Mirror Lake Inn’s legacy, plus a love of skiing, runs deep with the Weibrecht family
By Holly Riddle
With its location right in the heart of Lake Placid, the Mirror Lake Inn is indelibly intertwined with the village’s history and culture. Over the last century, the property has acted as a hub for area recreation (uniquely, the property once offered a rope tow for skiing down Dream Hill, and boasted the first snowmaking machine in the area) and housed notable athletes aplenty, not least of which is the current operations manager, Andrew Weibrecht, a U.S. Skiing Hall of Famer and two-time Olympic Medalist.
Andrew is the second generation of Weibrechts to operate the property. His parents, Ed and Lisa, purchased the inn in the 1970s. At that time, Ed was a New Jersey telecommunications business executive. While the career shift to innkeeper was a challenge, it was one borne out of love for the region.
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“I wanted to ski,” he said of his reason for leaving the Garden State for the Adirondacks. “I had been skiing in the area for quite a number of years and I fell in love. There’s beautiful scenery and nice people, so [buying the inn] seemed like a good thing to do at the time.”
“The adjustment was huge, because I didn’t have any education in the hospitality business,” he said. “I didn’t have any exposure other than when I was traveling on business. Beyond that, I had to learn.”
And learn he did. The entire family threw themselves into the operations, overcoming hardships such as a devastating fire in the 1980s and maintaining the property’s historic legacy.
The next generation
From picking up trash in the parking lot to working in the hotel restaurant as a busser and waiter, Andrew Weibrecht grew up helping out in the family business. Eventually, though, Andrew left town, at 16. He moved to Utah when he made the U.S. national skiing team and followed his own path throughout his 20s and early 30s. However, Lake Placid called him home and, after retiring from ski racing, he rejoined the inn’s staff full-time in 2018.
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“Being a part of a legacy family business was something that I was always really excited about,” he said. “It was something that I maybe didn’t admit to myself when I was younger, but something that I always thought about as a great second career. I was raised in an environment where attention to detail and trying to excel at a high level, whether in business or sports, was part of our family ethos — so, coming back here and being able to apply a lot of the skills I learned while racing to the needs of the business was really a lot of fun, very gratifying and something I continue to enjoy.”
Today, Andrew’s wife, Denja, also works at the AAA Four Diamond resort, as does his younger brother Ethan. The other three Weibrecht children have pursued careers in law, finance and healthcare.
“We never said anything to our kids about coming back into the business, because we wanted them to follow their dreams and passions,” said Lisa. “But we secretly were hoping someone would come back someday. We’re thrilled to have Andrew, Ethan and Denja here.”
A family affair
Lisa noted that it is important for her children to be more than just “the boss’s kid” when working on the property.
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“When Andrew first started back here, he jumped in and did anything anyone asked him to do. He made himself very available and part of the team,” she said. “I wanted him to find his own way to fit in and bring something to the table.”
“When I came in, I was never going to ask someone to do something that I wasn’t willing to do myself,” Andrew added.
Lisa and Andrew say the family relies on communication, consideration and empathy to maintain its strong bonds while spending the majority of the time working in close quarters. Thanks to efforts like these, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that this legacy business will stay in the family. Though young, the third generation of Weibrechts is already at work.
“Adelina, who just turned 9, is already in the dining room. She’ll go into the dining room with her mom and just talk to people and wish them a good day,” said Lisa of Andrew’s eldest of three children.
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“I’ve been putting a bug in their ear about how much fun it is to work here and how much they might like that someday,” he laughed.
Photo at top: The exterior of Mirror Lake Inn in Lake Placid. Photo by Nancie Battaglia
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