Author: voodoo

“It was extremely icy. Northstar is never my first choice”

I made a visit to Northstar, Jan 3rd, shocked by the parking fee $30, year before $20. I have never paid a parking fee to ski and have been skiing for 20 years, only at Northstar. I have small children and they complain the whole way to the lift and back to the car. Mt. Rose was much cheaper and chose to ski at Northstar due to windy conditions at Mt. Rose. I noticed there was chaos in the lift line on the Vista chair, people continuously cutting, 4 lanes merge to 1…what’s with that. Northstar is never my first choice, it’s the last when there are windy conditions at the other resorts.

Basil Poulopoulos via Onthesnow

Some of the staff were unexpectedly extremely rude. I was quite surprised. Before I went, they said on the phone that the snow level was great. They did not mention that this was only true given that there was of course very little snow. It was extremely icy.

Joey Smith via Onthesnow

“They don’t answer any calls”

We arrived 3 days ago and have not been able to reach front desk. They don’t answer any calls. Bed is lumpy, leak in living room so bad that we had to put a pain down, people above us are extremely loud, tried moving but not response, no one told us when our presentation was, i had to call three different places to even got a partial answer. I emailed reservations,ownership. & confirmations about all out problems sat morning the 27th. I didn’t get a call back till 415 from David, when I tried to call him back he was gone. I tried again this morning the 28th. No response, fitness center closed, I called before we came and was told it was open, and now one seems very happy with their job. We are not happy at all. I’m requesting a full refund.

Rebecca McEahern via Ontrhesnow

“This is the worst ski area I have been to”

This is the worst ski area I have been to. I have skied here off and on over the years and Northstar never fails to disappoint. Let’s begin with a few glaring weaknesses: Mountain Access/Parking: If you can afford an expensive slopeside condo, skip this section. It isn’t for you. Daytrippers park a mile from the mountain village and are shuttled on busses to the mountain village. A hundred yard walk with stairs will get you to the access lift which is an aging gondola. It is not up to the task. My day there the gondola stopped twice while I waited in line, and twice while I was on the lift. Time between parking and my first run, was over 45 minutes(unacceptable). I went straight to the lift and did not stop off for overpriced coffee and scones. I didnt even pee. Northstar has the worst mountain access of any ski resort I have visited. Period. Advanced/Expert Terrain: Most designated black runs at Northstar would be blues at other ski areas.There is no expert terrain at Northstar. Period. Expensive: Lift ticket prices are exorbitant, and in my opinion, unjustified for what you get(terrible mountain access, no Advanced/expert terrain). Food is very high priced. Enjoy washing down/choking on that $20 bowl of chili with that $15 IPA. Northstar is expensive. Period. A note on family friendliness: Northstar has touted itself as family friendly. If you are a family and can afford an expensive slopeside condo, this may not apply to you. My criteria for family friendly(I have two kids that ski): Easy mountain access, Affordability, Kid friendly programs. Northstar fails two out of three here. Dads and moms, have fun lugging your gear, your kid’s gear, associated snacks, lunches(unless you can afford $20 chili), and sundries, on the shuttle, and to the access lift. Northstar is not family friendly. Period. If you want family friendly in North Tahoe, Sugar Bowl, Mount Rose, Diamond Peak, Homewood, Tahoe Donner, and Donner Ski Ranch are better bets than Northstar. Period. Northstar is not a good ski Resort. Period.

David via Onthesnow

“The resort has serious problem with parking system and slope access”

I don’t have any objection about slopes and lifts themselves. But the resort has serious problem with parking system and slope access. Ski house is around 300 yard away from drop off point and free parking is 2 miles away from there. It takes almost 2 hours to hit the slope after entering main gate from the road. I had to carry all my ski gears from parking lot to 1st ski gondola including 2 mile shuttle ride with my ski boots on. So I had to spend half of my day just for entering and exiting the resort.

Jonghoon via Onthesnow

“15 years ago I was here.. it was the best”

15 years ago I was here.. it was the best. 15 years later, really bad food, old garage sale style condo’s, really poor snow, yet full price lift tickets $118.00. long walks to the lifts just to wait in longer lines to get on the mountain. it cost me $6,000.00 for 3 people to ski 5 days. I went to Europe and skied for much less. I really think Mammoth sucks, but compared to this place.. At least they had snow.

alan goldberg via Onthesnow

Vail resorts & specifically Northstar are horrible! We came up to ski for the day. We are family of 4 & have a 14 year old disabled son & a 17 year old snowboarder. The plan was that I would ski with the 17 year old & my husband would hang back with our disabled son. When we arrived to the resort my special needs son would not let me out of his site. My husband & I decided to switch places. He was going to ski with our older son & I was going to hang back. So as my husband was getting on the gondola they confiscated the past because his picture did not match. We had no idea that the passes were non-transferable. We figured we had two skiers and two passes. It is written in the smallest possible letters on the back of the card which why would you even think to look there? When we explained our situation to the resort they were not only rude but had zero compassion for our situation. We were treated awfully!!! I will stick with the small non corporate ski resorts where they tend to treat people with respect & don’t belittle them, especially during a difficult situation.

