I'm from salt lake city, and I grew up skiing ther...

I'm from salt lake city, and I grew up skiing there. I came to the Tahoe area to experience a different kind of skiing. I enjoyed Kirkwood... great snow, beautiful terrain... but I'm only giving 3 stars for reasons listed below.

Primarily, trail marking is abysmal, and maps at the tops of lifts were nearly non-existent. I speny half of my day trying to figure out where to go! I was even treated poorly for getting stuck at the bottom of a closed lift. Not my fault, Kirkwood/VaiI... wouldn't have happened if maps and marking were adequate.

I'm not sure what the issue is with the poor trail marking and the lack of maps, given that these matters are easily addressed. Are the proprieters trying to make things exclusive (i.e. if you don't know where you're going, you don't belong here)? Or, is Kirkwood/Vail simply being cheap and lazy because things like maps and trail signs don't make them any money? Everything that a resort does to improve patron experience contributes to its revenue, fools. Dial in!!

The situation was equally bad at Heavenly in this regard. I expect more from Vail Resorts (or perhaps I don't... see my review of Heavenly for more details). Lazy, short-sighted greed ruins skiing for everyone. Please, Kirkwood/Vail, take note.