Holiday Valley & HoliMont: 2026-27 Season Changes Explained

Neither Holiday Valley nor HoliMont has announced a new chairlift or ski trail for the 2026-27 season. Together, the two resorts are putting more than $5.3 million into improvements, according to The Villager. Snowmaking is the largest piece of Holiday Valley's summer program, and HoliMont's main winter project is new snowmaking waterlines and electrical work. Both are improvements skiers will rarely see.

That choice shapes what this winter will feel like on the hill. The gains are mostly in timing and coverage: how quickly trails get covered when cold weather arrives, and how well that coverage holds through the season. The terrain change people will talk about comes a year later, and site work for it has already started.

Where the money went

The two resorts reported their budgets at different times, and the totals vary a little depending on the source. Holiday Valley's own May 12, 2026 press release put its summer program at about $5 million. The Villager's October 7 report put it at about $4.7 million. For HoliMont, Unofficial Networks relayed a Buffalo Business First report of $750,000 in June, and The Villager later reported about $705,000.

Why the pipes matter this year

Both resorts explain the snowmaking work in terms of time. Holiday Valley says its upgrades are meant to improve energy efficiency, improve water and air delivery, and make the most of snowmaking "during favorable weather windows." The Villager describes HoliMont's goal in similar terms: making better use of "shorter periods of favorable snowmaking weather" and making the system more reliable.

Machine-made snow needs cold temperatures. When the cold arrives in short stretches, the limit is how much water and air a mountain can push through its guns before the temperature climbs again. HoliMont's new 12-inch and 8-inch waterlines, panels and transformer move the resort toward its goal for its snowmaking pipe network, which Unofficial Networks says will raise pumping capacity and let the system run at a single operating pressure. Holiday Valley calls its snowmaking work part of "an on-going investment strategy," so this summer's automation adds to work that was already in place. The resort also says the work supports "consistent early-season and peak-condition skiing."

You'll see this in when terrain opens and how long it lasts, rather than in anything new on the trail map. Holiday Valley's posted opening is Friday, November 27, the day after Thanksgiving, from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The resort's own page notes the date is "subject to change based on the weather." That sentence is the reason the resort spent the summer on snowmaking.

What you'll actually notice at the base

Several of Holiday Valley's projects are ones skiers will see or handle directly, and they mostly change how a ski day starts. The May release describes new RFID gate technology across the resort that lets guests reload a lift ticket or season pass online and "skip the ticket window completely so they can head right to the slopes."

Holiday Valley's SKIDATA RFID guide covers the basics:

• Hands-free sMove Wave gates at the Yodeler, Chute and Sunrise lifts, with updated hand scanners at the other lifts
• Self-service Skiosks for picking up cards at the Base Area outside the Customer Service Building, on the Main Lodge lower level near the Rental Shop, outside Yodeler Lodge, outside Tannenbaum Lodge near the Sky High building, and at Snowpine Quad across from the Snowpine Parking Lot on Route 219
• One RFID card per pocket, kept in an upper-left jacket pocket away from keys, phones and other cards, and never hole-punched

The same guide says Holiday Valley skiers have been using RFID cards for several winters. For many regulars, then, the change is in the gates and the reload process, not the card itself. Passholders who aren't sure whether last season's card carries over should check with Holiday Valley customer service before the first powder day.

Inside the Main Lodge, the resort announced a complete renovation of the McCarty Café. According to its dining page, the café serves Starbucks drinks, baked goods, deli sandwiches, salads and grab-and-go snacks. Holiday Valley hasn't yet described what the renovated space will look like.

Dennis Eshbaugh, Holiday Valley's President and General Manager, described the summer program this way in the May release:

"From snowmaking and mountain operations to lodging, golf, and summer attractions, we are thrilled to continue to reinvest in the resort to ensure Holiday Valley remains one of the premier year-round destinations in the Northeast."

At HoliMont, the format hasn't changed. The mountain is open to the public on weekdays, and Saturdays and Sundays are for members and their guests. The visible part of HoliMont's summer was on bikes. According to Unofficial Networks, the bike park has grown from 5 trails to 25 since it opened in 2021, and summer's share of the resort's total business has risen from 10% to 20% over that time. A new green-rated jump trail was planned for completion this summer.

The winter calendar so far

Since the big terrain change is still a year away, this season comes down to dates. Here's what the resorts have posted for 2026-27:

1. Friday, November 27: Holiday Valley's opening day and the start of its 69th season, weather permitting.
2. December 12: HoliMont's projected opening date.
3. December 31: HoliMont's members-and-guests New Year's Eve party, with a torchlight parade, dinner, fireworks and a band.
4. January 16, February 13 and March 6, 2027: Holiday Valley's passholder "1st Tracks" mornings at the Yodeler Express.

HoliMont's tickets page labels December 12 as a projection. Both opening dates depend on the cold weather the new snowmaking work was built to use.

The change you'll see next winter

The terrain change arrives in 2027. The Villager reports that Holiday Valley plans to replace Cindy's Quad with a new high-speed quad on a different line near Foxfire. Moving the lift adds uphill capacity, and it also takes the existing lift towers off Cindy's Run, so the trail will be open from edge to edge. The project is expected to line up with Holiday Valley's 70th anniversary, and early site preparation has already started.

If you ski Cindy's Run this season, you'll be riding past towers that are scheduled to come down.

I live in the Village and follow these mountain projects closely, from the snowmaking upgrades to next year's lift. If you're thinking about a slopeside condo, a chalet near the Foxfire side of Holiday Valley, or a weekday ski place close to HoliMont, I'm happy to talk through how the resorts' plans affect the properties on your list. Jennifer Courtney is here when you're ready. Let's Connect.