Ski Area Report Card 2012 Edition - Page 2

You are getting very close to 30k in posts......will there be a party? ; )

Its where I went the most this season so I guess it's home...

RESORT/SKI AREA: Wachusett Mountain

Terrain: C- : nothing really challenging, but best in eastern massachusetts

Terrain Park: N/A:  i dont go in there but its always packed and the kids seem to have a good time - lots of features from what i could tell

Grooming: A: they do a great job 2x a day

Lift Design: B: good lift system, but the lifties dont really do the best job in managing the lines

Cleanliness: B+

Ambiance: C-: not much going on, although the black diamond bar has some good beers and eats

Customer Service: A: always friendly and helpful to me

Apre Ski: C-: see ambiance

Food: B+: good food at decent prices (for a ski area)

Parking: A: (was a slow season and I didnt go on weekends, but always was within 8 rows of the lodge)

Ski School: N/A

Snow Making: A: they did an amazing job, especially given the weather this year

Accessibility: A: right off route 2; easy from boston

Daily Ticket Prices: N/A (i had a season pass)

Season Pass Prices:~$240 for a Bronze pass (5 days x 7 nights)

OVERALL: 

B:  

Comments:

cant beat the WA for eastern massachusetts after work turns 

Quote:

Originally Posted by alta6 

You are getting very close to 30k in posts......will there be a party? ; )

I'm not sure if its worthy of a party or a flogging.  I'm actually embarrassed .......yet here I am replying and adding another number to the post count. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoldMember 

Hey TrekChick - [momentary thread hijack]Do you know Bob Howard?  He lives in Reno and skis at Mt. Rose.  

I know a few Bob's, not sure if I know Bob Howard.    Most of my ski days this past season were split between Mt Rose and Northstar.......Since Philpug took Northstar on the report card,  I thought I'd share some of the love of Mt Rose.  

One more thing then we'll get off the hijack....

We did a ski demo day at Mt Rose during the Tahoe Gathering  (February 28th).  Mt Rose ended up getting the most revisits, (shared with Squaw) after the official Bear Ski Day during the gathering.  It truly is an unsung gem in the Tahoe region. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by GoldMember 

 

This is Bob.  He's a former 3 time world cup champion in ballet skiing.  He's been on a few film trips with us and is a really good guy.  He's an old buddy and former competitor with a friend of mine that I ski with a lot.  

 

  

 

 

[/hijack]

 

On another note [hijack] I see you and Philpug have been introduced to the Shotz Ski.  That's the product of another friend I ski with who we lovingly refer to as Evil Elf.  Good times!  [/hijack....again]

I've met Bob but didn't get to know him.  I'll have to change that. 

I'll also make sure to bring the Shotz Ski to Montana next season. 

RESORT/SKI AREA: Big Sky 

Terrain: A - Plenty for everyone from ski school to bring your shovel and avi-beacon.

Terrain Park: n/a

Grooming: B - Enough but does not seem to be a priority - not the powdery grooming of a place like Deer Valley

Lift Design: A - Easy to get around.

Cleanliness: B - As good as most but nothing to write home about

Ambiance: A - Views make it better than most.

Customer Service: B - It's not Disney but they seem to try to make you feel welcome. Frankly in my experience few provide EXCELLENT service.

Apre Ski: C - Average in quality but limited in variety  Bring you own party.

Food: C -  If a C is AVERAGE then it describes the food selection.

Parking: B

Ski School: A  - I consider the adult program to be very good and my kids had a great experience there 15 years ago. My guess is it's still good for the kids and facilities work well for families keeping track of young ones.

Snow Making: B - Enough to get the season started and everything else is natural.

Accessibility: B - OK by air but a long way for most folks to drive.

Daily Ticket Prices: B - Expensive but about right for a mountain this size.

Season Pass Prices: C - High compared to some like Vail but about average compared to some others.

OVERALL: B+

Comments: I feel I'm over scoring to make my grades and comments fit with the others listed previously. If C=Average then most ski resorts can not be Above Average in almost every category. We all like our home mountain but be serious, not every mountain can have A or B category terrain.

