holimont

My new favorite ski destination. Rented a place slopeside and loved it. For a weekend, this place was not crowded at all. Great mix of skiing and terrain for all skill levels.

About an hour drive south of Buffalo New York, among many farms and forested hills, a small town lies in a valley of the Appellation Mountains. Although this small town of Ellicottville is nearly vacant during the summer months, it booms with life during the winter. Every weekend people from as far as Toronto and Cleveland speed down the NY 219 to Ellicottville with one desire, to ski. If you follow the speeding trail of SUV’s from where the highway ends into the valley town of Ellicottville, you are greeted by buildings, homes and trees covered with lights and a large hill above riddled with wide vertical white stripes. These wide vertical snow-covered stripes that run the length of the hill belong to Holimont, one of the two ski resorts that reside in the town of Ellicottville. It is the ski resort that has been seemingly above this glowing town of Ellicottville for more than fifty years. It is where many people much older than you or I have escaped the false captivity of the cold and learned to ski and snowboard. Where many people look forward to the opportunity to forget about the week, unwind and spend time with their family and friends. Over fifty years ago, a group of avid skiers collected their efforts and purchased the two adjacent ski resorts on this hill above Ellicottville. These two resorts, Greer Hill and Meadow, were combined to become Holimont. From these original two resorts, initially consisting of only about three slopes each, Holimont has expanded slowly but tremendously across the entire face of the hill in either direction. It now, when fully open, has over fifty trails and seven lifts to fully disperse the crowd of people that has an insatiable desire for freedom on the snow. Even now, Holimont continues to expand westward across its northern facing slopes. Over this past summer several new trails were created and await a new lift that will carry skiers to the top of its groomed length. Hearing people say that they dislike winter truly breaks my heart. However, the inevitable frozen months of winter in Buffalo do not offer much for families or the individual. Many people feel confined to their homes. Sometimes, unfortunately, people really are due to the amount of snow outside their door. Holimont, being a rather short drive from the city of Buffalo, offers an alternative to being stranded indoors for three to four months. Fresh cold air and the freedom of skiing on the recently groomed snow can help maintain a healthy level sanity than can being confined to a limited amount of indoor activities available to the Buffalonian. Additionally, Holimont and other local ski resorts provide the invigorating opportunity to learn a new sport that may at first seem daunting. Holimont offers something for every age and every skiing or snowboarding skill level. For the beginner skier or snowboarder, Holimont has plenty of flat terrain set aside for those who are learning. Additionally, all of the ski school instructors are trained and tested both on a local and national level. Instructors are required to have both certifications in order to ski or snowboard instruct any age level. Other ski resorts in the Western New York Area also have qualified ski instructors and adequate terrain for learning. However, Holimont attracts a smaller crowd so the hills are less cluttered with people, making it a safer learning environment for the student. For the slightly more advanced skier or snowboarder, Holimont offers both ski and snowboard racing. It also has a freestyle program for those who like to speed through the moguls/bumps and do various tricks in the air. Coaches in both of the competitive racing and freestyle teams are certified by the New York State Ski/Snowboard association (NYRSSA) and by the United States Ski/Snowboard Association (USSA and USASA). These competitive programs are not meant to discourage those who enjoy leisurely free skiing. Holimont contains a very warm and friendly crowd of families. Making friends is as easy as talking to a stranger on the lift for the two minute ride up the lift. On the other hand, Holimont is large enough to be able to offer the opportunity to escape the crowd and get some alone time. Unfortunately, Holimont does not have any night skiing available so as soon as the sun goes down the lifts close. This, however, is not where the fun stops. After lifts close, you can see those familiar faces you saw on the hill in the lodge during the ski après party. Every other Saturday evening a live band sets up in the lodge to play their classic hits that echo through the lodge while newly made friends chat about their day. Only one other ski resort in the Buffalo Area, Kissing Bridge, offers this kind of entertainment regularly in addition to skiing. In addition to the skiing and the entertainment, Holimont does not offer many other activities. Cross country skiing and snowshoeing are the only other additional activities offered by Holimont. Other ski local ski resorts, such as Kissing Bridge and Holiday Valley, offer many more snow related activities in addition to skiing such as tubing.As previously mentioned, Holimont does not provide night skiing for its quests. Sadly, this does limit the available time on snow to when the sun is in the sky during the short winter days. Several other ski resorts in the Western New York area do offer night skiing. However, night skiing, as exciting as it sounds, does come at a cost to both the sow and the skiers. The local ski areas that offer night skiing often charge a higher price for their lift tickets. In addition to the safety hazard that night skiing presents to the wallet, it can also be unsafe for the skier or snowboarder. Throughout the day the snow tends to get pushed by those skiing on the hill into large piles of snow that can resemble miniature jumps. By the time that the sun goes down, every hill is nearly turned into a terrain park with random jumps scattered across the hill. If that isn’t scary enough, the groomers also have less time to smooth out the snow on the hill. This does not give the snow an opportunity to refreeze after being smoothed out by the groomer. The next day, the soft smooth snow on top created by the groomer can easily be pushed off the hill by the early risers so that the hills deteriorate to the sheet of ice beneath. As I have noticed over the years, resorts that offer night skiing tend to poorer snow conditions that make it exceptionally harder to ski without falling. Fortunately, the previously stated series of events does not occur at Holimont because night skiing is not offered. Additionally, the lack of night skiing also makes Holimont’s day pass ticket prices to the third lowest in the Western New York region. Some disadvantages that Holimont and all Western New York ski resorts face is that the mountains are comparatively very small. With a maximum of only seven hundred feet of vertical the slopes are relatively short. For the experienced skier, this kind of terrain can get boring very quickly. Fortunately, larger mountains and ski resorts can be found in the eastern parts of New York. However, the commute to these mountains is excessive for a weekend get-a-way. Another area where Holimont is lacking is in the activities it provides during the summer months. Currently during the summer months, Holimont is only able to offer its lodge as a place for banquets and hills for mountain biking. Other resorts have excelled during the summer months by transforming their hills into golf courses, their chalets into country clubs and forested areas into adventure parks and ropes courses in addition to mountain biking. Holimont is North America’s largest private ski resort. What private means in this context is that unless you are learning how to ski or part of a more competitive program, you have to be either a member or invited guest to ski on the weekend. This is a large disadvantage to those who do not ski regularly as they are not committed to making the financial commitment of becoming a member. However, during the week it is open to all who look forward to skiing on some of the best snow in the north east. Despite its rather small seven-hundred feet of vertical, Holimont provides exceptional skiing to the western New York area.

