wait – NorthStar California Sucks

“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

“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

“Weekday Zoo at NorthStar”

Pretty much a wrecked ski/snowboard experience by Vail Resorts as they have done with other properties.

Oversold cheap season passes mean the lift lines are jam packed, low staffing with poor service, and no real snow making or grooming mean only 20-30% of the hill is open.

You’ll be in line 30-40min for each lift, and that’s MID-WEEK. Weekends are a disaster and you’ll see consistent 45-60min lift lines.

Look at other independent ski resorts if you want to actually enjoy your day. The mass-market approach that has been implemented at Northstar isn’t worth the time or money unless you like standing around in lines all day.

“Weekday zoo at Northstar”

“Basically a mosh pit to get on the lifts. Mid-week photo…weekends are worse.”
A. M. Menlo Park, 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

“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

Vail Resorts Stamping Out on Those Leaving Their Equipment to Reserve Place in Line at Heavenly Mountain, CA

The reader who shared the picture says that “…people are placing their ski or snowboard equipment up in the front of the lift line in the morning, then go hang out in their warm cars until about ten minutes before loading the lift.”

Source: https://snowbrains.com