Pathways to wellness are plentiful in the Adirondack Mountains’ jewel, Lake Placid. Speaking to the mountain village’s reputation for healthy living, Lake Placid is one of seven destinations worldwide selected to host the Olympic Games more than once, in 1932 and again in 1980. In the 1980 Winter Games, the youngest team in U.S. Olympic history beat the heavily favored Soviet hockey team. Known as the “Miracle on Ice,” the victory lives on as an inspiring testament to the American spirit.
Such is the magic of Lake Placid, 6 million acres of wilderness as breathtaking as it is accessible. Whether arriving by road, rail or air, the first breath of revitalizing mountain air is sure to let visitors know they have found home.
Adventure
Groups looking for outdoor teambuilding opportunities will find them here, the home of the second-oldest Ironman race on the continent.
“We have everything here,” said Mary Jane Lawrence, chief of staff for the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism/Lake Placid CVB. “Everything you can imagine doing outdoors—we’ve got a lot of outdoors.”
Attendees can enjoy the 2.8-mile hike around scenic Mirror Lake independently at any time, or meet up with a group in the early morning for a guided walk.
Hiking options are abundant in other areas, as well. Attendees coming for an extended stay—or those returning for multiple visits—can learn a great deal about the region’s incredible ecosystem in exploring the Adirondack High Peaks, 46 mountain peaks connected by trails that weave through a beautiful landscape of fragile alpine wilderness.
Yoga practitioners can check out drop-in friendly Hot Yoga Lake Placid in the Placid Pond Plaza. The studio caters to a variety of yoga styles.
More adventurous groups visiting between late April and October can head out mountain biking or explore teambuilding options on white-water rafting trips through the Hudson River Gorge. The Adirondac Rafting Company offers comprehensive packages with experienced guides and all the equipment necessary for a memorable experience on the water.
Lake Placid takes pride in its Olympic history, and it shows. Chris Jarvis, director of rooms at Mirror Lake Inn Resort & Spa described the resort’s unique take on the theme.
“We work closely with ORDA, the Olympic Regional Development Authority, so we can offer Olympic-themed ‘Gold Medal Games Challenges’,” Jarvis explained.
Attendees team up to compete in events like bobsled, biathlon and curling.
Olympic training facilities abound, whether using the downtown Olympic Sports Center, where the “Miracle on Ice” game actually occurred, or the Olympic Jumping Complex, where in the summer, the very brave can experience what Lawrence describes as the ultimate Lake Placid adventure: extreme tubing.
“The jump is covered with a wet, special type of plastic matting,” Lawrence explained. “You’re in the tube, on the top of the landing hill. When you start, you feel like you’re going off a cliff because it’s so steep you can’t see. And off you go, down the landing of the ski jump, spinning and screaming the whole way down. I’ve done it once. I’ll never forget it.”
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Recharge
Whether the day’s activities involve work, play or spinning down a ski jump, attendees seeking R&R will delight in the destination’s robust community of spas and salons.
Named the “Best Spa in the Adirondacks” by Adirondack Life magazine, the Spa at Mirror Lake Inn provides a distinctive range of restorative offerings, some of which are not only unique to the region, but the Inn itself.
“Playing off the bodies of water we are surrounded by, the Vichy shower and European Soft Packs are water features providing hydrotherapy for guests,” said Annie Arnold, spa manager at Mirror Lake Inn Resort & Spa.
“The Vichy shower is a massage table with five shower heads that stretch over the length of the body. They gently rain warm water while the guest experiences a full body exfoliation by one of our providers,” Arnold explained. “The European Soft Pack is a massage table that drops the guest down into a cocoon of warm water; however, the guest stays dry. While in the soft pack, the guest will receive a head or foot massage.”
Arnold noted that both of these popular features are available as part of the spa’s Signature Massage as well as two of its nourishing full-body treatments.
The resort additionally focuses on making life less stressful for meeting planners.
“We’ve taken a unique approach in that the meeting planner works with one point of contact from the point of inquiry all the way through to the final invoicing,” Mirror Lake’s Jarvis explained. “We make planning the easiest part.”
The venue provides 6,500 square feet of flexible meeting space for small to medium-size groups and has recently completed a $1 million spa renovation as well as a $3 million renovation to its Classic guest rooms, making them larger and adding a sunny sitting area with picturesque views of the lake and mountains.
The Spa at Whiteface Lodge includes with its robust and customizable spa menu regular health and wellness classes in aqua aerobics, vinyasa yoga flow, circuit training and more. The on-site fitness center is available to hotel guests 24 hours a day.
Along with unusual amenities for groups like a full-service ice-cream parlor, a two-lane bowling alley, a surround-sound movie theater and a three-season ice rink with skates provided, spa services at Whiteface Lodge can be easily integrated into a memorable itinerary. The venue additionally offers on-site teambuilding with the company Grand Dynamics International, as well as orienteering and skill-building clinics.
Situated in the High Peaks Resort, full-service Element Day Spa & Salon is an Aveda concept hotel spa that integrates massage and other body treatments into its salon menu. The resort provides more than 10,000 square feet of distinctive meeting space as well as a responsive team of seasoned event coordinators.
Nourish
Regarding Lake Placid’s evolving relationship with wellness culture, Lawrence emphasized the destination’s progressive and holistic approach.
“Altogether, there’s much more awareness about the whole connection between body, mind and soul,” she said.
For catering services, from full-service dining to light and healthful snack platters, groups can sample the Scape Cafe & Catering at Green Goddess Natural Market. The venue focuses on local and organic ingredients.
As far as choosing a restaurant is concerned, attendees can follow their bliss.
“I’d say 99.9 percent of the restaurants in the region focus to some extent on healthy options,” Lawrence said. “Even the pizzerias.”
She added, “There’s a marriage between the farm-to-table movement and a lot of local microbreweries in the Adirondacks, because our water is so fresh and delicious and clean. So you can go to a pub and have a delicious beer, a burger made with grass-fed organic meat, French fries from potatoes grown locally, and a salad made with ingredients bought from a farm down the street.”
