Sounds Like a Wet One

Whiteface Lodge

I slept like crap last night and grudgingly rolled out of bed at 6:30.   Worked on my blog until 9:00AM, then Sherry and I joined KC and Karen for breakfast in the Lodge's dining room.  In addition to our own individual breakfasts, we opted for our communal pancakes and Gen-You-Wine maple syrup, which was, as Sherry likes to say, "duh-lish-iss".

Over breakfast we plotted our day...we'd drive up Whiteface Mountain, reserve a pontoon boat for tomorrow, enjoy lunch in Lake Placid with a mini-shopping tour, visit the Olympic Ski Jumping Center and finally do a drive around Mirror Lake which is inside the Lake Placid city limits..  May not sound like a lot, but we did it all and this pilgrim's dogs are barkin'.

Following breakfast we loaded up the truck and drove 30 minutes to the entrance to Whiteface Mountain.   At the entrance the signs told us that the temperature on top was a cool 59 degrees and that the elevator was out of commission.   At the time I did not appreciate how significant the latter fact was to become.  Thirty eight dollars later we started up the road leading to the summit.

The road to the top was mostly ours and we quickly began to appreciate what a good choice we'd made coming here.  The views, almost from the start, were vast and just got better as we climbed higher. 

In twenty minutes or so, we arrived at the top, parked and then confronted the reality of no working elevator.  What that meant was having to walk/climb the remaining quarter of a mile to the summit. 

At first the climb was up a steep concrete stairway with a very welcome railing.  The stairway ended too soon and then the "walkway" turned to climbing over the irregular boulders and crevices that nature left for us.   The pitches were steep and at times strenuous. Without that railing I promise you...there'd have been bodies going over the edge on a regular basis.

The rocks varied wildly in size, shape, and surface texture with gaps appearing at crazy angles.  It often required you to stop and study the rocks, planning in advance how you were going to pick your way through each section.  At times it was simply steep, at other times it was steep, irregular, wet/slippery with deep gaps between the rocks.. Without that railing, I'd have never made it.

Along the climb, the descending visitors offered encouragement ("You can do it!") and high praise for the views at the summit ("Totally worth it!").  After a far longer and more difficult climb than I'd ever anticipated, we arrived at the top and drank in the views.  The views were as advertised...just breathtakingly beautiful.

Coming up, we'd encountered a middle aged man from San Diego and Sherry and Karen had him laughing. He insisted that they should take their routine on the road. 

Following a short rest at the top, we turned 180 degrees and headed down...the route taking 1/5 the time and 1/10 the energy.  At the bottom, KC told us that he'd stopped to use one of the Port-A-Johns positioned along the walkway leading to the "Castle".  As he tells it, he cut loose with an adult size portion of methane gas, the propulsion reverberating off the plastic walls of Port-A-John like a powered sub woofer.  From inside his bright orange sarcophagus KC heard a woman walking by proclaim, "That sounded like a wet one."

Sherry and Karen with a light at the end of the tunnel

On our way to the truck an employee suggested we walk length of the tunnel leading to the broken elevator.  The lighted tunnel was 300 feet long with wet floors and a very cool temperature...it was a fun excursion.

From Whiteface Mountain we drove to Lake Placid and had a very mediocre lunch, dining al frescoe at one of the street side diners in town.  From there we headed just outside Lake Placid to the Olympic Ski Jumping site which is open to the public.  A chair lift took us to the base of the ski jumps where the ski jump looms overhead like a science fiction creation.

The 120 Meter jump on the right, 90 Meter on the left

At the base of the tower there is an manned elevator which takes you up 28 stories (nearly 300') to the launch prep area of the 120 Meter ski jump.  Words cannot describe the feeling of looking down the ramp of this monster.  What cojones it would take to launch down this steep runway and literally fly off the end of it.  So glad we got to see this amazing site.

You are prepared to launch

From the top of the 28 story jump tower.

A view from the top

Choose your position

Tied for Gold!!!

Our last item on the agenda was a driving tour around Mirror Lake, a 124 acre lake surrounded by beautiful summer homes in the grand style of classic Adirondack summer homes.  Dinner is planned for the Lodge dining room...I think we are very interested in the wood fired oven pizza.

Karen resting comfortably at the start of our day.