HoliMont, New York, United States

5Austin K 5:00 PM Feb 10, 2015

Review of Holimont as a Ski Resort
About an hour drive south of Buffalo New York, among many farms and forested hills, a small town lies in a valley of the Appellation Mountains. Although this small town of Ellicottville is nearly vacant during the summer months, it booms with life during the winter. Every weekend people from as far as Toronto and Cleveland speed down the NY 219 to Ellicottville with one desire, to ski. If you follow the speeding trail of SUV’s from where the highway ends into the valley town of Ellicottville, you are greeted by buildings, homes and trees covered with lights and a large hill above riddled with wide vertical white stripes. These wide vertical snow-covered stripes that run the length of the hill belong to Holimont, one of the two ski resorts that reside in the town of Ellicottville. It is the ski resort that has been seemingly above this glowing town of Ellicottville for more than fifty years. It is where many people much older than you or I have escaped the false captivity of the cold and learned to ski and snowboard. Where many people look forward to the opportunity to forget about the week, unwind and spend time with their family and friends. Over fifty years ago, a group of avid skiers collected their efforts and purchased the two adjacent ski resorts on this hill above Ellicottville. These two resorts, Greer Hill and Meadow, were combined to become Holimont. From these original two resorts, initially consisting of only about three slopes each, Holimont has expanded slowly but tremendously across the entire face of the hill in either direction. It now, when fully open, has over fifty trails and seven lifts to fully disperse the crowd of people that has an insatiable desire for freedom on the snow. Even now, Holimont continues to expand westward across its northern facing slopes. Over this past summer several new trails were created and await a new lift that will carry skiers to the top of its groomed length. Hearing people say that they dislike winter truly breaks my heart. However, the inevitable frozen months of winter in Buffalo do not offer much for families or the individual. Many people feel confined to their homes. Sometimes, unfortunately, people really are due to the amount of snow outside their door. Holimont, being a rather short drive from the city of Buffalo, offers an alternative to being stranded indoors for three to four months. Fresh cold air and the freedom of skiing on the recently groomed snow can help maintain a healthy level sanity than can being confined to a limited amount of indoor activities available to the Buffalonian. Additionally, Holimont and other local ski resorts provide the invigorating opportunity to learn a new sport that may at first seem daunting. Holimont offers something for every age and every skiing or snowboarding skill level. For the beginner skier or snowboarder, Holimont has plenty of flat terrain set aside for those who are learning. Additionally, all of the ski school instructors are trained and tested both on a local and national level. Instructors are required to have both certifications in order to ski or snowboard instruct any age level. Other ski resorts in the Western New York Area also have qualified ski instructors and adequate terrain for learning. However, Holimont attracts a smaller crowd so the hills are less cluttered with people, making it a safer learning environment for the student. For the slightly more advanced skier or snowboarder, Holimont offers both ski and snowboard racing. It also has a freestyle program for those who like to speed through the moguls/bumps and do various tricks in the air. Coaches in both of the competitive racing and freestyle teams are certified by the New York State Ski/Snowboard association (NYRSSA) and by the United States Ski/Snowboard Association (USSA and USASA). These competitive programs are not meant to discourage those who enjoy leisurely free skiing. Holimont contains a very warm and friendly crowd of families. Making friends is as easy as talking to a stranger on the lift for the two minute ride up the lift. On the other hand, Holimont is large enough to be able to offer the opportunity to escape the crowd and get some alone time. Unfortunately, Holimont does not have any night skiing available so as soon as the sun goes down the lifts close. This, however, is not where the fun stops. After lifts close, you can see those familiar faces you saw on the hill in the lodge during the ski après party. Every other Saturday evening a live band sets up in the lodge to play their classic hits that echo through the lodge while newly made friends chat about their day. Only one other ski resort in the Buffalo Area, Kissing Bridge, offers this kind of entertainment regularly in addition to skiing. In addition to the skiing and the entertainment, Holimont does not offer many other activities. Cross country skiing and snowshoeing are the only other additional activities offered by Holimont. Other ski local ski resorts, such as Kissing Bridge and Holiday Valley, offer many more snow related activities in addition to skiing such as tubing. As previously mentioned, Holimont does not provide night skiing for its quests. Sadly, this does limit the available time on snow to when the sun is in the sky during the short winter days. Several other ski resorts in the Western New York area do offer night skiing. However, night skiing, as exciting as it sounds, does come at a cost to both the sow and the skiers. The local ski areas that offer night skiing often charge a higher price for their lift tickets. In addition to the safety hazard that night skiing presents to the wallet, it can also be unsafe for the skier or snowboarder. Throughout the day the snow tends to get pushed by those skiing on the hill into large piles of snow that can resemble miniature jumps. By the time that the sun goes down, every hill is nearly turned into a terrain park with random jumps scattered across the hill. If that isn’t scary enough, the groomers also have less time to smooth out the snow on the hill. This does not give the snow an opportunity to refreeze after being smoothed out by the groomer. The next day, the soft smooth snow on top created by the groomer can easily be pushed off the hill by the early risers so that the hills deteriorate to the sheet of ice beneath. As I have noticed over the years, resorts that offer night skiing tend to poorer snow conditions that make it exceptionally harder to ski without falling. Fortunately, the previously stated series of events does not occur at Holimont because night skiing is not offered. Additionally, the lack of night skiing also makes Holimont’s day pass ticket prices to the third lowest in the Western New York region. Some disadvantages that Holimont and all Western New York ski resorts face is that the mountains are comparatively very small. With a maximum of only seven hundred feet of vertical the slopes are relatively short. For the experienced skier, this kind of terrain can get boring very quickly. Fortunately, larger mountains and ski resorts can be found in the eastern parts of New York. However, the commute to these mountains is excessive for a weekend get-a-way. Another area where Holimont is lacking is in the activities it provides during the summer months. Currently during the summer months, Holimont is only able to offer its lodge as a place for banquets and hills for mountain biking. Other resorts have excelled during the summer months by transforming their hills into golf courses, their chalets into country clubs and forested areas into adventure parks and ropes courses in addition to mountain biking. Holimont is North America’s largest private ski resort. What private means in this context is that unless you are learning how to ski or part of a more competitive program, you have to be either a member or invited guest to ski on the weekend. This is a large disadvantage to those who do not ski regularly as they are not committed to making the financial commitment of becoming a member. However, during the week it is open to all who look forward to skiing on some of the best snow in the north east. Despite its rather small seven-hundred feet of vertical, Holimont provides exceptional skiing to the western New York area.

5Betty H 5:00 PM Jan 14, 2019

Great place to ski
The slopes are never crowded and the skiing ability of the average Holimont skier is very high so it is fun just to watch people from the lift. Snowmaking is superb and the lodge is cozy. Note that non-members can only ski on weekdays unless a member has you as a guest.