North Elba Park District employee Ward Smith waters down freshly-packed slush in a run at the Lake Placid Toboggan Chute Saturday morning, Feb. 18. The attraction had closed last weekend after the ice runs melted during unseasonably warm weather. Town workers were hoping to open the chute sometime the next day or mid-week. It was the first day of the Presidents' Week holiday, and many visitors were in town. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

LAKE PLACID — North Elba Park District staff Wednesday, Feb. 22 finished rebuilding one of the two runs at the Lake Placid Toboggan Chute and set a reopening date for the following evening, after almost of foot of snow was expected, Park District Manager Butch Martin said that morning. Yet he made the call later in the day to open Wednesday evening, which visitors appreciated.

“It all went good last night,” Martin said Thursday morning, adding that people were already lined up by the time the chute opened at 6:30 p.m. In all, he estimated that about 300 people visited the Toboggan Chute Wednesday night.

Going forward, tentative opening times are 6:30 to 9 p.m. Thursday; noon to 4 p.m. and 6:30 to 9 p.m. Friday; noon to 4 p.m., plus the Lions Club races starting at 6:30 p.m., on Saturday; and noon to 3 p.m. on Sunday. (Times were updated at 8:30 a.m. Thursday.)

Park District employees were at the Mirror Lake chute on the morning of Saturday, Feb. 18, taking advantage of the colder weather and fresh snow to rebuild one of the two runs, which had melted due to unseasonably warm temperatures.

The attraction was closed the previous weekend after only being open one day so far this year, on Feb. 5, but residents and visitors were eager to see it open once again, especially during the Presidents’ Week holiday. Main Street was already bustling with tourist traffic by the time town employees were at the lake to work on the chute Saturday morning.

The Lake Placid Toboggan Chute at Mirror Lake remained closed when this photo was taken Saturday morning, Feb. 18, 2023. Warm weather had melted the ice runs more than a week earlier, forcing the closure of the attraction. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

“We know it’s a busy week for everybody,” Willis Clark, of the North Elba Park District, said on Saturday. “We want it to be open. Of course, we want it to be safe for everybody as well. … We just do what we can. We can’t beat Mother Nature.”

The problem wasn’t the ice on Mirror Lake. It was plenty thick where it had been plowed, with at least 12 inches needed to open the slide. It’s the ice runs on the chute itself that had melted away and had to be rebuilt.

Visitors stopped by the chute on Saturday morning inquiring about the work town employees were doing. Clark was answering questions from one visitor on the Mirror Lake ice while Ward Smith finished watering the slush-packed run at the top with a hose.

In order to rebuild the ice run on the Toboggan Chute, there first needs to be snow, which there was from the day before and snowbanks from earlier snowfalls.

“We carry the snow up the run and fill up the lanes,” Clark said. “Once we get the lanes full, we hook up the hose at the water spigot up top, turn on the water, and we water the snow and pack it to make slush and smooth it out until it freezes.”

Once it freezes, the slide can continue to be watered to build up the ice. Temperatures had dipped into the single digits Friday night, but by 10 a.m., when town workers had done everything they could for the day, the temperature had risen to about 18 degrees F.

It was sunny with a stiff wind sweeping across the lake as visitors began skating on the plowed-out areas and taking dogsled rides behind the Golden Arrow Lakeside Resort and near Brewster Park at the other end of Main Street.

“Right now, we’re at the point where we have to let it set,” Clark said shortly after 10 a.m. “When the cooler temperatures come again tonight, we will come back in and hopefully be able to water more to open tomorrow.”

Upon inspection Sunday morning, town workers decided they could not open the chute that afternoon, as they had hoped.

“Temperatures did not fall enough to allow us to build up the ice on the tower,” Martin said on Sunday morning. Things look promising after Tuesday.”

The workers needed temperatures in the teens and single digits.

“It would not have been safe for customers,” Martin said.

When a town employee stopped by the Toboggan Chute just before 7 a.m. Wednesday, the temperature was in the low teens, allowing him to finish spraying one run with water and build up the ice.

“Now we just wait for the snow (to rebuild the ice on the other run),” Martin said Wednesday.

The Lake Placid Toboggan Chute opened for the season on Sunday, Feb. 5, as temperatures rebounded into the 30s after two days of dangerous, subzero wind chills. More than 200 people enjoyed the attraction that afternoon, but until this week, it was the only day it’s been open so far this winter.

Visitors pay admission ($20 for adults, $10 for students) at a shack at the bottom of the chute, where they are handed a toboggan for the group. After climbing stairs to the top of the structure, groups sit on their toboggans, and Park District employees push them down the runway. After the plunge, the toboggan will slide as far as it can go on the plowed ice below. There is no way to steer it.

According to the toboggan rules and regulations, passengers should keep their arms and legs on toboggan at all times; and clear the track when the ride is complete (as another toboggan is right behind you). Also, visitors are warned that, due to friction when sliding down the toboggan chute, some types of nylon ski pants may wear through. Therefore, durable pants, such as jeans, are recommended.

“We are not responsible for damaged pants,” the Park District states.

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, the second weekend of Presidents Week, weather permitting. 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 Toboggan Chute on the town of North Elba’s Facebook page or online at www.northelba.org.