Rabbit Hill Snow Resort — Attraction in Edmonton South West

I arrived at rabbit hill with my daughter eager to ski. Having grown up in a major ski resort, my expectations of this small ski hill were low, but I was hopeful for a day of simple skiing. I've visited dozens of ski resorts in western Canada, and I love the small hill atmosphere. After heading inside, I noticed a plaque on the inside of the front door that listed a newspaper clipping of criminal charges that were laid during a skiing incident in whistler. “Oh good,” I thought, “at least safety is a top priority here.” Having lost friends and seeing others sustain life long injuries due to skiing, safety is a top priority to me. Off we went to collect our rentals. This process was made needlessly long by being forced to use an iPad. The software on this iPad is glitchy and needlessly complex. After taking 10 minutes to fill out the iPad, they could not get the connection to work. In the end I was made to fill out a paper form, which took less than a minute. Unsure why this option was not presented earlier, off we went to collect out rentals. I must admit, for the price of the rentals, I did expect higher quality. You are charging major ski resort costs for trashed, ancient equipment. After waiting a lengthy time during this process, off we went to the carpets.

Our experience here was the last thing that I would call safe. Whoever designed the beginner area of this ski hill has the IQ of a potato. They have designated the higher speed intermediate area to be perpendicular to the slower beginner area. This results in several high speed crashes into the beginner area, as there were zero instructors or responsible adults attending to the kids. Children were being allowed to launch, full speed, into the beginner area, knocking out the gates on several occasions. We then decided the intermediate area would be a safer option as at least we would not be dealing with people launching into us at high speeds. This was also false, as they allowed dozens of kids at a time to occupy the top of the hill, then, without any concern for a “one by one scenario”, launch down the hill at high speeds, crashing into others and gates, with zero instructors to be found. The line up to get up the hill was equally stressful with children being forced to push each other just to get a spot in the lineup.

I felt like the only adult on the entire hill for much of my time there... I saw absolute chaos. I saw kids crashing into gates at dangerously high speeds, in one case taking out probably 15 sections of gate. In almost every instance I was looking around for an instructor or an adult that was caring for these kids with almost none to be found, and certainly none doing any ski patrolling. After a few very close calls with kids almost taking my child out, we left in under an hour. For a cost of $140, I now think the larger ski resorts are a budget option compared to this. For roughly double we can be in a safe environment that actually employs ski patrol.

I will NEVER return to this ski hill. And I would not be able to sleep at night without sharing my experience with the general public. This is NOT what skiing is supposed to be.

Edit- your reply is even more proof that I should never return. I was not looking for your permission and your blatant disregard for safety is disturbing. If anyone faces serious injury at this ski resort I would be more than happy to testify on your behalf to the numerous blatant safety concerns that were present...

Snow was hard and packed. Staff seemed indifferent, not equipped with radios to send help to those in need (injured) . Tried to get help for a girl who had fallen and required help to get down, went to the closest staff, near the T-bar lift, they said they wouldn't have a radio, so sent me to the patrol building which took me more time to get to cause I am also not an experienced skier. They could have taken me more seriously and gone to get extra help, or they should just have a radio on them to call out to their colleges if they need it. When I got to the building I needed to get help, only one staff was there and was busy with someone else, seemed almost annoyed that someone needed help, said they'd send someone. I'm sure they did but they were so unurgent I hesitated to leave, just to make sure someone was going to help. They told me again that someone would go, and I'm sure that someone did. I think the most frustrating thing was the lack of urgency or care from the staff and they're inability to communicate with each other. Another incident I witnessed that day that bothered me seeing this little girl, maybe 13 or 14, fly down the main hill, lose control, and run straight into the pole holding the fence up right infront of the chair lift. We were just on the chair when it happened and she almost crashed right under our chair. Not a single person helped her. Not even staff who probably watched her lay there, for a long time, almost my entire chair lift. She was down for so long, I could see her nose was all red and she was checking to see if she was bleeding. Unbelievable that not a single staff member stopped to help. Not even the ones operating the chair lift from the bottom, they could have at LEAST got someone to check on her if they were not able to leave their post. Anyways, hopefully this review gets to them. I don't think the hill in general is all terrible, but they really need to do some retraining with their staff to bring some care, life, and organization...

Updated: second year for the family season pass, I enjoyed it so much especially there were many AMAZING changes under the new management. The managers were working very hard to keep the place clean, tidy as well as organized. I saw them busy walking around the place constantly. The new card system was wonderful, it kept people from not cheating and not buying their tickets. The line up for food order and pick up was restructured and it seemed cutting the wait time shorter which was wonderful. I just hope for the new year, the card system would connect with other ski resorts so it could make thing easier. Anyway, I plan to buy a new season pass again when the ski season comes. Great job to the new owners. You guys have done an amazing job at changing things for better.

This year we got our family a season pass and we have enjoyed it so far.

Staff overall are super friendly and helpful, everything is organized and all the instructors we have had for our kids are wonderful.

One suggestion is the chairlift ticket checkers could have done a better job. They should stay at where all the lines start merging so they can direct the traffic. Most of the time especially even when it is busy during weekend, they stay near the chairlift so all little kids or those not aggressive people get pushed back by those who rush to get on the chairs. Sometime we saw one line kept moving and another lines kept waiting patiently. It would be awesome if you have more staff at the chairlift to help slowing down the chairs for the kiddos as well as the staff who make sure all the lines moving properly and fairly.

We will still get the season pass for next year, it is a great way to spend family...