Lake Placid and Whiteface Mountain

Lake Placid, the village that hosted the Winter Olympics in 1932 and 1980, is 52 road miles south of the cabins, about an hour and a quarter by car. Whiteface Mountain's ski area is about ten miles beyond it, 62 miles from the cabins. From about mid-May to mid-October a toll road climbs to within about 300 feet of Whiteface's 4,867-foot summit, and in winter the same mountain has the greatest vertical drop of any ski area in the East. This guide covers the drive, the ski area, the summit road, Main Street and Mirror Lake, and how to fit them into one day from the cabins.

The drive from the cabins

The route is easy to follow. About seven miles of local and county roads, most of it County Route 25, bring you out to NY 30. Follow NY 30 south past Meacham Lake to Paul Smiths, 31 miles from the cabins, and turn onto NY 86, which runs through Gabriels to Saranac Lake at about 43 miles and on east to Main Street in Lake Placid at 52. Allow about an hour and a quarter to the village and about an hour and a half to the ski area.

From Lake Placid, NY 86 heads east through Wilmington Notch, the narrow pass carved by the West Branch of the Ausable River, and follows the river for most of the way to Wilmington. The Whiteface ski area entrance, at 5021 NY 86, is about ten road miles past Main Street. On the way you pass High Falls Gorge, at 4761 NY 86, where a 30-minute walk on bridges and paths passes four waterfalls and admission is charged, and then the state's Wilmington Notch campground.

For the summit road, stay on NY 86 into Wilmington and turn onto NY 431, the Whiteface Memorial Highway. It climbs past Santa's Workshop to the toll house beside Lake Stevens, about 69 road miles from the cabins by way of Lake Placid. The shortest way by distance skips Lake Placid: from Bloomingdale, River Road, Franklin Falls Road and County Route 72 reach the toll house in about 54 road miles, and map apps may send you that way. From the toll house it is five more miles to the summit lot.

Saranac Lake, 43 miles out, has its own guide; see Saranac Lake and Paul Smiths. In winter give the drive extra time and plan to be home early, because the sun sets about 4:20 p.m. in December. The winter driving guide covers the roads.

Whiteface Mountain

Whiteface is New York's fifth-highest peak at 4,867 feet, and its summit road makes it the highest place in the state you can reach by car. The mountain is anorthosite, a rock that formed about 1.2 billion years ago some 15 miles below the surface. Its Algonquin name, Wa-ho-par-te-nie, means "it is white," and the first formal path to the top was finished in 1860.

Skiing came early. In 1938 crews cleared 2,700 feet of an old logging road on the mountain, and it became New York's first certified Class A racing trail. In November 1941 the state amended its constitution to allow a ski center on Forest Preserve land, and Governor Averell Harriman opened the Whiteface Mountain Ski Center on January 25, 1958. Since 1981 the state's Olympic Regional Development Authority, set up to run the Olympic venues, has managed it.

Whiteface held the alpine ski races of the 1980 Winter Olympics. Ingemar Stenmark of Sweden won the giant slalom and the slalom, coming from behind on the second run both times. Hanni Wenzel won the same two races for women, which made Liechtenstein the smallest country to produce an Olympic champion. The rinks, jumps and sliding track of both Games have their own guide; see Lake Placid's Olympic venues.

The ski area

These are the mountain's published figures:

The newest lift is a fixed-grip double chair on Little Whiteface, installed in the summer of 2025 to replace the Little Whiteface and Mountain Run chairs, both from the 1980s. Riders can still get off at the top of Mountain Run or ride on to the top of Little Whiteface.

The Slides are the expert-only terrain: 35 acres of in-bounds, off-piste double-black-diamond skiing, reached on foot from the top of the Summit Quad and reaching 4,650 feet, the highest skiable point on the mountain. They open only when the ski patrol judges conditions safe. You must enter in a group of two or more and wear a helmet, and on days the patrol posts a stricter status it also requires an avalanche beacon, probe and shovel. The day's status goes up on the mountain's conditions page.

In recent winters the lifts have run from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and the base lodge has opened from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; check the hours on whiteface.com for the current season. The season opens as soon as the snowmakers can cover terrain. In 2025-26 Whiteface opened on November 15, the first ski area in the state that winter, and by April 12 it had run 142 days, more than any other resort in New York.

