2013 Lake Placid Skate Camp Review

Just back from my 4th or 5th Lake Placid summer. I am happy to report that this summer was very close to perfect. Good on ya, ORDA!

Ice schedule. Adult skaters were scheduled on two surfaces, the 1980 rink and the USA rink. All group classes were on the USA rink, and all freestyle sessions were on the 1980 rink. This was consistent throughout the week. The schedule differed day to day. Since the rink has a number of other events going on (synchro, hockey), adult skaters could find themselves with early ice one day and evening ice the next. The full schedule of ice time was delivered. Yes, there were people on ice as late as 8 pm and as early as 7am. Not the same people though.

Ice condition.  Resurfacing was conducted every two hours. Okay, in previous years it was every hour. But you lost a lot of time to ice resurfacing (although it's nice for a fresh surface every hour). Every two hours seems a good compromise.  The ice was still good enough in the second hour for high level skating.

Class and ice surface schedule. For the first time since I've attended Lake Placid, the skate camp maintained the skate camp schedule as published! The only changes were to add 3 evening group classes because Paul Wylie decided to stay a couple extra days. This was publicized by placing announcements on the dressing room doors two days before, so plenty of notice prominently posted. The skate camp also sent a preliminary schedule to all the skaters a few days before the camp.  I don't think they could get it out any earlier, as they had to schedule many coaches, compose and publish it.

Famous Coaches: Gregory and Petukhov, Paul Wylie, Ryan Bradley, and the Protopopovs were there for the skate camp. Wow! Just, Wow!  As a perpetual basic skills skater, I didn't take lessons from any of them, but I knew skaters who did and all raved about their coaching. I wanted to comment, that while she is famous as an ice  dancer, several skaters spoke very highly of Melissa Gregory as a jump coach.  Everybody loved Paul Wylie's coaching.

Unexpected pleasures: The ice rink has WIFI now! And the most gourmet snack bar outside of France!

Other skaters: I heard that there were 50 skaters at the camp. Since the June week camp, had been compressed into a weekend, a number of people transitioned from the June session to August, making the camp slightly better attended than last year. There were hardly any kid skaters since schools now start before Labor Day.

Off-Ice classes: These are designed for the kids, but adults are welcome. I wonder if an adult oriented off ice class would find an audience now that there are so few kids.

Minor Annoyances:
1. There was no clock in the 1980 rink. I don't know if the old one broke, but you could only keep track of the time if you wore a watch. I suggest  taking a cheap slap watch to the camp to wear over your jacket. I am assuming that the clock will be replaced by next year, but it's still important to have your own watch just in case in 2014, the clock in the USA rink is broken.

2. The time of the adult ice show was not published in the schedule. No kidding, people were asking me Friday what time the ice show was just because they knew I was in it.

3. There's probably a good logistical reason why the ice show is on Saturday, but a number of skaters always have to leave Saturday morning to go home. A more convenient time would be on Friday night, which would allow more participation.

4.  The schedule sometimes has several group classes with the same/similar titles, but different coaches. For example, there were 3 or 4 Stroking classes and two Skating with Style classes. It might be helpful to have a little better descriptor. Ice Dance Stroking or Stroking for Power, or whatever the coach is focusing on. Of course this suggestion might be impractical since the coach may decide on how to teach the class based on who shows up. And frankly, if two classes are titled "Skating with Style" once for Paul Wylie and the other for Ryan Bradley, a lot of people are going to take both.

Amusing Incident:
A skater of my acquaintance is a bit star struck by Ryan Bradley, and signed up for a lesson with The Tall One. The following was reported to me second hand. When my friend showed up for the lesson Ryan asked, "What did you want to work on?"
My friend replied, "I don't know."
Ryan said, "Well, I'm known for my jumps, why don't we work on that?"

Useless Trivia: Since we were sitting next to each other in the hockey box waiting for the ice to clear,  I asked Paul Wylie "Boots and blades?" Reidells for a couple of decades, and the John Wilson Revolution (based on the Gold Seal).  That's the kind of question I want to hear interviewers ask on TV.

Lake Placid Adult Skate Camp-- Part I: The Lay of the Land (updated_2017)

All Lake Placid Posts here.

UPDATED 2017


I've attended the LP adult skate camp twice, in two different years. They should be announcing the summer skate camps starting in February, so I'll prep you what to expect.

How to find out: Sometime in February, LP will announce the dates for its adult camp. In the past there has been one in June and one in August. I usually start checking the LP adult camp webpage in late Feb/early March. In 2017 the announcement was made in mid-March.

Housing: The camps take place in beautiful (but isolated) Lake Placid, New York. How that town handled not one but TWO winter Olympics, I'll never know. The town is small and expensive. It's also a tourist town, so it's casual wear all day. Even the upscale restaurants  allow casual wear.  There are hotels (expensive), athlete dormitories (you give up some of your privacy), and private homes for rent to stay in. The best deal is to go up with a group and rent a house. The most expensive is to rent a hotel room. I understand the athlete dormitories are reasonable, but I have no personal experience with them.

Travel: There are three ways to get to LP: car, train, and plane. I took the train one year when the Big Guy was still skating. From where we lived it was the same travel time as a car trip and it cost way less. But cars do have conveniences associated with them once you're in town, so it's a trade off. Last year two of the skaters in the group I was with flew in and rented cars. It's a long drive to the airport which is some distance away in Albany, NY. You can also fly into Saranac Lake--but that's expensive.

Signing up: The controller of the skate camp at Lake Placid is the Olympic Redevelopment Association (ORDA). When the camp is announced, you can go to the website and register online. The fee last year for the August full wee was $275. (In 2013 a 'processing fee' or $50 was added). That is just ice time and three receptions. That doesn't include lessons. Usually the website has an outline of what group classes they think they will hold. This is vague. Don't expect to see an exact list until you show up and sign in. (In 2013 a pdf of the schedule was emailed the week before).

Coaches: There are a number of resident coaches at LP, and ORDA brings in some guest coaches who are elite skaters.  Since there's usually an ice show during the August session, sometimes ice skating stars show up and give a group class. Jeremy Abbot showed up and gave an adult group class last year.   Ryan Bradley has also appeared. There have been some non-resident coaches who show up with a stable of students, and these non-resident coaches are sometimes available for lessons.  You can look on the Lake Placid website for coach listings. Many (but not all) of those coaches are available for Adult Skate Week. For example, in 2011 and 2012 I never saw Paul Wylie or Gregory and Petukhov coaching (but in 2013 I did) . Non-resident coaches are not listed here. You won't learn about them until the initial reception.

Tomorrow--Part II: Getting Started at LP Adult Camp