Donner Ski Ranch — Attraction in Truckee

We stopped in Saturday morning for breakfast after a morning of hiking. The waitress told us aswe walked in breakfast was over at 11..it was 4 minutes till 11am. She said she would check with the cook. She came back & said no they were only serving lunch. She brought over menus..we ordered. She had an attitude towards my friend. When our food was ready she brought it to the table..the food was nice sized portions..fresh cooked & looked yummy. My friend asked if the tv could be turned to football. The waitress was apparently watching it. We were the only 3 people in the restaurant..there were a couple people outside. The waitress brought over the TV remote & threw it down on the table & walked away. After that we were totally ignored. My friend wasn't happy. When she finally came back.. my friend & her had words..it got pretty nasty..he ended up talking to the owner..she was apparently the manager..he didn't want his BLT & wanted it taken off the bill due to her being so rude. He hadn't touched it. The owner said he would talk to her & hear her side..he ended up taking the BLT off our bill. After my friends wife & I ate..we still hadn't gotten our bill. I went to the counter..the manager was pouring a pitcher of beer. She looked at me & stopped pouring beer..kinda tossed the pitcher to the side & told the other bartender she needed some time & went into the back. I hadn't done anything or said anything to her. The bartender stood there..I don't think he knew what was going on. He finally got our tag so I could pay. I had went to the bathroom when we first got there..as soon as I opened the door the smell hit me..it was just nasty. There was tp & paper towels all over the floor & in the stalls. The toilet was nasty. The facet moved when I turned it on. The smell made me feel ill. As I was walking back to our table I saw bits of food & paper scattered on the floor under & arroun the tables clear back to our table. The window was open..it was screaned but there were a few big flies that came to our table & we had to keep swatting them off our food. My friend had went to the bar before our food came & was going to order a beer. The manager looked at him & totally ignored him & then went into the back. She was just rude thru our whole experience. We won't...

I started to learn to ski this season in Dec 2012, had a group lessons at Bear Valley, Heavenly, and Dodge Ridge each before I took a private lesson at Donner Ski Ranch, and also have skied at Sierra-at-Tahoe and Squaw Valley. My private lesson on March 1st at Donner Ski Ranch was the worst learning experience comparing to the group lessons I took at other ski resorts. As my lesson at Donner was a private lesson, at the beginning of the lesson I told the instructor (Chuck) what I’d done so far and asked him to teach me making good turns, not doing plows, etc. But the instructor ignored what I had asked; rather he decided to take me to all the different lift chairs and “showing me the mountains” (as he put it). The instructor told me his ear pieces were running out the battery so he cannot hear me; he also cut my 2 hours private lesson 20 minutes short as there was another lesson was waiting for him, or maybe because he can’t hear me. So at the end, I felt I didn’t learn anything. The snow condition at Donner Ski Ranch was also the worst comparing to other ski resorts; it was icy in the morning and very slushy in the afternoon. The staff was worse than other ski resorts as well, not very well organized and was not professional. Overall, it was a very bad experience. I called Donner afterward and they offered to give me a makeup lesson. So I went again – what a mistake – the second experience was not any better than the first one. The staff (Dana) was very rude, maybe because I was there to take a “makeup” lesson. The lift ticket was not discussed before or during my first hour of lesson. Once the staff learned I suppose to have two hours lesson, they did not give me my second hour and Dana was very angry and yelled at me in front of many others “go get your lift ticket”. Regardless of when should I buy the lift ticket, at that point I had enough of the rudeness and un-professionalism of the staff, I decided not to ski or take lesson there anymore -- I will not give Donner Ski Ranch one penny more of my business. By the way, I took a friend with me on my second time there, and he purchased a package including group lesson. At the end, he said he and his friends and family will never go back to Donner Ski...

We went on Christmas day and decided to go back a few weeks later. It's a good place for beginners/intermediates and families. They have a moving carpet, and several lifts. The price is the best for Tahoe's area. One of the main reasons why we came back was because parking is easy and close by, and the place is not packed with people like other ski places. There are no lines for the lifts. The reason why I'm not giving 5 stars is because the place could have some improvements. Firstly, the indications of the lanes should be more clear. You have what seems to be a black diamond next to a beginner level lane, and the signals could be more clear. Also, there was a "closed" sign facing the opposite side of one lane which for me was not clear if the lane was closed and the sign moved with the wind or the lane was open since the sign was facing some weird direction. Also, whenever you indicated "the easiest way down" it seemed to me that the other option was easier (and it was not very clear to which direction they were actually pointing). Another thing that could be done would be having a list of the lanes opened and the level close to the entry of each lift (e.g. at the entry of lift 1, an indication of which lanes will be operating and the levels so that you know before being up there). I know there is a map close to the restaurant building, but this kind of info should be close to each lift entry. The next item that should be considered by the owners would be an improvement to the restrooms. Please consider adding new working lockers to the doors, for example, and closing gaps that make them less private than they should be. The only thing that really annoyed us was the gigantic mess in traffic caused by sugar bowl (which is another resort across the street). But that's not Donner's fault... We actually parked very close to Donner's entry even with our delay caused by sugar bowl inneficient...