ELLICOTTVILLE, N.Y. — The first time skiers and snowboarders started sliding down the slopes at Ellicottville's Holiday Valley Resort was January 7, 1958.
"The reason it was in January is because there wasn't any snow until then and they didn't have snowmaking back then," said Jane Eshbaugh, director of marketing Holiday Valley.
But it's those snow machines that the resort is relying on this January with less snow on the ground.
"We've made more snow at this point this year than normal," Eshbaugh said. "Some days we're making snow during skiing, most of the time at night."
"Unfortunately, in the Town of Ellicottville we go as the resorts go meaning when people don't come to ski, they don't come shop or eat or drink," said Spencer Timkey, shop manager at the Boardroom Snowboard. "Fortunately Holiday Valley and Holimont have some of the best snowmaking on the east coast. So even when we don't have a lot of that, they supplement it with a lot of really good man made snow."
It's so good that Eshbaugh says it'll help when Ellicottville gets rain this weekend, which tends to melt a lot of snow.
"The man made snow is very dense and very durable so a lot of times the rain filters through it but we'll still have plenty of snow on the slopes," Eshbaugh said.
While Timkey says the rain makes skiing and snowboarding less enjoyable, it will be worth for those who do decide to brave the conditions.
"The folks that do come, they make the best of it and the skiing and snowboarding will be great because the snow will be soft," Timkey said.
After all, it's not like Western New Yorkers haven't dealt with a little rain before.
"It's Western New York," Eshbaugh said. "We've got crazy weather."
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