Time to give your home mountain a report card for the 2012 Season. Please copy and grade your resort from A to F in the following categories.
RESORT/SKI AREA:
Terrain:
Terrain Park:
Programs...
*Kids:
*Race:
Grooming:
Lift Design:
Cleanliness:
Ambiance:
Customer Service:
Apre Ski:
Food:
Parking:
Ski School:
Snow Making:
Accessibility:
Daily Ticket Prices:
Season Pass Prices:
OVERALL:
Comments:
(If there is a category that is non applicable, reply N/A)
RESORT/SKI AREA: Taos, New Mexico
Terrain: A+
Terrain Park: D
Grooming: A
Lift Design: D
Cleanliness: B
Ambiance: A+
Customer Service: A
Apre Ski: C
Food: B
Parking: A+
Ski School: A+
Snow Making: D
Accessibility: D
Daily Ticket Prices: A
Season Pass Prices: A+
OVERALL:
Perfect just the way it is.
Comments:
A place to ski and learn to ski better. Quirky in the finest way. In a class of its own.
RESORT/SKI AREA: Sun Valley, ID
Terrain: A-
Terrain Park: ?
Grooming: A
Lift Design: A+
Cleanliness: A
Ambiance: A-
Customer Service: A
Apre Ski: B
Food: A
Parking: A
Ski School: ?
Snow Making: A+
Accessibility: C
Daily Ticket Prices: B-
Season Pass Prices: C
OVERALL: A-
RESORT/SKI AREA: Mt. Baker Ski Area
Terrain: Advanced/expert: A, beginner/intermediate: C-
Terrain Park: D
Grooming: C-
Lift Design: What the heck is this?
Cleanliness: B
Ambiance: A for gnarliness
Customer Service: C-
Apre Ski: F
Food: B+
Parking: White Salmon: A+, Heather Meadows: D+
Ski School: B
Snow Making: F (or A if you like natural snow)
Accessibility: Like, is it easy to get to? D+
Daily Ticket Prices: Good
Season Pass Prices: OK
OVERALL: A-
Comments:
Mt. Baker is not a resort. AMBIANCE?!! Hoo, hoo, ha... It's a great small hill with a decent lift system very nice lodges, and extremely uneven service.
I don't think I'm impartial enough to do this. My whole reaction is "all A's", of course. Except for the items I have no comment on because I don't use them, such as the Terrain Park or the Ski School.
Nevertheless, here goes:
RESORT/SKI AREA: Whitefish Mountain Resort, aka Big Mountain
Terrain: depends on what you LIKE. Not as much cliff stuff as some, but we have it. Wide variety, heavy on trees. A- because the scare factor is pretty low compared to some areas.
Terrain Park: No clue. We have them.
Grooming: A
Lift Design: B for some layout issues, but A because a high proportion of high speed lifts. Almost no lines...ever...except at Christmas and one 22" day this season on a weekend.
Cleanliness: A? There are some places you could go LOOKING for that I avoid, but not sure that the vast majority would find them. I am happy with the places I go to pee, what more can I say?
Ambiance: A++ Low Bogner zone. Fur mostly the result of the person's own hunting skills.
Customer Service: A++
Apre Ski: Hmmm... I don't do it, but there is definitely and Apres scene, which involves pub crawls from the resort back into town. Bierstube sort of famous as is the Great Northern.
Food: I don't buy my lunch, so, couldn't tell you these days. Cheaper than most ski areas, but if you ski 83 days like I did, it would add up to major bucks over time. Probably cheap for a one week vacation.
Parking: I get there too early to evaluate it. It's fine for me. I think if you get there late the shuttle system might not run enough, but I don't really know.
Ski School: Not a clue.
Snow Making: Mostly done by God. 301 inches last season. Inadequate water rights for the mountain to really do anything except spot repairs.
Accessibility: Airport about a half hour away, but flights limited. Train station (Amtrak) right in town. BUT Interstate 2.5 to 3 hours away. Not sure how to score that.
Daily Ticket Prices: Reasonable compared to other areas.
Season Pass Prices: Reasonable, but starting to lose that status.
