Thanks to the creation of an inviting waterfront over the last few years, Buffalo can now boast having some of the funnest summer seasons around. Before the Inner and Outer Harbors were created, many Buffalonians would leave the city each year, in search of friendlier waterfronts that offered the ability to kayak, bike, or simply sit out on a chair and enjoy a refreshing breeze.
Now that we have our “seaside” summertime fun established and growing, it’s time to look at the colder months. Skating at Canalside is all the rage these days. Plus there’s the skating at Rotary Rink and RiverWorks. While Buffalo is getting known for its impressive outdoor rink attributes, there is another shining star that continues to put this city/region on the map for wintertime fun – Holiday Valley. Each year, thousands of people from near and far hit the slopes at Holiday Valley. While not the tallest hills in the northeast, the ski resort packs a powdery punch in a number of other ways.
Each year, Ski Magazine reaches out to its readers to conduct a poll of the best ski resorts in eastern North America. Year after year Holiday Valley emerges victorious in the top ten echelon, which is pretty incredible considering the competition that the resort faces. For the 2015-16 season, Holiday Valley snagged the #3 slot.
“We’re so appreciative of our customers who choose Holiday Valley as one of their favorite resorts”, said Dennis Eshbaugh, President and General Manager of the resort. “And to be listed among these highly respected eastern resorts is very exciting.” When asked how Holiday Valley manages be listed in the top 10 year after year, Eshbaugh said, “It’s all about making it easy for our guests to have fun and enjoy the winter with their family and friends. We work hard to provide the kind of resort they want. Every year we improve and reinvest in the resort to stay ahead of the curve.”
A friend of mine told me, just yesterday before I even saw the recent ranking, that a friend of hers from Seattle paid a visit to Buffalo last year and brought along his snowboard boots. Apparently the snow condition out west (where he was located) was completely lackluster at the time, and he wanted to get some good runs in during his stay. He came away quite impressed by the Holiday Valley mountain conditions, despite the scaled down size of the mountains. He also enjoyed all of the resort’s offerings, which helped to cast Buffalo is a pretty good light. My friend told me that Holiday Valley is one of the reasons that she moved back to Buffalo (from Seattle) – her family is made up of avid skiers and snowboarders, and they would have been bummed to not have a quality mountain resort nearby.
Click here to see the latest Ski Magazine ranking profile. Following are the 2015-16 eastern North America rankings:
1- Mont Tremblant in Quebec, 2 – Stowe in Vermont, 3 – Holiday Valley in New York, 4 – Smuggler’s Notch in Vermont, 5 -Whiteface Mountain in New York, 6 – Jay Peak in Vermont, 7 – Killington in Vermont, 8 – Sunday River in Maine, 9 – Okemo in Vermont and 10 – Mount Snow in Vermont.