Tickets, parking and lessons

Day tickets are priced by date and sold online, and the earlier you buy, the more you save. Walk-up tickets at the window are not guaranteed and may be limited. If you buy online and load the ticket onto a reloadable SKI3 card, you can skip the window and go straight to the lift.

One saving starts next door. A 2026-27 season pass at Titus Mountain, three and a half road miles from the cabins, takes 20 percent off lift tickets at Whiteface, Gore and Belleayre, which suits a week that mixes the small hill nearby with one big day. See the Titus guide.

Parking at Whiteface is free and first come, first served, in the River, Lake Placid and Wilmington lots and the two lots at Bear Den, with shuttles between the lots. In winter a free Mountain Valley Shuttle has run between Lake Placid and Whiteface from December 15 to March 15, with stops in both towns; check the current schedule before you count on it.

Lessons run out of the Bear Den Learning Center, with children's programs from age 4 into the teens; book ahead. After skiing, the Cloudspin Bar & Grill is on the third floor of the main base lodge.

The Veterans' Memorial Highway

The road to the summit is a Depression-era project. Voters approved a constitutional amendment in 1927 to allow a highway on Forest Preserve land, and Franklin D. Roosevelt started construction in 1929, while he was governor. The road opened to cars on July 20, 1935, at a cost of $1.2 million, and Roosevelt, by then president, came back to dedicate it to the veterans of World War I. Governor Mario Cuomo rededicated it to all veterans in 1985.

The toll section starts at an alpine-style gatehouse built in 1934 beside Lake Stevens and climbs more than 2,300 feet in five miles, at about an 8 percent grade most of the way. Nine pull-offs along the way give you room to stop for the view. It ends at a parking lot about 300 feet below the summit.

The highway usually opens in mid-May and closes on the Columbus Day weekend in October. In 2025 it ran daily from May 16 to October 13, from 8:45 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and in 2026 its last day is October 12. The toll is charged per car and per person. In 2026 it was $20 for a car and driver, $40 with one passenger and $10 for each further passenger 7 or older; children 6 and under rode free, motorcycles counted as vehicles, cyclists 10 and older paid $15 and military rates were lower. The toll and the dates change from year to year, so check both on whiteface.com before you go.

If you would rather not drive it, in 2026 a summit shuttle ran daily from the ski area's base lodge from June 26 to October 12, at $20 for anyone 7 or older and free for younger children. Each shuttle holds 12, so book ahead online. It did not run on the day of Ironman Lake Placid, during Whiteface's Oktoberfest or during the October mountain bike races, so check that it runs on your date.

The road is popular. In 2025, its 90th anniversary year, 106,734 people drove or biked up it, in 36,808 vehicles and on 1,255 bicycles, the most since 1976. The busiest day was August 31, with 2,181 people and 714 vehicles. On the way down, shift into a lower gear to spare your brakes.

The castle, the tunnel and the elevator

At the top of the road stands the Castle, a two-story building of stone removed during the highway's construction. It holds the 4610' Café, a gift shop and restrooms.

From the lot there are two ways to the true summit. One is a short climb up a stone staircase. The other starts with a tunnel about 425 feet long, bored straight into the mountain, which leads to an elevator that rises 276 feet, about 27 stories, to the top. The tunnel and elevator were built in the two years after the road opened. The elevator closed in 2017 for a complete rebuild, a job of roughly $5 million, and reopened in 2019 with a glass cab. When the elevator is in service, the summit is reachable by wheelchair.

On top is the summit observatory of the University at Albany's Atmospheric Sciences Research Center, a tower that adds about 40 feet to the mountain. On a clear day the view runs past the High Peaks to Vermont and Canada.

Weather on the summit

Scientists have measured Whiteface's weather for a long time. Summit temperature readings began in 1937 and ran through 1946. Vincent Schaefer, who later helped found the research center, started new measurements in 1957, and the summit observatory was finished in 1970. It records temperature, humidity, pressure and wind, and it has measured ozone since 1973 and collected cloud water since 1976.

The usual surprise is cloud. A 2026 study from the observatory notes that the summit spends 20 to 60 percent of the time in cloud during the summer, so the view you paid for can be a wall of white. In the standard atmosphere the air cools about 3.5°F for every 1,000 feet of height, and the summit stands about 3,000 feet above the lake at Lake Placid, so expect it to be about 10°F colder than the village before the wind is counted.