OVERALL: ???
Comments: I don't think asking people to rate their HOME MOUNTAIN makes any sense. We are not objective AND we've learned, I am sure, how to "work" the mountain. I used to ski Camelback and knew the crowd flow, so my experience there was based on how to work the mountain -- where to eat, when to eat, when to switch lines, what instructor had a good rep, etc. After a while, you don't do anything that doesn't work and you lose track of the average day tripper's experiences. For instance here, I don't really MIND the fog, it preserves the snow. But, I know what areas to stay out of and how to ski at different times of the day to minimize the vertigo. But there are tourists constantly downloading because of it. They are scared of the trees, don't know the area and which runs to go on, so they freak out. If they would go with a mountain ambassador, those people would give them a hand, but for whatever reason, it doesn't occur to them.
RESORT/SKI AREA: Northstar
Terrain: B+ While it doesn't have the asspucker terrain of a Squaw, but the trees can be very good
Terrain Park: A- Not a Breckenridge or Snowmass, but probably the best in Tahoe
Grooming: A+ especial after this season, they dod a great job in snow maintenance.
Lift Design: B. I am not a fan of "feeder lift" systems.
Cleanliness: A. They do a very good job.
Ambiance: A Even though I avoid the base village area, I hear it is very good
Customer Service: A+ They really try hard to keep customers happy
Apre Ski: A Good bars in the Village. Best margaritas are off of "Homerun"
Food: A- while not inexpensive, quality is very good
Parking: C Unless you get there early, you HAVE to take a shuttle then have to deal walking 1/4 mile through the village
Ski School: A+ Three D-Teamers on staff.
Snow Making: A Northstar had the most terrain open in Tahoe, when others had no snowmaking
Accessibility: A Coming from Reno...easiest to get to. One one area on 267, traffic not too bad.
Daily Ticket Prices: C Tough to get deals
Season Pass Prices: A. All of their passes are very inexpensive
OVERALL: A
Comments: Norhtstar does not claim to be a Squaw or A-Meadows but it is a great family mountain in Tahoe with some fantastic tree skiing.
RESORT/SKI AREA: Massanutten, Virginia
Terrain: A- , open to the top by early Jan and stayed open
Terrain Park: B
Grooming: A
Lift Design: A+, conveyor loading, upgraded a double to triple
Cleanliness: A
Ambiance: B, lodge needs updating
Customer Service: A
Apre Ski: B
Food: B
Parking: A, all paved lots, no shuttle needed
Ski School: A+
Snow Making: A, if not then wouldn't exist
Accessibility: A, 15 miles from I-81
Daily Ticket Prices: A-, 4-hour or 8-hour, average for the southeast
Season Pass Prices: A, midweek/night or unlimited
OVERALL: A, when compared to southeast, especially if skiing on weekends
Comments: two runs never opened, but those runs often are not open if Dec is not cold enough for steady snowmaking. Added a webcam at the base looking at the main green run.
RESORT/SKI AREA: Alpental (Summit at Snoqualmie)
Terrain: A for expert, D for beginner. It's not very large, not sure how that factors in.
Terrain Park: F
Grooming: D
Lift Design: A
Cleanliness: B
Ambiance: A-
Customer Service: B
Apre Ski: D
Food: C
Parking: B
Ski School: A- (for kids, no idea about adult)
Snow Making: F? They have no snow making, they need no snow making.
Accessibility: A
Daily Ticket Prices: C ($54?)
Season Pass Prices: A ($350-ish)
OVERALL: I suppose the math would say a good solid B- average. That seems about right. It's a good home mountain, but one you wouldn't travel to visit. A lot of the items on the list where it scores an F are things I have no use for (terrain park, snow making, grooming). It suits me fine!
