Mount Van Hoevenberg Sports Complex

In 2018/19, some 47,000 people made use of its combined bobsleigh and luge track and cross-country skiing and biathlon trails, and over 50,000 made the most of its hiking and mountain bike trails. The Complex generated revenue of just over USD 2,500,000 for the 12-month period.

Listed on the American National Register of Historic Places, the combined sliding track has undergone several refurbishments and modifications since the construction of the original natural bobsleigh track for the Olympic Winter Games in 1932. Regarded as one of the most technically demanding sliding tracks in the world, it regularly stages World Cup events and hosted the IBSF World Championships for a ninth time in 2012. Lake Placid will next host the IBSF World Championships in 2025.

The track, which is the training base for the USA bobsleigh/skeleton team, also staged the Para Sport World Cup in 2017, the 2018 North American Cup, and the 2019 Intercontinental Cup. Elite US and international athletes completed 19,000 trips around its 20 curves in the 2017/18 season, while more than 37,000 tickets were sold for the Lake Placid Bobsled Experience, which gives visitors the chance to ride down the track. Now running alongside it is the Cliffside Coaster, which opened in October 2020. The USA’s longest mountain roller coaster at 1.4 miles long, it has already become a very popular attraction. 

The Complex’s existing 56 kilometres of separate cross-country and biathlon trails, which were built for the 1980 Olympic Winter Games and offer approximately 150 days of skiing a year, were recently replaced by a new, combined system of trails. Regularly groomed and patrolled, these existing trails are used by cross-country skiers of all abilities and also host annual events such as the Lake Placid Loppet and the Empire State Winter Games.

With a view to attracting more visitors in the summer months, Mount Van Hoevenberg’s already extensive system of hiking and cycling trails will be expanded and new signage installed in 2021. With traffic congestion an issue on nearby hiking trails, plans are in place to offer hikers parking spaces at Lake Placid’s other Olympic venues and transport them to the trails on electric buses.

Run by the New York Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) and owned jointly by ORDA and the community, the Complex is undergoing extensive refurbishment in preparation for the 2023 Winter World University Games. The programme includes the construction of a combined cross-country skiing/biathlon stadium that will be linked by a bridge to a new lodge. The lodge features a new indoor start/push track, a climbing wall, competition rooms and lounges, and aims to enhance the appeal of the Complex among recreational and amateur athletes and to generate more revenue. By the time these improvements are completed, it is hoped that the Complex will attract 200,000 visitors a year.