Most Underrated Ski Towns

[x10003q]

Huh? C’mon now ... Ya gotta study yer geographical definitions.
Scranton ain’t CNY.
It ain’t even in the dang UpState.

There have been members who live in the CNY area and ski Elk. Just like there are members who live in the Scranton area and ski Greek/Lab/Song/Catskills. The area has a lot of good skiing choices which is one of the reasons HV is off the radar on this blog.

Maybe you can define where the dividing line for CNY skiers - are we driving to Holiday Valley or Bristol/Greek/Song/Lab/Elk/Catskills? For example, if you lived in Watkins Glen and were going to day trip on a Saturday, are you going to drive 1 hour to Greek or Bristol or 2 hours to Holiday Valley?

 

[SayvilleSteve]

and less we forget the Meat Store of the North!

I have been to the Meat Store about a dozen times. Based on several interactions with the fine folks who work there, I get the feeling that they don't want 'our' business.

 

[MiSkier]

Ellicotville is rarely mentioned because this is NY Ski Blog, not NY Apres Ski Blog. The Central NY members do not visit HV because they have similar or better skiing right where they live in the Scranton-Syracuse corridor and have a short drive to the Catskills. They can get to Gore/WF/VT in as much time as it would take to get to HV. Those members that are in the NY Metro- Albany corridor are never going to drive 4-6 hours for HV when 4-6 hours can get you to some of the best skiing on the East Coast/Eastern Canada.

HV could get 500" of powder/season and I am still not driving 5.5 hours from NNJ to ski 500 vertical feet lifts. It seems that this is true for most skiers when they have the choice. I can get to Sugarbush in 5hr, WF in 4:15, Killington in 4hr, SVT 3:30, Gore 3:15, Plattekill in 2hr and Belleayre in 1:40.

I agree.

It sure how this turned not knocking Holiday Valley and Holimount and the town of Ellicottville. But for what terrain is available they both do a good job making the best of it and Ellicottville sure feels like a true ski town after a day of skiing. I totally understand that you would not drive from the east side of NY or NJ to ski there. But they serve a market and people in that market appreciate what they have to offer. I am one of them because it’s about 5 hours from Ann Arbor Mi and its better than anything in Mi besides Bohemia, but that is comparing apples to oranges

 

[not2brite]

I have been to the Meat Store about a dozen times. Based on several interactions with the fine folks who work there, I get the feeling that they don't want 'our' business.

Been there a bunch. Sort of get that same vibe, but as the size of my order keeps increasing the friendliness seems to rise in proportion

 

[Benny Profane]

...

 

[Benny Profane]

Huh? C’mon now ... Ya gotta study yer geographical definitions.
Scranton ain’t CNY.
It ain’t even in the dang UpState.

I have driven 81 north from Baltimore/Harrisburg numerous times, and, to me, once you pass through Scranton, suddenly the landscape greatly improves, and it feels like you're now in CNY, so, yeah, maybe Scranton is like a border town to the Upstate.

 

[tirolski]

I have driven 81 north from Baltimore/Harrisburg numerous times, and, to me, once you pass through Scranton, suddenly the landscape greatly improves, and it feels like you're now in CNY, so, yeah, maybe Scranton is like a border town to the Upstate.

The southern tier of NY and the northern tier of Pa is the line where the last ice age glacier rounded the place and dumped the rounded rocks out when it melted.

 

[Andy_ROC]

There have been members who live in the CNY area and ski Elk. Just like there are members who live in the Scranton area and ski Greek/Lab/Song/Catskills. The area has a lot of good skiing choices which is one of the reasons HV is off the radar on this blog.

Maybe you can define where the dividing line for CNY skiers - are we driving to Holiday Valley or Bristol/Greek/Song/Lab/Elk/Catskills? For example, if you lived in Watkins Glen and were going to day trip on a Saturday, are you going to drive 1 hour to Greek or Bristol or 2 hours to Holiday Valley?

To me a ski town is a place where almost everyone in town is a stakeholder, has financial ties or is there or visiting because of the ski area. Any restaurant, bar, shop, hotel is open because of skiing. The positive karma is strong in each business amongst employees and patrons because everyone is bonded by the common interest of skiing. That's certainly Ellicottville.

Not to disrespect Bristol as it's my home mountain, but it can't beat HV in any category except vertical. Bristol and HV are probably about tied both with superior snow making. Otherwise HV beats Bristol solidly across the board. Bristol has no ski town, no lodging (OK like 5 condos), no apres, only cafeteria food and no restaurants. It's mostly a day trip mountain. The only reason it's so busy is because it's 40mins from the Rochester metro area. People from Watkins Glen absolutely would/do take the extra hour to drive to EVL over Bristol as a multi-day destination. There they can experience a ski area with ski in/out lodging, plenty of off mountain lodging, restaurants, bars, spas and pools. A vacation with a great ski town that's only 5 minutes from the mountain.

A ski town is not something that Greek Peak has. No disrespect intended to Cortland or GP

 

[tirolski]

There have been members who live in the CNY area and ski Elk.

I’ve driven past Elk on 81 several times when the trails were white.
Never thought to go there to ski.
Could be fun at night if the snow was good.
Scranton’s a ski town?

 

[MarzNC]

I’ve driven past Elk on 81 several times when the trails were white.
Never thought to go there to ski.
Could be fun at night if the snow was good.
Scranton’s a ski town?

Neither Scranton nor Wilkes-Barre feel anything like a "ski town" in the same way as Driggs (village) or Bozeman (university small city).

Montage feels more like where locals ski than Elk. Montage has a lot more summer activities for locals and summer tourists.