Maura Leahy

Review of Seven Springs Mountain Resort

If you re a brand new, first-time skier (I can t s...

If you re a brand new, first-time skier (I can t speak for snowboarder), steer clear of Seven Springs.

I came here with a group of friends for three days. It was my first time skiing (while my friends had skied/snowboarded before, some beginner, some advanced) so I signed up for a group lesson. My instructor Randy was a nice person, but he was a horrible instructor. I started off super excited and ready to learn, but quickly realized I was in trouble. During my hour and a half lesson I asked lots of questions (specific questions like how do I do X or Y or what happens if Z ) and never once did he give me an answer or any actual tips or advice. Throughout the lesson, his method of teaching was to do a skill/model a skill for us and then tell us to do the same thing - no advice or tips for how you actual do it or if you were having trouble, some strategies to work around that etc. I m a relatively athletic person so did not expect to have any trouble, but his complete lack of real instruction or teaching was extremely frustrating and disappointing and by the end of the lesson, I essentially gave up because I knew I wasn t going to get any actual guidance or teaching. This put a damper on the rest of my trip and when I went out the second day to try again, all that frustration and lack of confidence to safely conquer even the bunny slopes after learning practically nothing in my lesson hindered me from trying again. I would have done another lesson with a different instructor but I d already spent so much money getting the appropriate gear for the trip, paying for rental skis/poles/boots and lift tickets, and paying for the first lesson that I couldn t in good conscience spend any more money. I gave it one last go the third day after watching some YouTube videos that were much more helpful than the lesson I paid for, but by this time I was so far behind my friends who were out on the slopes. This fun friend trip I d been excited for ended up being the worst possible first ski experience for me.