(If there is a category that is non applicable, reply N/A)

Please edit the above to include RESORT = Big Sky

Quote:

Originally Posted by steveturner 
If C=Average then most ski resorts can not be Above Average in almost every category.

 

This is a Lake Woebegone survey - all are above average

Quote:

Originally Posted by vsirin 

This is a Lake Woebegone survey - all are above average

Where all the women are strong, the men are good looking and the ski resorts are above average. 

Sounds like you like Bariloche.  Care to elaborate?

Quote:

Originally Posted by James Sumner 

RESORT/SKI AREA: Bariloche, Argentina

Terrain: A

Terrain Park: A

Grooming: A

Lift Design: A  

Cleanliness: A

Ambiance: A

Customer Service: A

Apre Ski: A

Food: A

Parking: A 

Ski School: A

Snow Making: A

Accessibility: A

Daily Ticket Prices: A

Season Pass Prices:A

OVERALL:  This place is good for everyone!

 

Comments: 

RESORT/SKI AREA: Alta, Utah

Terrain: A

Terrain Park: doesn't have one

Grooming: A (for lack of it. I like it natural. Other people might give an F)

Lift Design: A (love the small # of lifts. makes you hike or traverse some to get the good stuff)

Cleanliness: A

Ambiance: A

Customer Service: A (Many of the same employees year after year)

Apre Ski: C

Food: B+

Parking: A- 

Ski School: A

Snow Making: B (enough to get the season going)

Accessibility: A

Daily Ticket Prices: B (fairly low by industry standards)

Season Pass Prices: B (higher than some, less than others)

Snow: A+

OVERALL: A

Comments: Alta has it's detractors, but to me it is the best. Plus my wife loves skiing there, so that makes my life easier.

RESORT/SKI AREA:  So. Cal. local mountain comparison.

Bear Mountain(BM), Mountain High(MH) - Includes "East", Snow Summit(SS)

About Me: Age: 50, Skier Ability: upper intermediate/advance(?), Years skiing: ~25, Ski Days ~12 a year.

Terrain(BM): B, Mostly low intermediate terrain with one good long upper intermediate/advance run

Terrain(MH): B+, Mostly low intermediate terrain with one good short upper intermediate/advance run and a few good long intermediate runs

Terrain(SS): B+, Mostly low intermediate terrain with one good short upper intermediate/advance run and a few good long intermediate runs

Terrain Park(BM): Don't really know...

Terrain Park(MH): Don't really know...

Terrain Park(SS): Don't really know...

Grooming (BM): B+

Grooming (MH): B-, More grooming on West would be good

Grooming (SS): A-

Lift Design (BM): B, Geronimo is too slooowwwwww

Lift Design (MH): B+, Need more lifts on West!!

Lift Design (SS): A-

Cleanliness (BM): ?, I don't really pay attention to this

Cleanliness (MH): ?, I don't really pay attention to this

Cleanliness (SS): A, I'm commenting here because they have a lodge/bathroom at the top that I use instead of going to the bottom of the mountain...

Ambiance (BM): A-, Mountain is spread out pretty good so most people are in a good mood

Ambiance (MH): C+, People can get irritated easily in the lift line(s) on West

Ambiance (SS): A-, Love the music(classic rock) playing on the "Wall"

Customer Service (BM): A-, Attendees do a pretty good job

Customer Service (MH): C+, Need better lift line attendees on some of their lifts

Customer Service (SS): B-, I've had a few too many rude attendees but a couple of cool ones too

Apre Ski (BM): B+, Outdoor bar is pretty cool place to hang out

Apre Ski (MH): B-, Nothing special

Apre Ski (SS): A-, Lodge at top and bottom is pretty good

Food (BM): ?, Not sure. I only get beer than take off...

Food (MH): ?, Not sure. I only get beer than take off...

Food (SS): ?, Not sure. I only get beer than take off...

Parking (BM): B-, Lot fills up fast

Parking (MH): B+, If you park at East it's easier

Parking (SS): B-, Usually long walk to ski area

Ski School(BM): Don't really know...

Ski School(MH): Don't really know...

Ski School(SS): Don't really know...

Snow Making (BM): B

Snow Making (MH): B, this would be higher if East had more snowmaking

Snow Making (SS): A-

Accessibility (BM): B-, Pain in the ass to get up there!!

