Western NY Road Trip - Plattekill, Holimont and Peak 'n Peak

The Western (NY) Road Trip

DAY1 Plattekill
Shea and Spencer had a bump Competition in western NY which coincided with the Presidents Day Holiday. I knew that last Wednesday’s storm had left 6” at Plattekill so that would be first stop on Friday. It was 50% off so the 4 of us only cost $60. We pulled in around 9:30AM. They had indeed received some good powder and we headed up to slice and dice. Cover was thin, but we we had our powder rock skis and were ready to go. Plunge, North Face and Blockbuster were all in great shape. Snowmaking on Blockbuster made for some big drops which the kids loved.

What a great day with plenty of powder to be found till 2:30 when we had to hit the road. Plattekill has purchased from a defunct ski area some 160 snow guns and many are in place all around the area. This can really help the base and keep them as a viable option all season long. The place was humming and it was really nice to see. I said hello to Laslo the owner before we left and thanked him for the keeping “the little areas that rock” theme going strong.

DAY 2 Holimont
We headed out Elicottville, NY home of Holimont Ski area. Holimont is a private ski area dominated by Canadians. It cost’s $14,000 to join plus yearly fees. We pulled into a front row parking at 8am and booted up. We were told to move from the "members only" area. Every table had a table cloth and crock pot on it. Some even had candles and tea service. It was lightly snowing and the base depths were considerable thanks to lake effect snow. Vertical is minimal around 500” and everything but the bump course was groomed flat. Off piste was phenomenal with oodles of powder for me and no one else. The kids course was in great shape and they performed well with Spencer getting second in his age group.

There was a T bar that was not running and it offered great powder turns. I was scolded by patrol 2 times. The second time I was dragged to the “office” where they pulled my ticket. I quickly changed outfits and headed back out to shred the pow for a few more runs.

Radio Ron was there with MeatHead videos for the winners of the USSA contest. He was crazy as always and I scored some posters and stickers.


Day 3. We stayed with friends in Lakewood, NY and headed out to Peak and Peak. I was not excited at all for another 500” mountain, but it had continued to snow all day so things were looking up.

Peak and Peak, like most western NYS resorts takes every inch of a ridgeline with homes at the top and condos at the bottom. They have a pool and hot tub open to the public. Place was crowded they said, but I never waited more than a few minutes.

To my surprise they had 3 seeded bump runs (more than Hunter ever had). They were short, but sweet with powder bumps. Once again the areas between the trails offered great powder and then I discovered the expansion area of cut trails, but no lifts. I did 4 runs of knee deep to the road and walked 10 minutes back to lift. I didn’t want to leave, but everyone else was done swimming so they dragged me away.

I was amazed to find such a different skiing vibe in western NY. Most people had never heard of Hunter. I thought it was unversal. What didn't change was the love of the snow and desire to go up and down.

The lake effect snow was soft and I would recommend the road trip if it is ever dry back east.

Snow depths:
http://picasaweb.google.com/huntermt2/WesternNYSnowDepth#5438672137065348066

Holimont Bump Contest:
http://picasaweb.google.com/huntermt2/HolimontBumpContest2010#

Sounds like a good trip. Nice job Spencer! Way to make the most of the fresh snow on the smaller mountains, even if it was to the dismay of the local ski patrol. :lol: Sounds a little too stuffy there for me. Radio Ron must have been a trip though. He seems like a nice guy, even if he's a little whacked.

I'm not sure if I'll ever make it to your last two stops, but Plattekill is on my list.

Thanks for the report. Can you help sort out which pic belongs with which resort? Does not suprise me about no Hunter name recognition. I lived in WNY for 10 years and never heard of it. Then again, it was a trek just to get to Greek Peak. If we wanted to go big, we went to Whiteface. Regardless, it was a long, troublesome drive with lots of blowing and drifiting snow. Even in New England, at least northern, nobody local talks about Hunter, unless you once lived there. The general perception is that it is a playground for metro NY, and that (no insult intended) we could find stuff that would keep us happy closer to home without having to fight crowds or traffic. You'll find that if you get more than 200 miles from Hunter the awareness drops off precipitously.

I've heard of Holimont, but that's about it. Would be interested in any pics of the place. What do they have for uphill capacity? It sounds like a police state. What were you doing that twisted them all around? Skiing on a "closed" trail? Wonder if it was reserved for a big cheese?

billski said:

Thanks for the report. Can you help sort out which pic belongs with which resort? Does not suprise me about no Hunter name recognition. I lived in WNY for 10 years and never heard of it. Then again, it was a trek just to get to Greek Peak. If we wanted to go big, we went to Whiteface. Regardless, it was a long, troublesome drive with lots of blowing and drifiting snow. Even in New England, at least northern, nobody local talks about Hunter, unless you once lived there. The general perception is that it is a playground for metro NY, and that (no insult intended) we could find stuff that would keep us happy closer to home without having to fight crowds or traffic. You'll find that if you get more than 200 miles from Hunter the awareness drops off precipitously.

I've heard of Holimont, but that's about it. Would be interested in any pics of the place. What do they have for uphill capacity? It sounds like a police state. What were you doing that twisted them all around? Skiing on a "closed" trail? Wonder if it was reserved for a big cheese?

Click to expand...

The first link was the snow depth at Peak n Peak.
The second link is from Holimont

The first 3 pictures are Plattekill and the last 2 are from Holimont.

Holimont is about 600 vert spread across a ridge with 8 lifts from T bar to quad. The traill was reservered for the ski patrol head who caught me 2 times.