Crescent Hill at Hitchcock (Previously Mt. Crescent Ski Area) — Attraction in Carter Lake

We signed up our 8 year old son for skying lessons. Yesterday (Jan 10, 2021) was his first lesson. Just about anything that can go wrong did, and most of those things could have been prevented by people doing their job responsibly. I will mention a few. Because of COVID, we had inquired about which measures they would have in place in order to make this a safe experience. They said that they would limit the number of people inside. None of that, it was super crowded. Also, they supposedly require masks; but some in their own staff use masks down their chin or neck. Some guests often did not have masks on at all. All in all, a crowded space, poor ventilation, and improper mask wearing. Absolutely irresponsible. Because we wanted to prevent being thrown into a situation like this, we had gone a few days earlier to have my son measured and get everything ready for Sunday. When we showed up they did not have any of the paperwork, requiring us to go through the lengthy size fitting process again (in the crowded, poorly-ventilated space). Once equipped and outside, there was a huge crowd of kids for the lesson and a handful of instructors. After the chaos of organizing kids into groups, my son ended up in a group where the ratio was about 9 (novice) kids to one instructor. On top of that, my son's instructor didn't really want him there, so she sent him to another instructor. The other instructor didn't want him either so they sent us back. My son's instructor did her best but was overwhelmed. At one point, she asked me if I could stay behind with my son and another child who was not keeping up while she took the rest of the class on the lift. She could not find another instructor to stay behind, so she asked me. I was happy to help, but that is not my job, nor do I think other parents would want a stranger taking on the task. My son deserved his full lesson time. I could keep going, but I'll finish with this. In order to divide the kids into groups, they tested each child. When it was my son's turn, he got on the skis and could not stop down the hill (he doesn't know! that's why he's taking lesson) and intersected another young child who was returning from the sledding hill. My son was OK but shaken as he saw how the other child break out crying in pain. He had been hit by the sky in his hip. Accidents happen, but not maintaining the learning space or having a peer down hill to intervene is not acceptable. Had it been my child who was hit, I would have been furious. This was horrible and irresponsible on the part of all those running...

This was a fun time. Pretty disorganized though. We thought we'd be proactive and order tickets, ski rentals and sign waivers online to speed things up as in the past this process was a nightmare. It did help speed things up but there was no designated line for online tickets or anything that would make it faster if the lines had been long. So that kinda stinks. Ticketing staff was quick and friendly though.

The rental....here's where it became a mess. Mind you we came early....like before 11am....they were out of both of our size boots and my husband's size skis. Told us we could wait or ask the manager for a refund. I asked if I could give my cell number to one of them and have them call me when the size of boots/skis came back. One gal said no and acted completely unconcerned. So I asked another gentleman and he said yes, but also didn't seem to really be paying any attention to it. So we waited. For an hour. Finally we explained the situation to another guy at the rental counter and he seemed much more interested in helping. I got my size boots, my husband needed a 11 but was tired of waiting so ended up using a 12. Still no skis for my husband. About 30 min later skis came and we were on the slopes. What a mess. This was especially frustrating because we paid for the rental in advance. Maybe they should have a box to check with your size / height so they have somewhat of a snapshot of what has been purchased before selling rentals to walk ins? Idk the logistics of it all but it was definitely a disappointing start of the day. I initially was going to rate them as a 3 star because of this, but I know the new owners are probably working on improving this. That is my hope anyway.

The slopes were good and pretty well maintained, not overly crowded and staff was friendly. Fresh snow always helps, the weather was good, both lifts were open and the lift lines moved fast and that helped significantly.

The food situation unfortunately was also a mess, waited about an hour for a sandwich and the dining area really wasn't all that busy. The sandwiches were good though. Overall we had a good experience and felt we got our money's worth. The next good snow and we'll be back again. Hopefully without the rental nightmare, as we will probably just buy some used...

I have been going to Crescent for a few years now. This place has been down to only one lift for the past two seasons. The second lift, which takes you to the top of the mini hill has been closed for two seasons now, with no reopening date set, for repairs. Never heard of a ski-lift that takes two years to repair. You can clear part of a mountain and install from nothing a brand new lift in one year, it shouldn't take you two years to fix/replace/rebuild/ build new a broken part/engine..... at this point I really wonder if they even plan on fixing it, but just leave the lift as is (broken) so that they can claim on their website to have two lifts. Now that I think about it, I don't believe that they claim on their website that the lifts are working. The lift that is still functioning is antiquated, very slow, with no safety bars for the chairs. It does not take you to the top of the hill. It is also prone to breaking down too. There is normally 1 green trail open (now actually only partially open), 1 slightly steeper black (???) trail and 1 trail used for the sleds...and that's it! .... All other trails listed on their trail map (there are about 10) are no longer accessible via lift and have anyway rarely been open in the past few years due to lack of natural snow. This is actually good, as many of those trails are so poorly maintained that the few times I have been able to ski there, I had to avoid rocks, mud puddles and fallen branches which they don't clean up. Of course they don't report any of this info (only 1 lift open and only 1-2 trails open out of 10) on their website: very dishonest. The staff is normally very friendly and the ski and snowboard instructors do a good job.

Thank's for the reply. I look forward to both...