Kicking a 40-year habit

Ahead of the 1980 Winter Olympics, local officials decided they had to fight one of the very things drawing people to Lake Placid from around the world—the snow.

To ease the commute through the Adirondacks, they kept roadways clear by dumping unprecedented amounts of salt on them.

The Lake Placid Olympic Organizing Committee’s plan called for about six times as much salt to be used that winter as in winters past.

Olympic organizers knew this could be a problem, but they expected the salting to be a one-and-done thing. Clear the roads for the tens of thousands of people traveling here for the first time, then go back to the way things used to be.

Ironically, the snow never came. A snow drought struck in 1980. Artificial snow was used for the first time at an Olympics.

But the idea to salt the roads stuck, and the salting never stopped.

Before then, Adirondack roads weren’t cleared all the way to the blacktop every time it snowed. People drove slower. They had snow tires. Highway departments