“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

“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

“This was my family’s first and last time at Northstar”

This was my family’s first and last time at Northstar. Nightmare of a cluster to get to and from parking in 10-ish degree weather. Took two hours just to get on a shuttle and to our car at the end of the day due to Northstar management’s dysfunction while we froze in one of the longest shuttle lines. Food was stupid expensive and served haphazardly . It’s too bad because the snowshoeing and Nordic trails are great, and Northstar could be a perfect match for groups with some downhill and some Nordic skiers. But my family will head to Palisades and deal with limited Nordic or split between Sugarbowl and Royal Gorge in the future.

Jessica S. via Yelp

5 things to know before you go to Northstar ski resort

  • Low elevation results in warmer and icier conditions, so even though they groom a lot, there are often patches of ice that catch you.  It can be really bad, which is why we gave it a relatively low rating of 3 after this happened to us multiple times.
  • Limited vertical
  • Northstar is the most popular Tahoe resort for hordes of Bay Area weekend skiers, so crowds are always an issue when conditions are good.
  • The parking lot situation is bad because the close-in lots fill up fast and then you have to park in the lots out by highway 267 and take a fairly long bus ride into the village.
  • Even if you get the closer-in parking, it’s a long walk through the village until you get to the gondola, which you still have to take before getting to the real skiing terrain.  It’s a long process.

Source: skinorthamerica100.com

“Terrible parking”

Decided to hitch a ride from the free parking lot after waiting for an hour for shuttle and still no sign of “next shuttle “. Pretty bad when it takes 2 hours to finally touch down on a run after parking. To top it off the shuttle back to free parking was another 2 hour wait, in below freezing temps! Even with Epic pass we won’t be returning to Northstar we will also discourage our friends from going. Northstar get your S*%# together, it’s unacceptable.

Adventure Create Thrive (via Google reviews)

“Horrible parking situation”

Horrible parking situation, took us HOURS just to leave. It seemed like the shuttles stopped running! The lines on the slopes were ridiculous. Zephyr in particular didn’t even seem to move. For how much they charge ($180 day pass), they should invest more in their logistical operations. Slopes are decent, but much better options in the Tahoe area. Not coming back anytime soon!

Carter Grimes (via Google reviews)