Prepping for Opening Day
Prepping for Opening Day
Holiday Valley looking forward to welcoming guests back to the slopes
Our two favorite places on Earth are greasing up the bullwheels for another fun-filled season of snow-sliding action! Holiday Valley and HoliMont are currently in their final preparatory stages for ski and board season 2024-2025. And there is plenty to look forward to.
Holiday Valley marketing director Dash Hegeman is feeling the excitement with the first flurries and November chill looming. “This is the time of year where everyone throughout the resort really starts anticipating the return of our winter guests,” he said.
The prep process is year-round, so it’s no surprise that staff is eager to welcome guests back to the slopes. “All of that work is about to pay off,” Hegeman added.
Each year brings new challenges to our resorts, be it a global pandemic or even less snowfall than the season before, but on the flipside, new tools and techniques really help smooth the bumps. “Every year, my goal is to do the best I can to showcase the fun that happens here on a daily basis,” Hegeman said. He hopes to continue the important work that the Holiday Valley Blog does to bring updates to guests. “I hope to be able to tell even more short stories about the fascinating nuances of the resort,” said Hegeman.
It takes a village though, and Hegeman is grateful to show love to the incredible snowmaking team, and tell these stories alongside the images of his incredible photographer, Ashley Baron. “Being able to work with someone as creative as her makes my job a lot easier,” Hegeman said.
I live for the Holiday Valley Blog, especially when it announces an event. We all know how much of a blast Holiday Valley’s events are, and this year is sure to deliver. “We have our regular lineup of fan-favorite events planned this year… From things like the December 14th Demo Day, to the January 5-7th College Daze party, to Canadian Friendship Week January 6-10th, to Telestock on February 28th, Boardroom Banked on March 2nd, and of course the always exciting Pond Skimming on March 22nd,” Hegeman said, promising many more to be announced. Stay tuned on holidayvalley.com/events for updates.
And if you’re a first-timer, rentals and lessons are always available on location, and January is national Learn a Snowsport month. “We’ll have various deals on learning to ski or ride then,” Hegeman said. As for passes, college kids can get a discounted pass until December 1st, so there’s still time to snag one for a lower price (I know I will be).
But the question on everyone’s mind is how we will possibly enjoy all of that if the weather decides not to give us a bounty of the fluffy stuff? Keeping natural snow on the ground has proved challenging in recent seasons all over the Northeast, and come on… nothing beats the stuff straight from the clouds. But we can sleep peacefully knowing in Ellicottville, we’ll have a full season thanks to our incredible and tireless snowmaking teams. “As last season proved, as long as we get some cold temps, the Mountain Crew along with the amazing snowmaking system we have can get a lot of the resort open pretty quickly,” Hegeman said. “We shouldn’t have to worry about that though. Western New York is due for a strong winter so people can get out and enjoy an entire winter of fun. Even without the consistent snowfall last year, the Mountain Operations crew worked really hard to ensure that we were open 115 days, which is very impressive,” he added.
We’re certainly in good shape to have another great season in Ellicottville, so go ahead and get to sharpening, tuning, and boot bag packing. We’ll be skiing before we know it! Check out Holiday Valley on Facebook, Instagram, X, and YouTube for season updates. Or go online to holidayvalley.com.
“We are very excited about kicking off the 2024-25 season and cannot wait to see people back out on the slopes and in the village enjoying everything that Ellicottville has to offer!”