Heavenly Ski And Ride School - South Lake Tahoe, California

Brenda

My son had the best day at ski school with Coach Francis. His confidence and skill set doubled and Coach was so personable with the kids and the parents. He even took pictures throughout the day and shared with us after. My son absolutely loved him and learned so much. It was Christmas Day and we’ll never forget it. We appreciated him working on the holiday to share his passion with all these kids. Thank you, Coach Francis!

Susan Bugg

We recently had the pleasure of taking ski lessons with Elliot, and I can confidently say that he is an exceptional instructor. From the moment we met, his kindness and patience shone through, creating a welcoming atmosphere that put us at ease.

I had only skied once before, and that experience had left me feeling fearful and nervous about hitting the slopes again. Elliot’s compassionate approach made all the difference. He took the time to understand my concerns and tailored his instruction to help me build confidence. By the end of our session, I could see the transformation in myself/ I was even smiling and laughing.

My friend hadn’t skied in a long time, and Elliot’s insightful guidance helped her quickly regain her skills and confidence. He provided constructive feedback while ensuring we all felt supported and motivated throughout the lesson.

Both of us left feeling incredibly happy and grateful for the experience. Elliot’s skill as an instructor, combined with his understanding nature, created a positive and encouraging environment for learning. I cannot recommend him highly enough! If you’re looking for someone who truly cares about helping you improve and enjoy skiing, Elliot is the one to choose. Thank you, Elliot, for an unforgettable experience! With Gratitude- Susan & Margie

Joerg T.

Group lessons are no lessons. More of a daycare/activity program and certainly not worth the money. Other schools like Palisades or Alpine are 10 times better. Kids don't learn anything at Heavenly. The problem starts with the stupid classification. My son is pretty good at parallel skiing on blues and starts to learn on blacks. But he's not perfect at parallel skiing yet. He's 9! I explained all this at check-in and they classified him as green because apparently kids have to be perfect at parallel skiing before they can join the blue class. Obviously he was completely bored all day in his group. Best thing at pick-up I was told he did great. Of course, because he wasn't challenged! And when I asked him later what he learned and what exercised they did in class he said that they practiced hockey stops only. Oh, I was also assured at drop off that they assess kids and move them up if it makes sense. But there was no assessment!!! How come other schools manage to do this.

Phillip Petersen

A bit frustrated with an advanced lesson at Heavenly. I am disappointed in how my son’s experience with an advanced lesson went. I scheduled the day before with the office and was told there was a spot for him to receive advanced lessons as he has outgrown my skills and is ready to improve his form on advanced terrain. He already skis these terrains, but I know he would benefit from lessons on form that I can’t teach. Anyway, after showing up 15 min early and only getting a quick question from one of the instructors to make sure I was at the right station, we did not talk to a person for 20 min. I saw a couple conversations occur and some pointing which already concerned me as my son was the only one for this level. When I was engaged by an instructor it was awkward as I explained his skills and as she walked him towards the intermediate group, I told her he cannot be with them. She said that they would observe him and regroup accordingly. They apparently took the group to the “Big Easy” to do this. There was no real evaluation of him and what was most concerning was there was more of an attempt to down sell him on intermediate lessons by looking for something that would put him in an intermediate bucket like saying “most intermediate students have there chest over their skis.”

This was not an evaluation of his skills, but was definitely an attempt to not have to provide the service I paid for since he would have been the only one in the advanced group which I was told is 1-6 people. I am disappointed that this cut into all of our ski day as we came off the mountain to get him started, waited while groups were formed, and then had to come off the mountain again at an inconvenient time to meet my son after he was told there was no instructor. I am more disappointed that none of the staff just told me at the lesson that nobody was available to provide the lesson I paid for. What I am most disturbed by is the predatory tactic to keep my son in a group he did not belong to ensure that they could claim a service was rendered. He spent 30 min skiing on a green slope helping pick up the others that were falling down and then he was told by an instructor that they did not have anyone for his level after already starting even with my comments before they started.

I did receive a refund, but with no other concessions for lost time and inconvenience for the whole shady process. Losing a part of a ski day when you are on a finite number of days is a bigger deal than just a couple hundred dollars. It puts a stain on a family vacation that is supposed to be a fun time away from school and work. I know this is where the conflict of a large business becomes indifferent to a small family since it is only $200 to them, but customer satisfaction should not take a back seat to profit margins. Nobody is going to accept a cheeseburger if you order steak and frankly a lot of restaurants would fix the order and comp the steak since it was there mistake and they acknowledge the inconvenience.

I have not had this issue in the past when my kids were in intermediate lessons provided by Epic at another resort, but I want to make sure others do not get this same runaround. If there was supposed to be an available instructor for a group and I pay for it, make sure I get what you paid for. If there is not, don’t sell me a lesson to try to squeeze me into a lower level just for money. I found this so tasteless of the staff that I am now writing this review.

If you cannot provide the service don’t sell it. If you can’t staff it don’t make it available in your sales system. Teach your staff to be able to be honest up front and say that you can’t provide the dedicated resource so you want to cancel rather than try to switch to a lower service.

This is not a complaint on how good the instructors are. It is a complaint on process for Epic and how they reconcile with families.

Olga Collins

Bad experience. They lost my son for a bit! “The kid was separated” as they explained. Few coaches changed over 2 hour period. Nobody could tell me what he learned. My son was very upset when we picked him up. Not coming back.

Luis Alejandro Fernandez Goico

Horrible experience! They lost our 4 year old for about 45 mins.

We go skiing every season and had always had a great experience in other resorts. This ski school is a completely different scenario; very informal child drop-off and pickup, massive lack of organization, noticeable right from the very first minute. But hey, we’ve dropped our kids at other ski schools before, they’ll be all right… right? Absolutely not! When we went to pick him up the staff told us he went into the bathroom and never came out. Then we went looking for him and he wasn’t there! Imagine our desperation, but the worst thing is the lack of empathy from the woman in charge. She just got “tired of our desperation” and responded with a very aggressive “I don’t have your kid!”. We started looking all over the building, and they had him at another level with some other 4 year olds (but I guess they didn’t communicate among themselves). Last time using this ski school for sure and never recommending it.

Kara Simmons

I had not skied in over 10 + years, so I wanted to do a lesson to get a refresher course. I purchased a group lesson but after a few runs on the bunny slope I was paired up with Katarina (Kat) Fenton and got a private lesson. She gave me so many great tips and when I felt like I was not getting it she changed up her teaching advice. She even took some videos to show me how I was doing. By the end of the lesson I felt so comfortable and can’t wait to hit the slopes again. If you want a great teacher ask for Kat. We had fun kicking it on the mountain and hung out a little after.

Dankest River

I'm an adult that was learning how to ski for the first time, and took two morning group lessons (2.5 hours each) over the weekend. Both of the instructors I had were very helpful, and I was able to progress quickly. The first lesson taught the basics, wedging and turning, the second one helped with improving turns and knocking out bad beginner habits. I was comfortably skiing greens with my friends by the end of the second lesson.

Also, outside of lessons the instructors were friendly and helpful. They helped answer any questions I had, and one even helped me get back up when I fell on a run. Would highly recommend for adult beginners.