Melissa Z.
1 Reviews
The Good The Bad The UglyI live locally and have been a pat…
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 and my family. – via 
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