits amid the Adirondack High Peaks, the tallest cluster of mountains in New York, including the state's highest summit. This is some of the wildest country in the East, a vast forest preserve of peaks, lakes, and rivers protected forever as wild land, with hundreds of miles of hiking trails radiating from the village.
In summer the village is a base for climbing the High Peaks, paddling the lakes, and exploring the forests, and in winter it becomes a center for skiing, skating, and the Olympic sports. Whatever the season, the combination of world-class sports history and grand mountain wilderness gives Lake Placid a character found nowhere else, a small village where the Olympic flame and the Adirondack peaks meet.
Closest Boutels
The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.
Things to Do Near Lake Placid
Whiteface Mountain
About 12 miles northeast
The Olympic alpine venue, with skiing in winter and a scenic memorial highway and gondola to the summit in the warmer months.
Olympic Jumping Complex
About 3 miles
The towering ski jumps outside the village, with an elevator and observation deck for a dizzying view.
Mirror Lake
In the village
The small lake right at the center of Lake Placid, ringed by a walking path, beaches, and boat rentals.
Adirondack High Peaks
Surrounding the village
The tallest mountains in New York, laced with hiking trails through vast protected wilderness.