Protecting the planet

Lake Placid is situated in Adirondack Park, a six-million-acre area of wild landscapes that covers a third of New York state’s land area. Approximately 38 per cent of the park is a forest preserve, and the park’s charter states that it should remain “forever wild”.

Lake Placid’s commitment to its natural surroundings goes back many years. The Environmental Impact Study conducted for the 1980 Olympic Winter Games required the Organising Committee to minimise any adverse environmental impact, ensure that permanent capital projects satisfied the region’s future needs, and avoid building major new highways. Among other improvements made to the venues originally built for the 1932 Games in Lake Placid, the extensions to the ski jumps had to comply with the standards of the Adirondack Park Agency and the Federal Environment Agency.

Protection of this natural heritage and investment in the environmental excellence of Lake Placid’s Olympic venues have continued over the last four decades. Measures include high-efficiency snowmaking, strategic trail building, and the creative repurposing of buildings and land. In operating and improving its Olympic venues, the New York Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) works closely with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) to implement high sustainability standards.

Committed to tackling climate change, reducing its carbon footprint and promoting renewable resources, ORDA signed up to The Climate Reality Project’s I AM PRO SNOW initiative at its ski resorts in 2017. The programme encourages ski resorts and other stakeholders to commit to 100 per cent renewable energy by 2030. This goal ties in with New York’s Clean Energy Standard, which mandates that half the electricity used in the state must come from renewable sources by that year.

This objective has also been central to the improvements made at Whiteface Mountain. The venue for the Alpine skiing events at Lake Placid 1980, it now boasts a 2.6 megawatt solar plant, while 138 low-energy snow guns were installed at the venue in 2018/19. These are just two of the many environmental improvements made there. Environmental sustainability was also central to Lake Placid’s successful bid to host the 2023 Winter World University Games. In preparation for the event, an extensive refurbishment and upgrading programme that seeks to protect and enhance the environment has been put in place.