skiersleft
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People here sporadically ask about Holiday Valley. Often questions/comments pop up after HV does very well in Ski Magazine's ski resort rankings (#5 in the East this year). It's a weird resort. Wildly popular in a sense (most visited ski resort in NY, with more skier visits than Whiteface, Gore, Hunter or Windham), but also relatively unknown given that it's closer to Ohio than to the East Coast. Given the lake effect, it also gets more snow, especially early season, than many resorts in New England. Vertically challenged, but horizontally robust, it's difficult to peg this hill as small or big. It's full of contradictions.
This thread is meant to explore Holiday Valley in more detail and to provide a place for other people to post pics about the resort itself, the lodges or Ellicottville. My description of the place from the ski ranking thread follows, along with some pics I took early season last year (December 3, 2013):
"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."
This thread is meant to explore Holiday Valley in more detail and to provide a place for other people to post pics about the resort itself, the lodges or Ellicottville. My description of the place from the ski ranking thread follows, along with some pics I took early season last year (December 3, 2013):
"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."
. To be real, it looks like a great intermediate/beginner mountain, which is what most of the skiing world is looking for. 
