Treetop Adventures
Treetop Adventures
An inside guide to navigating Sky High Adventure Park at Holiday Valley
When I think of summer in Ellicottville, one very specific thing comes to mind: Sky High Adventure Park! I’m not a golfer, I prefer my bike wheels to remain on the pavement, and I can only withstand so many family hikes. Therefore, when heading down to Ellicottville from Buffalo for a beautiful summer weekend, my head is filled with swinging through the trees, zip lining at the speed of light, and bobbing and weaving through tangles of pine on the Sky Flyer Mountain Coaster. I’ve done Sky High with my friends and family for years and consider myself quite a fanatic. In planning my adventure for summer 2024, I was very excited to speak with Sky High Director Brian Halloran, and Coordinator Jaimie Woodarek. They told me some awesome behind-the-scenes fast facts and equipped me with everything you and I are going to need to know for this summer at Sky High!
PATRICK: How did Sky High Adventure Park come about?
BRIAN: Sky High was established in 2011. It was discovered by Bonnie Kochir, who was our VP of Operations at the time. We were looking for some outdoor activities, and we knew zip lining was an up-and-coming thing. She went to the IAAPA Convention, which is which is one of the biggest showcases for the amusement park and entertainment industry, and she met up with a gentleman who had just started these adventure parks in the U.S. Holiday Valley was the third park that was built in the U.S. at the time. We are now in our 14th season!
PATRICK: What’s changed about Sky High in the past 14 years?
BRIAN: Well, we certainly have increased our park in size in general. We started with eight courses, and we found it a little bit too crowded for the amount of individuals that we were coming to visit. We added some yellow courses and a green course, which are easier, to help with the flow on that end. We also found that we needed to add a few more to the mix of our harder courses. We added a blue and a black as well as Grand Rapids one and two, which are six zip lines, two ladders, and a bridge that brings you back to the base. We also added a lot of different features to keep the customers who weren't necessarily doing the Adventure Park busy doing other things. We have the mountain coaster, we added gem mining for the kids, and a climbing forest, which is like rock wall climbing but on trees! We also have recently added mountain bikes and E-bikes with chair lift carriers.
PATRICK: What kind of person would have the most fun at Sky High?
BRIAN: Really, it's all walks of life, depending on what they want to partake in up here. But we really try to generate a family atmosphere, as our whole resort does, and just enjoying the outdoor activities and putting the cell phone down for a little while!
PATRICK: What’s your favorite part about being able to operate Sky High?
BRIAN: I would say my staff that I work with, but watching groups unfold, whether it be a group of teenagers, a family, or a bridal party that's going through is awesome. Watching everything unfold, and the enjoyment that comes out of utilizing the things that we have to offer up here is tons of fun! Especially in the Aerial Park when they’re coaching each other through the course and getting good laughs out of one another.
PATRICK: If my friends and I are up in the courses and one of us gets stuck, what is the protocol to help them?
BRIAN: Well right away, we try to tell everybody to yell out “STAFF”! We have staff throughout the park in different areas. Staff will come to them and give them direction on how to assist themselves, to get off the element or the zip line that they’re on. Sometimes staff will go up and assist them via several different rescue types that we use.
PATRICK: Jaimie, what is your most memorable guest experience?
JAIMIE: Well there have been lots over the years… I guess I would have to say that I generally really enjoy working with a lot of the school groups that come, and I love seeing kids that maybe wouldn't necessarily have the opportunity to do this, come and have a really good time. They work together, and they're really happy when they're done most of the time. It’s really cool to see kids from all over come with their school and do the park and get challenged like that. The kids get a chance to get outdoors and see their classmates in a different way.
PATRICK: What are this summer’s operating hours like?
JAIMIE: We started on May 10th, and are currently operating the Aerial Park and Climbing Forest Fridays through Sundays from 9:00am until 4:30pm. The coaster is open from 11:00am until 5:00pm. Our daily schedule starts on June 24th when the Aerial Park and Climbing Forest will be open from 10:00am-5:00pm Monday through Thursday and from 9:00am-6:00pm Friday through Sunday. The mountain coaster will be open all week long from 11:00am until 6:00pm. We’ll have this schedule until September 1st.
You can find more information and pricing for all things Sky High Adventure Park at holiday valley.com/sky-high. Harness up and I’ll see you in the air!
