Holiday Valley

Western New York may not be the first place you think of for skiing and snowboarding, but the charming town of Ellicottville, NY is home to not one, but two ski resorts: the semi-private Holimont Ski Club and the larger Holiday Valley. Holiday Valley is too far west to enjoy the striking peaks of the Catskills or Appalachian mountains, but the resort has an interesting and unique aesthetic of its own. While it is somewhat lacking in vertical drop, its wide footprint straddles two very different sides of a valley, making the resort seem much larger than it is. The extreme ends of the resort feel nothing like each other: at looker’s left, tight deciduous woods and at looker’s right, majestic pines that line the runs and welcome skiers and riders into their widely-spaced glades. The flipside is that the same valley creates some unavoidable navigational and crowd flow headaches.

Snow

Holiday Valley is located about 30 miles from the Lake Erie coast, so it benefits from lake effect snow, netting a very impressive average snowfall of 161” inches per year. For context, this is just about double that of competitors further south in Pennsylvania and further east in the Poconos and Catskills. At the same time, Holiday Valley has a thorough snowmaking infrastructure that creates a solid base for those years when mother nature doesn’t cooperate.

Terrain Layout

The resort’s geography naturally divides it into several regions. At the far east is the Snowpine area, which, aside from housing the resort’s only double-black-rated trail (The Wall), seems to exist mostly to provide access to the Snowpine condominium village. The next pod over is served by the Cindy and Sunrise lifts and includes some woodsy trails that feel typical of the tree-defined runs of a small front-facing resort. The lower third of this zone houses the resort’s learning area. Just past the base of the Cindy lift is the Mardi Gras Express quad, which runs along a rather crowded lift line. This quad provides initial access to the remainder of the resort’s zones, which include: (1) the pod of relatively steep black runs served by the Eagle Chair; (2) the longer, but somewhat less steep blacks served by the Chute and Yodeler Express chairs; (3) the gorgeous wide cruiser Morningstar and its neighboring terrain park runs; and (4) the resort’s most scenic, remote, and isolated terrain off of the Tannenbaum Express and Spruce Lake Quads.

Navigation and Lift Lines

The resort’s unique geography is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the valley naturally divides the resort into its distinct, diverse zones, giving it an expansive feel and making for a wider variety of terrain types than one might expect in Western New York. The wide footprint encourages visitors to lap and fully explore each of its distinct regions before moving on to the next one.

On the other hand, this wide layout also creates some unavoidable chokepoints that can result in some navigational hassles. The only way to return to the main base from Tannenbaum is via the Yodeler lift, and because this lift also serves its own pod of black runs, it can become somewhat backed up. Similarly, Mardi Gras is the only way to get to Tannenbaum from the main base; it also serves its own lift line run and is a helper lift to get to the Morningstar and Eagle pods. Fortunately, both of these are high-speed lifts, which helps keep the uphill journey enjoyable. It’s worth noting that the resort upgraded Mardi Gras to a six-pack for the 2023-24 season, which helped address the bottleneck somewhat.

TRAIL MAP

Crowds on the Slopes

When it comes to the slopes themselves, guests should generally be able to spread themselves out. The one exception might be the Mardi Gras lift line; its central location, modest slope, and position as the single most natural return route to the main base from the top of Mardi Gras and Yodeler mean that it can get very crowded with skiers of extremely variable skill levels.

Beginner Terrain

Holiday Valley has some solid beginner terrain, although the resort’s layout also makes it a bit tough for guests of lower abilities to progress to the next skill level. First-timers will start at the Creekside lodge, directly outside of which is a solid beginners’ area with two magic carpets and a dedicated triple chair with a run on either side. Schoolhaus West, on skier’s left, is groomed and has a gentle grade. Schoolhaus East is a bit steeper and can be a bit choppier. As centrally located as it is, the entire Schoolhaus area is well shielded from the intermediate and expert terrain that runs on either side. As a result, there is plenty of room for new skiers and riders to go from making their first turns to practicing and developing them in a sheltered environment.

