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A screaming good time

Lake Placid Toboggan Chute will open on Sunday

Nathan Bair, front, and Dominic Ditondo, of Buffalo, scream all the way down the Lake Placid Toboggan Chute toward Mirror Lake in January 2022. (News photo — Lauren Yates)

LAKE PLACID — North Elba Park District Manager Butch Martin confirmed Wednesday, Feb. 1 that the Lake Placid Toboggan Chute on the shore of Mirror Lake will open for the season on Sunday, Feb. 5, the day after a wind chill warning from the National Weather Service expires.

Some local businesses posted on Facebook late last week that the toboggan chute would open last weekend; however, due to warm weather, town officials made it clear that it was not yet time to open the popular attraction.

“As much as we would love to have it up and running, we are still working on it to make sure the ice is thick enough and safe enough to operate,” the town’s Facebook post stated.

Martin said the ice needs to be at least 12 inches thick before they will open the toboggan chute. It was only about 10 inches thick on Tuesday.

Park District staff try to open the chute as early in the season as possible, but it is a weather-dependent venue. Last year, it was colder earlier; therefore the slide opened earlier — on Jan. 15, the first day of a three-day holiday weekend that honors Martin Luther King Jr.

The Lake Placid Toboggan Chute, located on Parkside Drive, will be open from noon to 3 p.m. on Sunday.

The cost is $20 for adults and $10 for students. It includes a toboggan and unlimited rides per session. Tickets are not sold in advance.

The current toboggan chute — which was built by Jeffords Steel and erected during the winter of 2016-2017 — includes two runs. Sledders — up to four on a toboggan — climb to the top of the chute, where North Elba Park District staff send them down to the ice, which is cleared off for hundreds of feet. At night, the landing is illuminated with floodlights.

The old slide, which was demolished and scrapped, had been converted into the toboggan chute from a Lake Placid Club ski jump in 1965.

The Lake Placid Lions Club is expected to hold its annual toboggan races on Saturday, Feb. 25. Registration starts at 6:25 p.m., and races start at 6:30. There are prizes for sleds traveling the farthest on the ice.

Get updates about the chute on the town of North Elba’s Facebook page or online at www.northelba.org.

Starting at $1.44/week.

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