RESORT/SKI AREA: Elk Mountain PA
Terrain: A - Compared to other PA Mountains; C+ compared to major resorts
Terrain Park: C
Grooming: A (did an excellent job this year in some very difficult circumstances of very low snow total and numerous freeze melt cycles, minor deduction from A+ because every snowfall is immediately groomed every year)
Lift Design: speed- D (old, slow); effectiveness B (the low uphill capacity keeps the trails fairly open even when the mountain is busy)
Cleanliness: C
Ambiance: B+
Customer Service: C
Apre Ski: D
Food: C-, quality is marginally OK, cost is excessive
Parking: C
Ski School: B
Snow Making: A
Accessibility: C+
Daily Ticket Prices: $60 weekend, $50 weekday, high by PA standards - C
Season Pass Prices: $735 to 845 depending on when purchased, D-
OVERALL: B-
Comments: The rater admits to having high standards and a fussy attitude.
RESORT/SKI AREA: Stevens Pass, WA
Terrain: A (for a place of its size)
Terrain Park: A (I think, don't use it but it's huge and impressive looking)
Grooming: B+
Cleanliness: A
Ambiance: B
Customer Service: A
Apre Ski: C (just three bars)
Food: B
Parking: B on weekdays, D on weekends
Snow Making: None needed. Is that an F or an A?
Accessibility: B to drive to, D if you're talking about getting to the lifts from the car.
Daily Ticket Prices: $62, C
Season Pass Prices: A, good bargains here.
OVERALL: A-
Comments: I really like skiing here. Once you're at the lodge everything is very convenient. Out on the slope there is some great terrain, most of which is not readily found on the map.
RESORT/SKI AREA: Mt. Baker Ski Area
Terrain: Advanced/expert: A, beginner/intermediate: C-
Terrain Park: D
Grooming: C-
Lift Design: What the heck is this?
Cleanliness: B
Ambiance: A for gnarliness
Customer Service: C-
Apre Ski: F
Food: B+
Parking: White Salmon: A+, Heather Meadows: D+
Ski School: B
Snow Making: F (or A if you like natural snow)
Accessibility: Like, is it easy to get to? D+
Daily Ticket Prices: Good
Season Pass Prices: OK
OVERALL: A-
Comments:
Mt. Baker is not a resort. AMBIANCE?!! Hoo, hoo, ha... It's a great small hill with a decent lift system very nice lodges, and extremely uneven service.
Have to take exception to your bad marks. How can you give a place an F for snowmaking when there was 100% coverage on opening day (even if the snow was made in the skies?). And as far as HM parking, the parking is outstanding, front and center if you're there by 8am...which I always was.
Time to give your home mountain a report card for the 2012 Season. Please copy and grade your resort from A to F in the following categories.
RESORT/SKI AREA: Adanac Sudbury
Terrain: C bell curved to A
It's only got 240' of vertical, so what can you do? They have a front run that's steep enough to make a couple of gs turns on, some trees that have many routes through them and end up being bumped up, but it only opens when there is enough snow (rarely this winter). They even built some moguls for us to play with near the end of the year. Problem is the beginner trails let out far from the lift, so dumb parents always have their kids WHO CAN NOT SKI on the steepest run on the hill.
Terrain Park: I hate line ups, so don't ask me. They got rails and a couple of jumps, but the jumps are on too slow a run imho.
Grooming: A they groom very well. The leave the trees alone. The bumps they put in were too tight, but what do you expect to hear from someone who skis Long radius skis slightly back-seat and has been addicted to high speed edge-locked carving for decades.
Lift Design: D: a too slow double chair, but the hill remains uncrowded because of it. They need to put in a lift where the beginner runs end up 1/4 mile away.
Cleanliness: A
Ambiance: C nice enough, but they need a bar; I miss my after-ski pint.
Customer Service: C: Ski patrol is great, but where else do season's pass holders have to line up to get a day ticket? What's up with closing the lift before official closing time?
Apre Ski: F: there is none.
Food: NA I can't afford to buy food; I spent all my money on a season's pass.
Parking:A+ Lot's of it and very close.
Ski School: NA Can't judge, haven't tried it.
Snow Making: B pretty good, but I would have been making more snow ;)
Accessibility: A
Daily Ticket Prices: A
Season Pass Prices: C a bit much for what it is.
OVERALL: B
Comments:
(If there is a category that is non applicable, reply N/A)
Because there isn't any snowmaking. You'll notice that I parenthetically gave it an A for natural snow. I find it strange to read about the importance of snow making when I've spent my 49 years of skiing at places that have and need none.
