Quench'd: Lake Placid’s Mt. Van Hoevenberg Is More Like Mt. Van Wow

November 9th, 2024 | by Peggy Shinn

Peggy Shinn is a three-time Quench'd writer, as well as an award winning writer and enjoyer of all outdoor activities. She's contributed to all of the major ski magazines and has worked as a senior contributor to TeamUSA.org since 2008, covering seven Olympic Games, she's also written a couple of books and currently resides in Rutland, Vermont with her husband, a quiver of skis, and not enough bikes.

Earlier this fall, the UCI World Mountain Bike Series came to Lake Placid, New York. While it might have been the first time Mt. Van Hoevenberg had hosted the world’s best mountain bikers, the venue is no stranger to the world-class competition. It was, after all, a competition venue at the 1980 Olympic Winter Games—for cross-country skiing, biathlon and Nordic combined (the latter two sports only for men), and on the hillside behind the Nordic trails, bobsled and luge (again, only for men).

After the 1980 Games, the state of New York established the Olympic Redevelopment Authority (ORDA), tasked with keeping Lake Placid’s Olympic spirit, and its venues, alive. Figure skating and hockey events have long used the “Miracle on Ice” rinks in the village, and Mt. Van Hoevenberg’s Olympic Sliding Complex has been a regular stop on the FIL Luge World Cup and IBSF Bobsled & Skeleton World Cup tours for almost a quarter century.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the Mt. Van Hoevenberg Nordic Center served as a training ground for Olympic gold medalist Billy Demong—as did the Olympic ski jumps down the road (Billy won gold in Nordic combined at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games). And over the years, Mt. Van Hoevenberg’s trails have hosted everything from local ski races to college Winter Carnival races, and even the Goodwill Winter Games in 2000.

Peggy Shinn is a three-time Quench'd writer, as well as an award winning writer and enjoyer of all outdoor activities. She's contributed to all of the major ski magazines and has worked as a senior contributor to TeamUSA.org since 2008, covering seven Olympic Games, she's also written a couple of books and currently resides in Rutland, Vermont with her husband, a quiver of skis, and not enough bikes.

Earlier this fall, the UCI World Mountain Bike Series came to Lake Placid, New York. While it might have been the first time Mt. Van Hoevenberg had hosted the world’s best mountain bikers, the venue is no stranger to the world-class competition. It was, after all, a competition venue at the 1980 Olympic Winter Games—for cross-country skiing, biathlon and Nordic combined (the latter two sports only for men), and on the hillside behind the Nordic trails, bobsled and luge (again, only for men).

After the 1980 Games, the state of New York established the Olympic Redevelopment Authority (ORDA), tasked with keeping Lake Placid’s Olympic spirit, and its venues, alive. Figure skating and hockey events have long used the “Miracle on Ice” rinks in the village, and Mt. Van Hoevenberg’s Olympic Sliding Complex has been a regular stop on the FIL Luge World Cup and IBSF Bobsled & Skeleton World Cup tours for almost a quarter century.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the Mt. Van Hoevenberg Nordic Center served as a training ground for Olympic gold medalist Billy Demong—as did the Olympic ski jumps down the road (Billy won gold in Nordic combined at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games). And over the years, Mt. Van Hoevenberg’s trails have hosted everything from local ski races to college Winter Carnival races, and even the Goodwill Winter Games in 2000.

Crowds watching the 1980 Olympic Nordic ski races. Image from ORDA

But on all my trips to Mt. Van Hoevenberg over the past 15 years (mostly to cover bobsled and luge World Cups), it was hard to imagine how this idyllic Adirondack village, and the Mt. Van Hoevenberg venue in particular, hosted not one Winter Olympics but two (1932 and 1980). The facilities were, shall we say, quaint. On my first trip to Mt. Van Hoevenberg in 2009 (to cover the luge world championships), it was 15 below zero and the nearest bathroom was a porta-potty. Another time, on a windy December weekend, that porta-potty lay on its side (thankfully, not with me in it!).

Ironically, the last event that I covered in Lake Placid before the Covid-19 pandemic shut down the world was in February 2020. It was a celebration of the 1980 Olympic team, and the U.S. figure skaters and hockey players who had done so well in those Games were back for a nostalgia tour.

But on all my trips to Mt. Van Hoevenberg over the past 15 years (mostly to cover bobsled and luge World Cups), it was hard to imagine how this idyllic Adirondack village, and the Mt. Van Hoevenberg venue in particular, hosted not one Winter Olympics but two (1932 and 1980). The facilities were, shall we say, quaint. On my first trip to Mt. Van Hoevenberg in 2009 (to cover the luge world championships), it was 15 below zero and the nearest bathroom was a porta-potty. Another time, on a windy December weekend, that porta-potty lay on its side (thankfully, not with me in it!).

Ironically, the last event that I covered in Lake Placid before the Covid-19 pandemic shut down the world was in February 2020. It was a celebration of the 1980 Olympic team, and the U.S. figure skaters and hockey players who had done so well in those Games were back for a nostalgia tour.

Mt. Van Hoevenberg Revitalized

So when I returned three years later to manage the Nordic venue at Mt. Van Hoevenberg for the 2023 FISU World University Games, I felt as if I had traveled through a time warp. The quaint sports venue once barely visible in the northern woods had been transformed.

At the foot of the sliding track and at the edge of the cross-country trails stood the Mountain Pass Lodge, looking as if it had stepped out of an Architectural Digest magazine. Walking inside, I gaped. It’s huge—like bigger than an alpine area base lodge huge—and features a ski shop, café, spacious lounge with comfy couches and chairs, a patio overlooking the trails, a bar, and if you head to the third floor, an indoor bobsled and luge start track.

And did I mention the bathrooms? Spacious, warm, plush … Not a porta-potty in sight.

Outside, I did not even recognize the cross-country trails. A 5-kilometer loop near the lodge was homologated (wide and steep enough) to host world-class competitions, and the 30-row biathlon shooting range looks like it was plucked from the most recent Olympic Games. The 5km of trails are covered by state-of-the-art snowmaking, too.

ORDA started the revitalization in 2018 to lift Mt. Van Hoevenberg’s facilities to modern international standards. A large lodge, situated between the Sliding Complex and the Nordic trails was key to the vision, as was installing 21st century broadcasting infrastructure, so the world-class events could be shown around the world.

When the lodge opened in 2021, Kris Cheney Seymour, ORDA’s events manager, told the Adirondack Daily Enterprise that it was “one of the best Nordic venues on the planet.”

Hard to argue there. I’ve covered four Winter Olympic Games and dozens of world championships and could now easily see Mt. Van Hoevenberg comfortably hosting not just bobsled and luge World Cups but cross-country and biathlon too. The 2023 World University Games—the first major international event hosted at Mt. Hoevenberg after the renovation—went off without a hitch, with plenty of room for spectators, athletes, officials, and volunteers.

As luck would have it, Mt. Van Hoevenberg is hosting the FIS Cross Country World Cup Finals in March 2026—hopefully the first of many cross-country World Cups in our backyard (Lake Placid is just a couple of hours from Vermont).