The Gang Goes to Holiday Valley, 2025
Skiing on the east coast is like gambling; the season is short, the slopes are icy, and it gets more expensive every year. For a fun weekend with friends, you book an Airbnb for a random winter weekend, hoping and praying there'll be enough snow for a day or two on the slopes.
Lucky for us, we’ve been to Holiday Valley a few times before, and we know it’s some of the best skiing you can get on the east coast. This year, we wrangled 12 people together in an Airbnb in nearby Ellicottville for two marvelous days of skiing.
As the fateful Thursday arrives. I peel out of the parking lot after work and make my way to the meeting point. Three of us pile into a car with all our gear, and at 5:30pm we pull out of the driveway to begin the three and a half hour journey to Ellicottville.
Right off the Bat…
We’re barely an hour into the trip when the first major issue arises…
As we park the car and head into Chick-fil-A for dinner, I can’t find my wallet! I must’ve left it in my car back at the house. My friends offer to pay for me, but I’m saved momentarily by the credit card saved on my phone.
This should make the next few days interesting….
As we pull up to the Airbnb, it’s obvious Ellicottville has way more snow than Pittsburgh. Undoubtedly the outlook is promising, but I’m not worrying about the mountain until tomorrow morning.
I’m in there, you just gotta look closer!
We get the rooms situated, the gear unloaded, and I waste no time jumping in the hot tub! It’s an older hot tub that struggles to maintain its temperature (with no help from the ice-cold water dripping in from the roof above!), but we make do.
Day One
I wake up, heave myself down from the top bunk, and run outside to see what we can expect from the first day of skiing. Just as the weather channel app predicted, it was a wet Friday morning. At 10:30am it’s just warm enough for any potential snow to come down as rain.
It doesn’t matter- we’re too excited to let anything get in our way. It’s the first time on the slopes for us this winter, and for some, it’s their first time ever!
On our trip to Seven Springs a few years ago, one of our buddies made a cool video of our experience. As of lately, I’ve been motivated to make video edits, mostly related to Gage’s Natural Deodorizers, and I see this trip as the perfect opportunity to shoot some footage. Phone in one hand and GoPro in the other, I’m eager to record anything and everything that might happen.
Once we secure the lift tickets and rental gear, we head for the bunny hills; the first-timers need some warming up before hitting the real mountain. To my surprise, it’s not long before the boyfriends leave the girlfriends on the bunny hill for the bigger slopes. I'm not complaining- there’s only a handful of us who can tackle the blues and blacks, and I'm ready for all of it!
After a few hours of “shredding the gnar” and shooting content, we take a break to meet up with the beginners- but not before we snag a waffle and a hot drink!
Chocolate Waffles and Hot Drinks
I get my waffle drizzled with chocolate, and I ask the cashier if she can give me a mix of hot chocolate and coffee (both only $3). My request for the 50/50 mix is granted, and immediately I’m an enthusiastic fan of the Waffle Cabin. I excitedly buy a Waffle Cabin sticker for my sticker board and spread the good word for all to hear.
Finally back at the slope-side café, we regroup and discover the newbies have picked up skiing fairly well! They had their fair share of crashes and wipeouts, but that’s to be expected. I briefly check my phone and GoPro, only to discover their batteries are almost dead! I check out the footage thus far and brainstorm what the last few shots of the day could be.
In a way, having both devices dying was a blessing in disguise…
Up until then, the whole day I was focused on photo and video opportunities, eager to collect as much footage as I could.
Now I can sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride…
Despite the mild, steady rain for half the day, the conditions fared surprisingly well! I’ve found the best way to judge the overall condition of the mountain is to look (or ski!) in the trees- you’ll know right away if conditions are getting worse if you start jumping over sticks, rocks and logs!
Aside from the good conditions and short lift lines, the layout of the mountain is great for experiencing everything it has to offer. The lifts are logically coordinated with the parking lots and lodges, and there’s easy access to any difficulty slope.
Evening Happenings
Finally, after a successful first day of skiing, we make our way back to the Airbnb. It’s about 4pm now, and the mountain has put some serious work into our group, especially the beginners. But within an hour or two, me and a few others are headed back out there for some night skiing. It’s the expert skiers’ time to shine.
The evening plans are to visit some bars in Ellicottville around 8pm, but we’re having too much fun going down the black diamonds. Before we know it, it’s 8pm already and we’re still on the mountain!
It’s no matter though- with our airbnb in close proximity, we can stroll into Ellicottville and meet up with everyone at our own convenience.
We get back, throw ourselves together, and after a nice 10 minute walk into town, we find the gang posted up at Ellicottville Brewing Co. We grab a drink, finish appetizers, and I ask our server where our next stop should be.
She looks at our big group of twenty-something year olds and understands the assignment. She mentions two places, but I only hear the first one, fixated on her comment of “If you like dancing, go to Balloons...” as she points out the window…
Not 50 yards away we cross the street and enter Balloons night club. There was a gentleman playing guitar and singing on one side of the bar, but the DJ and mostly-empty dance floor behind me was much more enticing. Drink in hand, I let my brain tune out and my body tune in.
Day Two
Today, the newbies get a taste of what East Coast skiing is really all about. The temperature dropped from 40°F to 20°F overnight, freezing all the wet and melted snow from the day before. The slopes turn hard and wipeouts are felt.
After cruising around the mountain for a couple hours, we go for a break in the Yodeler Lodge. I grab a basket of chicken and fries. But as I go to use the tap-to-pay on my phone, it tells me there’s an error with my card. Up to this point, I’ve (surprisingly) gotten by without needing my wallet or ID. After a few more invalid attempts, the cashier waves me through...
There shouldn’t be anything wrong with the card, so I’m a little perplexed, but mostly I’m just happy about the free meal!
Not 10 minutes later, before we go out to hit the slopes again, I run downstairs to the gift shop to pick up a Holiday Valley sticker. A sticker reading “I <3 Glades” jumps out at me, and I take it up to the counter. Again my tap-to-pay doesn’t work, again I’m perplexed, but again the cashier waves me through!
My last attempted purchase, a few hours later, was for some hot chocolate. By now I was half-expecting the card to decline again, but I was hopeful. With friends within earshot just in case, I try my phone at the register.
Payment not accepted.
There’s a line behind me, and I quickly call out to a buddy. Just as he makes his way over to cover my butt, a stranger in line behind me suddenly offers to pay for my drink!
I’m thankful for the donation, and luckily for me, it’s the last financial obstacle I have to overcome, as my wallet sits safely in my car two hundred miles away.
Back on the slopes, the energy is more mellow compared to yesterday, but still fun. We go through trees, run up, down, and around the mountain for some time, and (almost) get lost going down a closed trail!
Once at the Airbnb, ski jackets and gloves are shed, the hot tub lid pops off again, and someone breaks out a shot ski. We play the classic “TIT”, and with the quarters we brought, blackjack.
Wrap Up
On the car ride back home, I realize this was a pretty successful ski trip!
Nobody got seriously injured, the beginners got some valuable ski time under their belt, and there’s plenty of footage to make a cool video.
As this adventure comes to a close, I’m reluctant to actually post it! It’s a treat to have such a nice resort within a few hours from Pittsburgh, and if you’re an East Coast skier, it’s a must-ski. Most importantly, it’s still independent from the Vail and Aspen/KSL ski resort takeover!
As always, I’m especially grateful for the time I get to spend with my friends doing things we love. Each trip brings us closer together, and I’m excited to see where we end up next!
