This review is targeted at skiers/snowboarders. While the location of the resort is very picturesque and the main village itself is cozy and nice to relax at, overall Northstar is totally not worth your time. Here’s why. For starters, the runs are not overwhelmingly great. Blacks feel like blues, blues feel like greens, and greens are cakewalks. The runs do not offer much of a challenge for the experienced skier/snowboarder. The only thing the mountain does particularly well is provide good trees to ride through. However, many people don’t stick to doing that the whole time and spend a large portion of their time on main runs—which to say are busy…is an extreme understatement. Every run seems to be filled with everyone from experienced riders to people who take up the entire run performing an s-turn. Secondly, the resort gets more and more crowded each year. Don’t get me wrong, when I first came here I was looking forward to going on many runs and having a great time with the people I was with. Suffice to say, the majority of the memories I have from that trip were sitting in line waiting for lifts. Do NOT expect to come here and not deal with huge lines. It’s simply unavoidable. The resort just doesn’t have the capacity to deal with the crowds it attracts. Third, the customer service of the workers at the resort is awful. I try to have sympathy for them, maybe it’s just the fact that they are being overworked because of the sheer number of people at Northstar each day. But at the end of the day, their service still isn’t good and they consistently seem to have negative attitudes. Finally, and arguably most importantly, everything is so so overpriced. And I mean EVERYTHING. From food to apparel to lift tickets. On top of having to deal with crowds both on lifts and on the runs, poor customer support, and generally underwhelming runs, you’re having to pay up to twice as much for a lift ticket or pass as you would at another resort. Overall, if you can go to another resort, just go. Northstar is overrated and overpriced.
Nick Petersen via Google reviews
Category: Northstar
“Expect to be treated as a wallet and not as a customer”
Overall you won’t get what you paid for and it will often be disappointing. Generally this is my least favorite Tahoe destination. This resort is nice in appearance but is overall poorly run. Expect to be treated as a wallet and not as a customer. New and temporary staff generally are not helpful, veterans are generally ambivalent. Staff can also be hostile and aggressive as well which is generally a sign of problems within management. I understand visitors can also be difficult and the staff will certainly make you’re aware as they voice their complaints.
Blaine Schanfeldt via reviews at Google
“Outrageously scandalous”
The winter lift ticket on Sat Dec 23 was sold $256 for having not even half of the slopes open. Outrageously scandalous.
Roger Deballe via Google Reviews
Lift kept stopping every 2 minutes. $200+ for a day lift ticket is outrageous and having to pay for parking also is lame
neglsha n via Google Reviews
Slopes were not well groomed. Too much powder and difficult to ski. Many lifts were not open for the $269 price. Also, this is the first place that did not provide a veteran discount. They said they give military discount for season passes but not daily passes.
Richard L via TripAdvisor
Horrible conditions right now due to lack of snow. Very few runs and even fewer lifts open. Even if you bought an Epic pass, do not throw good money after bad by wasting $$S on lodging and parking. Better off flying to a resort with snow. Will update if conditions improve.
Kevin G. via Yelp
A Racket to put simply. Bought two days, our passes did not work both days. Waited in line several hours. Employees were extremely rude and none of them even tried to speak English. Insane for the price! This place has went downhill so fast
Nolan S. via Yelp
Really subpar experience today with low snow levels, tons of moguls even on blues (blacks are impossible), and shrubbery peeking out everywhere. Trails need to be groomed or at least they could try with some snow machines to make more snow. The resort was extremely crowded and the rentals took almost 2 hours. The rental system of having groups serviced by one personnel makes no sense and groups of 3 or more end up taking extremely long. The gondola experience for new visitors to the resort who have skis is extremely stressful and staff do not care to help. We barely made it into the gondola and it seems unnecessary to be stressed before you even hit the slopes. I had higher expectations for a Tahoe resort after living in LA for many years going to Big Bear. I will be going to other resorts in the future.
Jenny M. via Yelp
Way too crowded to be enjoyable. Too many people going way too fast on greens/blues with no one enforcing slow zones.
E M. via Yelp
Very disappointed in the group lessons. I booked 6 full day group lessons for ages 7-14. Cost about $400 each. Check in was at 8:45. After an hour and half later, and standing in two different lines (we were not even renting gear) the kids were checked in. The instructor was rude and short with the kids. There was a total of 11 in the group with one instructor. When they came back, all said they never wanted to do it again and it was miserable. My 8 year old was crying. They barely skied and mainly stood around. Flat out, was not an enjoyable experience. The instructor was just plain rude.
Shay O. via Yelp
Year after year they raise prices and provide less and less.
Am A. via Yelp
Lunatic Ski Instructor Whacks Snowboarder On Jump With Pole
“I will no longer renew our EpicPass”
My entire family has the EpicPass and we’ve stayed at Catamount several times. I really really wanted to like Northstar but my experience this week has sourced on me even before the 2023/2024 ski season started, and therefore I will no longer renew our EpicPass this year. Instead, I’m going to get the entire family on Ikon Pass next time.
Kevin C. via Yelp
Here’s the story. Northstar had originally planned to open on Nov 17th so I booked lodging for the family starting on Nov 20th. But because of the warm weather this year, they cancelled the opening date. It would seem that they should be able to make plenty of snow by the end of the week (good 10 day forecast), so I asked them to move my reservation to Nov 23rd. But then the service lady told me 1) I can only move the date once and 2) there’s no way they will open up in the next coming few weeks, and I better book something much later in the year.
