Trails Will Be Closed Saturday March 9
While Plane Wreckage is Removed
Trails accessing the southern portion of the McKenzie Mountain Wilderness will be closed on Saturday, March 9, to allow for safe removal of plane wreckage from Big Burn Mountain the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) announced today.
A section of the Jack Rabbit Trail between Whiteface Inn Road in Lake Placid and the McKenzie Pond Road near Saranac Lake will be closed. The Haystack Mountain Trail on Route 86 in Ray Brook will also be closed.
Those who plan to ski the Jack Rabbit Trail are encouraged to use other sections of the trail or the nearby Moose Pond Trail off Route 3 north of Saranac Lake.
DEC Forest Rangers and Environmental Conservation Officers will be stationed at the three trailheads for these trails during the closure.
A helicopter will be used to lift the plane wreckage off the mountain and set it down at nearby location. Due to the extent of the damage, pieces of the plane could fall on the trails, necessitating their closure.
The plane crashed on the side of Big Burn Mountain on Thursday, February 21, during an attempt to land at the Lake Placid Airport. The pilot and his two passengers survived the plane crash unhurt and were rescued by DEC Forest Rangers early the next morning.
WILMINGTON, N.Y. — The Hoyt’s High Trail on Whiteface Mountain, in Wilmington, N.Y., opened for the first time this skiing and riding season today, Tuesday, Feb. 5. Cut in 2008 and named in honor of Whiteface veteran ski patroller Jim Hoyt Sr., the 4,700 foot long expert trail had always relied on Mother Nature to cover its 1,400 feet of vertical. This autumn, crews installed 9,000 feet of piping allowing for top to bottom snowmaking.
Skiers and riders now have an expert trail that will allow them to get back to the Lookout Mountain lift. In the past, Lookout Below was the only expert trail that allowed skiers and riders immediate access to the triple chair lift.
While at Whiteface, flip, twist and jump like a pro onto the Whiteface air bag. Available Wednesdays through Sundays, Whiteface’s US AIRBAG™ is the perfect tool to help you improve your freestyle/freeride skills. This 50′ x 50′ pillow of air has several inflatable chambers specially designed to ensure a soft smooth landing time and time again. A single jump is $5 while an all-day pass is $15. A waiver is required.
Whiteface Mountain, in Wilmington, N.Y. is slated to re-open for the 2012-’13 season Friday, Nov. 23, with three trails (Upper Valley, Lower Valley, and Fox) and one lift, the Facelift quad.
Whiteface boasts the East’s greatest vertical drop, and for 20 consecutive years, readers of Ski Magazine have tabbed Whiteface Lake Placid, N.Y. as the number-one destination for Off-Hill Activities. Whiteface, Wilmington and Lake Placid also received high marks from the magazine’s readers for its scenery (#3), resort dining (#3), après ski (#3), challenging terrain (#7) and mountain character (#8).
Whiteface Lake Placid was also chosen by SnowEast Magazine readers as the East’s Destination Village. The publication’s readers also tabbed Whiteface Lake Placid New York State’s Favorite Ski Resort and the East’s Most Scenic Resort.
Lift ticket prices this holiday weekend are $39 for adults, teens and seniors and only $25 for junior skiers and riders. As always children six and under ski for free.
Trails and lifts are subject to change this holiday weekend. Please log on to www.whiteface.com before coming to the mountain for the latest conditions.
Gore Mountain, in North Creek, N.Y., is also slated to open for the season, Friday. Gore, home to 2,537 vertical feet and the most skiable acreage in New York State, will open with six trails (Ruby Run, Foxlair, Sunway, Quicksilver, 3B and Jamboree) and the gondola.
Readers of Ski Magazine also tabbed Gore as one of the East’s top-10 mountains for value, lifts and overall satisfaction. Early season rates, through Dec. 14, are $52 for adults, $43 for teens and seniors and $29 for juniors.
Belleayre was slated to open Saturday, however; due to temperature inversions the past few nights, the mountain has been unable to continue blowing enough snow to reach its goal of opening this weekend. Belleayre will resume snowmaking as soon as conditions allow and will open soon after.
LAKE PLACID, NY – The Lake Placid Olympic Museum, in conjunction with the New York State Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA), is in the planning stage for the International Sliding Sports Museum (ISSM) and its Science and Technology Park to be located at the Olympic Sports Complex at Mt Van Hoevenberg. This will be the inaugural annex for each of the ORDA venues and their respective sports.
Fans are invited to join the committee, Saturday, Feb. 25, at 2:30 p.m., for the unveiling of the museum’s planned exhibits and programs, at the Mt. Van Hoevenberg Lamy Lodge.
The first of its kind anywhere in the world, this preeminent facility will feature the history of the sports of bobsled, skeleton and luge at the home of North American sliding, where current and future Olympians from around the world train and compete.
