This past saturday, I went to Holiday Valley in Ellicotville, NY with my university ski club. Bringing my own equipment, it cost me only $40 in total for the lift ticket and bus. This was my first time skiing in NY state, and it was quite the experience. Being from Pittsburgh, my main comparision was skiing at 7 Springs. Given that Holiday Valley has a similar vertical to 7 Springs, I figured the runs would be similar to the Gunnar area. However, the runs there were much smaller than I expected, similar in size to Wagner at 7 Springs.
With that being said, the resort was increadibly well setup. All lifts there were quad chairs with 3 of them being high speed quads. This allowed us to spend most of the day on the snow, and enjoy the wide variety of trail types they have there. Many of their trails there remind me of runs like Dream Highway at Laurel Mountain, or a smaller Ballhooter at Snowshoe, windy and rolling. "The Wall", their most challenging run was indeed steep, but was not more than 5 turns.
Overall, the place is an increadibly well run and modern resort that certainly caters to familys and beginners, and not college kids on a bus trip. However, I had a great time there, and was able to cross another area off my bucket list.
Thanks for this first hand report. We have "this" HV on our schedule for March 1 - 3. I need to check this one off my box too.
Did you ski at adjacent Holimont Resort? It is a private resort on weekends and public on weekdays. If I remember correctly it has 50 -60 trails and similar vertical as Holiday Valley.
