I’m in Buffalo and ski mostly at Holiday Valley in Ellicottville but also spend a decent amount of time skiing and paddling out of Long Lake in the Adirondacks. Our place is 45 minutes from Gore and 1:15 to Whiteface.
Ellicottville is a great town to hang out in and the skiing is pretty good. Holiday Valley is really well run and they blow a ton of snow. When the lake effect hits, and it happens somewhat regularly, it’s really fun. The lift infrastructure is very good and they are consistently investing into the operation. There is a huge real estate and condo market that gets a lot of traffic. They get the whole mountain open very quickly in the beginning of the year and they usually wrap up the season in early April. They have been known to pull the plug on skiing while it could still be decent in an effort to get their golf course open. The mountain biking is also pretty sweet in the state forest behind HV. As has been mentioned, there isn’t a ton of water recreation around, although there are some good trout streams in the area with a strong steelhead run. I talk to people from the Pittsburgh area on lifts pretty frequently. My biggest beef is that the terrain isn’t very exciting. They grade the hills and all of the trails are pretty wide open. They often leave whales around, but it’s certainly no McCauley or Plattekill when it comes to natural terrain. The resort is also super busy on weekends. I usually ski from open, often with some uphill laps before they open, and then I’m out of there by 11 or noon when it gets busy. Generally you can avoid crowds by skiing the Chute or Eagle chairs. Weekdays are great. Holimont is also fantastic. The terrain is a little more fun, the snow is always in better shape, but there’s a $10-15k barrier to entry.
The skiing and outdoor/water recreation in the Adirondacks is way better. Unfortunately the drive is much further. If I was choosing a location for skiing and summer outdoor recreation, I would probably choose Schroon Lake for the relative distance to WF and Gore, as well as access to the high peaks and great water. Day trips to VT are pretty easy from there also.
I would recommend getting a spot in Ellicottville for a weekend, or better yet, midweek, and seeing what you think. It’s pretty easy to have fun there. The drive definitely changes the calculation, IMO.
Ellicottville is a great town to hang out in and the skiing is pretty good. Holiday Valley is really well run and they blow a ton of snow. When the lake effect hits, and it happens somewhat regularly, it’s really fun. The lift infrastructure is very good and they are consistently investing into the operation. There is a huge real estate and condo market that gets a lot of traffic. They get the whole mountain open very quickly in the beginning of the year and they usually wrap up the season in early April. They have been known to pull the plug on skiing while it could still be decent in an effort to get their golf course open. The mountain biking is also pretty sweet in the state forest behind HV. As has been mentioned, there isn’t a ton of water recreation around, although there are some good trout streams in the area with a strong steelhead run. I talk to people from the Pittsburgh area on lifts pretty frequently. My biggest beef is that the terrain isn’t very exciting. They grade the hills and all of the trails are pretty wide open. They often leave whales around, but it’s certainly no McCauley or Plattekill when it comes to natural terrain. The resort is also super busy on weekends. I usually ski from open, often with some uphill laps before they open, and then I’m out of there by 11 or noon when it gets busy. Generally you can avoid crowds by skiing the Chute or Eagle chairs. Weekdays are great. Holimont is also fantastic. The terrain is a little more fun, the snow is always in better shape, but there’s a $10-15k barrier to entry.
The skiing and outdoor/water recreation in the Adirondacks is way better. Unfortunately the drive is much further. If I was choosing a location for skiing and summer outdoor recreation, I would probably choose Schroon Lake for the relative distance to WF and Gore, as well as access to the high peaks and great water. Day trips to VT are pretty easy from there also.
I would recommend getting a spot in Ellicottville for a weekend, or better yet, midweek, and seeing what you think. It’s pretty easy to have fun there. The drive definitely changes the calculation, IMO.
of the Adirondacks. Pretty near the middle.
