Lake Placid Leaf Peepers

Winning the Weather Lottery

Every year, we plan a fall excursion to Lake Placid for the Williamson Flying Club. We set the date well in advance, but usually target the first weekend in October. Success has varied. Some years, we arrived before the Adirondack Mountains were colored by autumn's hues. Other years, we were too far past peak. There were years -- like 2023 -- when we were unable to go at all due to high wind, low clouds, or some other form of dismal weather. But in 2024, we won the weather lottery. We caught the region near peak color and weather conditions were perfect for flying and leaf peeping. Encouraged by excellent conditions, ten people made the excursion to Lake Placid on October 5, 2024 in four aircraft.

Weather Patterns

Date	Aircraft	Route of Flight	Time (hrs)	Total (hrs)
05 Oct 2024	N21481	SDC (Sodus, NY) - LKP (Lake Placid, NY) - SDC	3.4	2919.6

Sodus Bay on Lake Ontario just east of the Williamson Sodus Airport.

Over the years, I have noticed that a common weather pattern creates a line of clouds that begins over Lake Ontario and continues southeast pointing directly at Syracuse. I suspect that these are the same conditions responsible for Syracuse getting more lake effect snow than Rochester.

Our four VFR (visual flight rules) aircraft needed to avoid that line of clouds before we could make it east of Syracuse.

Flying with me was Dan VH (which does not stand for Van Halen no matter how much I want it to). Dan is an active student at the WFC and the last time we flew together was in May when we had grand aspirations for a club trip to Montauk. Weather forced us to rethink that plan and Lake Placid became Plan B. En route, we were turned away from Lake Placid by multiple layers of unexpected clouds. Plan C became lunch at boring old Dansville. In a lot of ways, our leaf peeping flight would be closure for Dan who would finally fly to Lake Placid for the first time.

Upper Saranac Lake.

We stayed above the clouds for most of the trip, but at some point west of the Adirondacks, I chose a gap and descended below.

Lower Saranac Lake.

Autumn in Lake Placid

We entered the Adirondack bowl home to Lake Placid, presided over by the distinctively angular profile of Whiteface Mountain. Autumn color was slightly past peak but still quite vibrant.

Lake Placid (village), Lake Placid (the lake), and Whiteface Mountain.

Mirror Lake and the Village of Lake Placid.

Inbound, we could see the village of Lake Placid with its massive and historic Olympic Center complete with Speed Skating Oval easily visible from a distance.

We remained high over Lake Placid while other airport traffic sorted itself out, all the while taking in the shadow-dappled vermillion landscape before landing.

On left downwind runway 32, Lake Placid Airport (KLKP).

We flew a wide downwind leg to avoid the Olympic ski jump towers.

We landed on runway 32 at Lake Placid. It was not my best landing there, but also far from my worst.

Arrival

Ed, Stacey, and Alicia parked beside us in Ed's Archer II.

Mike, his wife, and student pilot Jerry arrived in the WFC's Bold Warrior.

Steve was the last to arrive in the slower One Delta Tango and Ed did a passable job of marshalling him to parking. Steve recently earned his private pilot certificate and this was his first time to the mountains. He was accompanied by his grandfather.

Sliding Big

Photo from February 15, 2020 (hence the snow).

Mike ran ahead of the group to reserve seats at Big Slide Brewery and Public House. His timing was excellent; the dining room was full when the rest of us arrived and Mike had seats waiting for us all. Big Slide is one of my absolute favorite $100 hamburger destinations and, as usual, they served an excellent lunch. With the turnover of Big Slide's seasonal menu, it seems that I try something new on every visit. The only constant is utter satisfaction.

From Big Slide, we ventured into the village.

Olympic Speed Skating Oval. Photo by Ed.

A hill across Mirror Lake with Whiteface much taller and farther away behind it.

Photo by Mike A.

Our group posed for a photo with Mirror Lake as a backdrop.

Departure

Back at the airport, Mike found a big chair to go with the big slides we saw from the pattern. It was only after taking this picture that I noticed club plane N1185X parked on the Lake Placid ramp behind him. Small world!

I love the view of Lake Placid and Whiteface Mountain on the climb out from runway 32. By the time we departed, most of the clouds from that morning had vaporized back into the air.

Lake Placid with Hawk Island and Whiteface Mountain.

We climbed into the sky above Lake Placid and loitered before departing the High Peaks region of the Adirondacks.

South of Lake Placid, we spied the Mt. Van Hoevenberg Olympic Bobsled Run.

Up close, the Olympic bobsled run possessed an apparent randomness -- like a ribbon that had fallen to Earth from a great height -- that belied its deliberate lay-out by human engineers.

Lake Placid Airport, Lake Placid, and Whiteface Mountain.

Village of Lake Placid with the Olympic Center / Speed Skating Oval and Mirror Lake.

Lake Placid is distinctively shaped with two massive islands, Buck and Moose, at its center. The small round island next to Moose Island is called Hawk Island. Personally, I think this was a lost opportunity. Surely it should be Squirrel Island!

Victory Lap

Finally, we flew a lap around Whiteface Mountain, something I consider obligatory whenever I bring first time visitors to Lake Placid in the airplane.

Ski runs on the flanks of Whiteface Mountain.

After flying around the peak of Whiteface, we set a course direct to home. 

We never know what sort of conditions Mother Nature will serve up for us in Lake Placid each year, but 2024 most definitely stands out for both excellent color and benevolent weather!