frontrange
New member
Made the day trip to Holiday Valley for my second time out this year. The lake effect snow has dumped several feet of light fluffy stuff in the western hills. Conditions were nothing short of fantastic- not a bit of ice all day and very few scraping noises of any sort. <BR> <BR>Favorite run of the day was Ego Alley- an all natural snow trail. Coverage was very good and the skis bit like they're made too. The turns were made all that much better since they were to some extent made for the audience in the chairlift above- hence the appropriately named "ego alley". Eagle chair runs were also excellent and the woods kept drawing the snowboarders in. I went in to take some photos- the fluff was up to mid-thigh and very soft. <BR> <BR>Lift lines were non-existent- Friday skiing at its best. It was cold- the high was probably 6F making the Mardi Gras chair - high speed quad into the wind - used only a couple of times to get to other territory. The great thing about Holiday Valley is that it spreads out enough that you can ski along two ridges and spend all day exploring different runs. They do a lot with their 750 feet vertical- and the new lodge is excellent. <BR> <BR>Its amazing what a great experience packed powder can make- when compared to the eastern skiers norm of ice and slush. Plus I've started using my son's 168 cm shaped skis- so much easier to do anything I want to with than my 185's.