Mount Van Hoevenberg
Mount Van Hoevenberg rises to 895 m in New York. Mount Marcy stands 1,629 m to the south, 6.7 miles off. The nearest named place is Cliffside Coaster, a attraction 0.6 miles away. High Peaks Scenic Byway (NYS Route 73) passes 1.5 miles off.
The story
Mount Van Hoevenberg is a mountain summit located in the Adirondack Mountains in the Town of North Elba, Essex County, New York, about 9 miles (15 km) east-southeast of the village of Lake Placid. Named for Henry Van Hoevenberg (1849–1918; not to be confused with the American football player Henry Van Hoevenberg), the mountain is best known as the location of a winter sports complex containing bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton tracks, plus a network of cross-country ski trails, which was used to host events during the 1932 (bobsleigh) and 1980 Winter Olympics (bobsleigh, luge, cross-country skiing, and biathlon).
Mount Van Hoevenberg stands within the watershed of the West Branch of the Ausable River, which drains into Lake Champlain, thence into Canada's Richelieu River, the Saint Lawrence River, and into the Gulf of Saint Lawrence. The southwest slopes of Mt. Van Hoevenberg drain directly into the West Branch. The northern and southern slopes of Van Hoevenberg drain into the North and South Meadow Brooks, respectively — tributaries of the West Branch. The mountain is part of the Olympic Regional Development Authority (ORDA). ORDA maintains the cross-country ski and biathlon trail system originally used in the 1980 Olympics. During the summer, the mountain is used for hiking and mountain biking. In 2023, the Mount Van Hoevenberg Sports Complex was expanded in preparation for the 2023 Winter World University Games. The expansion of the complex unintentionally encroached on approximately 323 acres (131 ha) of the adjacent Adirondack Forest Preserve, in violation of the Constitution of New York. To remedy this issue, state legislators introduced an amendment to the constitution, which would retroactively approve the Mount Van Hoevenberg Sports Complex expansion and transfer 2,500 acres (1,000 ha) of private land to the Adirondack Forest Preserve. 2025 Proposal 1, a referendum approving the amendment, passed narrowly in November 2025.
From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Wikidata Q6924299, referenced by the OpenStreetMap record.
What the record says
- Elevation
- 895 m
How to reach it
- 1.5 mi off the High Peaks Scenic Byway (NYS Route 73)
- 5.3 mi off the Olympic Trail
- 18.5 mi off the Adirondack Trail
- 19.3 mi off the Roosevelt-Marcy Trail
Overlooks nearby
Named places within 25 miles
- Mount Jo: 2.4 mi
- Scotts Cobble: 2.7 mi
- Sugarloaf Mountain: 2.8 mi
- Pitchoff Mountain: 3.2 mi
- Yard Mountain: 3.3 mi
- Weeping Winds: 3.2 mi
- The Courthouse: 4.8 mi
- Pulpit Rock: 7.2 mi
- Wallface: 7.3 mi
- Lost Lookout: 7.8 mi
- Mid's Park: 6.2 mi
- Brewster Park: 6.3 mi
- Kiwanis Teddy Bear Park: 6.3 mi
- Indian Head Trailhead: 9.0 mi
- East Branch Community Trails: 9.7 mi
- Cascade Falls: 3.1 mi
- MacIntyre Falls: 4.3 mi
- Rocky Falls: 4.3 mi
- Indian Falls: 4.8 mi
- Indian Falls: 4.8 mi
- John Brown Memorial Statue: 3.6 mi
- 1980 Winter Olympic cauldron: 4.0 mi
- Historic Marker for Timbuctoo: 4.6 mi
- Strategic Air Command Memorial: 4.7 mi
- 10th Mountain Division Memorial: 5.3 mi
- Cliffside Coaster: 0.6 mi
- Lake Placid Bobsled Experience at Mt. Van Hoevenberg: 0.7 mi
- Mountain Pass Lodge: 0.7 mi
- Sky Flyer Zipline: 3.6 mi
- Skyride: 3.6 mi
- Heaven Hill Trails: 4.0 mi
- Henry's Woods: 4.6 mi
- Johns Brook Primitive Area: 5.3 mi
- Bartlett Primitive Area: 9.0 mi
- Tahawas Primitive Area: 10.4 mi
- Lake Placid Hall of Fame: 5.8 mi
- Lake Placid Olympic Museum: 5.8 mi
- Robert Louis Stevenson Cottage: 12.7 mi
- Historic Saranac Lake / Laboratory Museum: 12.8 mi
- Adirondack History Museum: 16.7 mi
- Common Ground Garden: 14.0 mi
- Peace Garden: 22.3 mi
- Goolds Garden: 22.3 mi
- Lake Placid Public Beach: 5.7 mi
- Westport Beach: 24.6 mi
- Big Wooden Bear (8'): 10.8 mi
- Tahawus: 12.6 mi
- Footbridge Park: 16.4 mi
- High Peaks Welcome Center: 17.5 mi
Other summits around it
The highest named summits within 6.8 miles of Mount Van Hoevenberg. Elevation from each summit’s own record; bearing measured between the two coordinates.
| Summit | Bearing | Elevation | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mount Marcy | S 178° | 1,629 m | 6.7 mi |
| Algonquin Peak | SSW 212° | 1,555 m | 5.4 mi |
| Iroquois Peak | SW 214° | 1,472 m | 6.1 mi |
| Boundary Peak | SSW 213° | 1,471 m | 5.8 mi |
| Basin Mountain | SSE 161° | 1,468 m | 6.5 mi |
| Gray Peak | S 183° | 1,463 m | 6.8 mi |
| Little Marcy | S 172° | 1,438 m | 6.3 mi |
| Mount Colden | SSW 195° | 1,436 m | 5.9 mi |
When to go
Light through the year
| Date | Sunrise | Golden hour | Sunset |
|---|---|---|---|
| March equinox | 07:00 | 18:30 | 19:08 |
| June solstice | 05:13 | 19:59 | 20:44 |
| September equinox | 06:43 | 18:17 | 18:55 |
| December solstice | 07:29 | 15:33 | 16:20 |
Local time (America/New_York).
Climate normals
Months averaging 50–80 °F: May–Sep.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Avg °F | 15 | 18 | 26 | 39 | 51 | 60 | 64 | 63 | 56 | 44 | 32 | 21 |
| Precip in | 3.1 | 2.3 | 2.9 | 3.4 | 3.9 | 4.8 | 4.4 | 4.0 | 3.9 | 4.2 | 3.4 | 3.5 |
1991–2020 U.S. Climate Normals, NOAA NCEI — Lake Placid 2 S, 7 mi away.
Where this comes from
Location and category confirmed against OpenStreetMap.
OpenStreetMapWikidata- USGS Geographic Names Information System feature 968416 — Mount Van Hoevenberg, Essex County, New York.
OpenStreetMap element node/357594358
Day trips start here
- Elizabethtown · 17 mi
- Westport · 25 mi
- Essex · 29 mi
Take the scenic way to Mount Van Hoevenberg.
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