Could Lake Placid Host the 2042 Winter Olympics? An Owner’s Take on Gov. Hochul’s New Exploratory Committee
The announcement, plainly
Yesterday in Albany, Governor Kathy Hochul announced the formation of the Lake Placid-New York City Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games Exploratory Committee. The group is tasked with studying whether a future Lake Placid 2024 winter Olympics could responsibly happen — built around Lake Placid’s existing venues and paired with New York City’s global platform.
“The time is now to return the Olympic flame back to New York,” the Governor said in the announcement. The release calls it a “once-in-a-generation opportunity.”
In addition, the committee is chaired by Ashley Walden, President and CEO of the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA) — the agency that operates the Lake Placid venues. The exploratory process is expected to run about a year. At the end of it, the committee submits findings to State leadership. Only then would any decision be made about pursuing a formal Olympic bid.
Important context: this is not a bid. Rather, it’s the diligence step that could lead to a bid. Hochul’s team is being careful with the language, and they should be. After all, the modern Olympic process rewards exactly this kind of long-runway, stakeholder-engaged exploration before a city ever lifts a flag.
But the news is real, and timed deliberately to Olympic & Paralympic Day. So the question that follows is the one worth thinking about: could it actually happen?
The number nobody else will lead with: 2042
The Hochul announcement itself avoids naming a target year. But buried in the supporting statements, Assemblymember Michael Cashman — who represents Lake Placid and the North Country — pointed at one directly:
“The 2026 Milan-Cortina Games can serve as a framework for how the Empire State thoughtfully positions itself toward a potential 2042 Games.”
— Assembly member Michael S. Cashman
2042 would be Lake Placid’s third Winter Olympics. That’s the line worth holding onto.
For context, the village hosted in 1932 (the III Olympic Winter Games) and again in 1980 (the XIII Olympic Winter Games — the Miracle on Ice). Notably, only two other places in the world have hosted the Winter Games more than once: St. Moritz and Innsbruck. However, both have hosted only twice. Therefore, if Lake Placid pulls off 2042, it becomes the first and only place on earth to host the Winter Olympics three times.
That’s not marketing copy. It’s arithmetic.
What “$750 million” has already done to the venues
Another number that deserves to be the headline: the State of New York has invested more than $750 million in modernizing Lake Placid’s Olympic venues. That investment is what makes any 2042 conversation feasible at all.
Most cities pursuing modern bids are starting from cold steel. In contrast, Lake Placid is starting from venues that are already operational, already hosting World Cup competition, and already designed to ICR/IBSF specifications.
Practically, that investment shows up at four venues you can experience today as a visitor:
- The Olympic Center on Main Street — Herb Brooks Arena (the Miracle on Ice rink), the speed skating oval out back, the Lake Placid Olympic Museum, and the cauldron. Public skating sessions and tours run year-round.
- Mount Van Hoevenberg — bobsled track (with public summer rides), biathlon and cross-country trails, and now downhill mountain biking. Notably, the track was recently designated as the contingency sliding venue for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Games. In other words, if Cortina’s sliding events had been displaced, they would have come to Lake Placid.
- Olympic Jumping Complex on Cascade Road — the 90- and 120-meter ski jumps, with summer chairlift and elevator access to the jump-tower view.
- Whiteface Mountain — the alpine venue, with year-round access via the Veterans’ Memorial Highway and a summit elevator.
If a 2042 Games happens, these are the venues hosting it. Moreover, they’re the venues you can drive to and tour today. That’s not a small thing.
The dual-city model: Milan-Cortina as the template
The pitch isn’t “Lake Placid hosts the Olympics.” Rather, it’s “Lake Placid hosts the snow and ice; New York City hosts the global platform.”
Indeed, the 2026 Milan-Cortina Games proved the dual-city model works. The mountain village ran the alpine, ice, and sliding events. Meanwhile, the metropolitan area ran the opening ceremony, the cultural programming, the figure skating, and the hockey at urban scale.