Accessibility (MH): A, Really easy to get to and roads are almost always OPEN

Accessibility (SS): B-, Pain in the ass to get up there!!

Daily Ticket Prices (BM): B, Prices are OK for what you get

Daily Ticket Prices (MH): A-, Easier to get deals here

Daily Ticket Prices (SS): B, Prices are OK for what you get

Season Pass Prices (BM): ?, Not really sure. I don't ski one place enough to want one

Season Pass Prices (MH): ?, Not really sure. I don't ski one place enough to want one

Season Pass Prices (SS): ?, Not really sure. I don't ski one place enough to want one

OVERALL (BM): B, Less people on the runs I like :o)

OVERALL (MH): B, If East is open than "A-"

OVERALL (SS): B+, Overall, I prefer this place the best

Thanks for the nice review on Mt. Rose Trekchik, I will not be quite as Politically Correct in my review of Mt. Rose, but I do really enjoy (llllovvve) the place and think it has continued to grow in a reasonable path over the last decade+ and it can really shine when mother nature endows her with great snow. At its location in the NW corner of the Tahoe basin with base lodge elevation of 8,250 and summit lift elevation of 9,560, it doesn't consistently get the natural snow bounty and consistency of the Sierra crest, and is subject to wind scowering especially early season, oh well the front side groomers have all been shaped to hold snow and operate on about 16" of base. when it does snow its usually light powder, and at times can rival Utah. Some spring seasons have ended on powder days with almost no corn skiing, never have to worry about the slush of the lower elevation areas.

RESORT/SKI AREA: Mount Rose

Terrain: B+ What mother nature gave them, is pretty good, with 1,294 Mt. Rose frontside vertical, 1,283 vertical on Slide side and 1590 vertical to the Chuter lift. 

Front Side expert groomers compete with any area in the Tahoe Basin for sustained vertical. The Chutes offer a working vertical that modestly competes with KT22 although with less exposure and diversify. The altitude and slope combine for some of the best expert powder skiing in the Tahoe basin as well. Some of the chutes can be pretty good with modest amounts of snow, others can destroy your skis so until things get filled in keep the rock skis handy for the chutes. This year that point was near the end of March other years its been about New Years. Closing day in 2011 May 15, the front chute runs of Detonater/Fuse/Charge were like a highway with the bountiful snowfall. This year they required picking your way through rocks and trees, which in itself adds to the challenge.  Loyalists will hike them on a big year into Forth of July. On powder days the Resort generally concludes A/C about 10 to 11. When they give a late opening estimate tome on the sign-boards and open them early, they avoid people lining up at the gates, one of the few downers of the area, because someone always miss-behaves, the soft openings are nice. same issue at any resort with a major City near by like Salt Lake/Alta/Snowbird. There is a bit of a gap in pitch from the beginner run Around the world to the intermediate run Kit Carson and some skiers find this tough to progress, I'll discuss this at the end.

The only negative with the layout is the Mt. Rose frontside runs end up in the Ponderosa beginner run, I'm OK with navigating through the beginners but hopefully when they do the Atoma expansion this will minimize entry level skiers from being terrorized with fast skiers bombing the bottom to the Northwest lift.

Terrain Park:C+ Just not their thing (or mine), some small kickers and features Ponderosa, Some intermediate features on Badlands, and when snow allows a few big jumps on Lower Double down or Mine Shaft. Will never compete with Northstar because they don't have the acerage to dedicate to Freeriding features.

Grooming: B This may seem like a low mark but it goes hand in hand with snowmaking. When there is snow, they do a good job, when not, how good can grooming be? see the snowmaking section for more insight. When the place is busy, you can see a three foot plus degradation from traffic, same at other areas (kind of a curse of high-speed/capacity lifts)

Lift Design:A/D The A grade; The layout meets the needs of a medium size ski area near a metropolitan community, You don't build a church to fit the Easter Sunday crowd, on bluebirds it can be over run with crowds, but because the two main lifts are high speed six-packs that have top speed of 5 meters/second, the lift lines move and midweek you can get up to nine runs an hour when its quiet, and be jello legged by noon. Even with crowds, late in the day it quiets down and you can enjoy the end of the day runs. The Chuter is a recover lift back to the Blazing Zephyr lift on the Slide side, The combination allows for three runs in the Chutes an Hour. The layout prevents the Chutes from being skied to the ground on powder days and early season, no need for a continuous lift.

