Beech Mountain Resort

Reviews 3

A

A Private User

Although I have skied most of the big resorts out west I will try to be impartial based on the capabilities of a smaller mountain. Man made snow 5 stars (although only a few runs were open the snow was pretty good considering it was 51 degrees outside.) Grooming 2 stars. Lift lines (averaged 22 minutes per lift - shorter in the morning (15 minutes) and much longer 40 minutes for the quad in the afternoon. Operation of resort 1 star. Dont rent your equipment here. Ancient equipment, the techs dont have the boot keys to make adjustments to the single clasp boots. This means loose boots. No straight poles - only mangled/bent ones in limited lengths. Long lines to get equipment. Lines to get a key for a locker, No line for lift tickets. We took our 7 yr old son for his 2nd ski experience. Resort does not take reservations for ski school (except in person the day before between 3:30 and 4:30). Although many people in line said that day before reservations were not allowed. You ares supposed to show up early and wait in line the day of skiing to try to get in a class. Ski school registration personnel are horrible at customer service (could not give anyone a straight answer on any question we overheard). Ski instructors show up if they feel like it and if more than the minimum show up they will possibly try to add another ski school class. Got to the resort at 7:45am, waited in line for 2 hrs and 10 minutes (outside) to try to register. After an hour and a half (line hadnt moved) a person came out to say they were almost full but may have more instructors show up?? so...do we wait in line or go ski??? Then they announced that if you dont make it into a class they have plenty of hourly instructors at $50 per hour....hmmm advertise ski school for $80 all day for kids, then dont have instructors for the classes, but if you want your kids to have a ski lesson there are plenty of instructors at $50/hr plus the cost of renting gear. Classic bait and switch. Everyone in line felt scammed. But luckily for us, our son was 7 yrs old and they had one slot left in a class (plus we were early into the line that morning). Instructor really didnt do any instruction for the kids, just watched them all day and kept them together in a little group. I did notice some instructors who actually tried to teach but that was the exception. Long lines at cafeteria (30min-1hr line depending on when you ate). With all that said, If you rent skis/snowboard off the resort, show up early to get some runs in, the snow is good, parking is free. Dont bother with the ski school for your kids as far as classes (not sure about private lessons). Besides the mountain is so crowded on weekends there isnt room for a beginner to ski because for some reason on this mountain skiers and snowboarders alike are stopped everywhere on the runs just standing around making obstacles of themselves (several hundred people on each ski run - and they are not long runs). Would I return? Only on a weekday, I would rent gear in Banner Elk (nearby city) or somewhere else off the resort. I would ski hard in the AM, skip lunch and ski until 2 pm then leave.

ST

Steve Bond

This review is not intended mean spirited but I just want to tell it like it is so you will not be surprised. I was. I dont have some ax to grind and to be fair I have skied out west and up in the Virginias. I am sure its hard to make the numbers work running a ski facility in NC and its easy to be an armchair quarterback. My kids and I had a pretty good time skiing at Beech Mountain. The staff was generally friendly and accommodating. The slopes really are OK but there is only one decent intermediate run and one easy beginner run.....everything else is advance. That didnt leave a lot of room for novice skiers moving up...and forget visiting the sky bar with anybody who cant make it down a black diamond. (I didnt go there because the young kids couldnt make it but I did hear it was the newest thing there) The long intermediate run was served by a fairly old lift that my 14 year old newbie daughter described as a "little scary". My older daughter and I did like the high speed quad lift to the top. The only easy run is the bottom part of the diamond runs so you need to be careful not to get yourself, or your little people, run over by some hot shot finishing his way down. To the meat of it....I think calling this place a resort is a stretch. Its just a place to ski that is surrounded by development that is separate from it. My wife doesnt ski and I imagined there might be a cozy place she could kick back while she was waiting for the kids and I,...that doesnt exist from what I saw. It looks like the ski facility was built in the late 70s and they havent revisited it much since. The main building is not a lodge, and the "cafeteria", which is in a separate building, are in some serious need of some renovations. I could just about forgive them the place being antiquated but not so much for the place being dirty. How about use a broom, a mop and a rag sometime and sweep the locker room and ski rental area? The locker room specifically didnt look like it had been swept in a week or more. You really didnt want your sock foot or anything you were wearing to drop and possibly touch the floor. The parking lot was in some serious need of some loads of stone..... muddy, muddy, muddy. My car is a mess, but again to be fair, skiing is a dirty undertaking with all the melt water and such. The rental gear I got for my kids was old and not the greatest quality, and I really wished I had brought some with me. The food was not so good either. The skiing itself was pretty good....which is I suppose the main thing that matters. My advice: Rent or bring your own skis from elsewhere. Pack your own lunch and refreshments. Figure out how not to rent a locker and work out of your car if you can. Dont expect some posh experience and enjoy the place for what it is.....pretty decent skiing for a fair price. Just know what you are getting into.

ER

Eric Yopp

I have been to Beech several times, and have never been impressed. Typical to North Carolina Skiing you will wait in a 30+ minute lift line at the bottom of the mountain. Then you will get to the top and find that the typical patchy snow (even though the snow report says 44 inch base... hmmm) or super icy spots. The blue trails seem to have the same grade as the blacks, the only difference is that there is one tiny steeper section. All of this is to be expected in NC skiing though, and wasnt what really bothered me about Beech Mountain. What really bothered me last time is that they shut one of the two lifts to the top down early. There was no reason to justify it, weather was perfect, still 35+ minutes left before they were supposed to close, but they got the "call from the top" and shut it down with no explanation or early warning. This turned at least 50+ people away who had already been waiting in line for this lift. I asked an administration person why they would do this and she very rudely responded that they close that lift for grooming sometimes (grooming doesnt start until the slopes are closed so why close that lift early?) She then told me my time would have been better spent going and just waiting in the other line instead. I Understand lifts have issues, there can be weather, and that some close early on the backside so they can give people time to get off the mountain. This was nothing like that and the lift kept running, just empty for the rest of one of the busiest days. If people pay for a service you should provide it completely. Apparently this is not the Beech Mountain policy. Not only do they close lifts early for no reason, but while loading a lift I noticed the "operator" was wearing a shirt that said "rolling stoned" and had a rolling stones tongue licking a joint pictured on the front. This might be cool on your spare time, but is this how your employees should represent themselves while operating HEAVY MACHINERY such as a ski lift? Being one to try to not overreact about a shirt I glossed over it until I literally watched this guy not pay attention as a chair was dragged over someone who did not load properly, and Mr. Rolling Stoned only noticed when the next group trying to load shouted at him to stop it because someone was laying on the ground in front of the chair. Quite pathetic. If this is your first time going and you need a fairly easy mountain that is close for a day trip, maybe choose this place. There are other ski options though however with longer runs, better lift options, and non-beginner runs. If you are looking for somewhere to actually do some skiing/snowboarding, then do yourself a favor and spend the extra money and time to go a little farther to a real mountain. You will be grateful when you actually get to ski instead of waiting in line all day.