RESORT/SKI AREA: Taos Ski Valley, NM
Terrain: Advanced/Expert: A+ Beginner/Intermediate: C
Terrain Park: B-
Grooming: B
Lift Design: C
Cleanliness: A
Ambiance: B
Customer Service: A
Apre Ski: B-
Food: A-
Parking: A
Ski School: A+
Snow Making: B
Accessibility: B
Daily Ticket Prices: A+
Season Pass Prices: A
OVERALL: B+ or A-
Comments: When it comes to the things I look for in a resort (extreme terrain, exceptional powder, a fun terrain park, excellent customer service, and a great value), Taos is about as good as it gets. Enough terrain to keep you entertained for a lifetime (so long as you don't mind hiking!).
Time to give your home mountain a report card for the 2012 Season. Please copy and grade your resort from A to F in the following categories.
RESORT/SKI AREA: Canyons
Terrain: Expert "A-" (It helps if you know where to ski); Advanced-Intermediate A+; Beginner C-
Terrain Park: “A+” In this case, terrain parks. When they built the big one, they went for those who also like big air. Transitions Terrain Park is over a mile long.
Grooming: “A” Not too much, not too little. The resort figured out what to leave alone.
Lift Design: “A+” for the quality of the lifts ( high speed quads and six packs, bubble chair (all with safety bars), maps on safety bars, the high speed gondola etc..
Cleanliness: “A+” Probably the cleanest restrooms and food service operation you will experience. I once saw a corporate exec pick up a candy wrapper and put it in the trash…get it?
Ambiance: “A” Talisker knocked down the buildings blocking the mountain view, and put in a bunch of restaurants, the ski beach, seats and chairs around fire pits, outdoor movies and concerts, etc.
Customer Service: “A+” Every employee is focused on making the customer experience extraordinary. It is a corporate thing that permeates every part of the resort, from the lady that serves at the outdoor hot chocolate bar to lift attendants.
Apre Ski: “A” It used to be a “B-” but now there are plenty of places to drink and eat.
Food: “A+” This is a no brainer. Talisker hired away a guy voted the “Best Chef in Utah” to transform the food service operations. He did exactly that, from the on mountain lodges to the restaurants in the village. The Farm was voted the "Best New Restaurant in Utah."
Parking: “B” The parking is indeed plentiful, but it is not next to the mountain base. Riders park and then stand in the open air Cabriolet lift for a quick ride to the village. The lift ends close to the gondola base (a 20 second walk). Most people staying at village lodging walk to the lifts or have a private chairlift. For them the rating is “A+ to A” depending on the location.
Ski School: “A” for kids. I have no experience with adult lessons.
Snow Making: “B” What is covered is covered very well.
Accessibility: “A” This is the closest of the three PC ski areas to the SLC airport. The airport rarely closes.
Daily Ticket Prices: “B” 4,000 acres gives good value, but none of the three local areas have cheap tickets. Liftopia frequently had the best one or two day rates.
Season Pass Prices: “A” to “B-“ Why the variety in ratings? It depends upon age (e.g., local student with good grades), when you ski, and what benefits you will use that come with the season pass.
OVERALL: A
Comments: The resort has 9 mountains covering 4,000 skiable acres. There is a frequent knock on the resort for being too spread out to experience it all in a day of skiing. although getting around the place has never been easier due to a newer connencting lift. For the expert skiing the resort for the first time, many of the great runs are not easy to find (“Gee, if I go through that fence and ski untracked pow will I end up on another mountain?”), so they mostly ski 9990. This is a mistake since there is great terrain in many unexpected places. For the intermediate to advanced skier, good terrain is everywhere. Beginners have only High Meadow to ski, and should take a few lessons so they can experience the some of the other mountains.