The D grade; An unfortunate lift miss-hap on Blazing Zephyr lift in 2011 has led to a policy confirmed in 2012 that the high speed lifts will close as soon as wind speeds exceed 35 mph with non-direct wind direction. In 2011/12 this led to about 15 days where the resort pulled the plug and announced a closure by 7:30 am. A few of those days were no-question you had to be closed, but others were business decisions. Another 8 or so days saw the area close as the winds picked up. Hopefully some engineering by the Doppelmayr team can rebuild these lifts to have better wind range and get some additional operation when other areas are running high elevation lifts and Mt. Rose closes to be on the safe side. This is a major issue and needs to be addressed to retain passholders who are flocking to other Tahoe resorts or buying multiple passes. The potential of Mt Rose is amazing if you look below the base areas, but also a paradox. On a topo map, the Slide Side slopes continue to the Washoe Valley Floor, at Davis Creek Park or 4,400 vertical feet. With the new I580 highway extension, the area could create a portal and transport lift from the valley floor to Winter's Creek Lodge, (OK nice pipe dream), and eliminate the drive up the highway to the base lodge. The reality is that the resort sits in the Carson Range and storms just peter out below Winter's Creek lodge and in ten years you may get one year you can ski to Davis Creek (more than perhaps a few days all season. 2010/11 was one of the years people did). Skiing to the Forest Service road at 6,800 fee is much more constantly covered and maybe the area would consider a fixed lift down into Winter's Creek canyon that could run 20+days a year. Hard plans to remove the Ponderosa and Galena fixed lifts and replace them with a high-speed quad are welcome and should improve the beginner/low intermediate experience and tie in with the Atoma development plan. Another possibility would be to take over Sky Tavern which is a volunteer run facility from the fifties owned by the City of Reno. There is some good terrain with about 500 vertical that serves beginners to advanced and this could be integrated with one of the new Gondola/chairlift combination lifts to the Mt. Rose base lodge. Combining with the current plans, you could ski from the top of the planned Lakeview Chair extension all the way to the Sky Tavern base lodge, or 1,700 continuous vertical of low intermediate to beginner terrain. the results would be a better utilized Sky tavern and a place to ski when winds shut down the summit six-packs. Certainly a better return for what will be planned skier bridges over SR 431 and what on paper is a kind of a limited use shag-back lift to the main area. My two cents+ anyway in public forum! The potential for the resort is large and it could be done without loosing the nice vibe the resort has now. Just like every other Tahoe area, more skiable acerage is the key to improving the experience and IMHO overdue given the sophistication of the sport.

Cleanliness: A The area is kept up well, no trash in the lot, the dining areas and rest rooms are always kept up.

Ambiance: The old Slide lodge had that old 60/70's home theme that can never be replaced, The new Winter's Creek lodge is very nice nut seats no more than the old lodge, but was themed for summer events and weddings. Subsequently you get China and Silverware with lunch Vs Paper and plastic at the Main lodge, a plus!

Customer Service: A Friendly staff, many retuning year to year

Apre Ski: A two nice bars at each lodge with nice draft selection

Food: A Improved over the last few years. Passholders get a fair discount as well

Parking: A Just be early, you will park in the upper lots if you show up on a bluebird weekend. If early you can park just a few feet from the lift on Slide which opens at 8:30 most days. occasionally they get a freak storm and have delays clearing the Slide lodge, hey at least it snowed!

Ski School: A traditional style and programs. Could be expanded if combined with the Volunteer program on the Sky Tavern slopes (see above thoughts).

