If success is measured in smiles, the Uppenovr uphill/downhill event on Saturday, March 16 at Holiday Valley was an overwhelming success! 

The event was a fundraiser for Team Holiday Valley that supports Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center. Thanks to the many generous donations and support by the community, over $10,000 was generated for cancer research. And better yet, for every dollar donated to cancer research, Roswell Park is able to leverage an additional $23 from external grants toward that research. Holiday Valley would especially like to thank the event Gold Sponsor: West Herr, and Silver Sponsors: City Garage, Mud Sweat n Gears, Zippo and Marker Bindings. 

The Uppenovr course was 3.5 miles with a vertical climb of 1300 feet that started at Holiday Valley’s Yodeler Lodge, traveled up Tannenbaum to Spruce Lake, across to HoliMont, down Sunset slope, then back up, across and down to Yodeler. Participants, using alpine touring skis, splitboards, cross country skis, snowshoes or hiking shoes, were able to choose whether to race or just enjoy the hike with friends on a beautiful sunny day. The top male finisher was Ryan Sarky with a time of 48:20 and the top female finisher was Rokhsanna Sadeghi with a time of 51:15. Two teams of 3 people represented Holiday Valley and HoliMont to compete for a traveling trophy. Team Holiday Valley was the winner and will proudly display the plaque at the Yodeler Lodge bar.

The finish area at the Yodeler Sundeck was a great scene with music by the PA Line band, beer sampling from 42 North, liquor sampling from Empire and a very lively basket raffle, silent auction and 50/50 raffle. Everyone was certainly celebrating the event and a beautiful spring day. A big thanks goes to local businesses who donated to the raffles and to those who participated in the event. And a special mention goes out to Doug Bradley who won the 50/50 and donated his winnings back to the cause. Everyone said they can’t wait until next year!