Holiday Valley with Pics

Puck it · Sep 23, 2014

skiNEwhere said:
Woa, that's pretty crazy.

Is that an official trail?

Yes they were blowing snow on it. It called the Wall.

Newpylong · Sep 23, 2014

Thanks for the pictures. I love small mountains that maximize what they have. the trail map looks impressive. Every chair is a Quad lol.

thetrailboss · Sep 23, 2014

I'll jump in here.

When I lived in Vermont, I never could understand why HV always ranked so highly. I used to make fun of it. I thought (and still do) that their high ranking is in part due to lots of volume who participate in this poll.

But I think that it feeds the need. They make their folks happy. And it's skiing. That's a good thing. If someone gave me a ticket I'd try it and with an open mind and I think I'd like it. I was pretty darn lucky then for skiing and am now. I'd drive there for sure if I had to live in Ohio. And I'd love every minute of it. So I don't knock them. The pictures show that it is a nice place.

jimk · Sep 23, 2014

Thanks skier'sleft. Good post on an interesting place I've never been to, but have heard a lot about. I think a look at google maps is enlightening.
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=goog...F-8&sa=X&ei=obIhVNdjgqnIBNujgMAN&ved=0CAkQ_AU
I didn't realize HV and Holimont were so close to each other and to Ellicottville. All three are nearly contiguous.
I also live in a land of small hills and find them very entertaining in the absence of bigger destinations. Bumps, parks, gates, and glades can make a little place pretty interesting. You ski what you have to ski. Or tele or board, as the case may be.

skiersleft · Sep 24, 2014

Puck it said:
They have had an avalanche too.

As you can see, the trail in the pic - The Wall - is steep. If I'm not mistaken, it's the only double black diamond in HV. When it's bumped up and icy it's very difficult to navigate. This is undoubtedly Holiday Valley's most challenging trail. By a lot. It's nothing overly challenging, but it does get the heart pounding a little. What makes it easier is that it's so short, that you can just try to find a line and bomb it without turning and then simply turn when you hit the flats. Of course, if it's bumped up from side to side, the plan won't work.

It's great to see that pic, as I think there is a sign at the top of the hill that states that there could be avalanches. I thought it was a joke. Now I see that it can actually happen!

skiersleft · Sep 24, 2014

jimk said:
Thanks skier'sleft. Good post on an interesting place I've never been to, but have heard a lot about. I think a look at google maps is enlightening.
https://maps.google.com/maps?q=goog...F-8&sa=X&ei=obIhVNdjgqnIBNujgMAN&ved=0CAkQ_AU
I didn't realize HV and Holimont were so close to each other and to Ellicottville. All three are nearly contiguous.
I also live in a land of small hills and find them very entertaining in the absence of bigger destinations. Bumps, parks, gates, and glades can make a little place pretty interesting. You ski what you have to ski. Or tele or board, as the case may be.

The google map is helpful indeed. It shows how close HV and Holimont are to each other and the village. This is something that gets lost when Ellicottville and Holiday Valley are discussed. It helps make Eville a destination, because in spite of the lack of vertical, you get nearly 430 skiable acres between the two hills (290 for HV and 140 for Holimont), which is enough to keep you occupied for a couple of days. Again, it is what it is and skiing in the ADK's and New England is a lot better, but for what it is, it's very good.

noreasterbackcountry · Sep 24, 2014

My wife's family is from Buffalo so I've been skiing and biking there. It's been about ten years since I skied there (and it was at night) so I can't really comment on the current quality, but I've been biking the last two years and the trails are phenomenal. It is BIG.. like Kingdom Trail and has some really buff singletrack, but as I also discovered this year, it has a whole set of wilder "backcountry-ish" trails. I'd highly recommend if anyone happens to be passing through the area on I-90 to make a stop there. Ellicottville is also a pretty cool small town with breweries, wineries and some decent food. (They even have this large country-western style bar.)

My one complaint (which I believe they are trying to address) is that the mountain needs a flow style trail from the top down to the lodge. For folks who don't want to climb, there is parking up high though.

If anyone is interested, here's the post from my first trip:http://nebackcountry.blogspot.com/2013/07/ellicottville-little-magic-in-western.html

And from the most recent trip where I checked out the backcountry stuff: http://nebackcountry.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-other-side-of-ellicottville-may-2014.html

Here's a couple pics from the trails:

thetrailboss · Sep 24, 2014

skiersleft said:
As you can see, the trail in the pic - The Wall - is steep. If I'm not mistaken, it's the only double black diamond in HV. When it's bumped up and icy it's very difficult to navigate. This is undoubtedly Holiday Valley's most challenging trail. By a lot. It's nothing overly challenging, but it does get the heart pounding a little. What makes it easier is that it's so short, that you can just try to find a line and bomb it without turning and then simply turn when you hit the flats. Of course, if it's bumped up from side to side, the plan won't work.