That caused a lot grief for me because all of my free vacation dates for 2023/2024 are completely packed. I spent a whole day trying to cancel my other vacation plans (with heavy financial penalties) just so I could re-use my Northstar lodging credits. Then guess what? A few days later, I got the news: Northstar is opening up on Nov 23. Great. Just great.
When you keep flip-flopping on your customers, giving them wrong information, and ripping them off with this ridiculous no refund policy– don’t expect them to come back ever again.
WSJ: The 100 Best Ski Resorts in the U.S. and Canada
Epic Failure with Epic Flexpay: A Vail Experience
I’d like to take a moment to share my recent and utterly frustrating experience with Vail Resorts’ payment system, specifically the “epic flexpay” option. While the idea of purchasing Epic pass 6-day tickets sounded appealing, the execution left me more than disappointed. It’s one of those experiences that leaves you questioning whether the service you’re trying to utilize is really worth the hassle.
The Beginning of the Trouble
The system flatly denied my application, citing a freeze on my credit report. As someone with an excellent credit score, this was both baffling and annoying. However, I played by their rules and lifted the freeze with Equifax, only to be met with further disappointment.
Unspecified Failure
After complying with their request and trying to process the application again, I was met with an infuriatingly vague rejection: “Thank you for your application. Unfortunately, we can’t process your application because we need additional information from you.” What additional information? Why was this not specified? These questions were left unanswered.
A Pathetic Experience
I’m left to conclude that Vail’s credit payment system is as pathetic as the rest of the services they offer. The entire process was marred by a lack of transparency and a user experience that feels disconnected from modern practices. I consider myself a patient person, but this episode has worn thin on my nerves.
Conclusion
It is my suspicion that Vail’s “Epic Flexpay” is nothing more than a “click and bait” scheme, a facade to lure customers with the promise of “0% APR, 0 down payment.” What they don’t tell you is that these attractive terms are nearly impossible to access, and you may find yourself having to pay in full or with a far less appealing “15% APR.” This experience has left me feeling deceived and disappointed.
The mountain might be epic, but the payment experience is anything but. Vail, if you happen to come across this, please know that transparent and honest business practices go a long way in building trust with your customers. I hope you take this feedback seriously and make the necessary changes to ensure that future customers don’t fall into the same trap.
“Not worth the lift ticket prices”
Rude personnel, extremely strict rules… inconsistent feedback from people working here regarding the resort rules.
Not worth the lift ticket prices and f**k vail resorts altogether
This place is an absolute nightmare! Do not come here unless you want to wait in line for a shuttle for over an hour minimum and wait to park your car for an hour as well. Just parking your car will make you wanna leave it’s so chaotic. Have fun looking at the backside when you arrive, there’s fresh powder everywhere, however they won’t open it and force feed everyone into lines once you hit the front side. It’s honestly the worst resort I’ve ever been to. Just a giant trap to take your money away from you. Oh and when it’s time to leave be prepared to wait in another hour line to get back to your car and then another hour to leave. Avoid at all costs
2 hours to download from village to parking lot. 100+ people line built up from 3:30 to 4 waiting on first bus. Supply trucks were dangerously pulling in and out through the queue of people. Cutting left and right with no direction. Total mess.
No lights in the pitch black parking lot at 6 pm to top it off. This resort needs a total overhaul on customer service and parking functionality. Frankly unacceptable from an upper level management perspective. They have the $$ to do it right.
Don’t come here unless you stay on site. 4x Epic Pass holder. Heavenly and Kirkwood are visitor friendly.
After paying for very EXPENSIVE ticket during Christmas, we were informed by staff that the mountain is closed for the day due to safety reason and extreme weather, after only less than 2 hours of total time spent at the resort. When asking about partial refund or credit, nothing was offered and staff told us that “this situation happens frequently at the resort”.
Source: Google reviews
“They tweet the mountain is 100% open.. BS”
36″ fresh snow and they tweet the mountain is 100% open. On arrival, nothing could be further from the truth. One gondola open to access the mountain and a two hour wait. Only two lifts open at mid.mountain. Meanwhile, exasperated punters filling the Vail Resorts coffers buying food and drink in the village while they wait. Cynical BS by Northstar/Vail. Cash cow in the short term, but these people will not return & they will tell others. Terrible experience.
OP via Google reviews
“Come to this resort if you would prefer to sit in your car rather than skiing”
Come to this resort if you would prefer to sit in your car rather than skiing. If you come on a Saturday-Sunday at least, that is all you will do. 2+ hour bumper to bumper traffic delay over 8 miles backed up from the resort on 1/21 (all entirely resort traffic) – they sell WAY more lift tickets and passes than people they can fit on the mountain or their infrastructure will allow. This was with an original departure time that should have had us to the parking lot over a half hour before opening. And good luck getting any customer service for all your wasted efforts and money – if they already have your money via Epic Pass or prepaid lift ticket, they couldn’t care less what experience you have from there. Many Tahoe resorts suffer capacity issues, but nowhere to the extremes of Northstar. If you do get in (we gave up today at least after 4 hours of trying) the skiing itself is average at best – better snow and better runs elsewhere.
Tyler Knox via Google reviews
NorthStar California Sucks | VailEpicFail 