Winter up there is severe. On February 4, 2023, the observatory recorded an all-time low of -40°F with a 60 mph wind, a wind chill of -91°F. In summer, bring a warm layer and a rain shell, check the forecast and the conditions page before you pay the toll, and save the summit road for the clearest day of your stay.

The Cloudsplitter Gondola

The ski area's other way up is the Cloudsplitter Gondola. Its eight-passenger cabins run from the main base lodge to the top of Little Whiteface in about 15 minutes, with views of the High Peaks and Lake Placid and, on clear days, Vermont and Canada. At the top there is an observation deck and a picnic area.

For sightseers the gondola runs every day from late June to Labor Day, then on fall weekends until Columbus Day. In 2026 that meant daily from June 26 to September 7, except on Ironman day, and then Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from September 11 through Columbus Day, October 12, from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tickets in 2026 were $30 for ages 13 to 64, $25 for ages 7 to 12 and 65 and over, $20 for military and free for children 6 and under. Check the current dates and prices on whiteface.com. In winter, sightseers can ride it too.

From the top, the mountain marks walking routes on its ski trails. The Champlain Valley View is 0.4 mile, about half an hour, looking east to the Champlain Valley and Vermont's Green Mountains. The Slide View Trail is 0.8 mile, about an hour, to a look at The Slides. The Long Way Home Trail takes you 2.2 miles back down to the base on the ski trails, about two hours on foot. For a climb to a High Peak summit, see the Cascade Mountain guide.

Main Street and Mirror Lake

The village sits on the shore of Mirror Lake, 128 acres and about a mile long, right behind the Main Street storefronts. The lake named Lake Placid is the bigger one that nearly touches Mirror Lake's north end: 2,173 acres, about four miles long and 151 feet deep at its deepest, with three islands called Buck, Moose and Hawk, and a free public launch. Gas motors are not allowed on Mirror Lake; electric motors are.

A flat, paved loop of 2.7 miles goes all the way around Mirror Lake. A good place to start is the public beach at the south end, on Parkside Drive, with a pier, a playground and tennis courts. Along Mirror Lake Drive, gray plaques give the names and elevations of the 46 High Peaks, and from Main Street the stairs at Mid's Park go down to the water. Cobble Hill, a 1.6-mile round trip to a 2,332-foot top, starts from the Mirror Lake Drive side of the loop if you want to see the village from above.

Main Street has shops, restaurants and taprooms, and the Olympic Center, where the 1980 Miracle on Ice was played and where the Lake Placid Olympic Museum is housed. The venues have their own guide: see the Olympic sites.

In winter the North Elba Park District runs the Lake Placid Toboggan Chute at the beach: a 30-foot-high chute that sends one toboggan at a time down the ice and out onto the frozen lake, where it can run more than 1,000 feet. It opens only once the ice is 12 inches thick, which in 2026 meant January 17. A ticket, $20 for adults and $10 for students in 2026, buys as many rides as you like in a session. Tickets are sold on site only and by card only, and boots and gloves are required.

Food

At the ski area, the Cloudspin Bar & Grill on the third floor of the base lodge covers lunch and après-ski. On the summit road, the 4610' Café in the Castle serves food in season, and the top of the gondola has a picnic area, so a lunch packed in the cabin kitchen works as well.

In the village, for beer brewed in town, the Lake Placid Pub & Brewery is at 813 Mirror Lake Drive, and Main Street has taprooms for Raquette River Brewing at 2527 Main and Prison City Brewing at 2577 Main, with The Boat, a craft beverage tasting room, at 2617 Main. Hours change with the seasons, so check before you count on a place for dinner.

Parking in the village

The large municipal lot across Main Street from the Olympic Center charges by the hour during the day, $2 an hour in 2026, paid at the machine or with the Flowbird app, and has EV chargers. Metered and unmetered spaces are also found along Main Street and on Parkside Drive by Mirror Lake.

Overnight parking is banned on Main Street from 2 to 6 a.m. every night, and from November 1 to April 30 the same ban covers every street in the village, so do not leave a car on the street overnight.

A summer or fall day from the cabins

On a cloudy morning, swap the order: Main Street and the lake first, the summit road in the afternoon if the top clears. In late September and October, check the closing dates before you plan around the summit road or the gondola; both close on the Columbus Day weekend. For the color, see the fall foliage guide. If you would rather earn a summit, Cascade, where most 46ers start, is 8.5 road miles from Main Street on NY 73.

