Crappy Day Valley
Well, Holiday Valley in Ellicottville, NY fashions itself as being the "Aspen of the East," and it couldn't be the furthest from the truth. Unless, of course Aspen is known for being absolutely insensitive to the skiing experience and completely inept at managing a mountain.
Now lets be realistic, calling Holiday Valley a mountain is akin to calling Ashlee Simpson a singer. Yes, it's a ski hill in the sense that there are chairlifts and skiers on the hill, but the experience here is anything but what you'd expect from "skiing."
One thing Holiday Valley does well is make excuses. And granted, weather around here (Western New York) is not consistent, nor bountiful with snow, but this is nothing new - call it an occupational hazard. This season, things have started slow (although some folks make turns in October as the snow usually falls then). One weekend in November, Crappy Day Valley actually made snow! Although the forecast was for warm temps. and rain, they made snow. But why? You see the forecast was for warm temps., so why make snow? And they did so without the zeal you'd expect from a little ski hill fighting mother nature. They only used a few of the portable, ground-based guns on one slope "Yodeler." The temperatures were cold enough and there was plenty of capacity to run the "towers" using water and air outlets from other runs/locations. OK, so then the warm temps. came and there was no skiing.
When it finally did get seemingly in to the season, Crappy Day Valley concentrated on spreading themselves thin - making snow everywhere, but not lots of snow...Just enough to cover the hill. Then the thaw came and most of the hills are now bare. And the "traffic" areas, where the chairlifts dump skiers off are not covered well, at least not well enough to last through this week. In some seasons, the Valley brings in extra compressors to augment the snowmaking system - not this year. In fact, this past Saturday Night, it was cold enough to make snow. The Valley did not even attempt to make the "move around" snow that was so desperately needed. Holimont, the "private" ski resort also in Ellicottville, had the guns ablazin'.
So here we are, yet again in the grips of another January thaw. Much to be expected, as this happens each and every year. The Valley also subscribes to "accuweather" that gives an accurate long-range forecast, so the thaw was not unforeseen. And this thaw is seemingly going to last a long, long time. And once again, the Valley is not prepared. But that's OK, we're beginning to think that the Valley is just keenly aware of their finances, and thus are a step ahead of us thinking about the skiing experience. Holiday Valley Sucks.
Now lets be realistic, calling Holiday Valley a mountain is akin to calling Ashlee Simpson a singer. Yes, it's a ski hill in the sense that there are chairlifts and skiers on the hill, but the experience here is anything but what you'd expect from "skiing."
One thing Holiday Valley does well is make excuses. And granted, weather around here (Western New York) is not consistent, nor bountiful with snow, but this is nothing new - call it an occupational hazard. This season, things have started slow (although some folks make turns in October as the snow usually falls then). One weekend in November, Crappy Day Valley actually made snow! Although the forecast was for warm temps. and rain, they made snow. But why? You see the forecast was for warm temps., so why make snow? And they did so without the zeal you'd expect from a little ski hill fighting mother nature. They only used a few of the portable, ground-based guns on one slope "Yodeler." The temperatures were cold enough and there was plenty of capacity to run the "towers" using water and air outlets from other runs/locations. OK, so then the warm temps. came and there was no skiing.
When it finally did get seemingly in to the season, Crappy Day Valley concentrated on spreading themselves thin - making snow everywhere, but not lots of snow...Just enough to cover the hill. Then the thaw came and most of the hills are now bare. And the "traffic" areas, where the chairlifts dump skiers off are not covered well, at least not well enough to last through this week. In some seasons, the Valley brings in extra compressors to augment the snowmaking system - not this year. In fact, this past Saturday Night, it was cold enough to make snow. The Valley did not even attempt to make the "move around" snow that was so desperately needed. Holimont, the "private" ski resort also in Ellicottville, had the guns ablazin'.
So here we are, yet again in the grips of another January thaw. Much to be expected, as this happens each and every year. The Valley also subscribes to "accuweather" that gives an accurate long-range forecast, so the thaw was not unforeseen. And this thaw is seemingly going to last a long, long time. And once again, the Valley is not prepared. But that's OK, we're beginning to think that the Valley is just keenly aware of their finances, and thus are a step ahead of us thinking about the skiing experience. Holiday Valley Sucks.
posted by Skier at
11:47 AM
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