It's great to see that pic, as I think there is a sign at the top of the hill that states that there could be avalanches. I thought it was a joke. Now I see that it can actually happen!

I remember hearing about that.

x10003q · Sep 24, 2014

I understand everything in this thread and understand why HV is popular. But it should not be ranked 5th in SKI magazine. That is a joke. A ski area seemingly lacking even 1 lift with more than 500 vertical feet ranked 5th in the East? Maybe they should change the name to APRES SKI magazine.

skiersleft · Sep 25, 2014

x10003q said:
I understand everything in this thread and understand why HV is popular. But it should not be ranked 5th in SKI magazine. That is a joke. A ski area seemingly lacking even 1 lift with more than 500 vertical feet ranked 5th in the East? Maybe they should change the name to APRES SKI magazine.

Just to correct a misstatement here. Holiday Valley's main lift - Mardi Gras Xpress Quad - has nearly 700 feet of vertical rise (my GPS clocks it at between 670 and 712). So - FWIW - it's not true that HV lacks a lift that covers more than 500 vertical.

drjeff · Sep 25, 2014

Puck it said:
They have had an avalanche too.

Just an example of why just turning on some snowguns and making a cr@pload of snow isn't always the answer! I know I've heard Mount Snow's head snowmaker, Randy Barrows, describe the process that they go through when they fire the guns up on Ripcord, where they're very regularly decreasing the amount of water in the guns as they add more and more snow to the pitch, to in essence get the wet base snow to "bond" to the ground structure underneath and then gradually "dry" the snow out on top of the base snow to both make it a skiable surface (instead of glue) and also not to top weight the often 6 to 10 feet of snow they have on top of that pitch. Hat's off to the hard working snowmakers and the science behind making good snow for us to ski on!

x10003q · Sep 25, 2014

skiersleft said:
Just to correct a misstatement here. Holiday Valley's main lift - Mardi Gras Xpress Quad - has nearly 700 feet of vertical rise (my GPS clocks it at between 670 and 712). So - FWIW - it's not true that HV lacks a lift that covers more than 500 vertical.

Thanks for the correction.
I wasn't sure about that lift. That's why I wrote 'seemingly'.

HV should not have a rank anywhere near the top 20, like its doppelganger Seven Springs.

Domeskier · Sep 25, 2014

That's nuts. Looks like the remainder of the slope was poised to slide as well. Did anyone get caught in that? Can't imagine why the patrollers would be hanging out down there if not.

drjeff · Sep 25, 2014

Domeskier said:
That's nuts. Looks like the remainder of the slope was poised to slide as well. Did anyone get caught in that? Can't imagine why the patrollers would be hanging out down there if not.

If I recall the story correctly from a few years ago, the slide happened while the resort was closed for the night. They had just finished, or possibly were finishing up an extended snowmaking run on the trail when the slide happened Patrol was there to inspect the lift tower I'm guessing.

Ultimately the slope was groomed back into shape, and all proceeded as normal. Typically they'll be a couple of Eastern "snowmaking slides" a year. Some just get more publicity than others, as most of the time, the "evidence" is eliminated quickly by a winch cat, and the overall slide size tends to be relatively small

Domeskier · Sep 25, 2014

drjeff said:
Patrol was there to inspect the lift tower I'm guessing.

Makes sense, although that overhang with the big crack in it would make me think twice about inspecting the lift (much less reopening it).

Nick · Sep 26, 2014

This looks like a really great beginner / intermediate area. REmember, the newbie skiers love the off-slope amenities as much as the on-slope amenities.

mbedle · Sep 26, 2014

Looks like its happened more than once. Also, this perspective doesn't make it look so steep. http://www.nspwny.org/pic-hv avalanche 20021214.jpg

skiersleft · Sep 27, 2014

mbedle said:
Looks like its happened more than once. Also, this perspective doesn't make it look so steep. http://www.nspwny.org/pic-hv avalanche 20021214.jpg

I guess the "caution possible avalanche" sign is no joke then...interesting. Regarding steepness, having skied The Wall many times, it's steep. It's not wicked steep, but certainly as steep as an average double black diamond in big eastern ski resorts. It's just considerably shorter, which makes it much easier to navigate and even straightline (unless it's bumped up).

bigbog · Sep 27, 2014

Thanks for posting skiersleft, the Holiday Valleys feed the need.....

Blanton · Oct 20, 2014

While I live in Ohio I have lived and skied 5 days a week in both Vermont and Colorado. Holiday and Evl bring it all to the table. They reinvest money into the ski area every year, get tons of snow, have better bars than everywhere but Vail, and have one of the best coaching programs in the country. During the mid to late 90s they pumped out just as many professional caliber skiers as Steamboat, Killington, and Tahoe. While it isn't a ton of elevation the chairs are fast and there isn't a lot of wasted flat vertical. You can cook yourself there in a hurry.

Mardi (party) Gras weekend is also one of the greatest displays of drinking on earth.

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