Applied to Lake Placid + NYC, the rough sketch is:
- Lake Placid: alpine skiing (Whiteface), bobsled / luge / skeleton (Mt. Van Hoevenberg), biathlon and cross-country (Mt. Van Hoevenberg), ski jumping (Olympic Jumping Complex), speed skating and short track (Olympic Center oval).
- New York City: opening ceremony, hockey at Madison Square Garden or the Barclays Center, figure skating, curling, the bulk of the cultural and media programming.
This is the model the Exploratory Committee will spend the next year stress-testing.
The committee — and one Lake Placid name in particular
The leadership group is heavy on state and city government, ORDA, and economic-development leadership. From a Lake Placid perspective, two members are worth flagging:
- Jackie Kelly — Village of Lake Placid Deputy Mayor and Trustee. The village’s seat at the table.
- Andrew Weibrecht — co-chair of the Games Operations Subcommittee. Weibrecht is a two-time Olympic medalist. Specifically, he took bronze at Vancouver 2010 and silver at Sochi 2014, both in super-G alpine skiing. He’s also a Lake Placid local who currently works in operations at the Mirror Lake Inn. In short, having a working operations professional who has also competed at the Olympic level distinguishes a serious exploratory process from a press release.
In addition, the remaining subcommittees cover Community Engagement, Finance, Legal, and Senior Advisors. Their co-chairs range from the United Way of New York City to Hydro-Quebec Energy Services to NBCUniversal. It is a credible group.
Why this matters for visitors right now
You don’t have to wait for 2042 to come stand in this story. In fact, the next decade may be the best decade to visit Lake Placid in living memory. $750M of venue investment is complete and operational. The village’s status as a future Olympic candidate is now actively under study. Separately, National Geographic just compared Lake Placid to a European alpine village in May 2026.
Together, these three signals point to a rare and quiet moment. An under-visited American mountain town is simultaneously recognized as world-class and not yet overrun.
Here are three practical reasons the announcement matters to your trip planning.
Olympic venue access is at an all-time high
Public bobsled rides at Mt. Van Hoevenberg, ski jump tower access, the Herb Brooks Arena open for public skating, the museum freshly updated, the Whiteface gondola running summer-through-winter. We wrote about how to experience the Miracle on Ice arena and the Mike Eruzione Team Shop in our rainy-day Lake Placid + Miracle on Ice guide. That walking story is still the most underrated heritage experience in the eastern US.
The “Switzerland of America” framing has national air cover
Nat Geo started it. The Olympic exploratory committee now compounds it. For the case on why this comparison genuinely holds up, see our companion guide: The Switzerland of America →.
Village lodging is the limiting factor
Lake Placid’s lodging supply doesn’t grow significantly between now and 2042. The village is small, and the historic district is protected. If you want the village-walkable, historic-cottage stay, the inventory available is the inventory available.
At GO-Cottage, there’s a Studio Cottage, sleeps 2, a Two Bedroom Cottage, sleeps 4, or book both together as a Dual Cottage Retreat, sleeps 6. For the broader landscape of village lodging, see our Lake Placid Cabin Rentals Complete Guide →.
What we’ll be watching over the next year
The Exploratory Committee’s process runs roughly through mid-2027. A few things to watch:
- The Community Engagement Subcommittee — co-chaired by James McKenna (Uihlein Foundation) and Grace Bonilla (United Way of NYC) — will hold public input sessions. Whether the village community signals a clear yes matters more than most external coverage will admit.
- The Finance Subcommittee — co-chaired by Hydro-Quebec Energy Services and NYU Stern — will produce the cost and feasibility model. Watch for one thing in particular. Does the model assume new venue construction, or does it hold the line at existing-venue use? Lake Placid is a serious candidate in the first place because of the existing-venue argument. Therefore, if the finance model drifts toward new builds, the whole thesis weakens.
- USOPC posture. The release notes the process is “being conducted with the knowledge of the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee.” That’s a careful, diplomatic phrasing. Watch for whether USOPC signals support, neutrality, or a competing pursuit.
