Sherman's Travel

Lake Placid and Whiteface — Host to North America’s first Winter Olympics in 1932 (a role it repeated in 1980), the pretty Adirondacks town of Lake Placid, in northern New York State, provides plenty of winter fun, particularly for active types who can choose between ice-fishing, tobogganing, snowshoeing, sledding, ice-climbing, snowmobiling, and above all, hitting the slopes. Whiteface Mountain, situated 7 miles east of town, boasts the highest vertical drop east of the Rockies (at 3,430 feet), and runs as long as 2.1 miles. Use our Lake Placid and Whiteface Travel Guide to plot your trip to the unpretentious resort, which debuted its third peak on Lookout Mountain in January 2009. Whiteface also touts a cafeteria and lounge, though there are no accommodations on site. Off the slopes, Lake Placid visitors can tour Olympic Sports Complex facilities like the mind-boggling ski jump, or set out for their own Olympic-worthy experiences like ice-skating on the outdoor speed-skating oval, or even zooming down a real-deal bobsled chute. To cap it off, Lake Placid's shopping, dining, and brewery scenes are also first-rate. Note that Whiteface’s ski season stretches from late November to mid-April.