Nova Guides, Inc. Reviews

Top notch snowmobile rental operation. Great terrain and views. They rent nice off trail sleds and expect you to keep them on trail. With 146 tracks, narrow ski width, and high CG, and no foot stirrups all but eliminates any real turning without tipping. Take the off trail and have a ball. Just don't get stuck or they will stick it to ya. First they wait till you are into overtime the charge hundreds to pull you out. Better off bringing your own tow strap. The HP machines will pop out of any hole... just line it up a nail it. It's a rental, so who cares about belt or track wear. Short of hitting a tree or seriously rolling, you can't hurt these machines. They only offered up about 20 miles of deadening trails, so 40 miles total before repeating. 3 hours is way more than enough to see it all. Dont be afraid to go up to weather station, it's a piece of cake with plenty of room up top to park and turn around sleds.

Best views...best guides...best rides!!! You can't go wrong with Nova Guides!! Ask for Chris Miller...one of the best in the business. Great for families or couples and try the performance trip if your looking for a rush. I have lived in the mountains most of my life and tried most of the tours...this is by far the best in Colorado and won't use anyone else!!! Worth every time spent.

The staff were incredibly nice and the equipment was almost new. There are guided and non-guided rentals. They recommend staying on the trails, but you can essentially go wherever you want as long as you don't break the equipment or get it stuck.

Great work guys! Will (our guide) did a great job of making us feel safe without being overbearing. He was funny and knowledgeable! Great facilities and a great area to play in! Overall would come again. Price is a bit high and would probably come more frequently if that were not an issue but it s well run, safe and fun!!

Went snowmobiling with a group that was lead by Nova Guides. They provided for everything to make the experience remarkable. For me, and many others in our group, it was a first time to be on a snowmobile. The guides quickly taught us how to handle the machines and provided a safe environment for us to practice before making the journey to the top of the mountain. The scenery was breathtaking as we climbed the mountain. Alone, it could have easily been a dangerous trek, but the excellent guides at Nova lead us with confidence and kept us safe. I would highly recommend this group for your outdoor mountain adventures.

Such a beautiful area to go snow mobiling absolutely breath taking highly recommend

We had an awesome Top of the Rockies tour today! The views were amazing. Our guide, Spoon, was AWESOME and very knowledgeable! He even gave us some good local eateries to try out. Wonderful experience!

We did the 3 hours tour, which was a great experience. We rode through some forests and went up an untouched mountain.

Note: your driving time is less than 3 hours. Groups are relatively big (too big in my opinion), so that you need to wait for people to catch up. We once had a waiting time of over 15 minutes! For this expensive price, the company should offer more tours in order to reduce group sizes!

We rented the high performance mountain sleds for 6 hours. They were great, engines are powerful and the suspension can soak up anything. We did a self guided tour and had no problem finding our way on the 65 mile journey. Great staff and really nice base camp. We will definetly be back!

Snowmobiling was a blast. Don't need any previous experience, and the staff were extremely helpful.

We went on a 2 hour tour and had the best time . Our guide Dimitri was very knowledgeable and friendly. I would highly recommend this place

Beautiful place, great staff. Snowmobile excursion was incredible and our guide, Justin, was amazing. Totally recomend it!!

First, I have to give credit to our awesome guide, Fred, who is not the subject of this review. The operation overall was poorly organized. Equipment was old, worn, and in some cases, poorly fitting due to shortages in certain sizes. We came with a large group of 40 expecting to run the upper river class 4. Instead they sent guides with us who were not experienced on the upper river so we could only do the lower class 2/3 run. I can deal with worn equipment, but this bate and switch was inexcusable. We will return for the upper river. On that trip I think we'll give Lakota a shot.

Had a great time here. Plenty of trails to go see and enjoy. The owner was disrespectful and was not friendly. The other staff on the other hand was friendly and knowledgeable. They wanted us to have fun but more importantly be safe.

Dear Owner you can do better. .They will send you out on a underpowered sled with no saftey equipment. Stop being cheap and give your renters some rope a shovel and an $8 radio so they can call for help. You make enough money to pay a guy to help your renters get unstuck. Instead you charge your renters for a rescue after thier time has passed so you can also charge them a late fee. The sleds are so underpowered don't bother. Head to Leadville and take a guided tour, it will be alot more fun.

This place was a very nice building, clean restrooms, some snacks and beverages available .We were greeted very nicely and they helped us gear up.
The trails just weren t for us. They were more like 3 snow covered dirt roads that dead ended. We were done before our 3 hour time was up. Honestly, there just wasn t many places to go. We didn t have a guide - maybe that would have been better if they had other trails for us to ride on but every trail we saw that looked fun had a sign saying snow mobiles weren t permitted. We went on a previous tour with Sage this week and the trails were smaller, more beautiful views and just more fun in a shorter amount of time. I will say this was good for the two teenage girls on our trip who aren t experienced drivers.

