Have at it!

skiNEwhere · Sep 18, 2014

First time I've ever bothered to read ski magazine

maybe I've just overlooked it before. Well good on them keeping up with the major players

skiNEwhere · Sep 18, 2014

Ah, I pulled up the wrong trail map. I was looking at holiday Mtn, which is considerably smaller.

Once skiers left mentioned all the acreage I had to go back and check again.

Definitely looks legit.

jimk · Sep 18, 2014

skiersleft said:
This is a bad assessment of the hill. I've skied there several times and can provide an objective assessment. The hill is vertically challenged with only 750' vertical. HOwever, it's horizontally big and skis relatively big for what it is. If you go by skiable acres, it's actually the second biggest ski area in NY after Gore. It has slightly more skiable acres than Whiteface. You can spend a day there exploring the different areas in spite of its crappy vertical because of the layout. They get a lot of snow and lake effect makes for great skiing in DEcember when many ski resorts are still trying to get their act together. There is ample tree skiing. Fun, though not overly challenging. The lodges are some of the best in the East, if not the best in the East. The quality of the food is above average for a ski resort. They have two nice slopeside hotels. They also offer night skiing.

MOre importantly, Ellicottville is one of the top 3 ski villages in the East, after Lake Placid and Stowe, IMHO. Many nice bars for apres, quality dining options and a quant walkable village. It really is a beautiful place. The combination of all of these reasons - and the fact that it's far from better skiing - is why readers rank it so highly.

Of course, the skiing itself is NOT in the top 20 in the East. They do the best they can with the limited vertical that they have. But skiing in the true top Eastern resorts is considerably better. HOwever, the product they deliver is top notch. From the mountain layout to the lifts to the lodging, to the village, to the lodges, everything is top notch. Readers put all of this together and rank it very highly. It's the most visited ski resort in NY, so it also gets a lot of people to fill out the surveys. I'll try to post some pictures of the place later.

In sum, it is what it is. And what it is is not a hill with a lot of vertical, but its a well managed, decently big in terms of skiable acres hill with great apres and a beautiful village. People who ski there love it and therefore rank it highly. The Ski Mag rankings are not solely about skiing. They are about a bunch of other things and that's why it ranks highly. If it were solely about skiing, the rankings would look quite different and HV would not crack the top 20.

I've never been there, but that is an outstanding summary of what I have heard about HV. I have skied quite a bit at Seven Springs, PA, which is sort of in that neck of the woods and also horizontally large. Would you say the terrain and trail layout is somewhat similar? Seven Springs has a big base complex, but no nearby resort town like Ellicottville and not the same amount of lake effect snow.

Smellytele · Sep 18, 2014

Not that this means anything to anyone but if I ruled the world and everyone worshiped my opinion here is my list with the ones given:
Stowe
Mad River Glen
Cannon
Sugarloaf
Jay Peak
Saddleback
Sugarbush
Whiteface
Killington
Smugglers’ Notch
Sunday River
Loon
Waterville Valley
Mount Snow
Stratton
Okemo
Bromley
Bretton Woods
I cannot rank Tremblant nor Holiday Valley because I have never skied at either.

St. Bear · Sep 18, 2014

No. 33 for Grooming? Mad River Glen wears it like a badge of honor. And in the criteria that actually matter to Mad River skiers, it’s anointed with a truly impressive array of No. 1 rankings. Terrain Variety, Challenge, Value, Service, Character, Sustainability, and, most important, Overall Satisfaction: seven categories in which MRG outranks every other resort in the East. Chalk it up to passion.

Can I nitpick? Sugarbush, Stowe, Killington, Sugarloaf, and even Cannon and Jay have more Variety than MRG.

I don't know what they mean by Service, but I wouldn't rank it in the top half of the East in my opinion, nevermind #1. There is no service there, but that's the point, kind of like the Grooming category.

JimG. · Sep 18, 2014

deadheadskier said:
It has literally been a high ranked ski area in every single Ski Magazine resort guide that I've ever read. So, basically, for the last 30 years. I'm surprised you haven't heard of it, unless this is the first time you've read a resort guide. All I know is that it's the largest and most popular ski area in Western, NY and has a really cool town at it's base. Never been myself.

Gonna go there for at least a day this December for lake effect snow. Near/on the way to both of my boys in college. Well known for the excellent effort they make to maintain good bumps too.

St. Bear · Sep 18, 2014

I love the pic they used for Sugarloaf. This is gonna be my new desktop at work.

from_the_NEK · Sep 18, 2014

Weird, where's QBurke?

skiersleft · Sep 18, 2014

PM me if you want me to show you around. I bought a season pass to HV this season, so I will be there.

Smellytele · Sep 18, 2014

St. Bear said:
I love the pic they used for Sugarloaf. This is gonna be my new desktop at work.

