The Earliest Opening Day of the New Millenium

These dedicated skiers & Holiday Valley employees arrived at 5:30 AM to be the first up & down the hill!

(11/21/2008) Early this past week Holiday Valley’s President, Dennis Eshbaugh, announced that the 2008-09 winter snowsports season would begin at 9 AM on Thursday, November 20, by opening the Yodeler quad chair, and expects to open additional lifts and slopes by the weekend.

According to Mr. Eshbaugh, “Sunday’s snowstorm and our early opening is a great way to start off the season. Our skiers and riders are really excited about the year. Despite the challenging economic atmosphere, we’ve seen strong pre-season sales. Our central location to so many major metropolitan areas, the size of the resort and the charming Village of Ellicottville makes us a good value for families’ winter getaways this year.”

Mother Nature bestowed the area with more three feet of natural snow. Plus continuing cold weather set the stage for perfect snow making conditions. On Tuesday Holiday Valley turned on the snow guns to reinforce Mother Nature’s generosity. The opening marked the 3rd earliest opening in the resort’s 51 year history. A previous and earliest opening ever happened in October of 1974 which this writer remembers very well. Who could forget Skiing on October 29th at Holiday Valley?