Thunder Ridge Ski Area — Attraction in Town of Patterson

The Good The Bad The Ugly I live locally and have been a patron of Thunder Ridge since the 80s when it was called Big Birch. I skied weekly there as a kid and was looking forward to sharing this mountain with my children. It is a small but great learning mountain. The Good: *It is a small but good learning mountain *I appreciate the local "ski club" pricing for night skiing and lessons on a designated night based on the township you live in. *Most staff is generally friendly and helpful *The food is decent and has improved over the years The bartender is super nice and there is a decent selection of "local" brews. *They work hard to keep the mountain open and snow covered given the last few lousy winters. *The lesson teachers seem friendly and helpful.

The Bad: I don't have too much to add here as none of these bullet points were the "deal breaker." *It's very crowded and expensive on the weekends *I do not like that the Little Thunder lesson area can not be accessed by parents. This is particularly difficult for young children (all snowboard lessons take place at Little Thunder) who need their parents to walk them to their lesson group, help them get their equipment on and for parents that want to watch some of the lesson. Lessons are expensive and parents should be able to see what they are paying for. It is also hard to talk to the instructor when the lesson is over as the kids just walk out the gate, so you don't really learn of their progress or what they need to work on. It seems like Thunder Ridge could easily make this section of the mountain more parent friendly as this is mostly a "learning mountain" and the majority of the patrons are children. No effort is made to allow for lesson makeups.

The UGLY: This is the reason that we will not be returning to Thunder Ridge next season. This Friday (February 3, 2023) we experienced dangerous weather conditions here in the Hudson Valley. Beginning at 5PM the HV was dealing with dangerously negative temperatures and high winds with warnings of frostbite and hypothermia. Mountains such as Mohawk closed at 4PM. Construction workers were pulled off the roads. People were warned to stay inside and dogs were told to not be outside for more than 10 minutes. Thunder Ridge refused to reschedule ski and boarding lessons. This is unacceptable and unsafe. As I mentioned above, the Little Thunder area is not accessible by parents. My two young children who were taking lessons would have no way to get in touch with me to communicate that they were cold. Lessons are 90 minutes long which was way too long to stay outside, even bundled up in these dangerously low temperatures. Listen, Thunder Ridge didn't need to close the mountain. People have a right to ski and board and if they have the appropriate arctic gear for those conditions probably had a decent time as I am assuming it was not crowded at all. But they would have the ability to go in when they felt cold. When in a 90 minute lesson group this is not a possibility, which created a potentially dangerous situation. Lessons are expensive and I am very disheartened that Thunder Ridge did not take the safety of the children into consideration last night. Lessons should have been rescheduled. There was zero attempt to accomodate families that were rightfully uncomfortable with the conditions. My kids were supposed to have their lessons at 6PM when the conditions were only deteriorating not improving. There were tree branches flying around everywhere and they needed to close a lift due to wind conditions. Next year we will be going to Mohawk Mountain for our lessons as they are a bit more flexible and they made the right call, in my opinion last night. My kids have skied in rain, ice and cold conditions without a complaint. This was extreme and I did not appreciate Thunder Ridge's lack of empathy or willingness to make the situation workable for both the mountain...

Jan 2020: Been taking my two young kids here for 6 years straight. Best location for them to learn if we want just a quick NYC day trip. My kids ski, I snowboard. Clean warm lodge, clean bathrooms, decent food at restaurant. Plenty of lockers and racks to store your stuff. Parking is very close by, plentiful and convenient. Very family friendly. Rentals area is organized in their flow of how they manage it. Staff is friendly and helpful. First 3 years my kids did the lessons package - teachers were mostly good. Lifts are in decent condition. I’ve been to Mt. Peter 15 min north several times too - but I prefer Thunder Ridge. (Mt. Peter is not as organized with their registration/rentals and facilities not as clean as Thunder Ridge.) I highly recommend Thunder Ridge for families with young kids learning to ski or snowboard.

Feb 2021 pandemic update: lowering to 4 stars... Organization is still pretty good re: keeping everyone moving along, spaced out...(went to Mt. Peter last month Jan 2021 and their organization is much better than used to be; edited their review up to 5 stars)... However, Thunder Ridge parking lot a bit crowded, not too organized with staff directing cars.

Staff at Little Thunder (beginner) lift did not keep a good watch on inexperienced kids and adults getting off / witnessed multiple mishaps where the skiier had trouble disembarking and staff was not paying close attention. Did not witness injuries, but close calls where the chair almost hit heads, and skiier's equipment got stuck on chair as it continued to move. Also, one staff member assisting Little Thunder lift embarkment (close interactions with skiiers) consistently wore his covid-19 mask underneath his nose all day long.

Indoor restaurant staff (reservations only) was great. Love those curly fries.They added an additional two bathrooms at restaurant level - very helpful. No outside food allowed. But all very friendly.

Lift tix and rentals all outdoors, however lines still long especially at end of day for returns. Luckily, I recently bought my kids used equipment with a trade-up program. (I recommend if you rent, get equipment from your local ski shop, so you're ready to go and can avoid these lines.)

Thunder Ridge will still be fave place for young families since it's closest to NYC.

Re: price comparison lift tix: Mt Peter vs Thunder Ridge (weekends/holidays): Thunder Ridge a little cheaper: $65/adult, $55/6-12 years. Mt Peter: $67/adult,...

I like the ski area, but the reservation system for the first come first serve ski lessons package is sorely outdated. I appreciate that there is high volume of requests, but you are made to leave a voicemail for a callback (at their convenience). When they do call, you have to answer because they leave no voicemails and if you call back the number that dialed you (which differs each time) no one answers and you are forced to call the general number, which as noted above is just the voicemail service. No email support, no online form submission process. After three rounds of phone tag, the lessons became full (but weren’t full after the first two rounds per their website which noted updated statuses). Process can be a little more modern.

UPDATE 2/14/23: Raised the review from 1 star to 3 stars. Was able to take my child to Thunder Ridge this past weekend for a ski lesson. Hardly any snow in NY, so this was like a winter oasis. He had a great time and the staff did very well corralling the “Thunderbolts” class. I was able to use the online reservation system to book his group lesson and that worked well. I had a small concern about availability for Level 1 vs 2 (because the only available was Level 2 online for same day purchase), but the staff ask the children some simple questions to demonstrate their skills and he was appropriate placed where he needed to be (almost a first timer). Related to that, it was $132 for this experience because all except the Parent + Child session (which he is aged out of by a year) requires you to pay for a lift ticket even if you are only taking the Thunderbolt session (roped off small area, not going on the bunny hill, not going up any lifts). Same as my prior review, I understand the business reasons for things, but I would be more inclined to come back if the (more or less) $132 covered two separate days of ski lessons for my child instead of one. This doesn’t account for him needing me to be with him on any other part of the mountain (like the bunny hill), therefore I would need to also pay for a lift ticket whether I ski or not. Other than it being a bit pricey to repeat frequently, super proud of my child and the experience was much like my prior fun filled trips to Thunder Ridge. The days before children when a snow day meant offices closed early and my roommate and I raced up to Thunder Ridge for some...