RESORT/SKI AREA: Gore Mtn. New York
Terrain: Expert B-, Advanced A (when glades are open with decent cover, otherwise B), Intermediate A, Beginner A
Terrain Park: B-
Grooming: B (groom the advanced trails too often for my taste, even where they groom it can still be icy)
Lift Design: C+ (lifts/mountain layout is not intuitive, but if you know the area you can figure out how to get around, and there is usually a lift or two that are shielded from the wind)
Cleanliness: A-
Ambiance: B-
Customer Service: In person, at Gore A-. When it comes to accurately posting which trails will be open on their web site, D (often claim more will be open than they actually open).
Apre Ski: B- (moves up to B+ when the deck is open, the weather is nice, and the grills are fired up)
Food: B
Parking: B+
Ski School: A- There is also a separate race training program.
Snow Making: A-
Accessibility: B+
Daily Ticket Prices: C (but can get 4 pack early at a reasonable $56/day rate, which are valid saturdays/holidays and would rate a B+)
Season Pass Prices: B- (for East Coast--$740/adult)
OVERALL: B+
If you haven't been to Gore, wait for decent natural snow, then come ski the glades.
STE
RESORT/SKI AREA:Beaver Valley, Ontario
Terrain:A- for expert/advanced, A+ for intermediate, and C- for Beginner
Terrain Park:A+, has three terrain parks, one dedicated to rails, a small one, and a large one with 50'+ jumps.
Grooming:A+ All trails are groomed (at the very least half and half) except steeper runs in march.
Lift Design:A Lifts are placed well but slow.
Cleanliness:A
Ambiance: A
Customer Service:A+ Always there to help and are very friendly.
Apre Ski:C Decent apres ski scene, but only one bar/clubhouse.
Food: A+ Whether you want a vegetable pasta, french toast, cheesecake, hamburger, or steak, they have it all!
Parking:A+ Parking is great with lots both at the top and bottom.
Ski School:A
Snow Making:A++ Even though we only got a dismal 14 inches (10 of that in one weekend) this year all runs were open (excluding glades) by late Jan.
Accessibility: C Pretty easy in a winter like this (only a hour and a half) but can be some of the worst driving ;huge lake effect storms+ flat farm country= total whiteout, and lots of car crashes.
Daily Ticket Prices: B+ Its a private resort but the prices are quite reasonable.
Season Pass Prices: B+ " "
OVERALL: A (for Ontario standards.)
Comments: Great snow when compared to the public places. Has the second steepest run in Ontario (42 degrees) and some great cruising.
RESORT/SKI AREA: Perfect North Slopes, Indiana
Terrain: A....steepest terrain in the region with plenty for beginners
Terrain Park: N/A...I don't spend time in the park
Grooming: C....The have top notch equipment but often seem to rush to get things done
Lift Design: A-...the lay out is good but I would love to see at least one of the lifts replaced with something more reliable.
Cleanliness: A
Ambiance: B....there are a lot of minor things that don't affect the skiing that could use some tweaking to improve the overall experience and mimic what you might see at destination resorts
Customer Service: A...friendly accessible staff
Apre Ski:N/A...There's no bar or lounge so you have to come prepared
Food: A...its not gourmet food but the prices are fair and the quality is decent
Parking: A
Ski School: N/A...it's been a long time since I've used the ski school
Snow Making:A+...they can crank out a lot of snow in a short amount of time
Accessibility:A
Daily Ticket Prices: A
Season Pass Prices: A
OVERALL: A...it's all relative but it really can't get much better in the Midwest.
Comments: They did a commendable job with making the best out of a bad situation this season. We had a warm wet December but they not only pushed to get open ahead of everyone else they stayed open. They took advantage of almost every opportunity to make snow and proved that they would not let mother nature keep them down. Now if only they could work on some good, seeded moguls next season. 