There was so much snow and it had gotten very clumpy. After one run we were not given a refund. A gift certificate was given that I passed on to a friend as I will not be skiing again this year.

Open to the public on weekdays. Hills are well groomed, good selection of runs. Staff are very friendly. Fun to see everyone in the main lodge with their tablecloths, crockpots and wine for lunch. You would not try that in a public lodge! Place has grown huge since I used to ski here as a kid. Always enjoyed coming up here. If you stay in one of the chalet rentals, always recommended to grab a sheet of industrial plastic or garbage bag, walk to the top of the ski hills and slide down!!

Avid skier of 35 years - I had heard of this place but though it was strictly private. I have come to know that it's open to the public Monday - Fridays. Well here we are late in the season and they are one of the few operating in this region. So I checked it out. My intent was to ski Holimont on the first day and Holiday Valley on the next. I had such a great time that I skied both days at Holimont. Slopes are of Northern exposure with true fall lines. No lift lines and still making fresh tracts at 3 in the afternoon. Friendly employees and skiers, made me feel more than welcome at this semi - private resort. Think I might return this week because they have plenty of snow base, open til April 13th and lift tickets are only 45 bucks. And the kicker is the town of Ellicotville is really nice.

We usually ski at Holimont when we are in Ellicottville. Great resort, good runs, excellent snow making and grooming. The food in the lodge is excellent and well priced. Our family skied here again this past February long weekend and really loved the atmosphere very family oriented. The staff are great they treat you like family.I would highly recommend Holimont for your ski outing.

Holimond is a private ski club that 'lets' non-members ski there Monday through Friday. I have to compare it to Holiday Valley, where we ski regularly. It's the other side of the mountain. Ski conditions were great, on a bright sunny, very cold day. Well groomed and they leave a section on a couple of runs with moguls for the hot-shots with bionic knees. No line-ups. They dont have as many runs as HV, but enough to keep it interesting for the day. We had a veggie burger at the cafe which was delicious. People are very friendly there. Maybe because they are all members. Will probably ski there again.

I think this ski resort is private on weekends. We went on a Friday, the crowds were thin. They have a trail for everyone, from easy to tight & difficult. Some trails are bad, some were to flat so it was like cross country skiing, making you fight to get somewhere. Others were so far away that you had to take boring flat trails to get to it and then take that same boring trail back.A good bit of the challenging trails were awesome. I love how they zig zag, some were steep, and some really tight. I'd say if there was one thing about this resort that was better than holiday valley it would be the challenging trails.To my surprise, the locals weren't snobs and very inviting since its a private resort.The lodge food was way to pricey for not so good food. The lodge felt like a town fire hall. So bring your own food, crowds were light and parking was tight. I'd hate to see parking on a busy day.

This is a very small, historic ski lodge, built by local residents in the early 1900s. The outdoor setting is the attractive element with an easily accessible patio at the base of the ski hill. It desperately needs some maintenance and updating, such as removing a smelly, ugly, cigarette dispenser located directly on a main entrance doorway.

Plenty of indoor bathrooms, places for the kids to place indoors and outside. Great set up space outdoors for tents and pig roast! easy parking. Summer is beautiful.

I have had the ten time pass since it was first offered. I like the friendly staff, the good food, well groomed slopes, the new high speed chair. The instructors do a great job. The lodge is very relaxing.

Holimont is a private ski area that opens up to the public Monday through Friday. It is well taken care of and the slopes are groomed to perfection. There are many slopes and trails to choose from and plenty of lifts. Our longest wait on a Friday was 5 chairs. It is a beginner/intermediate area with nothing as challenging as the double diamonds at Holiday Valley. However, if you want good intermediate terrain and no lift line, this is a great alternative.to HV. Many members of the ski area own chalets/homes on the mountain and across the street. Some of these places are unbelievable! The members were very friendly and many, very good skiers....Good selection of food in the lodge but expensive. You won't be disappointed with Holimont unless you are looking for super challenging terrain. Tix are $48/day, open 9:30 am - 4:30 pm and no night skiing.

It was my first time experience at Holimont and I couldn't have asked for more... no lift line, groomed trails, beautiful lodge, and friendly people. A great day.

PLEASE do yourselves a favor and enjoy a weekday of skiing at HoliMont. Great, uncrowded runs with nice vertical. Great groomed blue/black runs if you like to have pitch but don't want to kill the old knees with too many moguls. Though it is only available to members on the weekend, it is REALLY worth checking out on a weekday. You will be glad you came. Lodge is roomy and comfortable. We travel from Cleveland and always try to find a long weekend to ski; with HoliMont as a MUST for Monday.

I have been to Holimont several times in pass 4-5 yrs. They always groom the snow, there are no lines (during the week) I've never been on weekend. You can bring your own food and heat it up in microwave or buy something to eat there. But its not full restaurant menu like in ohter ski resorts. The slopes are not as long as in Holiday Valley but they are pretty steep.