Gettin' ready for some rock and rime skiin'

skiersleft · Sep 18, 2014

jimk said:
I've never been there, but that is an outstanding summary of what I have heard about HV. I have skied quite a bit at Seven Springs, PA, which is sort of in that neck of the woods and also horizontally large. Would you say the terrain and trail layout is somewhat similar? Seven Springs has a big base complex, but no nearby resort town like Ellicottville and not the same amount of lake effect snow.

Haven't skied 7 Springs. From looking at trail map, it looks somewhat similar, yes. I think that HV is even more horizontally spread out and, thus, probably skis larger. I would describe HV as 3 or 4 interconnected "hills". Kind of - in a weird way - like a mini Killington, with the huge difference that Kton's mountains have 1000-1600 vertical whereas HV's hills have 400-600 vertical (only one trail - Mardi Gras - gives you the 700 vertical). It has three base areas that feel totally different from one another, similar to bigger resorts.

BenedictGomez · Sep 18, 2014

billski said:
I'd like a poll of the worst-groomed ski areas. I'd be skiing those!

Amen.

deadheadskier said:
It has literally been a high ranked ski area in every single Ski Magazine resort guide that I've ever read. So, basically, for the last 30 years. I'm surprised you haven't heard of it, unless this is the first time you've read a resort guide. All I know is that it's the largest and most popular ski area in Western, NY and has a really cool town at it's base. Never been myself.

Yes, but it gets ranked high due to being the only game in town.

If you're the only albino, dwarf, German, vegetarian in the area, you're going to be the smartest, tallest, best-looking albino, dwarf, German, vegetarian in the area.

jimmywilson69 · Sep 18, 2014

jimk said:
I've never been there, but that is an outstanding summary of what I have heard about HV. I have skied quite a bit at Seven Springs, PA, which is sort of in that neck of the woods and also horizontally large. Would you say the terrain and trail layout is somewhat similar? Seven Springs has a big base complex, but no nearby resort town like Ellicottville and not the same amount of lake effect snow.

in my opinion HV is better than 7s. I grew up skiing 7s, and usually ski it once or twice a winter. HV gets more lake effect and has nicer "facilities". Recently they've adopted a "boundary to boundary" policy so there is lots of tree skiing.

My wife grew up skiing HV and keeps clamoring for us to go back. the problem is it's almost as far to drive there as it is to drive to Killingotn. Easy choice IMO.

mister moose · Sep 18, 2014

skiersleft said:
Haven't skied 7 Springs. From looking at trail map, it looks somewhat similar, yes. I think that HV is even more horizontally spread out and, thus, probably skis larger. I would describe HV as 3 or 4 interconnected "hills". Kind of - in a weird way - like a mini Killington, with the huge difference that Kton's mountains have 1000-1600 vertical whereas HV's hills have 400-600 vertical (only one trail - Mardi Gras - gives you the 700 vertical). It has three base areas that feel totally different from one another, similar to bigger resorts.

So HV is like stringing together 2 Sundowns, a Yawgoo Valley, and a Mohawk. With a village. Sounds like a "Best in Western PA and NY" resort to me.

JimG. · Sep 18, 2014

skiersleft said:
PM me if you want me to show you around. I bought a season pass to HV this season, so I will be there.

I will keep this in mind. Shoot me some beta when the snow gets good; I can swing ski days at the drop of a hat midweek.

Usually.

thetrailboss · Sep 18, 2014

ss20 said:
THEN WHY IS IT 18TH?!?! :blink:

Highway Star, got anything for a triple facepalm?!

skiNEwhere said:
It's ranked by the readers, which apparently prefer groomers over gnar, so I guess that's why Northstar is ahead of Squaw. But with that logic, Jackson Hole should be right there along with them.

+1. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but this poll is really more based on popularity amongst the voters than anything else. Hence when 10,000 people ski at Sunday River and vote with so-so marks it outweighs the 1,000 voters who think that MRG is the best thing in the world.

4aprice · Sep 18, 2014

In my world its not a bad list of areas (the list not rankings). I too have not been to HV or Tremblant and probably never will so I would substitute something like maybe Magic, Wildcat or Gore into those slots. I'll let others argue the rankings but I would probably enjoy each and everyone of those resorts.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ

machski · Sep 18, 2014

I'll just say this, it is not a ski area survey, it is a resort survey. Killer skiing only gets you so many points in this thing. No resort to go with the killer skiing, you may not even make the list here!

St. Bear · Sep 18, 2014

I enjoy the pictures and descriptions. Couldn't care less what the number beside each name says.

C-Rex · Sep 18, 2014

They really need to differentiate between poor grooming and intentionally not grooming. You can't knock an area for leaving things ungroomed when that's the whole point. Especially the the number of people that love ungroomed trails.

It's been said a million times but I'll reiterate: These types of lists are for people that ski or ride a handful of times per year, and go to resorts for the off mountain attractions as much or even more than the skiing itself. That describes maybe .5% of the people on this site. We are not typical skiers/riders. We are the exception, the enthusiasts, and the small minority. Statistically the money behind our opinions does not buy us much clout because what we enjoy about skiing and riding is beyond the vast majority of the market. It's unfortuate, but it's true.

Have at it!

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