patchy ice and dangerous parking lots
By A Yahoo! Contributor, 1/4/11
OK, so I know this slope isn't in Colorado or Montana but I have been to many slopes of this size and I have to say this is a poorly run business. We did some night skiing there in late December right after a huge snow storm and I couldn't believe how icy the slopes were. The slopes are closed from 4:30 to 6PM for "maintenance". But sure didn't see any of that going on. OK, so they can't control the weather(even though they have 100% snow making capabilities).
So when your night skiing it sure would be nice to see where your going. Not at Wolf Ridge. Not all runs have lights(even though the lift ticket price would suggest that all slopes are lit) and most only have "spotty" lighting at best. There were several areas that connect one run to another run that were open but had no lighting at all. I didn't realize I would need a head lamp to ski.
Can you say terrain maps? There is only one large terrain map at the bottom of the hill. Nothing at the top of the lifts and almost know signage at the entrance to the runs. So here we are in the dark trying to figure out if were are about to go down a black diamond or intermediate run.
I have never seen such poor entrances to the lift chairs. Almost every lift has a hard either left or right downhill turn to approach the staging area. Lots of beginners falling trying to make the turn, slowing the line, allowing empty chairs to go by. I can't figure out who designed this mess.
We survived 3.5 hrs of skiing turned in our gear at the rental dept. and headed for the parking lot. The parking lots are tiered down the hill. There are steps made out of railroad ties between lots. They are very uneven and quite dangerous. As I was going down the first set of stairs I shouted up to my wife to be careful because ice had built up on each step make it very slippery. I jokingly said to her I hope Wolfe Ridge has good insurance because the liability insurance papers I signed were for the slope not the parking lot. Made it down the 1st set of steps. Going down the 2nd set was a different story. These steps were 6ft wide and had a handrail on each side. The only way down was to start on the left side, about a 3rd of the way you have to switch to the right side because the ice had built up so high there was no steps just a straight-down ice slide. Unfortunately you have to release your death grip on the handrail to get from one side to the other. Unfortunately I didn't make the switch and ended up on my butt sliding about 10 steps down the hill. I jammed my thumb pretty bad. Who would have thought 3.5 hrs on the slopes and get injured in the parking lot. I'm sure this is a family owned business and they probably struggle to make a profit year to year but it's not a good business plan to injure your patrons on the way home.
Wolf Ridge has the potential to be a really outstanding ski resort but until they get their act together I would not recommend it to anyone.