Lake Placid

Last month we loaded up the station wagon and drove north to Lake Placid, NY. I went with my boyfriend, my brother, and a crew of our mutual friends. 

We found a charming cabin rental right off of main street in Lake Placid (picture above was taken just a block from our house). One of our friends called the Lake Placid, NY Chamber of Commerce to ask about local rental agencies, and we ended up scoring an amazing house just 4 weeks before New Year's Eve! All of the great homes on homeaway.com and vrbo.com that slept 8+ were booked by that time, so we felt super lucky that we found such a great place! Apparently using the old telephone occasionally has it's advantage over the inter web...

This was the snow-covered view from the balcony of our rental.

The ride from our house to the mountain was only 15 minutes. Beautiful & snow-covered. 

Skiing Whiteface Mountain was incredible. We carved up all of the intermediate blues and the advanced black diamonds. Snow was everywhere during our visit and the slopes were full of fresh powder (and just a bit of the required north east ice). We luckily traveled with friends who mostly ski and snowboard at similar levels, it couldn't have been more perfect! 

The staff at Whiteface were super helpful and I even learned a thing or two.* We drank beers at Cloudspin Lounge inside the base lodge and had hearty, better-than-expected lunches like crepes and homemade soups at Boules Bistro, located inside the mid-level lodge. 

The lift system was pretty great. We took the Cloudsplitter Gondola up, did a bunch of runs that took us about half way down the mountain, and then would grab the Summit Quad lift to take us up to the summit. The summit of Whiteface is 4,800 feet. From the summit there are a bunch of great black diamond runs with not a ton of people. I heard from some dudes in the gondola that the runs on the Lookout Mountain peak were amazing, but they were closed when we were there.

Oh hey! That's me! Wearing a bright pink scarf and my Oakleys.

After lots of skiing, we rang in the new year with eggnog, Ginger SNAP, and a cozy fire in the living room. We may or may not have played "Who Am I?" with cards on our foreheads for the entire evening. 

One of the highlights of the trip was drinking cases of Lake Placid beer, they have a microbrewery in town with some great brews. Mark and I walked down to the pub and had a sampler after a long day on the slopes.

Three days in upstate NY was perfect for our NYE get-away. Definitely recommend. We ended our trip with brunch at Chair 6. I nibbled on a trout, spinach, and goat cheese omelette that still has my mouth watering. 

NYE in Lake Placid next year? Yes, please!

*Learning Lessons: After my first day of skiing my shins were in serious pain. They felt bruised and beat up on Day 2. I asked one of the dudes at the rental shop what the problem could be (I wasn't even renting boots, was just in there to pick up a $10 helmet rental). He examined my personal boots and explained that because I've had them for years (10+), the padding is shot. Since the padding is compacted, my shins had space to move around, and were therefore banging against my boot for the entire first day. My second day of skiing was definitely impacted by this "shin bang", as he called it. Now I know I've got to invest in new boots before my next trip! Apparently ski gear has a shelf life!

**Note: There is no night skiing at Whiteface. The slopes close at 4:00! Good to know.