Olympic Jumping Complex

Lake Placid is an unusually small town to carry such a large place in sports history. It first hosted the Winter Games in 1932, when winter sport was still young, and the ski jumps built for those games put the village on the map. Nearly fifty years later, in 1980, the town hosted the Winter Olympics a second time, an event best remembered for the Miracle on Ice, when a young United States hockey team upset the heavily favored Soviet squad.

The Adirondack country around Lake Placid has a deep human history as well. These mountains and lakes lie within lands long traveled and used by the Haudenosaunee, the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, and by the Abenaki, who hunted and moved through the northern woods. The name Adirondack itself comes down from that older world. The Olympic venues sit lightly on a landscape that people have known for a very long time.

The two jumps, built to 90 and 120 meter standards, are the heart of the complex. A ski jumper starts high on the in-run, accelerates down a steep ramp, and launches off the lip to fly the length of a football field or more before landing on the sloped hill below. Seeing it in person, the sheer angle of the in-run and the height of the takeoff make the courage of the sport obvious in a way television never quite conveys.

For visitors, the great draw is the ride to the top. A chairlift and then a glass elevator carry you up the taller tower to an observation deck, where the whole Adirondack valley opens out below, the ski jumps falling away beneath your feet and the High Peaks stacking up on the horizon. On a clear day it is one of the best easy-to-reach views in the region.

Ski jumping and freestyle aerials do not stop when the snow melts. In the warm months, athletes train on synthetic surfaces and, most spectacularly, on the freestyle water ramps, where they ski down a plastic slope, launch off a jump, twist and flip through the air, and land in a large splash pool. Watching these aerialists rehearse their tricks is often the most memorable part of a summer visit.

The complex remains a serious, active training center for national and Olympic teams, not just a monument. That working quality is part of its appeal. On many days you can watch real athletes at work, and the venue keeps its connection to the sport alive rather than freezing it in the past.

Winter is the classic season, when the jumps come alive with snow and competitions, and the surrounding mountains fill with skiers, skaters, and bobsledders across the Olympic venues. Spring is a quieter shoulder season, with the snow receding and the valley greening up, a good time for an unhurried visit and clear views.

Summer is a lively time despite the lack of snow, thanks to the freestyle water-ramp shows and the easy access up the towers, and the whole Lake Placid area is at its busiest. Autumn brings brilliant Adirondack foliage across the High Peaks, and the view from the observation deck is especially memorable when the hills turn red and gold.

The closest Boutel™ stays, so you can turn this stop into an overnight. Each is an independently owned, editorially selected place to stay.