With a significant collection on display at the Olympic Sports Complex and the Lake Placid Olympic Museum, the groundwork for this museum is already in place. Historic race sleds, equipment, video, photos, medals and trophies can already be seen at both locations, but a greater, more complete story remains to be told.
“Lake Placid is an ideal location for such a museum, it has played a vital role in the development and history of all of the sliding sports,” said ORDA chairman Patrick Barrett. “And because of its unique location, within a facility used by thousands of athletes from around the world, this location is ideal for educating the current and future athletes about the history and the development of their sports, while at the same time educating and inspiring a global audience.”
The Lake Placid Olympic Museum is a 501 (c) 3 not-for-profit museum and invites your participation in this plan. If you wish to sponsor some part of this experience or have artifacts or stories that would enhance the collections, please contact the Museum at 518-302-5363, museum@orda.org or Rebecca Dayton at the Olympic Sports Complex at 518-523-3419, rdayton@orda.org.
The much anticipated World Championships of Sliding is happening all next week and athletes are already arriving in Lake Placid. This will be the 9th time Lake Placid’s Olympic Track is used for the FIBT World Championships – the last time being 2009 when Steve Holcomb piloted to a US-victory over Switzerland and Germany. That is a BIG DEAL in the sliding-world.
The US-team selections for bobsled and skeleton were just announced today:
The selection committee met yesterday to decide teams competing in World Championships. Holcomb will team with Justin Olsen (San Antonio, Texas), Steve Langton (Melrose, Mass.) and Curt Tomasevicz (Shelby, Neb.) in the USA-1 BMW Night Train sled. Langton was selected to compete with Holcomb in the Under Armour two-man sled.
John Napier (Lake Placid, N.Y.) will compete with Adam Clark (Owenton, Ky.), Chris Fogt (Alpine, Utah) and either Jesse Beckom (Chicago, Ill.) or Chuck Berkeley (Walnut Creek, Calif.) in his National Guard four-man sled, and Fogt will be Napier’s brakeman in the Alamo two-man sled.
Nick Cunningham (Monterey, Calif.) earned his spot as pilot of USA-3. The rookie driver will race with Dallas Robinson (Georgetown, Ky.) in two-man, and Johnny Quinn (McKinney, Texas), Robinson and either Beckom or Berkeley in four-man. Beckom and Berkeley will race off on Wednesday to determine if they will compete with USA-2 or USA-3 next weekend.
The U.S. will field three sleds in the women’s bobsled competition. Elana Meyers (Douglasville, Ga.) will team with Katie Eberling (Palos Hills, Ill.) in the KOA sled as USA-1, while Bree Schaaf (Bremerton, Wash.) and Emily Azevedo (Chico, Calif.) will partner in the Sliding for Hope sled as USA-2. Jazmine Fenlator (Wayne, N.J.) will compete with Ingrid Marcum (Elmhurst, Ill.) in the USA-3 FDNY sled to complete the roster.
Women’s skeleton athletes Katie Uhlaender (Breckenridge, Colo.) and Annie O’Shea (Port Jefferson Station, N.Y.) both hold records on the Lake Placid track and will be threats for the podium. Matt Antoine (Prairie du Chien, Wisc.) and John Daly (Smithtown, N.Y.) are expected to set the pace in the men’s skeleton event.
I’m looking forward to following Team Night Train and also the nighttime skeleton races. No reason to miss the action:
LAKE PLACID, N.Y. — The world is getting ready to visit Lake Placid, N.Y., and once again the tiny two-time Olympic village in upstate New York will be the center of the sliding universe when the FIBT Bobsled and Skeleton World Championships, presented by Conceptum Sport Logistics gets under way on the Olympic Sports Complex track. This will mark the second time since 2009 that Lake Placid has hosted the sport’s biggest race outside the Olympic year.
“We’re ready… what more needs to be said,” remarked New York State Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) chairman Pat Barrett. “We’ve been preparing for this event since it was awarded to Lake Placid and everyone is ready to show the fans, officials and most of all the athletes an unforgettable time.”
More than 20 nations are expected to compete on the 1,455-meter long course in men’s two and four man bobsled, women’s bobsled and men’s and women’s skeleton, including the reigning four-man Olympic bobsled champion Steve Holcomb (Park City, Utah) of the United States. Holcomb rode his 2009 world championship victory in Lake Placid into the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, in Vancouver, Canada, where he became the first American bobsled pilot to win an Olympic gold medal in more than 60 years. Many of the athletes competing this time around are also hoping that the momentum gained at the world championships will carry over to the 2014 winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.
Racing begins on Friday, Feb. 17, at 9:30 a.m. with the opening two runs of the women’s bobsled race. The women’s world champion will be crowned under the lights, Saturday night when runs three and four begin at 5 p.m. Saturday also features runs one and two of the two-man bobsled competition, beginning at 9 a.m.