Carmen Petti via Onthesnow

Let me start with the parking lot first. Arrived at the parking lot at 9:39 am. Then, wait for the Shuttle bus for 1 hour and 40 minutes. Finally got to the first lift and waited 25 minutes. The second lift waited for 35 minutes. The third lift (comstock) waited for 1 hour 20 minutes. Finally got to the top of the Mountain at 1:45 pm. Waiting and waiting and waiting..

Ray Fang via Onthesnow

I can not express this enough. Do not go to Northstar. From someone you has lived in the Tahoe Area full time for the last 22 years I can, with absolute confidence, tell you that there are better experiences to have in this wonderful place. Very unhelpful staff. I arrived 08:45 on Jan. 14th 2020 to find that Northstar had decided to start charging to park this year. I drove up to a very empty parking lot and was stopped by a extremely under-prepared Northstar employee. All I had brought with me that morning was a debit card and Northstar could not accommodate me. I was forced to turn around and drive the 2 miles back down the hill to park and wait for a shuttle (Not environmentally friendly). Lazy? Poor organization? or they just don’t care? I’m not sure. I wanted to let Northstar know how they were treating guest of their resort. I called the customer service number and was informed that the process to do just that was to submit a formal complaint online and that a Manager would respond in a few days. I wish I could have had that conversation. I feel that platforms like Yelp are more like just trash talking behind someones back but they ignored me and so here I am. Patronizing Staff. After calling to find out how to express my disappointment with Northstar’s decision to start charging for parking. I mentioned to the woman that I was speaking to that I had to be at work that day at 12:30. by the time I parked, waited for the shuttle, had to walk from the furthest point they could possibly find to drop those who have had to up to this point make the longest trek, waited once again, I was only then finally able to take just one run before having to reverse the process and get to work. Her only response “HA, HA, well have a great day!”

Sam Skrocke via Onthesnow

Corporate greed at it’s height

I have been a customer of Vail for 15+ years.
We have spent close to a hundred K over that time as a customer getting Epic passes every season for our whole family, using their ski schools etc.
I lost my job and per to the refund policy I am allowed to get this seasons passes refunded.

But they have a 30 day loophole that prevents you from getting the refund.
The insurance company sends you to Epic. Epic says they have no control and send you back to the insurance company.

An absolutely DISGUSTING way to treat long term valuable customers and spread ill will about their company. They should be ashamed of themselves.

Sep 2024 • Family, Luke H – via TripAdvisor

The lack of empathy and understanding for individuals dealing with significant injuries is deeply disheartening.

During our last skiing trip to Whistler in January, my wife suffered an ACL injury, and I underwent shoulder reconstruction surgery in June of this year. As a result, I did not regularly check my email account that was used for holiday booking, I was auto-charged for the EPIC Pass for next year.

Given these circumstances, it is impossible for us to ski for the foreseeable future. Despite reaching out to the company 4-5 times over the past few months to explain our situation and requesting the cancellation of my EPIC Pass and a refund, the company’s response has been disappointing. The lack of empathy and understanding for individuals dealing with significant injuries is deeply disheartening.

Instead, they informed me that they will proceed with charging my credit card next month for the passes for me, my wife, and my children, citing the fine print in the contract.

Knowing that my wife and I are injured, the company’s lack of compassion and understanding of the stress we are going through is both immoral and unethical. We will never ski at any of the Vail Resort-operated locations again in the future.

T.L. (SoMa, San Francisco, CA) via Yelp reviews

‘It was the dirtiest rental I have ever been in’

We rented a private home at Northstar this past weekend. We paid over $700 a night for this house and it was the dirtiest rental I have ever been in. No one had been in this house for a long time there were huge spider webs in every corner of the home. When we walked though any room we were walking though huge spider webs. It took us 45 mins to try to knock them all down before anyone from Northstar even came to see. There were dead and living spiders everywhere. It was like camping outside you had to check your bed and clothes each day before getting in/ putting on. The rental was advertised with a BBQ on the deck and we rented over Father’s Day to have a Father’s Day BBQ but there was no BBQ. The front desk answer was we can go and rent BBQ space at the rec center. Still as of today the home is advertised with a BBQ. Also the front deck is falling apart with holes in the deck the front railing is about to fall. Most of the windows did not open and the ones that did had no screens on them or they were ripped. One of the sliding doors did not even lock. To say we were disappointed is an under statement. The lack of caring about these issue by the Northstar staff amazed me. We will never stay here again!!!! So not worth the money to stay in a spider infested home that was covered in dust!!!!!

Jen Silva via Google Reviews

Vail: fix your dumb payment system. Just for a change.

Another year – another moronic error produced by Vail’s Epic payment system. Perfectly valid card which I am using nationwide and worldwide. And yet another stupid payment error by Vail. This company simple cannot help itself. Vail sucks even in small details.

Screenshot