Readers Vote: ‘Best of 716’
Readers Vote: ‘Best of 716’
Holiday Valley recognized by two WNY publications; progress continues on Yodeler
September is almost upon us. Let that sink in for a moment. Summer is flying by but there is still time to finish off that summer bucket list. Just don’t put it off too much longer because before you know it, the leaves throughout Western New York will be falling off the trees and the ground will be awaiting the first snowfall of the winter.
To say that it’s been a busy summer at Holiday Valley would be an understatement. Never one to rest on its laurels, Holiday Valley continues to reinvest in its infrastructure in order to provide skiers and riders with an even better experience than they had the season before. For those who follow Holiday Valley’s social media channels, you know that the major project this summer has been disassembling the old Yodeler fixed-grip lift in order to install a new high-speed quad chairlift so that uphill capacity at the Yodeler area can be increased.
One of the very impressive things about how Holiday Valley does business is the amount of work that is able to be done in-house, which is a testament to the experience that the Mountain Operations team brings to the table. Led by Mountain Ops Manager, Jim Curtis, the team has made the most out of a fairly rainy summer in order to keep on schedule with the lift installation, while also taking care of a number of other smaller projects.
“The Yodeler project has had some setbacks, mainly from the weather,” Curtis stated. “We have been in the mud a lot this summer and everything takes longer in the rain. In this line of work there is no such thing as a rain day off. But I don’t have a lot of complaints from my guys. We all work through it together.”
It is that emphasis on teamwork that has allowed the Operations crew to multitask its way through the summer; working on not only the Yodeler project but also helping to prepare for events like the Mudslide, updating slope lighting, building two new lift houses, moving the Warming Hut at the top of Champagne, conducting tree and stump removal, upgrading more of the snowmaking system, doing maintenance on ten other chairlifts throughout the resort and much more. The amount of work that goes into preparing for winter is extensive, to say the least.
“The best part for me is seeing all of the team work from my guys,” stated Curtis. “Everyone is giving 110% every day. And personally, I’ve always liked building lifts and seeing the final product.”
Curtis said that the estimated completion time for the Yodeler project (weather pending) is somewhere between the end of October and the first week of November.
Obviously, there is plenty going on throughout the resort to keep the staff busy. Off the mountain, we have reached the time of year where a lot of people start to think about their winter season passes and ski/snowboard programs.
“We have the pre-winter rates for Classic Passes and season-long coaching programs (Rangers, Eagles, Race, Freestyle, Snowboard Teams and Masters) available until September 15th, so it’s time for one more big push on those,” said Jane Eshbaugh, Holiday Valley’s Director of Marketing.
As for why people, year-in and year-out, continue to flock to Holiday Valley, the resort was recently recognized by two local publications with two prominent awards. Buffalo Spree named Holiday Valley the winner of its reader-voted Best Family Fun (winter) award, which is the 5th time the resort has won the award. And the Buffalo News voters gave the resort the Best of 716 Best Ski Resort in Western New York. Holiday Valley would like to thank the readers and voters of both publications for the recognition. “It’s great because it is our actual skiers and snowboarders who vote, giving credibility to the awards,” said Eshbaugh.
Family fun is something that Holiday Valley has really emphasized over the years. In an industry where many resorts struggle to walk a fine line of catering to core skiers and snowboarders, while also creating a safe and inclusive atmosphere for people new to the sports, Holiday Valley has put a priority on doing its best to have something for everyone. It’s dedicated Snowsports Staff has a long history of introducing people to the sports while also having the skillset on staff to coach high end skiers and riders. And part of the success they have had is the emphasis they put on having fun!
Eshbaugh sums it up by saying, “The sports of skiing and snowboarding are fun, and it doesn’t matter how good you are … you can have fun from your very first day on the slopes. But it’s also fun to improve your skills because you can explore more of the resort (we have 60 trails!), go faster and feel more of the freedom. By freedom, I mean that when you’re sliding down the slopes making rhythmical turns, it’s just such a great feeling, kind of like swinging meets sledding. Skiing and snowboarding are also very social sports that appeal to all demographics. You can talk to people as you ride up the chairlift; there are lots of stories about how couples met each other on the slopes. And it’s a great sport for families because all ages can participate together. At Holiday Valley every lift has an easy way down so a family or friends of varying abilities can ride up together then meet back at the bottom. Fun features of Holiday Valley include terrain parks, glades, tree trails, easy moguls for beginners and challenging moguls for more skilled, the secret fort in the woods of Tannenbaum, lean-to’s on the mountain for family picnics, slopeside lodging with heated outdoor year round pools for lodging guests, and of course several bars!”
So as summer starts to make way for fall, there’s still plenty to do at the resort. In addition to Fall Festival there will be Fall Foliage weekends on October 2nd-3rd and October 16th-17th where both the Mardi Gras and Spruce Lake chairlifts will run for leaf peeping. Then (weather permitting) the Spruce Lake lift is open on weekends through October 31st.
For more information on everything from the Yodeler Lift updates to season passes and programs, please visit www.holidayvalley.com and follow the resort on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.