Lake Placid 1980: Taking the Adirondacks global, again
Lake Placid’s second Olympic Winter Games, staged 48 years after its first, cemented its status as one of the USA’s major winter sports capitals.
Tucked away in New York state’s picturesque Adirondack Mountains and home to just over 2,200 people, Lake Placid is a popular tourist destination and has benefited from the profile provided by staging the Olympic Winter Games. Visitors are attracted by the village’s Olympic heritage, its thriving arts and cultural scene, and a wide range of programmes and activities.
Lake Placid is mindful of its natural surroundings, however, and reminds incomers to be respectful of the environment, a key factor in the area’s sustainable growth. Playing their part in the ongoing Lake Placid success story are a well-organised and motivated community of volunteers, who staff the village’s venues and museums and help run local events. They are the living face of the pride that Lake Placid takes in being a two-time Olympic host city.
The venues that hosted the XIII Olympic Winter Games – some of them existing from 1932 and some built specially for 1980 – all remain in use today and continue to make a valuable contribution to the local economy. Under the stewardship of the New York Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA), which was founded after the 1980 Olympic Winter Games to manage and promote them, these venues provide high-quality training and competition facilities for elite athletes and also serve large numbers of recreational winter sports enthusiasts.
Driving the local economy
Lake Placid’s sports facilities, including the world-class Lake Placid Olympic venues along with major alpine ski areas at Whiteface Mountain, Gore Mountain and Belleayre Mountain, welcomed more than 1 million total visits in the 2022-2023 fiscal year, setting a new visitation record and driving significant local economic impact. According to an economic impact analysis for fiscal year 2022-2023, these facilities contributed approximately USD 341.8 million in economic impact through visitor spending, operations, and related economic activity. The village also hosts major sporting events and the Olympic venues continue to host a robust slate of national and international competitions, training programs, and recreational events year-round, drawing athletes and visitors from across the U.S. and around the world. Recent events have included the FIL Luge World Cup, the FIS Freestyle World Cup Aerials, the Empire State Winter Games, IBSF Para Bobsleigh World Championships, the IBU Cup, the 2023 Winter World University Games, and the FIS Cross Country World Cup Finals.
In promoting tourism in the region, the Olympic Authority partners with hundreds of businesses across the state and supports numerous initiatives. In the process, it helps to attract guests to hotels and motels, skiers and snowboarders to resorts, and fans to sporting events. ORDA makes a significant contribution to the local economy and employs over 1,500 full- and part-time staff in peak season.
Its efforts to attract visitors to Lake Placid are complemented by those of the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism (ROOST), which markets the village and the rest of the Adirondacks as a destination for tourists and new residents alike. In seeking to boost economic growth through tourism, ROOST develops strategies that promote the wide range of cultural, leisure and conference events and activities that the Lake Placid region offers all year round. ORDA together with ROOST and other local organizations aim to make this happen sustainably, working to reduce the environmental impact of the ongoing growth in hiker numbers and holiday rentals.
A major sporting hub
Lake Placid’s Olympic venues remain popular with elite and recreational athletes to this day and continue to benefit the region. Local residents and visitors make extensive use of the region’s Olympic facilities and ski trails. By way of example, more than 17,000 people skated at the Olympic Speed Skating Oval across the 2022/23 season, and over 50,000 ski lessons were given at the Whiteface, Gore and Belleayre ski resorts.
Meanwhile, more than 5,000 athletes from 34 countries trained and competed at Lake Placid’s world-renowned Olympic venues in 2023/24. The construction of the US Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in 1989 brought another top-class facility to the village. The Center offers full-time training and sports science services to the country’s elite athletes, helping them hone their skills, improve their results and achieve success. It is also used by the local community and, during major events, used as well to house, feed and help train international athletes.
Together, these venues have hosted more than 500 major national and international events and competitions since Lake Placid 1980, including 17 world championships and more than 112 World Cup rounds in Alpine skiing and other winter sports disciplines. Lake Placid was also the venue for the 2019 International Children’s Winter Games.
A proud Olympic community
The volunteer programme rolled out for the Olympic Winter Games Lake Placid 1980, which involved the recruitment, training and management of 6,700 people, provided a model for subsequent host cities to follow. The region’s community of volunteers remains very active today, playing a prominent role in Lake Placid’s continuing ability to attract and organise major events such as World Cup luge and freestyle skiing competitions.
Volunteers also assist with the regular anniversary celebrations held to commemorate the staging of the XIII Olympic Winter Games in 1980. These include the annual Lake Placid Loppet, a mass-participation cross-country skiing race held at the Mt Van Hoevenberg Olympic Sports Complex. Volunteers were an integral part of the 45th anniversary events in early 2025, joining athletes, organisers and Olympians to reminisce and share their stories and experiences.
Also run by ORDA, the award-winning Lake Placid Olympic Museum showcases the Olympic values and Olympic history, and houses over 3,600 items, including memorabilia and photographs. One of its current displays is Miracle on Ice, which relives the USA’s shock 4-3 victory against the USSR in the men’s ice hockey tournament in 1980. A source of pride in the area, the museum is an important driver of tourism, attracting 63,227 visitors between April 2024 and March 2025.