Snow Making: D--- Unfortunately they are not in the same league as Vail resorts. Plans for expansion with additional detention ponds and lines are in place. They use a completely airless system and currently only can blanket the Kit Carson Traverse/Bowl/Ponderous loop. Reno deserves better. Dedicated waterlines down Northwest, Bonanza, and completing Silver Dollar so that by Christmas you have these four wall to wall runs that can handle the traffic of a busy day, its what people expect. Raise the pass price $200.00 a person and make it happen. This year they did a good job blanketing the KC loop early but the guns were off after Christmas break and all the groomer runs but KC were impossible to ski without significant base/edge damage until the snows landed in march. UNACCEPTABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!@! Fix the source problems, infrastructure and make some snow!!!!!!@! Moving snow around is no good if the main groomers are skied to rocks within half an hour of opening!!!!!@! Skiing rock skis till march is no fun.

Accessibility: C Thousands of people clog the Mt. Rose Highway every day getting there from Reno and Incline, A new entrance from Incline will debut this year, but there are days they run low on parking, (see my Davis Creek Portal ideas above for a solution).

Daily Ticket Prices: C Rack rate is above the total offering but they have web deals so pay attention to their website.

Season Pass Prices: A Low but I'm sure they are loosing people to Vail because of the wind holds/closures and third rate effort on snowmaking, Raise the prices and fix things!!!!!!!!@!

OVERALL: B When it snows, @#$%^&*!!! when it doesn't.

Comments: Modern resorts need to constantly improve and compete. As evil as it seems to say Vail should buy them out, it may be the only way to get things right and do the expansion properly.  Lots of Reno loves the place but many have moved on.....

My ideas for Mt. Rose fixes (to build on WashoeZephyr's)

1. Build a parallel fixed chair to Zephyr for high wind days.  Yes they have gotten too conservative on the wind holds since the accident. But 15 wind closed days a season is WAY too many. I understand you can't control the weather, but there are ways around it.

2. Davis Creek/Ophir Creek, etc.  Tremedous potential, however, snow is very inconsisent. As much as I'd like a lift going down that way, it probably won't happen, and perhaps for the best, as hiking access is pretty sweet from the resort boundaries and unspoiled by the crowds.

3. The Atomic expansion or whatever its called doesn't do much for me. Rose needs more advanced terrain, not begginer.  The majority of the Rose side is already begginer. It would nice to combine with Sky Tavern, but I've heard they're not interested.

4. A dedicated chutes chair is awsome on paper.  However, the reality is it would get skied out faster than it already does, so best to keep as it. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by JB Smoovee 

My ideas for Mt. Rose fixes (to build on WashoeZephyr's)

 

1. Build a parallel fixed chair to Zephyr for high wind days.  Yes they have gotten too conservative on the wind holds since the accident. But 15 wind closed days a season is WAY too many. I understand you can't control the weather, but there are ways around it.

 

2. Davis Creek/Ophir Creek, etc.  Tremedous potential, however, snow is very inconsisent. As much as I'd like a lift going down that way, it probably won't happen, and perhaps for the best, as hiking access is pretty sweet from the resort boundaries and unspoiled by the crowds.

 

3. The Atomic expansion or whatever its called doesn't do much for me. Rose needs more advanced terrain, not begginer.  The majority of the Rose side is already begginer. It would nice to combine with Sky Tavern, but I've heard they're not interested.

 

4. A dedicated chutes chair is awsome on paper.  However, the reality is it would get skied out faster than it already does, so best to keep as it. 

I agree with most of what you say except for the beginner terrain idea.  IIRC the expansion is to add intermediate terrain, which is actually a good idea.  I work at the ski school and found it difficult to take a student from beginner terrain to intermediate terrain, because (from a beginner's perspective) the grade of slope make a drastic jump from Pondorosa to Kit Carson, in the eyes of a beginner.  

Truth is, before instructing, I would have agreed with you entirely. 

RESORT/SKI AREA: Killington, VT. 

Terrain: A (Relative to other eastern resorts; give it a B- relative to the rest of the world)

Terrain Park: A (will include half-pipes and competitive bump slopes here because form has no other place; lot of variety and has elite level on Bear Mountain)

Grooming: B- (meh; seems to break down into hardpack quicker than some NE resorts; will also mention that natural snow is intermediate between so-so southern VT resorts and the reliable northern triad)

Lift Design: C- (not a fan of the silly amount of take-up, ski down and across traversing required. Meeting someone at another lift complex can be non-trivial.)

