Upgrades proposed at Mount Van Hoevenberg 

Adirondack Park Agency seeks public’s input

By Gwendolyn Craig

As the Olympic Regional Development Authority prepares to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Mount Van Hoevenberg as a multi-sport recreational hub, it is seeking an amendment to the area’s management plan.

The proposal involves safety upgrades for athletes, maintenance crews and visitors. It also would enhance the Lake Placid slope as a mountain-biking venue, provide better spectating opportunities and fix some outstanding legal issues.

Ashley Walden, president and CEO of ORDA, said the proposed improvements will allow the legacy of the facility to continue “well beyond 2030,” the centennial of its transformation into an Olympic site. ORDA operates multiple Olympic training venues in the Adirondacks and a downhill skiing center in the Catskills, and is funded  by the state. This year’s budget allocated $82.5 million to the authority.

On Thursday, the Adirondack Park Agency, which oversees public and private development in the 6-million-acre park, approved a public comment period for the draft. Both ORDA and the APA will accept comments from Oct. 23 to Nov. 25.

Should the APA approve the amendments, ORDA intends to begin upgrades by April, after the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation World Championships, and complete them by December.

Mount Van Hoevenberg is located off Route 73. It supports both winter and summer sports including cross-country skiing, biathlon, bobsled, skeleton, luge and more recently mountain biking and indoor rock climbing. A new hiking trail to the top of the mountain has also attracted visitors, as has a mountain coaster.

The draft unit management plan is necessary under regulations set up for the Adirondacks. State lands are partitioned into units in the Adirondack Park, each intended to have its own management plan. The plan must conform to the rules and regulations of the APA, and often prescribes a mix of natural resource protections and recreational projects. 

Mount Van Hoevenberg’s plan was last amended in 2018 to allow for additional ski trail development, snowmaking, a new lodge, the development of the mountain’s hiking trail and other changes.

Now, the authority is seeking to do the following, according to its proposal:

• Finalize construction of a World Cup cross-country mountain bike course;
• Upgrade its sunshade and roofing systems on sliding tracks;
• Repair sliding track curves and surfaces;
• Improve site access and viewing;
• Enhance spectator walkways;
• Install a “people mover,” such as a moving carpet or a low-aerial lift;
• Replace its refrigeration infrastructure;
• Improve several of its administrative buildings;
• Improve water and wastewater infrastructure; and
• Install wax cabins.

The venue hosted its first World Cup in mountain bike racing this year on its existing cross- country ski trails but some of the features added had to be temporary. 

Rebecca Dayton, general manager of Mount Van Hoevenberg and the Lake Placid Olympic Jumping Complex, said the goal is to build a permanent course with some flexibility to allow for new routes and features. Mount Van Hoevenberg is slated to host two more years of the biking competition, likely adding a downhill race as well as the cross-country event.

Dayton and Walden shared maps of the complex with agency board members on Thursday that shows the majority of the course running on easement lands owned by the town of North Elba. The village of Lake Placid is within the town. 

Mount Van Hoevenberg is a tricky mix of both easement and state-owned lands. 

The state-owned lands are technically forest preserve falling under the state Constitution’s forever wild clause. Its parking area and a large field called “the stadium” are on forest preserve lands and technically violate the constitution. Lawmakers passed a constitutional amendment last year parsing Mount Van Hoevenberg from the forest preserve. It will need second passage in 2025 under a newly elected state Legislature before going to a statewide vote next November.

The mountain bike trail is proposed to go through “the stadium,” but otherwise stays mostly on town easement lands.

Another constitutional hangup involves the site’s refrigeration building. It stands on easement lands and forest preserve. The plant, Walden and Dayton said, will be demolished and moved to easement lands.

Sunshades and roofing updates will keep sliding tracks colder, Dayton and Waldren said, and plans for additional walkways will provide safer working conditions for maintenance crews, who currently have to walk directly on the ice. 

ORDA also plans better spectator viewing at the alpine coaster so that people are no longer standing in the road to watch. Upgrades to sliding tracks are also intended to provide better sightlines of competing athletes.

Jerry Delaney, executive director of the Adirondack Park Local Government Review Board, told APA board members that the plan is complicated because it deals with both state and private land jurisdictions.

Peter Bauer, executive director of Protect the Adirondacks, said the outstanding constitutional amendment at the site “throws a shadow over the UMP process.” But at his first glance of the proposal, he thought ORDA had “carefully placed most of the major changes” on town easement lands. Protect continues to question aspects of the mountain bike trails.

Top photo: USA Luge Championships in February 2020 at the Mount Van Hoevenberg Sports Complex in Lake Placid. Photo by Mike Lynch