Holiday Valley is in Ellicottville, in western New York, one mile south of the village on US Route 219. It has 60 slopes and trails, 13 lifts and three base areas: the Holiday Valley Lodge, the first one up Holiday Valley Road, the Yodeler Lodge in the middle and the Tannenbaum Lodge at the upper end. Each base area has a high-speed express chairlift. The top is 2,250 feet and the base 1,500 feet, for 750 feet of vertical over 290 acres. It averages about 180 inches of snow a year, and the lifts run into the evening for night skiing.
The area opened on January 7, 1958, when the first skiers rode a T-bar up to four slopes: Yodeler, Champagne, Holiday Run and Edelweiss. The founders had made yearly trips to Mont Saint-Sauveur in Quebec’s Laurentians, and borrowed its Bavarian look and the layout of its slopes.
Top of Cindy’s looks down Cindy’s Run to the Resort Center, and Main Lodge shows the Resort Center base from below, with the Mardi Gras 6 and Cindy’s lifts. Watch the two together to compare the top and the bottom of the main face. Mardi Gras Top shows the top terminal of the Mardi Gras 6. Tannenbaum looks down at the Tannenbaum base area, the upper of the three bases. The Double Black Diamond Golf Course cam looks out from the bottom of the Snowpine Quad, near the overflow parking on Route 219.
The resort is at Route 219 and Holiday Valley Road. From Buffalo, take the New York State Thruway (I-90) to exit 55, then Route 219 south for 50 miles to Ellicottville and 1 mile more to the resort. From the east or west, take the Southern Tier Expressway (NY 86) to exit 21 at Salamanca, then Route 219 north for 10 miles. From Pennsylvania, follow Route 219 north through Bradford and Salamanca. The resort puts Buffalo about an hour away, Toronto and Cleveland about 3 hours, and Pittsburgh about 3½. From Canada, the resort’s directions cross the Peace Bridge at Buffalo.
The resort warns that the weather in western New York changes fast, so a sunny morning at home can mean snow on the drive. Check 511NY for road conditions before you go.
Holiday Valley isn’t on the Epic, Ikon or Indy Pass.