RESORT/SKI AREA: Schweitzer
Terrain: B+
Terrain Park: A
Grooming: B+
Lift Design: B-
Cleanliness: B
Ambiance: C+
Customer Service: B-
Apre Ski: C
Food: C
Parking: D
Ski School: B+
Snow Making: B+
Accessibility: C
Daily Ticket Prices: C-
Season Pass Prices: B+
OVERALL: B
Comments: Terrain has great variety but the steeper shots are short with shallow run-outs for half the run. Although I don't do the terrain park, it clearly is high-end with tons of features and great variety. Lift design and locations have improved over the years but there's still work to be done. Ambiance is a little flat with very little in the way of apre ski. Food is okay but pretty expensive. Parking is definitely a problem unless you get there really early or are willing to pay $400 for a seasonal parking ticket ($15 per day, I believe). Really no snowmaking to speak of other than a little bit near the lodge. But, it's not needed for the most part so not a real concern. It's a bit of a drive from the population centers (2 hours from Spokane). Daily tickets are kind of high but season passes are relatively cheap by comparison..
RESORT/SKI AREA: Schweitzer
Terrain: B+
Terrain Park: A
Grooming: B+
Lift Design: B-
Cleanliness: B
Ambiance: C+
Customer Service: B-
Apre Ski: C
Food: C
Parking: D
Ski School: B+
Snow Making: B+
Accessibility: C
Daily Ticket Prices: C-
Season Pass Prices: B+
OVERALL: B
Comments: Terrain has great variety but the steeper shots are short with shallow run-outs for half the run. Although I don't do the terrain park, it clearly is high-end with tons of features and great variety. Lift design and locations have improved over the years but there's still work to be done. Ambiance is a little flat with very little in the way of apre ski. Food is okay but pretty expensive. Parking is definitely a problem unless you get there really early or are willing to pay $400 for a seasonal parking ticket ($15 per day, I believe). Really no snowmaking to speak of other than a little bit near the lodge. But, it's not needed for the most part so not a real concern. It's a bit of a drive from the population centers (2 hours from Spokane). Daily tickets are kind of high but season passes are relatively cheap by comparison..
Yikes, GoldMember, if that is true, then why do people always choose it over Whitefish? I'd hate to have you critique this place.
But, maybe in ADDITION to "snowmaking", there should be a category of "natural snow". Some mid-Atlantic person might think that the snowmaking in our area needs to be rated higher and there is no place to indicate that it is largely unneeded. Until this past season, I would have thought we never needed it. After this season, I think we need more as there was quite limited terrain during their most important moneymaking week, Christmas. The snows came in January big time, but if I had been a Christmas customer, I'd have been disappointed. It was an odd season.
RESORT/SKI AREA: Gore Mountain
Terrain: B
Terrain Park: NA but kids seem to have fun
Grooming: A
Lift Design: C
Cleanliness: A
Ambiance: A But I like it looking like a mountain not like a shopping center
Customer Service: A- staff is pleasant
Apre Ski: NA There is none
Food: A- food id quite good
Parking: D lots are poorly laid out and too muddy/icy
Ski School: A-
Snow Making: A-
Accessibility: A-
Daily Ticket Prices: A-
Season Pass Prices: A-
OVERALL: A-
Comments: Steep runs are a bit short, and skiing top to bottom is only theoretically possible. But there is a good variety of terrain. I skiied 14 days with basically no natural snow and it was decent or good every time. It is in the adirondack park, so everything is very simple, which we like, no neon. Easy to drive to, but parking can be an issue, especially when lots are muddy or icy.
I didn't mean to negate the need, I was just saying that I've not experienced it. I would not have thought of putting it on a list of features for a ski area. It seems that I'm in a minority.
Yikes, GoldMember, if that is true, then why do people always choose it over Whitefish? I'd hate to have you critique this place.
I may be guilty of being a jaded local. All around, I really like Schweitzer but, like anything else, given enough time and exposure and you can find the weaknesses. There are just some things that can be improved or added that would really make it much better; some with a higher cost than others. For example, the lift system in the Colburn Bowl is kind of weak, although it's much better than it was 10 years ago before the six-pack went in. That's a high cost item. An example of a low cost improvement would be opening Chair 2 (Musical Chairs) which serves beginners and condo commuters from below the lodge at 8:00 instead of 8:30. Management was pushing for breakfast business in the main lodge (which I would take advantage of at times) but won't start the lift early enough to make it work for people coming up from below. It's not just condo dwellers either, there is a general parking area down there too. If I get on the lift at 8:30, it's straight to the upper chairs to get the fresh. No breakfast. I wrote an email to them with that suggestion (a few times over the years) and have never received a reply (customer service faux pas). At times on a powder day, they can't get Chair 2 open on time (why is beyond me) and we end up missing out on getting to the new snow before it gets fairly tracked. I could park above but that's $15 I don't want to spend nor do I want to unbury my car, lose my condo parking spot, or deal with it all at the end of the day. Did I mention I may be jaded? And spoiled?