Sunday’s schedule will feature the crowning of the two-man world champion when racing begins at 9 a.m. and the team competition. The team event will feature at least 10 nations competing in men’s and women’s skeleton, men’s two-man bobsled and women’s bobsled, all racing for the lowest combined time.
Racing will resume, Thursday, Feb. 23, when the world’s best women’s skeleton athletes take to the 22-curve track at 9:40 a.m. They will take two runs before a world champion is crowned on Friday, Feb. 24, when racing begins at 9:45 a.m. The men will also race, Friday, starting at 5 p.m.
Saturday’s schedule features four-man bobsled action, with heats one and two beginning at 9 a.m., before the men’s skeleton action resumes with its final two runs at 5 p.m. Finally, the 2012 FIBT Bobsled and Skeleton World Championships, presented by Conceptum Sport Logistics will conclude, Sunday, with the third and fourth runs of the four-man race, beginning at 9:20 a.m.
Be sure to bring the entire family to the world championships and be a part of the excitement, on and off the track. Public skeleton rides are scheduled for Monday, Feb. 20, through Thursday, Feb. 23, from 5:30-7 p.m., and on Friday, Feb. 24, from 1-2 p.m. Reservations are required. To reserve your spot, call 518.523.4436 or e-mail oscreservations@orda.org.
A fireworks display at the track, sponsored by Aubuchon Hardware and Benjamin Moore Paints, will light up night’s sky Saturday night, Feb. 18, beginning at 8:45 p.m., following the women’s bobsled award ceremony and the public draw for the team event. Fireworks are also slated for Saturday, Feb. 25, also beginning at 8:45 p.m.
Plus join the World Championship Concert Sunday night, Feb. 19, inside the Conference Center at Lake Placid. The doors open at 6 p.m., with Roadside Mystic playing at 7 p.m., followed by the awards ceremony for the men’s two-man event and team competition. The music will continue at 8:30 when Assembly of Dust takes to the stage. Tickets are just $20 for Sunday’s party.
Tickets are on sale now for the 2012 FIBT Bobsled and Skeleton World championships, presented by Conceptum Sport Logistics. Single day tickets are $15 for adults and $9 for seniors and juniors. Tickets to see all seven days of competition are $50 for adults and $35 for juniors and seniors. Tickets are available on line by visiting http://purchase.tickets.com/buy/TicketPurchase?organ_val=2439, through the Olympic Center’s box office at 2634 Main St., Lake Placid, or at the Olympic Sports Complex box office.
"The Sixer program is being paid for with donations and through the sale of hats and tee-shirts." - I think I have everything it takes, except the desire.
"The issue that our electrician found out was that water was essentially getting into the electrical pole boxes along the bridge which allowed the wiring to get wet and get damaged."
"A peaceful protest may disrupt bridge traffic at the internatonal crossing in Cornwall later this week, as area Mohawks take their grievances to the source: The border."
"The Adirondack Park Invasive Plant Program (APIPP) serves as the Adirondack Partnership for Regional Invasive Species Management (PRISM) whose mission is to protect the Adirondack region from the negative impacts of non-native invasive species."
"Common causes of accidents are things such as hitting a rock or tree stump hidden beneath the snow cover, or travelling too fast and losing control and hitting a tree or other solid object, or being thrown from the vehicle."
"In 2012, lake stewards were posted at five launches around Lake George: Dunham's Bay, Norowal Marina, Hague Town Launch, Rogers Rock, and Mossy Point. Lake stewards recorded 6,972 boats during the 2012 season."
"As the final resting spot for abolitionist John Brown, the John Brown Farm and Gravesite encompasses the original 244 acres purchased by the Browns in 1849."
"As part of their latest promotional campaign, the marketing arm of NY State, Empire State Development, has partnered with Orbitz on a video series promoting the Empire State offerings on Orbitz.com/NYState."
"Nearly two dozen business owners and event promoters touted their plans and lobbied supervisors on the Occupancy Tax Coordination Committee for a piece of the bed tax pie."
"To tax people who are supporting our community, our Park, our existence - at a time when we're in a recession - I think is one of the craziest ideas I've ever heard in my life."
Trails accessing the southern portion of the McKenzie Mountain Wilderness will be closed on Saturday, March 9, to allow for safe removal of plane wreckage from Big Burn Mountain the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) announced today.
WILMINGTON, N.Y. — The Hoyt’s High Trail on 
Whiteface Mountain, in Wilmington, N.Y. is slated to re-open for the 2012-’13 season Friday, Nov. 23, with three trails (Upper Valley, Lower Valley, and Fox) and one lift, the Facelift quad.
Gore Mountain, in North Creek, N.Y., is also slated to open for the season, Friday. Gore, home to 2,537 vertical feet and the most skiable acreage in New York State, will open with six trails (Ruby Run, Foxlair, Sunway, Quicksilver, 3B and Jamboree) and the gondola.
LAKE PLACID, NY – The Lake Placid Olympic Museum, in conjunction with the New York State 
The much anticipated 
