The Overview
Michael Fulton
Melbourne-based skier and snowboarder with 50+ resorts across 5 continents. Specialises in Australian resorts and international resort comparisons.
Holiday Valley opened on 7 January 1958 with four trails and a single T-bar, funded by shares sold for $100 each from a card table in an Ellicottville car park. The Win-Sum Ski Corporation raised enough to purchase 30 acres for $1,050, and from that modest beginning the resort has grown into the largest ski area in Western New York — now covering 290 acres across five mountain faces, with 60 runs served by 13 lifts.
The terrain profile is notably beginner-friendly at 37% green, 25% intermediate, 36% advanced and 2% expert, but the wide footprint across two valleys creates a ski area that skis considerably larger than its vertical of 750 feet suggests, with the five distinct terrain pods — each with its own character — giving the mountain genuine variety from the tight deciduous woods of the Snowpine area to the manicured pine-lined runs of the Tannenbaum zone. Ski Magazine has ranked Holiday Valley in its top ten Eastern resorts consistently, and two Holiday Valley products — freestyle skiers Jill Vogtli and Travis Mayer — competed in moguls at the 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Olympics.
The resort's night skiing operation is one of the most extensive in the Eastern United States, with 39 of the 60 trails lit for evening sessions — a figure that reflects Holiday Valley's orientation toward the regional day-trip and after-work market between Buffalo, Toronto, Pittsburgh and Cleveland.
The Sky High Mountain Coaster near the Tannenbaum Lodge runs a 2,490-foot track through the woods and operates year-round, adding a non-ski activity that extends the resort's appeal across seasons. The Lounsbury Adaptive Program provides tailored ski and snowboard instruction for visitors with physical and cognitive disabilities, and with approximately 500,000 annual visitors, Holiday Valley is Cattaraugus County's principal tourist attraction.
820ft
Vertical
60
Runs
290 acres
Skiable
11ft
Annual snow
The Terrain
60 runs across 290 acres skiable
Holiday Valley spreads 60 runs across 290 acres skiable of terrain. It leans beginner at 37%, with 22 beginner runs to find your feet and 23 advanced or expert runs when you want to push.
Terrain split
60
runs
60 runs across 4 grades
Beginner22 runs · 37%
Intermediate15 runs · 25%
Advanced22 runs · 36%
Expert1 run · 2%
Time it right
When to visit Holiday Valley
Holiday Valley operates from early December through to mid-April, with the 2025/26 season running 6 December to 13 April. The resort averages approximately 180 inches of annual snowfall — roughly double the annual totals recorded at competing resorts in Pennsylvania and the Catskills — driven by its position approximately 30 miles from Lake Erie, which delivers lake-effect snow systems reliably from late autumn through early spring.
Lake-effect events at this latitude produce high-frequency, moderate-intensity snowfall that accumulates steadily across the season and supplements the extensive snowmaking system to maintain a consistent base across all 290 acres. The current 2025/26 season has logged a base depth of around 24 inches with a season total approaching 88 inches as of early March, reflecting the reliable mid-winter accumulation the Western New York snowbelt regularly produces.
The combination of 180 inches of natural snowfall and 95% snowmaking coverage gives Holiday Valley one of the more dependable operating records of any Eastern US resort, with conditions remaining skiable well into April most years. The après-ski culture around Holiday Valley is well established, with the village of Ellicottville one mile from the base offering a concentration of restaurants, bars and accommodation that the resort directly benefits from — and which Ski Magazine has ranked among the better après destinations in the Eastern US, not far behind Tremblant and Killington in reader surveys.
College students access the mountain at a reduced rate on Sunday through Thursday evenings, and the Locals Sunday programme provides discounted access for residents within a one-hour radius including Buffalo, Erie and the Southern Ontario communities that make up a significant share of the resort's repeat visitor base.
Season 2025 - 2026
6 Dec 2025
Opens
29 Mar 2026
Closes
113
Days open
11 ft
Annual snow
Getting there
Getting to Holiday Valley, and where to stay
Holiday Valley sits in Ellicottville in Cattaraugus County in the Southern Tier of New York State, on the edge of the Allegheny Plateau at the intersection of US Route 219 and the Western New York ski country belt. The resort is approximately 60 miles south of Buffalo, 90 miles from Rochester and around three hours from Toronto, placing it within a catchment area of some 10 million people in the Buffalo–Toronto–Pittsburgh–Cleveland corridor.
Buffalo Niagara International Airport is the primary air gateway, around 65 miles north via Route 219, with a drive of under 90 minutes from the terminal to the resort base lodge under normal conditions. The Southern Ontario market is substantial enough that the resort operates dedicated information for Canadian visitors, and the strengthened cross-border ski traffic in this corridor reflects Holiday Valley's proximity to Hamilton, Toronto and the Greater Golden Horseshoe.
The village of Ellicottville, a one-mile walk or short drive from the ski area, functions as a genuine mountain town rather than a purpose-built resort development — restaurants, bars, rental shops, accommodation and galleries occupy a compact main street that predates the resort and retains its own character independent of it.
Holimont, the other ski area in Ellicottville and one of the largest private ski clubs in North America, occupies the opposite side of town from Holiday Valley and is open to the public on weekdays, giving visitors to the area access to a second distinct mountain without driving. The Inn at Holiday Valley, which opened in 1995 and sits directly at the ski area base, provides ski-in accommodation for guests who prefer immediate slope access, and the resort's year-round calendar — golf, mountain biking, Sky High Adventure Park and the mountain coaster through spring and summer — gives Ellicottville material to draw visitors beyond the ski season.
Where to stay
Search all stays →Hotels and lodges near Holiday Valley, powered by Stay22.