A winter day from the cabins

Not everyone has to ski. Non-skiers can ride the gondola, take the toboggan chute on Mirror Lake once the ice is thick, or walk High Falls Gorge, which lends traction for your boots in winter; in 2025-26 it was open Friday through Tuesday from December 20 to March 29, so check its winter dates. Mt Van Hoevenberg's Olympic cross-country trails are just outside Lake Placid, off NY 73; see cross-country skiing and snowshoeing.

For a shorter ski day, Titus Mountain is three and a half road miles from the cabins. The Modern Pine, with its après-ski decor and Jøtul gas stove, suits a ski week; see the cabins.

Children

At 2026 prices, children 6 and under rode free on the summit road, the summit shuttle and the gondola. The elevator means even tired legs reach the top of Whiteface. Keep children close on the summit rocks.

High Falls Gorge has a quarter-mile accessible route as well as a half-mile walk over steel bridges, with glass-floored walkways in summer, and the whole visit takes about half an hour.

In the village, the public beach on Mirror Lake has a playground, the loop around the lake is flat and paved, and the toboggan chute charges students half the adult price. Whiteface's children's ski programs take 4-year-olds.

Santa's Workshop at North Pole, on NY 431 below the toll house, has been closed for upgrades through summer and fall 2026 and reopens for holiday weekends from late November 2026; check the park's hours page and see its guide. For a family base with children 10 and up, see the cabins for families.

When to go

Summer and early fall are the busy months on the summit road; in 2025 its busiest day was August 31, the Sunday of Labor Day weekend. Big events draw crowds. Ironman Lake Placid, with a 2.4-mile swim in Mirror Lake, 112 miles on the bike and a marathon, was on July 19 in 2026. Whiteface's Oktoberfest was on September 26 and 27, and the UCI Mountain Bike World Series raced downhill at Whiteface and cross-country at Mt Van Hoevenberg on October 2 to 4. Check the events calendar before you pick your day.

The summit road and the gondola close around Columbus Day, and the lifts start turning when the snowmakers can cover terrain, on November 15 in 2025. In the weeks between, Main Street, the lake loop and a short hike still make a full day. In February, combine Lake Placid with the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival on the way home.

Questions

Sources

Facts on this page were checked against these sources in October 2026. Hours, fees and schedules change; confirm before you go.

