Attitash Mountain Resort — Attraction in Bartlett

Attitash used to be a wonderful mountain. I have fond memories of skiing here with my cousins as a child. As an adult, my wife and I have been on and off passholders here as the midweek season pass rates have been comparatively cheap. The mountain is fairly large and has some great classic New England fall line trails on the original summit, as well as some wide cruisers at the newer Bear Peak area. Passholders have enjoyed the added bonus of access to their sister mountain, Wildcat, which is one of my favorites in the northeast. There have been a few notable issues with Attitash in recent years, but until it’s recent acquisition by Vail, those issues were mostly small potatoes. First and foremost, the Attitash main summit is serviced by an ancient and painfully slow triple chairlift. All of the best terrain on the mountain is accessed by this lift, which is inefficient and often freezing cold. The lift has been sidelined for weeks due to mechanical issues, which they keep patching up, rather than investing in a new lift. The one fast lift on this side of the resort is a quad which only takes skiers to the lower half of the mountain. Why they chose to upgrade a lower mountain lift, rather than the main lift is something of a mystery. I’m guessing one, it was a lot cheaper, and two, it allowed racers quick access to training terrain on lower slopes. The latter is moot now, as race training generally takes place on Bear Peak these days. The second issue of note is the traverse from Bear Peak to Attitash, which is poorly designed and graded. Skiers can barely make it without skating for some distance, and boarders generally have to take their boards off completely and walk for a bit. Returning to Bear is easier, but far from perfect, and if the Abenaki fixed quad isn’t running, you are walking. The traverse trail is simply too long and flat to get you there. Little can be done about this now without a major regrading and perhaps a bridge and tunnel design. Over the years Attitash has changed hands several times. Prior to Vail the mountain was operated by Peak Resorts. This was when we first noticed an utter disregard for operations. Poor customer service, few upgrades and abysmal food offerings. Now with Vail at the helm, this once wonderful mountain has gotten noticeably worse. This year, Vail’s first, there has been little snowmaking. As of last week, the mountain didn’t even have half of their terrain open, despite plenty of cold and perfect snowmaking conditions. Additionally, many of the lifts that are normally open midweek have been closed, forcing more skiers to use fewer lifts. With COVID-19 necessitating limitation of ticket sales, more people are skiing midweek this season, as weekends often sell out. The result is unsafe crowding in long lift lines. Furthermore, the quad at Attitash and the Abenaki quad have been closed, the latter making the before mentioned traverse a misery, and exacerbating the crowding issues. Passholder perks, such as buddy tickets, sound nice on paper, but offer minimal savings and are something of a hassle to utilize. There is very little information on the website regarding pricing and passholders need to accompany their guest to redeem the offer. Customer service is the worst it’s ever been. You can wait for ages for a phone representative to answer your call, or have an email reply in days. That’s right, DAYS! Thanks Vail! Very helpful. I’ve been fairly lucky. I waited days for information regarding a buddy pass. I’ve been reading other people’s posts regarding customer service and they truly horrible. I really feel for all the people who deserve refunds and have basically been told to drop dead. We ski midweek exclusively and expect little more than access to the mountains. We pack a lunch and we don’t drink in the overpriced slope side bars. We care only about the skiing itself. Still, if Vail doesn’t get it’s act together we’ll likely buy a pass to a different mountain next year.

UPDATE: Attitash GM Greg Gavrilets is resigning on...

2024 UPDATE: Under Vail, they drop ropes more often (Yay), but the new issue is rude staff, so I can't change this to a 5-star yet...

ORIGINAL:

Let me start by saying I LOVE the place. I have a season pass here. I love skiing there, the trails are always in good conditions, and for the most part there are some trails for experts. But as much as I love it there is ONE BIG ISSUE KEEPING IT FROM 5-STAR:

(ALSO The resort should open the week after THANKSGIVING like it used to. They would have been MORE THAN CAPABLE of doing that this year. And the owners also having Wildcat is not an excuse because that is a TOTALLY different monster...)

BUT ANYWAY THE REASON IS:

I was fine with the removal of the halfpipe. I was all for the new terrain parks. But roping off terrain that is clearly skiable for an expert (unlike at Wildcat where they do the RIGHT thing and just post a big EXPERTS ONLY sign) causes a little bit of a turn off for me. It's the one major complaint. They also hid some of the glades on the map but luckily locals still know where to go.

And to go with that, why is Middle Ptarmagin or Wildfred's Gaum NEVER open (And don't say snow conditions because I've seen far worse at Wildcat and the resorts share an owner. I refer you back to the idea of EXPERT ONLY signs). Honestly if they just dropped the ropes and put up EXPERT ONLY signs on the few trails that need it, not making a fuss everytime someone tries it (Unless they clearly are a beginner in which case indeed they should intervene) I would rate this 5-star (Although I'll also never complain again if they REPLACE THE SUMMIT TRIPLE.)

But for kids? GREAT PLACE. And when I'm NOT in the mood for a challenge on a clearly doable yet mysteriously still closed trail, I love zooming down a groomer or cruiser, since I'll admit that you don't see THOSE at Wildcat (often). And honestly if you KNOW the place, you can find the hidden glades. Just make sure not to go on closed trails because I hear they'll take your pass (even if you have no issue skiing it. See the problem now?) Including that one up top that's not on the map (But used to be - Just see an OLD trail map. The one that gave the glades name).

Look, if Attitash was to adopt a REAL ski at your risk policy like at Wildcat I'd be thrilled. I know my limits. You'll still never see my on that cliff under the triple. I'm not THAT crazy. Just saying...Attitash? Let experts be experts and don't punish them. You have Wildcat as an amazing example and I get that's what Wildcat is for but...Isn't that why there's a...

I wish I can give this place a 3.5 because it's better than a 3 but doesn't deserve a 4. There is plenty of good, and the bad isn't anything that can't be fixed. It is definitely a nice place, full of nice people, and I am glad I got to go there.

There are plenty of nice views from around the resort. Relaxing in the outdoor hot tub looking out at the mountains is incredible. The pool and arcade area are nice and clean. They have a restaurant on site, nothing special.

The rooms come fully equipped with everything we needed to do our own cooking, though some items mentioned were missing. They had a grill outside our unit, with free gas at a nice little gazebo. This was nice, we grilled as we watched the sun set.

There is a nice big Jacuzzi in the bathroom. It is big enough for 2 which is nice. It was clean and worked well. It was perfect for relaxing evenings. Unless you have people with kids upstairs who sound like they're coming through the floor, which was one of a few minor issues.

First, there isn't much privacy so if you're up there looking to sit on your porch and quietly look up at the stars that won't happen. If you're on the 1st floor your balcony isn't even closed off and it is right at the front door. Also, some rooms only have views of cars and a parking lot while others have beautiful views of the mountains.

Next, there is a Murphy bed. This threw me off a little, but the bed is comfortable. Unfortunately it is nearly impossible to watch the TV from bed because of the angle.

Finally, it is bright in the morning. There are no curtains, just blinds that really don't help. At 5:30 each morning the sun woke us up and made it difficult to go...