The problem is that it is difficult to progress directly from there. The resort’s other greens either get some runoff crowding from more aggressive traffic, can take some stressful navigational situations to reach, or involve steeper pitches than one might expect from a run of this ability. Ultimately, learners transitioning from the bunny hill to the next level are best off taking the free resort shuttle from base to base to the Spruce Lake area, which offers two wide, gentle green runs that lack traffic from visitors of other ability levels.

Intermediate Terrain

Holiday Valley really shines at the intermediate skill level. There are a multitude of fun blues in every zone of the resort, with trails ranging from wide cruisers to twisty, scenic routes. The majority of these runs are perennially groomed. Visitors of intermediate proficiency should be sure to check out the Morningstar and Mistletoe runs, which are easily lappable by high-speed quads and have enough of a pitch variance to make them especially fun.

Advanced Terrain

Advanced skiers will enjoy the resort’s two main black run pods. The Eagle chair serves a handful of reasonably steep, challenging runs—those who like steep mogul runs will especially enjoy Falcon. The Yodeler Express and Chute Quads serve the other black pod: a parallel series of eight relatively steep, tree-defined runs that branch off the north ridge of Mardi Gras. These runs offer a variety of groomed and ungroomed experiences, with the most challenging traditional trail being the narrow, steep Ego Alley that runs beneath the Yodeler chair—and its wooded companion Ego Glade providing an additional gladed twist.

Lifts

Despite the unavoidable navigational issues that result from the resort’s natural terrain, Holiday Valley’s lifts are sensibly located, and the high-speed Tannenbaum, Mardi Gras, Morningstar, and Yodeler chairs provide coverage to the most popular zones of the resort. Most of the remaining fixed-grip chairs do not get considerable traffic and rarely see a wait, even on busy days. The one exception might be the Cindy lift, which can sometimes draw a crowd due to its central location.

Facilities

All of Holiday Valley’s facilities exist at its bases. There are sizeable lodges serving typical ski resort fare at the main base, Tannenbaum, and Yodeler bases, but the satellite Snowpine base requires a lift ride to get to a lodge. There are warming huts at the top of Mardi Gras and Cindy. On weekends, there are often cookout events at the warming hut at the top of Mardi Gras.

Getting There

Holiday Valley is not a destination resort—if you’re visiting, you’re almost certainly driving in from a point within a three-hour radius. Its nearest cities are Buffalo, NY (1 hr); Erie, PA (1.5 hrs); Rochester, NY (2 hrs); Pittsburgh, PA (3 hrs); and Cleveland, OH (3 hrs).

Lodging

Numerous accommodations exist, including many that are resort-affiliated. The resort bundles half-price tickets when booking through them, so check there first. The Inn at Holiday Value is relatively inexpensive and offers ski-in/ski-out access from the Sunrise chairlift directly outside. Beginners should note, however, that the green trails running from the top of Sunrise are all steeper and narrower than their rating would suggest.

Après-ski

Located a short, one-mile drive from the resort (certainly walkable for the industrious), the town of Ellicottville is a charming gem, with beautiful winter lights and a surprising array of cozy restaurants and bars. Parking can be a challenge.

Verdict

Holiday Valley makes the best of its local geography and is a strong value proposition. While it doesn’t enjoy the long vertical drops of the resorts further east, its wide footprint makes the resort feel much larger than it is, and it offers enough varied terrain to hold the interest of beginner to advanced visitors for a long weekend of skiing or riding. While those on the East Coast shouldn’t go out of their way to ski or ride here, for those in Western New York, Western Pennsylvania, and Northeast Ohio, it’s hard to find a better option in close driving distance.

Pricing

Lift ticket prices for Holiday Valley remain pretty reasonable. One-day tickets cost $84-$102 at the ticket window, with about 10-15% off that rate if you buy two weeks or more in advance. Two-day passes are also available for a slight discount. Access to the resort is not included in any major pass products.