Latest News
From the SnowStash desk
FIS Weighs Holding World Championships in Almost Every Winter, Starting 2032
The International Ski and Snowboard Federation is looking at a major shake-up to its title events calendar. From 2032, World Championships could run not just in odd-numbered years but in every non-Olympic winter too, effectively putting a global title event on the calendar almost every season. The FIS Council has approved the concept following a feasibility study, though an accelerated rollout as early as 2028 is also under consideration.
4 Sept 2026
Mount Buller Becomes Latest Australian Resort to Call Time Early on 2026
Mount Buller closes out its 2026 season this Sunday, joining Falls Creek, Hotham and Charlotte Pass in a cluster of closures landing almost simultaneously and roughly a month ahead of schedule. The culprit is stark: Spencers Creek's benchmark snow depth hit 31.2cm on 3 September, just 18% of the 73-year average and an all-time low for this point in the season. Six of Victoria and NSW's best-known resorts will have shut their lifts early within a span of about two and a half weeks.
4 Sept 2026
Tremblant to Add New Timber Summit Ski Sector for 2027/28 Season
Tremblant has confirmed a major expansion of its Quebec ski area, with a new Timber Summit sector adding 62 acres of terrain, eight trails and a high-speed quad chairlift for winter 2027/28. It's part of a CAD 42.5 million investment that also includes a new beginner learning zone at Versant Soleil opening this coming season. The project has grown considerably since it was first announced back in 2020, when it carried a far smaller budget and an opening date that never eventuated.
2 Sept 2026
Mount Hotham to Close for the 2026 Season on Sunday, September 6
We knew when the Bird Bath Pond Skim showed up on Hotham's Instagram that the season was on its way out. It's been a rough one - I only managed two days on snow all year, at Falls Creek - and now Baw Baw, Selwyn and Hotham have all called it, possibly the worst Australian season I've seen in a decade. Hotham's last day of lift operations is Sunday, 6 September, with a Retro Day, Father's Day après and closing sales before the lifts stop turning for good.
1 Sept 2026
Thredbo to Replace Ageing Gunbarrel Quad With New Six-Seat Chairlift for 2028
Thredbo Alpine Resort has confirmed plans to replace its 37-year-old Gunbarrel quad chairlift with a new six-seat Doppelmayr D-Line, targeting winter 2028. The AUD 35 million project will keep travel time roughly the same but lift capacity from 2,800 to 3,000 skiers per hour. It's part of a broader investment push that also includes doubled snowmaking capacity at Friday Flat for 2027, with the ageing Kosciuszko Express now flagged as the resort's next major lift replacement after Gunbarrel.
31 Aug 2026
Aerial Tram Collides With Crane at Alpe d'Huez: 23 Injured
An aerial tram carrying around fifty passengers struck the boom of a construction crane on the route to Pic Blanc at Alpe d'Huez on Wednesday morning, injuring 23 people, three seriously. The cabin tipped on impact before the operator reversed it to right the car. Most of the injured were treated on site, with five taken to hospital in Grenoble, including a pregnant woman assessed as a precaution.
28 Aug 2026
Why Glaciers Are Collapsing - And What Happens When They Do
A deadly flood on the Nepal-China border, a decade-old tragedy on Italy's Marmolada, and an unstable glacier right now above a village near Zermatt - three very different mountain ranges, the same underlying story. Warming ice is destabilising terrain that was considered settled for generations, and the results range from catastrophic floods to slow-motion monitoring situations that could go either way.
27 Aug 2026
Pitztal Glacier Set to Reopen for the 2026/27 Ski Season on 26 September
Tyrol's highest ski area is gearing up to open a full month ahead of most of the Alps. The Pitztal Glacier is scheduled to start its 2026/27 season on Saturday 26 September, running through to 2 May 2027, with the lower-altitude Rifflsee area following in December. High-altitude terrain up to 3,440 metres gives the glacier a head start on snow, though as always, the actual opening extent will depend on how September's weather plays out. Early online ski pass bookings can save up to 30%.
26 Aug 2026
Holiday Valley Lift System
Holiday Valley's 13-lift network comprises 11 quads and two surface lifts, with the high-speed Tannenbaum, Mardi Gras, Morningstar and Yodeler quads providing the primary coverage across the resort's most popular terrain zones. The lift-to-acreage ratio — one quad for approximately every 26 acres — is among the higher in the Eastern US for a resort of this size, contributing to the efficient uphill flow that gives Holiday Valley its reputation for skiing like a larger mountain.
The Cindy and Sunrise chairs serve the central terrain zone including access to the Snowpine area where The Wall, the resort's only double-black trail, is located. The Mardi Gras Express is the main artery from the central base lodge area to the upper mountain, with warming huts at the top of both Mardi Gras and Cindy providing mid-mountain refuges on cold days.
Snowmaking infrastructure covers 95% of the resort's terrain via a fully automated system with 611 snow guns, operated remotely and calibrated in real time to outside temperature and humidity conditions. The automation allows the snowmaking team to activate the system remotely, and the software manages the balance between water volume and spray temperature to maximise coverage efficiency.
This capacity is central to Holiday Valley's ability to open reliably in early December and maintain consistent base conditions through the variable weather patterns that characterise the Western New York shoulder season. Three base lodges at the main area, Tannenbaum and Yodeler serve distinct zones of the mountain, with the Snowpine base accessible only via a short lift ride — a layout that distributes visitor density across the resort's width.
13lifts across 2 types
11
Quad Chairs
2
Surface Lifts
Holiday Valley lift system
Holiday Valley is served by 13 lifts, listed here by type. Check which lifts are turning against the live conditions before you plan your first laps - early lifts and high-speed chairs get you to the best snow fastest.
More Holiday Valley intelligence: trail map, snow report, webcams, resort overview.