Northstar California sucks – NorthStar California Sucks

“Vail Resorts misses revenue growth expectations”

Vail is struggling to sell Wall Street investors on its business plan as bad publicity, declining skier visits and strategic errors eat into its bottom line.

Vail Resorts disappointed Wall Street investors again with its most recent financial update.

The Broomfield-based ski resort giant missed analysts’ expectations for revenue growth, and sold fewer ski passes than anticipated, the company reported in its fourth-quarter update. Sales of its signature Epic Pass were down 3 percent for the upcoming winter sports season, though price increases helped to offset lost sales.

“I want to start by acknowledging that results from the past season were below expectations, and our season-to-date pass sales growth has been limited,” CEO Rob Katz said during a conference call for investors on Tuesday. “At the heart of our underperformance is that the way we are connecting with guests has not kept pace with the rapidly evolving consumer landscape.”

Vail is struggling to sell Wall Street investors on its business plan as bad publicity, declining skier visits and strategic errors eat into its bottom line. Katz, known for introducing the Epic Pass in 2008, stepped back into the CEO role in May after taking a different management role for several years. During his absence, the company’s stock price lost more than half its value.

In its recent quarterly update, Vail said its traditional reliance on email as a tool to communicate with customers isn’t as effective anymore.

“We’ve been slow to shift to new and emerging market channels,” Katz said.

Additionally, the company plans to refocus on selling individual lift tickets instead of pouring all its resources into Epic Pass sales.

“Looking ahead … we will be evaluating all aspects of our pass portfolio, including the product offering, pricing and benefit in conjunction with our lift ticket products,” Katz said.

The company will analyze its pricing strategy for different products at different resorts at different times of year to figure out the best way to sell them, Katz said.

Source: https://www.cpr.org/2025/09/30/vail-resorts-misses-revenue-growth-expectations/

I Paid for Family Passes. Vail Made Them Unusable. How to Turn a Ski Day Into a Support Ticket

I didn’t expect buying ski passes for my family to turn into a software obstacle course, but here we are. Northstar/Vail’s “Mobile Pass” is an utter and complete piece of crap.

The whole point of a mobile pass is simple: I buy passes for family members → I share them → we go skiing. That’s it. Not “install an app, create an account, fight a broken UI, and then call support because it can’t find the pass you literally just paid for.”

Here’s the reality of the “share pass” experience:

The “Share Pass” Flow From Hell

I try the app’s brilliant idea: “Share pass via text message.” Sounds easy, right?

Nope.

The person receiving the text has to:

Download the app
Create a profile
Find the “Find Pass” option
Enter the pass number (or the order number)
Get slapped with: “Unable to find the account. Call support.”

So let me get this straight: I paid real money, for real passes, for real people… and your “sharing” feature ends with “call support” like it’s 2009?

That’s not a feature. That’s a bug with marketing copy.

This Isn’t “Premium.” It’s Amateur Hour.

Vail loves charging “premium” prices while shipping “free trial” software. If your pass system can’t reliably associate a purchased pass with the person it’s intended for, then the system is broken—full stop.

And yes, I’m going to say it plainly: this app feels like it was built by the lowest bidder and never properly tested in the real world. Not tested with families. Not tested with normal humans. Not tested with the most basic scenario: “I bought multiple passes and need to distribute them.”

Vail, Fix Your Garbage.

F**k you, Vail. F**k you very much.

You’re a public company. Act like one. Because right now this feels like textbook mismanagement from a company in decline (MTN: roughly ~-50% over 5 years).

Stop hiding behind shiny branding while your customers waste time troubleshooting your junk. When people are trying to get their kids out the door in the morning, nobody wants to play “guess which number the app will reject today.”

What You Should Do (The Obvious Fixes)

Here are a few wild ideas from planet Earth:

Let me assign each pass to a person at checkout (name + DOB + email/phone).
Let me share a pass with a single tap using a real invite link that actually works.
Let family members accept the pass without needing a scavenger hunt inside the app.
Provide a working fallback: printable QR code, Apple Wallet / Google Wallet, or even a web portal that doesn’t suck.

Because right now the “Mobile Pass” isn’t mobile. It’s not a pass. It’s barely software.

Vail: fix your crappy app. And stop treating customers like unpaid QA testers.

“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

‘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

“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

“Unprofessional staff at resort prices”

The response initially from the staff was helpful. However the check in process was painful. After reading the check instructions one section instructed to get a paper parking pass. Then I was instructed to register online with a link I never received in my inbox or spam. The front desk staff told me they were having trouble with the system. Due to them having trouble I requested a paper parking pass. They refused. My spouse was sitting in the car with in pain from a ski accident. 15 minutes later they sent me a link to register for parking. I completed it and saved a screenshot that I successfully completed the process. In the morning I received a parking citation warning of potential ticket and towing. I returned to the Northstar front desk to request help. I was told not to worry about it and there was nothing they could do. I requested to speak with manager and they refused saying the manager was available but couldn’t do anything. I reiterated my spouse was injured I needed my car more then usual. They again stated nothing they could do with this known ongoing issue. I demanded a paper parking permit. They said ok and issued it reluctantly. This was very unprofessional, lack of empathy. Stay at a motel 6 or super 8. You will get better and more professional service at 1/4 the price.
Gideon S via Tripadvisor