gondola – NorthStar California Sucks

“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

“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

“Do NOT go to Northstar on a weekend or holiday”

Do NOT go to Northstar on a weekend or holiday. It is absurd, ridiculous, and the ownership could not care less. Waited 45 minutes in line for bus to the village. Then greeted by an insanely long line to the gondola – at least an hour. That of course leads to long lift lines and overcrowded slopes. If this is the new normal, I find it unacceptable. And certainly NOT fun. While I drove up from the Bay Area early on Saturday, I chose to take a bus back to my car and simply drove home. Again, based upon my conversation with a manager, this is simply how it is. Pathetic in my opinion. Particularly given the price of a lift ticket.
Thomas P. Moraga, CA via Yelp

“waiting, waiting, waiting..”

This place is a great place to ski if you like waiting in line…..
waiting for parking (can take forever from 267 in the morning)
waiting for shuttle from parking lot to the village
waiting in line for tickets (except if you have season pass)
waiting in line for gondola to get up to the base (crazy packed in the morning)
waiting in line for lifts (No fast passes here)
waiting in line at the top of the lifts just to get going and once you are starting down the runs you have to deal with a lot of people on the runs, I mean it’s always crowded
I used to have season passes every year for a long time but now it’s just crazy crowded and with their new increased prices $240 per lift ticket and new pay to park reservation system I would rather go elsewhere like Kirkwood where my time is spent on the mountain instead of waiting in line after line after line. NorthStar is all about the money now judging from all the other reviewers who also say the same thing
Dr. N. San Francisco, CA 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. Lebanon, TN via Yelp

I hate Northstar I took my first lesson there and I had such a humiliating experience I truly boycott this resort. Not worth even one star
Anna E. B. Linden, CA via Yelp

Heavenly Lines

This was the end of day download line at Heavenly’s California Lodge yesterday (1/4) at 4pm. Gondola & Stagecoach lifts are closed, Gunbarrel & Roundabout trails are closed, so Gunbarrel chair & Tram lift are the ONLY way off the mountain…took nearly 2 hours of standing to get through this line, no employees in sight to assist. Bring your hand warmers, you’ll need them, and leave the powder board/skis at home…rocks are EVERYWHERE.
u/AirVaporSystems via Reddit

200 bucks a day to stand around. If you’re lucky…Heavenly said they’ll arbitrarily STOP UPLOADING at any point today to control capacity. $200 Tix + $20 Parking just to be told you CAN’T go up the lift
AirVaporSystems via Reddit

Heavenly: “Idiots running the show”

Ok I’ve been here before and it’s exceptional. Today we found that the iconic gondola was shut down. For how long? Nobody knows. It’s there infinite wisdom the Heavenly Valley intellectual juggernaut’s decided to cram everyone onto the California lodge lift. At the same time the two other lodges are closed and leaving the innate idiots that run this place to keep everyone jammed into the California lodge. This created a logjam and over 4 hour wait to get off the mountain by unfortunate patrons. Got a heart attack, broken leg or massive bled well we will get you down after we let our own employees down first. This is a perfect example of people in positions they should not be in. Having an alternative plan, alerting the public or Just using common. Sense. Perhaps these are the same fools discharged from the state department that led our glorious evacuation from Afghanistan? Either way I’m sure the trail lawyers awaited at the bottom with their salivary glands in full effect
Jim M via TripAdvisor

Visited Tahoe for the holidays and unfortunately there wasn’t much snow. You would expect reduced rates under such poor skiing conditions but instead the prices at Heavenly were outrageous. $200 for 1/2 day lift ticket, $800 for a private lesson… Fortunately I found other mountains with similar conditions and great views at much lower prices.
David B via TripAdvisor

Absolutely poor customer service. Ski resort announced opening on 17 Nov, only to delay it opening to after our trip. No refunds, poor communication. We also only found out upon arrival to Tahoe with no email notification.
Stay01608001420 via TripAdvisor

I wanted to like the experience of Heavenly, but the skiing was way too crowded especially during the weekends. It’s never fun to be at risk of bumping to a skier and have to wait until going down an entire run. On the plus side, the snow wasn’t bad and the scenery of seeing Lake Tahoe was beautiful.
Noah W via TripAdvisor

Heavenly is a corporate resort that regards skiers as profit centers while their real customers are Wall Street analysts. For spring skiing they have reduced lifts and grooming to a bare minimum. Sky lift is the one that reaches the highest altitude so it has mid year weekend lines. The trouble is this means 2 non heavy slush runs max vs 6-10 runs in winter. Grooming has been cut to almost nothing. I observed far more corduroy at Diamond Peak and Mt Rose. This made my decision on renewal for me as Northstar parking and crowds make that resort a no go. I would have renewed if spring skiing was even an average experience. By the way thanks for eliminating the ski carts at NS which has one of The most onerous walks in NA. We figure the green eye shades saved 20-25 cents per Skier visit on that one.
Willy K via TripAdvisor

I am a season pass holder with the Tahoe Local Pass. The experience here is truly disappointing. I went on a low traffic day (Monday) and the the experience really sucked. The only thing decent was the grooming. Vail resorts is run strictly by Wall Street guys and pointy pencil bean counters interested only in the bottom line. To this end they sent all of their low paid J1 visa employees packing on 3/31/23 and now they are running with a skeleton crew of locals. At least two key lifts are closed and the lines (Sky and Dipper) on a Monday were crazy at 10-15 minutes per ride. Vail resorts are the kings of no-customer service. As a long time pass holder, Vail resorts may have crossed the line for me NOT to renew my pass for the 23-24 season.
Michael A via TripAdvisor

“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

“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

“Vail resorts & specifically Northstar are horrible”

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.com

From the team: Yep, the whole Vail’s idea with “epic pass” is to sell as many passes as possible and cancel/revoke/suspend/etc as many passes as possible as well. The Vail & Northstar gestapo is making sure that stupid rule is enforced so their CEO gets her $6M+ bonus.