I work at Footers Catering, and on behalf of the entire Footers Family, we love working at Camp Hale! We would recommend this venue to anyone looking for stunning views and an amazing Colorado experience. Not only does it have gorgeous backdrops and scenery, the space is designed beautifully to allow for elegant events while not losing the adventurous Colorado spirit. Their team is so helpful and will make sure your event is perfect!

This is my original review:We have made a reservation on February 6 2020 at 11:45 for 15 snowmobiles for the same day but at 12:15 we have discovered that the road is closed and the road conditions are unpassable on the overpass. We had made two attempts to cancel at 12:20 ad 12:40 but where told we are getting charged $3000 for the cancellation of the reservation made just an hour ago! 200$ per each reservation. Beware ! Since those guys will spoil your vacation!

But! They made it right after! Here is the copy of our Email exchange:

Hello,

We apologize for any inconvenience, and want you to know that the owner has decided to waive the cancellation fee. We have cancelled your reservation with no charge.

We wish you safe travel, and hope that you will find the time to come out again when the weather does not interfere.

Best regards!

Amazing Snowmobiling Experience! I highly recommend the unguided three hour tour. I'm sure the guides are awesome because everyone that works at Nova is great but nothing beats taking a map and having the freedom to go where every you want and as fast as you want. If 5 dudes from Ohio can do it you can too.

If I could give Nova guides more then 5 stars I sure would! They offer unguided ATV S which means you re on your own out there in the paths, but they were so nice to still come out and show you how to start and maneuver your machine! They give you a map and tell you your best paths for the hours you have rented them for. You can rent up to 4 hours out in the paths. We did 2 hours and we had enough time to ride up and down couple mountains and have some pretty awesome views! They don t expect you on the dot back at the time you re suppose to be back. They understand that you lose track of time and don t over charge you for being 10-15 minutes late. They just want you to come back safety! They have some smooth paths and some very rocky paths which was so much fun! I cannot wait to come back and ride with them again. Will definitely recommend to Everyone that heads out in that direction. Thank you guys for such a great time! You guys are awesome!

Had an awesome excursion on the ATVs. I would highly recommend this to anyone looking for an adventure and lots of fun!

This place was nothing short of amazing. The service was great and the views were impeccable. The snowmobiles were all newer and in great condition.

Had a great time here, first time snowmobiling. Friendly staff except for the guy behind the register. Easily marked trails and great scenery. Would recommend

Great snowmobile tour! Our guide Perry was very knowledgeable and provided a great ride!

Stan is the man! This place is awesome, our party of 11 went on a extreme snowmobiling adventure. With 6 feet of fresh snow we couldn't of had better conditions, and the 2 guides that came with us were incredibly patient with us after we all got stuck a few times. Overall wonderful experience and I would 100% do it again.

Excellent guides and equipment. Customer friendly staff and management. This is my 10th year using this outfit and they are consistently good.

Took a great snowmobiling tour with our family!!! The scenery was beautiful!!!!!! Our guide Bob was amazing!!!!!!! Lunch back at the lodge was wonderfully yummy!! Would definitely recommend if visiting Vail!!!!

Had a great time. We rented 2 sleds for 2 hours for an unguided adventure. We were able to see the three main trails up and back. Great views above the tree line. Elevation is probably 14000 feet.

Look, I'm debating a 3 star but I think 4 is okay and here's why. We did the jeep tour, and I was disappointed our family of 4 had to share the jeep with another group, esp for what we paid.. Totally possible I missed that detail though on their site, no clue if they mention that.. The trip takes you on a trail you're welcome to do in your own vehicle on public land. For the price I guess my expectation was that we'd go on actual trails through streams, maybe get into a little mud, and have more of an adventure. Lunch was good. I'd recommend renting the ATV's or side by sides and blazing your own trail even though I'm not sure how much adventure you can get into in that particular area. Staff was friendly!

It was a wonderful experience. The road to Nova guides location had some picturesque views. Our excursion was our first time on a snowcat. Our guide Fred was informative as well as entertaining.ride to the top of the mountains was smooth, one we got there the views were breathtaking. Lunch after was tasty and filling, we had chilli bread bowls.

Had an wonderful experience. Amazing staff and gorgeous trails.

It's a little unorganized! And pricey for terd of a sled that you get!

A lot of fun. Maybe a little pricey. Food was rather expensive.

Best snowmobiling experience I've had, although the deposit is a bit steep.

Shane was our guide and was awesome. Would consider again.

A great experience! Took a two hour unguided tour , never been on a snowmobile and picked it up quickly. The blonde girl at the checkin counter is a little less than plesant. If it wasn't for her this place would have been 5 stars.