Our Family Experience at Sky High Ropes Course Holiday Valley

Ski resorts are not just for winter! At Sky High Adventure Park at Holiday Valley guests can challenge themselves to exhilarating zip lines and ropes courses. In this post I share what you need to know about Sky High Aerial Park and my experience with the ropes course at Holiday Valley.

Let’s get this out of the way first- I am not a big risk taker! I prefer both feet on the ground and don’t really like heights. Two things that might not be a great combination for someone getting ready to do a ropes course 20 feet up, but I signed up and planned a visit for my family of 5.

Every so often I step out of my comfort zone and I was looking forward to spending the afternoon challenging myself on the Sky High ropes course at Holiday Valley. This course is built into the woods and offers bird eye views of the forest and varying levels of difficulty.

Sky High at Holiday Valley is located 118 miles outside of Rochester, New York in Ellicottville. It is a ski town but during the summer months Holiday Valley has family fun activities at their adventure park.

Plan a day! Ellicottville is a great spot for a Rochester day trip. Plan a few hours at the course followed by a meal and shopping in the village. Holiday Valley resort also offers day passes for their outdoor pool.

Let’s dive into all the details for planning your visit to Sky High Ropes Course at Holiday Valley.

Sky High Ropes Course Holiday Valley

Sky High Adventure Park consists of the Aerial Adventure ropes course, Climbing Forest (9 trees to climb), Mountain Coaster, chairlift ride, and a Gem Mining Experience.

Guests can purchase different passes (more on cost below) depending on what activities you would like to do. An Adventure Pass includes the Climbing Forest, Mountain Coaster, and Gem Mining. The Aerial Park is its own pass.

There are 13 courses to choose from and you can do any levels you want during your 3 hour pass. There is also a Zip Line to the bottom.

• 3 yellow courses (Sunflower, Sunshine and Snapdragon)
• 5 greens (Forest Run, Mountain Trail, Grand Rapids I and Grand Rapids II and Fern Gully)
• 2 blues (Waterfall and Rip Tide)
• 2 single black diamonds (Black Storm and Black Widow)
• 1 double black…The Commando! All courses except Commando have at least one zip line and some have several.

Cost

• Aerial Park: 3 Hour Time Blocks, $64.00 (12+ up) | $56.00 (7-11 years old) *Prices vary depending on the date of your visit. Check dates here.
• Sky Fly Coaster: $12.00 (Available to Guests ages 3+)
• Chairlift Ride: $12.00 (Guests ages 3+)
• Climbing Forest: $22.00 (Guests ages 5+)
• Adventure Pass: $33.00, Includes Climbing Forest, Mountain Coaster, and Gem Mining

Things to Know

• Guests must wear appropriate footwear and clothing. Close toed shoes only, hair tied back, no loose fitting clothing or jewelry.
• Bring a water bottle to keep at the main course starting area.
• Be sure to secure your phone and belongings or leave in the car.
• Wear bug spray, you are in the woods and it can get very buggy.
• This course is intense and not for guests that have a fear of heights or children under the age of 7.
• Weight limit is 256 pounds for all levels of the course.

Our Experience

Guests start with a quick lesson on how to use the equipment and you practice on a low level course. Once you feel ready you walk up the hill to the start of the courses.

If you have people planning to watch they will need to climb the hill with you. It is not difficult but it is about a 5-10 minute uphill walk.

Once we arrived to the course there are benches and water for you to prepare for the first course. All courses start from the same platform. You climb the ladder to the top of the platform and choose your adventure.

We started with the Snapdragon and got all three yellow courses completed. I find the first course to be the most difficult because you are learning your equipment and getting comfortable with everything.

As we progressed we moved quicker and felt more confident on the courses. It took us about 2 hours to finish the first three courses. I think a more experienced person would move much faster but we were having fun and moving at our own pace.

Our goal was to finish the yellow courses and we did it! As you move up in courses the height and difficultly levels increase. Yellow is about 15ft-20ft and they all increase from there.

There are also a zipline course that you can do to get down to the bottom and finish the course. I did it, but not sure I would do it again. It was higher than I wanted to go and I couldn’t wait to get back to the ground. You can walk to the bottom and do not have to do the zipline.

Overall it was a really fun challenging course. I like that there are different levels of intensity so groups can do what works best for their comfort level. There were 7 of us in our group and we all did different courses but could still talk and see each other during our time at the park.

After we finished the course we took a ride on the Sky Flyer Mountain Coaster. The Sky Flyer Mountain Coaster climbs up the hill and then you are in control of how fast or slow you ride down.

Each cart is equipped with controls to make it go fast or slow. This was really fun and relaxing. I enjoyed the scenic view up and down the mountain and I would highly suggest it for kids that are old enough to ride.

I would say Sky High was one of the more challenging rope courses I have ever done. We’ve done indoor ones but this one is way more challenging. The course is built into the woods and the outdoor elements impact the difficult level.

When we arrived it was lightly raining which made most of the obstacles slippery. The obstacles are made out of logs and wood, it fits in well with the scenery, but makes for an even more challenging course.

I would recommend this course to anyone who wants to try something new and challenge themselves to a ropes course and zipline but be prepared for the heights and challenge of some of the obstacles.

This is a good fit for teens or older elementary kids who have done these types of courses before. I am a beginner and was able to successfully complete the yellow level courses and I think most kids familiar with this type of experience will enjoy it.

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