In Western New York, I earn my miles. Between work throughout the week and recreation on the weekends, lots of life occurs on rural roads. My automotive has been extremely dependable, carrying me to numerous trailheads and ski areas over time. On the way in which to Vacation Valley, I hit a milestone because the odometer rolled over to 333,333 miles. Triple threes, on a ski day, headed into the hills? That felt like a very good omen.
For the second yr in a row, Vacation Valley was the primary resort to open in WNY, thanks once more to heavy lake-effect snow. Final yr, a storm dropped roughly 40 inches earlier than opening day. This season, they’d already been open for every week with snowfall totals topping 50 inches.
I virtually felt unhealthy for my buddies out West, the East is clearly the place to be this December.
One of many nice issues about Vacation Valley is that it delivers a real ski expertise and not using a lengthy haul, tucked into the hills but simply accessible from close by metropolitan areas.
The day introduced a robust sense of déjà vu: first day of the season, similar mountain, similar ticket attendant, and that acquainted feeling of gratitude for beginning the yr with a powder day. Earlier within the week, Davis and I had been glued to the forecast, debating whether or not or to not take Friday off to ski. Our choice that paid off in an enormous manner. We have been booted up and prepared as the primary chair loaded on Yodeler.
Whereas we aren’t Vacation Valley regulars, we all know our manner round effectively sufficient. That mentioned, we fortunately adopted an area rider to smell out deep, untracked snow.
It didn’t take lengthy for actuality to set in, my quads have been on fireplace after doing little to no offseason conditioning. A mellow groomer day would possibly’ve been simpler on the legs, however I used to be on cloud 9, floating by the snow and loving each flip.
The mountain felt much less crowded than I anticipated. With 5 chairlifts spinning, skiers have been unfold out properly and there was loads of terrain to discover. Between the high-speed lifts and contemporary snow, we misplaced depend of what number of runs we racked up.
We spent a lot of the morning lapping the Morningstar Specific Quad earlier than heading over to the picturesque glades off Tannenbaum, scoring much more untouched snow close to “The Fort”.
After a fast lunch within the Yodeler Lodge, Davis noticed some buddies from Rochester. We teamed up and headed again out, buying and selling backwards and forwards, exhibiting off our favourite stashes from earlier within the day.
On our first chair trip collectively, somebody talked about snowboarding till 3 p.m. I wasn’t certain I had that type of vitality left, however understanding I wouldn’t be again on snow for an additional couple of weeks was all of the motivation I wanted to empty the tank.
I nonetheless haven’t spent practically sufficient time exploring the charming ski city of Ellicottville, that’s excessive on the record for my subsequent go to. If there’s one factor I can depend on simply as a lot because the reliability of my automotive, it’s that Vacation Valley delivers a high-quality ski expertise. You don’t want huge mountains or lengthy flights for a world-class day on skis. Only a full tank of gasoline and a automotive you’ll be able to at all times depend on.