Cleanliness: B (better than many, worse than some)

Ambiance: D- (what can you say; it's four  separate base lodges crowded with folks who, ah, believe in claiming their space. No village, no center, no theme) 

Customer Service: A- (much better than it used to be, have done us some favors they didn't have to. Patient with folks who claim their space, see above)

Apre Ski: B- ( a few decent restaurants/bars down the road from the mountain. That's about it.)

Food: B (relative to other ski resorts; meaning a real world C-)

Parking: A (because each base lodge/lift complex has its own parking lot, you can park reasonably close, and always greeters to help with gear, kids, directions. Decentralization is a plus here)

Ski School: A- (we've had good experiences here; strong family/kid/racing programs, lot of locals, decent size classes. Not as much charm as Smuggs or existential cool as Stowe, but effective.)

Snow Making: C (for an eastern resort, snow making seems to be on a serious budget. Some areas get more than needed, most far less. The horizontal area to cover doesn't help. In the spring, you may be forced to take shuttles between base areas because the traverses die.)

Accessibility: A (day trip from Boston or Albany, easy weekend from NYC; decent road maintenance except when there's a hurricane)

Daily Ticket Prices: $86 weekend, $79 midweek. One useful 10 day "express" pass that gives you half off weekdays, quarter off weekends. 

Season Pass Prices: Silly. $1,200 for adults. The usual subcategories.

OVERALL: B

Comments: The "Beast of the East" gives you a lot of varied terrain for your buck, and staff is friendlier than legends claim. But, how to put this tactfully, too many skiers from that very large city with the greenish lady in the harbor, and the place gives signs of being financially strained. Lines - lift or food - have all the laid back ambience of midtown rush hour. Put some Ativan in the snowmakers. Keep the nice staff from South America. Pray for snow. 

 I'm all for more terrain, just wish it was better terrain.  Anything to spread people out more is good.  Rose suffers from overcrowding more than most of the Tahoe resorts. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vasudeva 

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!

I was going to write my own review for Crystal, but I think you hit it spot on! The only item I might differ on is cleanliness, because the bottom 2 floors in the lodge always smell like vomit and feces.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lateskier2012 

The only item I might differ on is cleanliness, because the bottom 2 floors in the lodge always smell like vomit and feces.

For me that would affect Ambiance as well as Cleanliness

RESORT/SKI AREA: Montana Snowbowl

Terrain: A    The Bowl isn't the steepest, but the majority of the terrain is of advanced to expert level of difficulty. Very little beginner terrain.

Terrain Park: C-    Though they did build one this year, it wasn't very impressive looking, of course I don't ski park, but I didn't hear any raves about it.

Grooming: C    Snowbowl doesn't do much grooming, the quality isn't bad, but it isn't a strong emphasis of the operation.

Lift Design: B-   Two fixed grip Riblets to get to the top, the upper lift also has the easiest terrain, so it gets clogged with beginners on weekends.

Cleanliness: B   Good, but could be better.

Ambiance: A   Down-home, unpretentious and relaxed.

Customer Service: A    I guess they must like me, I'm treated like family, of course I know better than to complain.

Apres Ski: A   The Last Run Inn (slopeside) is the bomb. Great people, great food, great beer, a real community hub. 

Food: A   Exceptional bone warming soups, and pizza from a wood-fired stone oven, all reasonably priced relative to prices in town.

Parking: B-   It can be haphazard, and muddy in the spring, but it's free, and relatively close to the lifts.

Ski School: ?   I really don't know,  but they seem to have rather successful programs, so they must be doing something right.

Snow Making: ?   Snowmaking is a very small part of the operation at Snowbowl, used to maintain coverage on lower mountain high traffic runs.

Accessibility:  B   Missoula is relatively expensive to fly to. Snowbowl road, though it has been widened significantly, still scares bad snow drivers.

Daily Ticket Prices: B    At $42 for a day pass, Snowbowl is a good deal, but there are less expensive day passes at all of the closest alternatives

Season Pass Prices: C   Full price for a full pass was $601, too much to pay if you don't plan on using it much, very little if you ski every day. Much more expensive than the three nearest areas (but then again, they aren't The Bowl! )

OVERALL:  A-

Comments: Snowbowl is a great place to ski, it's a family run operation, and as such is a bit quirky, which is part of its charm, unless you are a pampered Nancy, in which case, go to Deer Valley. 

