Holiday Valley hosted the second annual Uppenovr event on Saturday, March 15. The Uppenovr is a fun rivalry involving Holiday Valley and HoliMont skiers. Even though the resort closed at 2PM for lightning, it reopened just in time for the start of the Uppenovr at 3PM. Racers (and many social participants) started at the Yodeler Lodge, climbed up to visit the hydration/Fireball stop at Spruce Lake. Then they crossed over to HoliMont, down Sunset and back up, across to Spruce and back down to the Yodeler Lodge.
Hand turned walnut bowls were awarded to the fastest male and fastest female. Dan Hurley from Holiday Valley won with a time of 43 minutes, 9 seconds. The fastest female was Kris Knauss from HoliMont with a time of 49 minutes, 41 seconds. The traveling trophy, awarded by comparing the top 3 Holiday Valley skiers to the top 3 HoliMont skiers, proudly hangs for the second year in the Yodeler bar.
78 people registered for the event and many more attended the silent auction and basket raffle. There were several hotly contested silent auction items including Anne Northrup’s airplane ride around Ellicottville and the mountain-top al fresco summer picnic for 8 guests by chef James Stark from Edna’s. Basket raffle items were donated by local merchants including the Boardroom, Watsons, E’ville Spirits, the Silver Fox, Sugartown Alpaca Farms, the Lincoln Boutique Motel, 42 North Brewing, and Aldrich Aerial Photography.
Holiday Valley extends many thanks to the event sponsors. At the gold level is Bill Loecher and West Herr, Silver level is the City Garage, and bronze level are Fitzpatrick and Weller, the Ellicottville Pharmacy, Mud, Sweat n’ Gears and Top Seedz Crackers. Special thanks to the Bob McCarthy Foundation for help with accounting.
The event raised $10,000 for Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center via Team Holiday Valley’s Empire State Ride Team. Funds support groundbreaking cancer research, exclusive clinical trials, innovative technology and compassionate patient care programs. One area in which Roswell Park sees an enormous amount of promise is cellular therapies. This branch of immunotherapy uses specially treated patient’s cells to help their immune system identify and specifically attack cancer cells. In many cases these treatments allow patients to move away from treatments like chemotherapies which can have harsh side effects. Holiday Valley is proud to support this important research which will benefit cancer patients and their families.
