Lake Placid Olympic Ski Jumping Complex

The Lake Placid Olympic Ski Jumping Complex comprises a 90- and 120-meter ski jumps towers built for the 1980 Olympic Games in Lake Placid, New York, United States. They are located two miles from Lake Placid, off of the Old Military Road, in Essex County, New York.

The sky deck on the 120-meter jump offers views of nearby John Brown's Farm and the surrounding High Peaks of the Adirondacks. Training and competition for Nordic ski jumping takes place year round thanks to a plastic mat out-run on the 90m jump. The Freestyle Aerial Training Center is located to the right of the base of the jump towers. Aerialists can train in the summer months by jumping into a 750,000 gallon pool.

History

The Lake Placid Club built the first ski jump on this site in 1917, using the hillside itself as the jump surface. The next year, the first tower constructed of wood, and the jump enlarged to 35 meters. In 1921, a major competition was held which drew close to 2000 spectators, many arriving via a special train; the record jump was 124 feet. In 1923, the jump was enlarged to fifty meters, and in 1927, a new steel tower was built, raising the jump to 60 meters. In 1928, the tower was raised to 75 meters; this was the tower used for the 1932 Winter Olympic Games. In 1977, the old tower was demolished to make way for new 70 and 90-meter jumps, used for the 1980 Winter Olympic Games. In 1994, the landing hills were re-graded to bring the jumps into compliance with current rules, and increasing their height to 90 and 120 meters.

The towers were built using a jacking system that lifted and poured concrete into the forms continuously, night and day, for 15 days for the larger jump, and 9 days for the smaller one.

The present record jumps stand at 105 meters for the 90-meter jump, set by Andrew Osadetz of Canada, and 135.5 meters for the 120-meter jump, set by Veli-Matti Lindstrom of Finland.

References

• ORDA Olympic Jumping Complex
• 1932 Winter Olympics official report. pp. 141-4.
• 1980 Winter Olympics official report. Volume 1. pp. 36-9.