Quote:

Originally Posted by HippieFlippinNM 

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!). 

I have to say this is a pretty cool username, from HI, with NM in the name and a nice report card. 

RESORT/SKI AREA:  Snowbasin, UT

Terrain:  A-   There is something for everyone.  Not a lot of true North facing aspects, & a little lacking in the just beyond beginner category.

Terrain Park:  N/A to me, but there seems to be a lot of features condensed into small areas that were once important thoroughfares for beginner & intermediate zone skiers.  The pipe is pretty good, & I would give the natural terrain features an A+ !

Grooming:  B  I would've given it an A a few years ago, but it seems that much of the energy has been dedicated to terrain parks & the made for TV Dew Tour event.  Perhaps things will get back to normal now that it is done.

Lift Design:  A  Four modern, high capacity, long lifts that each access a ton of terrain.  They seem to handle the traffic pretty well, even on busy days.  The older lifts could be upgraded or eliminated & replaced with different routes.

Cleanliness:  A  Always spic & span.

Ambiance:  B+  The views are spectacular & the facilities are top notch.  Sometimes things feel a little stuffy, but you can't please everyone.  The locals are genuinely friendly to out of state visitors

Customer Service:  B+  Most employees & are pretty excited about sharing the virtues of the area.

Apres Ski:  B-  There is an upscale Pub with a nice variety of libations.  Weekends with nice weather will have live entertainment on the spacious plaza.  Nothing going on after about 5pm on the mountain & Ogden is 20 minutes away.

Food:  A+  About as good as it gets in North America & the prices are fair.

Parking:  B+  The closest parking is only a couple of hundred yards from the lifts.  Once the front spots are full there are shuttles running through the lots continuously.  The only problems occur on very busy days when the regular lots fill up, pretty rare.

Ski School:  A+  Fun, versatile staff sharing a mountain with great teaching/learning terrain.

Snow Making:  B  Very sophisticated system with three high capacity wells.  With that said, it takes a lot of energy to lay down 50' of snow for a superpipe & huge gap jumps.  Much of the system is under utilized.

Accessibility:  B  Maybe better than a B, 45 minutes from SLC airport & no major passes to drive.  Chains are a non issue if you have decent tires.  No on hill lodging.

Daily Ticket Prices:  B?  $72, seems to be fair compared to others.

Season Pass Prices:  C+  Season pass prices in Utah are high compared to many others, but if you ski a lot it is worth it.

OVERALL:  A-

Comments:  This place ROCKS!  I have been here 11yrs., & still luvin' it.  Cons would be the propensity for flat light & high winds in the Strawberry section of the mountain.

Quote:

Originally Posted by 4ster 

RESORT/SKI AREA:  Snowbasin, UT

 

 

OVERALL:  A-

 

Comments:  This place ROCKS!  I have been here 11yrs., & still luvin' it.  Cons would be the propensity for flat light & high winds in the Strawberry section of the mountain.

Jim, you so under rate your mountain.  

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stranger 

Jim, you so under rate your mountain.  

Well, nobody's perfect, but the pow on the pipe deck is an A+ sometimes .

JF

Quote:

Originally Posted by vsirin 

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.

I spent one day at Elk this season.  I think your grades are about but I noted one other key feature:  Telemark skiers outnumbered snowboarders.  By a wide margin, I'd guess 3:2, or maybe even closer to 2:1.  For this feature alone, my grade was A++.  Your mileage may vary.

Quote:

Originally Posted by bgfred 

I spent one day at Elk this season.  I think your grades are about but I noted one other key feature:  Telemark skiers outnumbered snowboarders.  By a wide margin, I'd guess 3:2, or maybe even closer to 2:1.  For this feature alone, my grade was A++.  Your mileage may vary.

I think that may have had more to do with the fact that this winter only fairly hardcore snow sports participants showed up regularly. Elk gets an unusual number of telemark skiers but normally they are way outnumbered by boarders.