- Salt Lake City 2034 is already on the books as the next US-hosted Winter Games. As a result, a 2042 Lake Placid bid presumes the IOC will return to the US two cycles in a row. That’s a structural question the committee will need to answer.
What it would mean for the village
A wide spectrum of opinion exists here. Frankly, we’d be misrepresenting Lake Placid if we pretended everyone in town is celebrating. Olympic hosting is a complicated proposition for a small community.
For example, the 1980 Games left infrastructure that still pays dividends. (And the State has now reinvested $750M to modernize it.) However, they also left a level of stress on the village’s housing and traffic that residents who were here still talk about.
Over the next year, the Exploratory Committee’s job is, in part, to answer one key question. Can the modern model — dual-city with NYC, existing-venue, sustainability-first — deliver the upside without recreating the downside? That’s a serious question and it deserves serious deliberation.
Of course, we don’t get a vote on it. We’re an owner of two cottages, not a member of the committee. Nevertheless, we’ll be watching closely, like everyone in the village.
What we can say with confidence is this. Whether the bid happens or not, the venues, the history, and the alpine-village character are all here right now. They’re what made Lake Placid a credible 2042 candidate in the first place. Importantly, the cottages we run — and the village we sit in — are the same village Nat Geo just compared to Switzerland, and the same village the Exploratory Committee is now studying.
You can come see all of it well before the IOC ever votes.
Check availability at GO-Cottage →
Frequently Asked Questions: The Lake Placid 2042 Olympic Exploratory Committee
Is Lake Placid bidding for the 2042 Winter Olympics?
Not yet. On June 22, 2026, Gov. Kathy Hochul formed the Lake Placid-New York City Olympic & Paralympic Winter Games Exploratory Committee to study whether a future Winter Olympics is feasible. The exploratory process is expected to run about a year before any decision is made about pursuing a formal bid. Assemblymember Michael Cashman, who represents Lake Placid, has publicly pointed at 2042 as the realistic target year.
Has Lake Placid hosted the Winter Olympics before?
Yes — twice. Lake Placid hosted the III Olympic Winter Games in 1932 and the XIII Olympic Winter Games in 1980 (which included the “Miracle on Ice” U.S. vs. USSR hockey game). Lake Placid is one of only three places in the world to host the Winter Olympics more than once; the other two are St. Moritz and Innsbruck. A successful 2042 bid would make Lake Placid the first place in the world to host the Winter Olympics three times.
Who is leading the Lake Placid Olympic Exploratory Committee?
The committee is chaired by Ashley Walden, President and CEO of the New York State Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA), and includes leaders from state and city government, economic development, and community organizations. Two-time Olympic medalist Andrew Weibrecht, a Lake Placid local, co-chairs the Games Operations Subcommittee. The leadership group also includes Village of Lake Placid Deputy Mayor Jackie Kelly.
What would a Lake Placid-New York City Winter Olympics look like?
The proposed model is a dual-city Games — Lake Placid hosting the snow, ice, and sliding events at its existing Olympic venues (Whiteface for alpine, Mt. Van Hoevenberg for sliding and biathlon, Olympic Jumping Complex, Olympic Center for skating and hockey-eligible ice) while New York City hosts opening ceremonies, hockey at major-league arenas, figure skating, curling, and the bulk of the cultural and media programming. The model is patterned on the 2026 Milan-Cortina Games.
How much has New York invested in Lake Placid’s Olympic venues?
More than $750 million. The investment has modernized the Olympic Center (including Herb Brooks Arena), Mt. Van Hoevenberg (bobsled, luge, skeleton, biathlon, cross-country), the Olympic Jumping Complex on Cascade Road, and Whiteface Mountain. The venues are operational and host international competition today — Mt. Van Hoevenberg was recently designated as the contingency sliding venue for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Games.
When would Lake Placid know if it gets the 2042 Games?
The Exploratory Committee process runs roughly through mid-2027. Only after that would New York State decide whether to pursue a formal bid. The International Olympic Committee typically awards host cities seven or more years in advance, so a 2042 award would likely come in the early-to-mid 2030s. This is a multi-year diligence horizon, not a fast decision.