1. Whiteface Mountain (ORDA) whiteface.com/mountain/mountain-stats/
2. Whiteface Mountain (ORDA) whiteface.com/todo/whiteface-veterans-memorial-highway/
3. Whiteface Mountain (ORDA) whiteface.com/todo/the-slides/
4. Whiteface Mountain (ORDA) whiteface.com/todo/cloudsplitter-gondola-summer/
5. Whiteface Mountain (ORDA) whiteface.com/todo/cloudsplitter-gondola-ride-winter/
6. Whiteface Mountain (ORDA) whiteface.com/todo/hiking/
7. Whiteface Mountain (ORDA) whiteface.com/tickets-passes/lift-tickets/
8. Whiteface Mountain (ORDA) whiteface.com/mountain/free-parking-shuttle/
9. Whiteface Mountain (ORDA) whiteface.com/mountain/hours-of-operation/
10. Whiteface Mountain (ORDA) whiteface.com/lessons-programs/
11. Whiteface Mountain (ORDA) whiteface.com/local-business/cloudspin-bar-grill/
12. Whiteface Mountain (ORDA) whiteface.com/accessibility/
13. Whiteface Mountain (ORDA) whiteface.com/2025/07/10/summer-2025-improvements-at-whiteface/
14. orda.org orda.org/2025/05/15/olympic-authority-kicks-off-summer-and-fall-activi
15. whitefaceregion.com whitefaceregion.com/story/2019/12/take-trip-whiteface-veterans-memoria
16. whitefaceregion.com whitefaceregion.com/story/2018/01/brief-history-of-olympic-mountain
17. whitefaceregion.com whitefaceregion.com/story/2014/10/early-days-skiing-and-whiteface-moun
18. whitefaceregion.com whitefaceregion.com/story/2022/make-a-day-of-the-whiteface-memorial-hi
19. whitefaceregion.com whitefaceregion.com/attractions/high-falls-gorge
20. whitefaceregion.com whitefaceregion.com/cycling/wilmington-notch
21. clui.org clui.org/projects/adirondack/explore-adirondack_park/whiteface-mountai
22. whiteface.asrc.albany.edu whiteface.asrc.albany.edu/history.html
23. whiteface.asrc.albany.edu whiteface.asrc.albany.edu/scires_mwx.html
24. acp.copernicus.org acp.copernicus.org/articles/26/3951/2026/
25. wrrv.com wrrv.com/cold-temperature-record-whiteface-mountain-ny/
26. cbs6albany.com cbs6albany.com/weather/weather-extra/brief-but-brutal-feb-3-4-2023-col
27. Federal Aviation Administration faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aviation/Balloon_Flying
28. dailygazette.com dailygazette.com/ade/news/local_news/whiteface-memorial-highway-sees-b
29. adirondackdailyenterprise.com adirondackdailyenterprise.com/news/local-news/2019/05/whiteface-elevat
30. pressrepublican.com pressrepublican.com/news/local_news/whiteface-elevator-closed-until-ne
31. wcax.com wcax.com/content/news/Renovated-glass-elevator-brings-visitors-to-top-
32. Adirondack Explorer adirondackexplorer.org/environment/whiteface-weather-station/
33. lakeplacidnews.com lakeplacidnews.com/uncategorized/2025/11/13/whiteface-ski-area-to-open
34. dailygazette.com dailygazette.com/ade/news/outdoors/whiteface-mountain-pond-skim-result
35. olympics.com olympics.com/en/olympic-games/lake-placid-1980
36. Lake Placid tourism (ROOST) lakeplacid.com/lake-placids-olympic-history
37. Olympic Regional Development Authority lakeplacidlegacysites.com/history/
38. Titus Mountain titusmountain.com/rates
39. Lake Placid tourism (ROOST) lakeplacid.com/do/activities/skiing-whiteface-mountain
40. Lake Placid tourism (ROOST) lakeplacid.com/paddling/mirror-lake
41. Lake Placid tourism (ROOST) lakeplacid.com/do/outdoors/summerfall/boating
42. Lake Placid tourism (ROOST) lakeplacid.com/story/2010/10/walk-around-lake-placids-mirror-lake
43. Lake Placid tourism (ROOST) lakeplacid.com/do/outdoors/summerfall/hiking/9er-hiking-challenge
44. Lake Placid tourism (ROOST) lakeplacid.com/sledding-tubing-toboggan/lake-placid-toboggan-chute
45. lakeplacidnews.com lakeplacidnews.com/news/local-news/2026/01/15/toboggan-chute-to-open-f
46. Lake Placid tourism (ROOST) lakeplacid.com/do/dining/breweries
47. lakeplacidolympiccenter.com lakeplacidolympiccenter.com/visit/
48. lakeplacidpd.com lakeplacidpd.com/parking
49. lpsoa.org lpsoa.org/facts-about-lake-placid/
50. Lake Placid tourism (ROOST) lakeplacid.com/campgrounds/wilmington-notch-state-campground
51. Lake Placid tourism (ROOST) lakeplacid.com/cycling/wilmington-notch
52. highfallsgorge.com highfallsgorge.com/tickets/
53. whitefaceregion.com whitefaceregion.com/events/ironman-lake-placid
54. ADK Taste adktaste.com/adirondack-events/whiteface-mountain-oktoberfest
55. ADK Taste adktaste.com/adirondack-events/uci-mountain-bike-world-series-lake-pla
56. northpoleny.com northpoleny.com/village-hours
57. api.sunrise-sunset.org api.sunrise-sunset.org/json?lat=44.2796&lng=-73.9799&formatted=0
58. router.project-osrm.org router.project-osrm.org/
59. Ski Areas of New York iskiny.com/whiteface-mt
60. I LOVE NY iloveny.com/thebeat/post/olympic-authority-kicks-off-summer-and-fall-a
61. orda.org orda.org/2026/05/19/olympic-authority-announces-2026-summer-and-fall-e
62. whitefaceregion.com whitefaceregion.com/story/2022/whiteface-is-better-for-snowboarders
63. whitefaceregion.com whitefaceregion.com/attractions/whiteface-mountain-gondola-rides
64. adirondackdailyenterprise.com adirondackdailyenterprise.com/news/local-news/2025/12/whiteface-mounta
65. northcountrypublicradio.org northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/52569/20251101/whiteface-vetera
66. Lake Placid tourism (ROOST) lakeplacid.com/uci-mountain-bike-world-series
67. northelba.villageoflakeplacid.ny.gov northelba.villageoflakeplacid.ny.gov/departments/park_/tobaggan_chute.