HoliMont, Ellicottville, NY 2/16 & 2/17

My friends Amy and Don have extended several invitations to me to join them at HoliMont in Ellicottville, NY over the past two or three years.  Amy is a coach for their racing team, and they spend just about every weekend out there between late December to mid-March.  I finally had an opportunity to join them out there this past weekend.  Friday night, we arrived around 9:30 and headed over to the Ellicotville Brewery for dinner and some pints.  The brewery is undergoing a massive expansion and is going to be a beautiful building when it’s finished.  The food and especially the beer was quite tasty, too.  I highly recommend a stop there after a long day of skiing.  We went back again on Saturday night after we were done tearing up the trails.  

Saturday morning, we were at the mountain by 8:30 and on the slopes by 9.  Amy was busy coaching, so Don took me on a tour of the ridge.  There isn’t much vertical, 600ft totally, but the terrain is interesting and it has some challenging pitches.  There are a few glades, but nothing very big.  The mountain (which is actually more of a ridge) is divided into 50% black diamonds, 25% greens and 25% blues.  Don and I started off on the green trail, Sunset, and took a couple runs to warm up.  That trail was perfect for rippin’ big, arcing GS turns, and had a nice, consistent pitch to it.  It was still early, so barely anyone was on it.  We started working our way to the skier’s right, on a couple more blue trails, and then started down for the black diamonds.  The black diamonds are tougher than my home mountain, Greek Peak, in that the pitches are more consistently long and a bit steeper.  Not as challenging as at Gore though.  The groomers had done an excellent job on the snow and conditions were fresh corduroy Saturday morning, which was quite hard set due to the cold temps and stayed throughout much of the day.  My skis picked up some chatter at times, but it wasn’t too bad.  Sunday we awoke to 3” or so of fresh, powdery lake effect snow, so that was really nice for the morning.  





I telemark ski, and I still haven’t quite “gotten” the cult that seems to surround it.  I started doing it because alpine skiing never really interested me that much, but one of my friends is an avid telemarker, and the more he talked about it, the more interested I became.  So, I still don’t quite “get” it when a complete stranger skis up to me, gives me a nod and says “Tele-mark-eeeer” and skis off.  So, this happened to me on one of my first runs, and I just kind of gave the guy a blank smile until after he skied off, and I then realized he was also on teles.  Interesting.  Later in the day, I got chased down by one of the HoliMont ski instructors who was also on a tele set up so that he could tell me about the HoliMont Telefest on March 8th.  Unfortunately, that’s a Friday, and unfortunately (or fortunately??) I plan on going up to Gore that afternoon.  He also offered some helpful tips on how to improve my form and showed off his new Bulldog NT bindings that he loved.  I have to admit I was pretty intrigued by them, myself.  Anyway. It’s just this interesting phenomena that I am experiencing.  

As with most ski areas I’ve been to, the people were friendly.  HoliMont is a privately owned resort.  You can ski there during the week if you’re not a member, but during weekends, and I think holidays, you have to be a member or have some sort of guest pass.  Amy had a couple guest passes for me, so I had used those.  As a result of this set up, there are a lot of families on the hill skiing, which is very cool to see, and keeps the atmosphere pretty laid back, but in control.  You don’t see too many people shooting down the hill out of control.  I only saw one, in fact, who almost took out Don on his way by, and then he promptly face-planted when he hit a patch of exposed ice.  We couldn’t help but snicker at him.  One of the really cool things about HoliMont is that they have gas grills out on the deck for people to cook their food.  People left their bags full of food and gear all over the place, crockpots were going inside the lodge; there was obviously a huge level of trust amongst the people who come to HoliMont.  It’s a pretty cool place to go, and I had a great time!  

Nice Report Snowmonkey!

You don't have to worry about your stuff getting stolen at a place like Holimont...it's a private club. It's a nice vibe. A lot of Canadians from Ontario are members as well.

Sweet little ski area with a funky town to boot. Nice way to beat the holiday crowds this weekend.

Since my Jay trip, I can't even bear to go to Greek Peak this week. I'm saving myself for a weekend at Gore. Hopefully we'll get some snow this week. Fingers crossed.

Thanks for the report. I have always been curious about Holimont and never knew anybody who had skied there. Looks like a great choice for a holiday if you know a passholder.

Nice report on Holimont. Holiday Valley is right down the road and with Ellicottville in the middle it makes for a great spot to visit. Although Holiday is slightly larger in terms of trail numbers I prefer Holimont. It's mellower and I think the pitch is more constant. Both are nice areas though and being fairly close I've skiied them many times. When we were kids a trip to Holiday was like going to another state, big time!

I'm a patroller and long-time skier at HoliMont.  It is a fantastic place to ski and has the oldest ski run in WNY ("Greer") as its easternmost slope.  The people who ski there are all above average and it's usually the non-members who ski out of control or get hurt.  On weekdays, the place is empty and on the new detachable Expo lift, you can get in 15 runs in 1.5 hours non-stop.  I hear OP on the telemark comment-it is completely embraced by the folks that ski here (I patrol on teles).  A friend of mine calls it "country club skiing" in that you don't  have to worry about any of your belongings going missing-ever.  Come visit and if you see a patroller with a white helmet on teles, it's me, say hello!

I went to St. Bonaventure University.   Boy I wished I skied more when I was in college during the late 80's.  The town of Ellicotville is simply the best ski town period east of the Mississippi  it is on the same comparison as Aspen---I kid you not!

SirSkier

new high-speed quad installed this season is awesome too!

"There are a few glades, but nothing very big."

I hate to bump this topic but I must supply a different outlook of what Holimont truly is.

I like your article, but I feel you haven't really experienced the gem that is Holimont.



The glades here are amazing. For me personally, I am an avid Glades snowboarder.

Trail Map - Holimont

(Used to Ride Holiday Valley but not anymore.)

Over on greer; all the way on the left of the trail map, is a glades playground.
(The best in the area in my opinion. destroys what holiday offers.) It's nice an steep.

It's hard to compare this place to gore by the way. Gore is on its own level.

There are also nice steep gladed runs  over on Twisty Christy, cascade, sunrise, irish wiskey, and so much more.

It's all ride-able even in less that perfect conditions.

I spend my morning on the lightly powdered groomers then when the schools come out I hit the glades hard.

Then take a late lunch at 1pm.

If you're plan on going to Holimont soon, I would love to show you around the glades :)

Great review.

Ken2234 wrote

If you're plan on going to Holimont soon, I would love to show you around the glades :)

  Great first post Ken. Sign me up for the tour.

You got it.

I usually go Sundays or Saturday, with my friend who is a member.

I would be more than happy to show you the runs I've found.


PM me when you plan on going.