Anyway, there are some other more personal issues regarding some treatment of a good friend of mine that I won't get into but, suffice it to say, the mountain's great, I love skiing there, and anyone coming to ski wouldn't really notice what I'm critical of in that other regard. There are just some items that have turned me off a bit regarding just a few people's decisions that I thought were short-sighted. Maybe I'm a little harsh on some of my grades but I think they're reasonably objective.
As for coming to WFM, we're intending to try and include it in a show for next season, the same one that the Gathering will be shot for. I haven't been to Big Mtn. for probably close to 20 years and look forward to skiing it again. I have good memories of it and am anxious to revive some of them.
RESORT/SKI AREA: Sugar Bowl (North Lake Tahoe)
Terrain: A -- good variety when snow is good and you can ski off trail, but trees are not as widely spaced as I would like. It is a "medium-size" resort by Tahoe standards at 1,500 acres.
Terrain Park: I don't know -- it looks good to me but I don't spend much time there
Grooming: C -- I don't think grooming quality is a priority for this mountain. The quantity is fine, but the quality is poor.
Lift Design: B+ -- One has to do a lot of traversing to get variety, but the mountain is kind of spread out and more lifts are probably not justified by the number of skiers (all the key lifts are detachable quads, which is great).
Cleanliness: A
Ambiance: A -- not flashy or swanky, but very nice with some old school charm
Customer Service: A
Apre Ski: I live an hour away and just do day trips, so I don't know on this one. It is pretty close to Truckee but I don't think there is much going on on top of Donner Summit.
Food: A
Parking: A+ -- I often park where I am only about 20 steps from where I put on my skis and then can sometimes ski right down beside my car at the end of the day.
Ski School: B -- They offer free 2-hour group lessons and I have had great instructors and poor ones. Since it is free I just bail when I don't like the instructor.
Snow Making: C -- But this usually is not a problem because SB gets more snow than most Tahoe resorts.
Accessibility: A+ -- For those of us who live on the west side (Sacramento and foothill towns along the 80), it is about 30 minutes closer than Squaw and Northstar on a good driving day and much closer on a heavy snow day. The 80 freeway is very well maintained but there are a few too many idiot drivers that have slowed my commute back home a couple times.
Daily Ticket Prices: A -- One of the lowest daily rates of the "major" Tahoe resorts.
Season Pass Prices: A- -- Pretty good prices but not as good as Northstar and Squaw.
OVERALL: A-
Comments: I am very satisfied with Sugar Bowl in terms of overall value and especially proximity. The mountain has more flat sections than I would like and the tree skiing is not the greatest due to most of the tree areas being too dense, but I heard they are doing some thinning of certain sections before next season. It is not a huge mountain but offers a very good variety of terrain with plenty of stuff that will challenge 99% of skiers out there. It has a mellow style and feels like a "local" resort as it is not really an international destination resort.
RESORT/SKI AREA: Crystal Mountain WA
Terrain: A- expert skiing, A- intermediat, and B- for beginers. Good variation of terrian with lots of room to spread out.
