Doug

Review of Arapahoe Basin Ski Area

The ski area itself is great-- the terrain is big,...

The ski area itself is great-- the terrain is big, the lifts are fast, and I never felt unsafe during my trip.

The problem was with the ticket office and instructors.

DISCLAIMER: My experience was on a busy holiday weekend, and probably shows a worst-case experience of most skiers.

I purchased a lift ticket/lesson combo online through A-Basin's website, but due to printer issues I was not able to print out my confirmation page. I did have the e-mail, however, so I wasn't overly concerned.

When I arrived on the mountain, I found what I should have expected, given that A-Basin is one of the more remote resorts-- that Verizon has no service at all there. I was unable to load up the e-mail showing my ticket and lesson combo. After waiting through the ticket line to try and see if the ticket office could look up my purchase, they told me that they could not, but should be able to help me if I could download my confirmation e-mail. Fortunately, the lodge had wireless access and my phone had a charge, so I headed over there to get my e-mail up.

The WiFi network, however, was amazingly slow. To sign in to my e-mail account and pull up the email took me over twenty minutes.

E-mail in hand, I headed back to the ticket office again, and waited another 20 minutes in line. I gave my e-mail to a different associate, who immediately directed me to the rental/lesson office (a building away). Over there I waited another 20 minutes before finally getting my pass and lesson information.

From the time I got on the mountain to the time I got my pass was more than an hour, and took three trips through line.

The lesson itself was a group lesson that was nothing special to speak of. The class was about 11 people, taught by a single instructor who disappeared about an hour and forty-five minutes into a two-hour class, after getting the class onto the lifts on the bunny hill.

The bottom line? If you go to A-Basin, expect great terrain and speedy lifts. Do not expect world-class customer services from the ticket office, or skilled, committed lessons from the instructors.

And remember to print out your confirmation e-mail beforehand.