The Lake Placid Olympic Ski Jumping Complex comprises a HS100- and HS128-meter

ski jump Ski jumping is a winter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the farthest jump after sliding down on their skis from a specially designed curved ramp. Along with jump length, competitor's aerial style and other factors also affect the final ...

s towers built for the 1980 Olympic Games in

Lake Placid, New York Lake Placid is a village in the Adirondack Mountains in Essex County, New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 2,303. The village of Lake Placid is near the center of the town of North Elba, southwest of Plattsburgh. ...

, United States, and modernized and lengthened in 2021, making them the only jumps in North America homologated for winter and summer jumping competitions. They are located two miles from Lake Placid, off the Old Military Road, in

Essex County, New York Essex County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2020 census, the population was 37,381. Its county seat is the hamlet of Elizabethtown. Its name is from the English county of Essex. Essex is one of only 2 counties that are ...

. The complex is operated by the

Olympic Regional Development Authority The Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) is a New York State public benefit corporation, created by the State of New York to manage the facilities used after the 1980 Olympic Winter Games at Lake Placid, New York. ORDA is the only state ...

. The sky deck on the 120-meter jump offers views of nearby John Brown's Farm and the surrounding High Peaks of the

Adirondacks The Adirondack Mountains (; a-də-RÄN-dak) form a massif in northeastern New York with boundaries that correspond roughly to those of Adirondack Park. They cover about 5,000 square miles (13,000 km2). The mountains form a roughly circular d ...

. Training and competition for Nordic

ski jumping Ski jumping is a winter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the farthest jump after sliding down on their skis from a specially designed curved ramp. Along with jump length, competitor's aerial style and other factors also affect the final ...

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. In 2018, funding was approved to upgrade the tracks with cooling to ensure winter operation. Also, the smaller hills will be upgraded to current FIS standards with a safer spread of heights for jumpers to progress. This is in tandem with a number of major games being hosted by Lake Placid over the next few years. The Medal Podiums

History

The

Lake Placid Club The Lake Placid Club was a social and recreation club founded 1895, in a hotel on Mirror Lake in Lake Placid, New York, under Melvil Dewey's leadership and according to his ideals. It was instrumental in Lake Placid's development as an internatio ...

built the first ski jump on this site in 1920, using the hillside itself as the jump surface. The jump was referred to as the Intervales 35-meter jump. On February 21. 1921, the first competition was held at this site, drawing 3,000 spectators. The record jump for the day was 124 feet, set by Antony Maurer. 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 Lindström Veli-Matti Lindström (born 15 November 1983) is a Finnish former ski jumper. His career best achievement was a silver medal at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City in the team large hill event. He also won a silver medal in the team event ...

of Finland.

Events

* Winter Goodwill Games: 2000 *

Winter Winter is the coldest season of the year in polar and temperate climates. It occurs after autumn and before spring. The tilt of Earth's axis causes seasons; winter occurs when a hemisphere is oriented away from the Sun. Different cultures ...

Olympics The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

1932 Events January * January 4 – The British authorities in India arrest and intern Mahatma Gandhi and Vallabhbhai Patel. * January 9 – Sakuradamon Incident (1932), Sakuradamon Incident: Korean nationalist Lee Bong-chang fails in his effort ...

and

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning System time epoch begins at 00:00 UTC. * January 9 – ...

Winter Universiade The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad". The Universiade is referred t ...

1972 Within the context of Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) it was the longest year ever, as two leap seconds were added during this 366-day year, an event which has not since been repeated. (If its start and end are defined using Solar time, me ...

FIS FIS or fis may refer to: Science and technology * '' Fis'', an ''E. Coli'' gene * Fis phenomenon, a phenomenon in linguistics * F♯ (musical note) * Flight information service, an air traffic control service * Frame Information Structure, a Se ...

Nordic World Ski Championships: 1950 *

Ski Jumping World Cup The FIS Ski Jumping World Cup is the world's highest level of ski jumping and the FIS Ski Flying World Cup as the subdivisional part of the competition. It was founded by Torbjørn Yggeseth for the 1979/80 season and organized by the Internation ...

: 1982-83, 1983-84, 1984-85, 1985-86, 1986-87, 1987-88, 1988-89, 1989-90, 1990-91

References

ORDA Olympic Jumping Complex1932 Winter Olympics official report.
pp. 141–4.
1980 Winter Olympics official report.
Volume 1. pp. 36–9. {{Olympic venues in ski jumping Venues of the 1932 Winter Olympics Venues of the 1980 Winter Olympics Ski jumping venues in the United States Sports venues in Essex County, New York Olympic Nordic combined venues Olympic ski jumping venues 1920 establishments in New York (state) Sports venues completed in 1920