Terrain Park: C- some rails and box's but really not much compared to a lot of big resorts
Grooming: B+ most places on the mountain that can be groomed vare groomed every weekend, mid week not so much
Lift Design: A+ lots of highspeed quads that do a good job of spreading skiers out, even on a crowded day
Cleanliness: A very clean
Ambiance: A- beautiful view of mt rainier and the cascades at the summit, nice timber lodge at the top of forest queen
Customer Service: B Depends on the day, waited one time on a busted lift for 45 minuts, then got $15 coupon, I will let you decide what that means
Apre Ski: F, there is hardly any building developement due to national park restricions,
Food: B average for your ski resort, has the regular bugurs and overpriced chinese
Parking: B+ parking at base is limited, but there are many lots nearby and they do a good job at shuttleing people quickly and efficiantly
Ski School: great deals if you are just starting, otherswise I dont know much about the ski school
Snow Making: B only at a select few spots, like at the base, not much snow is man made at crystal
Accessibility: B- it is about 45 minuts from the nearest significant town, 2 hours from Seattle, and an hour and half from seatac airport, lets just say it is not Saltlake
Daily Ticket Prices: C- just added in Gondola but you gave to pay an extra price (70 up front or 65 online) regular tickets baought online are 60, front desk 65
Season Pass Prices: since the resort was bought by boyne, a lot of lifts have been upgraded, gondola was put in and a longer season was negotiated with the park, but prices also went up disproportionatly, but if you buy a pass in the spring you can get it for around 600
OVERALL: A- pretty good all around, the best in washington,
Comments: Backcountry is good, lots of runs and decent run from top to bottom (3000 ft). good proportion of blacks to blues to greens, easy to move around the mountain. great place on a powder day!
Not really my home area but I'll have a pop
RESORT/SKI AREA: Squaw Valley
Terrain: A- (Not awesome for trees)
Terrain Park: Probably a C as no pipe all season
Grooming: C- Not their finest skill
Lift Design: C Legacy of the Cushing resort "non design"
Cleanliness: C (no obvious junkies shooting up on the lifts or crack houses visible except for the old Unoffical House0
Ambiance: B+ Bit of a vibe but I guess the bro-brah stuff might get a bit intimidating for tourists
Customer Service: C
Apre Ski: C hard for any N American Resort to score high on this. - Stick up a big umbrella bar with live bands on the flats by the bottom of Sibo and we'll talk
Food: C
Parking: B (likely to trend toward a D)
Ski School: B look competent to me
Snow Making: F
Accessibility: C (mainly traffic related)
Daily Ticket Prices: D
Season Pass Prices:A - perhaps a little too cheap
OVERALL: Everyone who like Squaw knows what they like and doesn't really care about the rest. Kinda conflicts with KSL's positioning a bit though.
RESORT/SKI AREA: Mt Rose (Lake Tahoe)
Terrain: A-, Good beginner, advanced, & expert terrain, not to mention the chutes. But they could use more intermediate terrain
Terrain Park: D , Not much in the way of terrain park but it could have been the bad snow year.
Grooming: A+, On a bad snow year, the grooming crew did a great job to farm snow.
Lift Design: B+ Pretty tough to know what to do with lifts on a windy day, but they do a good job, all things considered.
Cleanliness: A+
Ambiance: n/a Mt Rose is a ski mountain, not a resort.
Customer Service: A, They go above and beyond the call of duty to make things easy for the skiers
Apre Ski: C , The bar(s) at WinterCreek Side and main side are nice at the end of the day but restaurants are not on site(other than the cafeteria)
Food: A+ The food is reasonably priced and a nice variety, cafeteria style, but not typical cafeteria food. LOVE the Enchiladas!
Parking: B+ Free parking is good, and easy to get to on both the main side and WinterCreek side, but on busy weekends, the upper lots can be interesting to walk from. Did I mention - Free Parking?
Ski School: A Bob Bush has a special skill for running the ski school and has a staff with some veteran ski instructors that are pretty darn incredible
Snow Making: A On a bad snow year Mt Rose did a great job of opening terrain and keeping it open.
Accessibility: B-, Only 30 minutes from Reno but the twisty mountain road may be interesting for someone who's not accustomed to driving in snow. But then you're skiing in the Mountains, right?
Daily Ticket Prices: A+ Mt Rose offers some of the best deals on lift tickets in the Tahoe area.
Season Pass Prices: A Season package deals are inexpensive
OVERALL: A-
Comments: One thing I'd add to the scorecard is "mountain programs". Mt Rose has a Senior Program and Ladies Day Program, that are offered with special lift ticket pricing and clinic groups that are great. Both programs benefit skiers and snowboarders with technical instruction, & confidence building in a great social environment.
