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Lea Givens
from Charleston, SC
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Mar 10, 2008 |
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Overall Rating: 1.8   |
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Although Mountain Creek's web site says it has done a lot of improvements, it still has a long way to go.
It is the longest hike I've ever made to get from a parking area to a ski lift and this is during a weekday. There is a closer area you can park in (for $30).
The "Gondola" is unlike any one I've ever been on. It is an open air, standing only, cattle car.
The base area is largely made up of a number plastic buildings that look like circus tents, except uglier.
The area is made up of 3 or 4 "peaks". There is a lift and slope connecting Vernon & Granite peaks to Bear & South peaks. On the day I was there the connecting slope & lift were closed. There was no other way to get from one area to the other than to take off your skis & boots, make the epic hike back to your car, drive to the other base area, and probably make another record setting hike. I passed on this opportunity. Any other ski area would've have a shuttle running between the 2 base areas.
The terrain was decent but the snow quality was terrible, probably due to the low elevation of the area.
Well, at least now, I've skiied New Jersey, never to ski it again.
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KS
from Colorado
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Nov 12, 2007 |
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| Overall Rating: 1.6 |
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I was given a free ticket to Mountain Creek and I still never felt so ripped off.
My experience included being surrounded by the most rude obnoxious group of people I have ever had the misfortune to encounter. If that was not enough, I had the displeasure of sharing a lift with a drunk who polished off two additional beers going up the lift, only to discard the empty containers on the ground below. Judging from the trail of empty bottles, cans and other garbage, all the way to,up and down the mountain, this is standard fair in New Jersey.
I can honestly tell you, the overwhelming disgust with the patrons and staff and general appearance of the place overpowered any other memory I have.
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michael soto
from Matawan, NJ
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Oct 8, 2007 |
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| Overall Rating: 3.8 |
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ok so heres the deal if you dont like creek then whyd you go it doesnt really matter if kids are cursing mind your own business. and of course its gonna be packed its between PA,NJ,NY. and if people are rude that just means you suck at what you are doing. if you are a skiier dont expect good treatment because 1.no one likes skiers 2. they think that they own the mountain 3. they are mostly old whiny people. and a word of advice when you fall dont sit in the MIDDLE OF THE MOUNTAIN!!!
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Nate
from New Jersey
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Mar 5, 2007 |
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| Overall Rating: 1.0 |
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I had the unfortunate experience of visiting Mountain Creek on a Sunday during the month of January. This proved to be a terrible mistake and I can say with absolute certainty that not only will I never go back, but I will do everything in my power to put the word out to keep everyone I know away from this pathetic excuse of a ski resort.
Years ago I was a skier and became pretty decent. I gave that up but recently took up snowboarding, which started this season. As a resident of New Jersey, I ignored some friendly advice and took my girlfriend to Mountain Creek on a Sunday against my better judgement.
I should have turned around the moment I arrived to find every parking lot filled over capacity, but we figured, "How bad can it be on the mountain? After all, it's a mountain. It must have plenty of room, right?" Wrong. We made the trek from the very end of the farthest lot up to the check-in area, at which point we paid $108 for two lift tickets, unaware of the horror that would ensue. We kept a positive attitude and decided to give Mountain Creek a chance. That would later prove to be our undoing.
Our trip up the ski lift was even less pleasant than the hike from the parking lot, as we had to pack and jam our way into a crowd of several hundred patrons during the course of our 20 minute wait to even get on the lift. For our extreme agitation, we were rewarded on the mountain with a couple of trails that were occupied with what seemed to be approximately one skier or snowboarder per square yard, one of which was nothing more than a compacted ice glacier. It was quite an experience to negotiate our way down these obstacle courses.
The disappointment in the dangerously obnoxious overoccupancy of the mountain was matched perhaps only by the greedy enthusiasm with which the Mountain Creek staff gladly accepted our $108 as well as the complete lack of courtesy and total disregard shown for anyone else by the numerous patrons on the mountain that day. Indeed, Mountain Creek is apparently home to a large number of pushy, self-absorbed prudes and punks one would expect to find only in a rock concert mosh pit or at a free cash handout during a busy day on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
We left Mountain Creek, deciding that even $108 did not even come close to being worth the catastrophic experience of enduring the hell on that mountain. But oddly, perhaps the most sickening experience I had that day was in taking notice of the fact that many of the rude, obnoxious patrons didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with the crowd at the mountain. Many of them seemed to simply have reconciled themselves with the perverted notion that this level of absurdity was perfectly normal and fine.
Shamefully, this experience did not prove to be a "one time" occasion. Several weeks later, another woman brought some people to the mountain and reported the exact same hellish experience. New Jersey is infamous for its highest population density in the entire U.S., as well as perhaps the rudest and most obnoxious people in the entire world. And Mountain Creek is the epitomy of everything that is wrong with New Jersey, especially North Jersey. If you have even minimal standards of courtesy, crowd control, safety, or even maintaining general positivity, do not ever go to this mountain.
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Mike Fera
from Wood Ridge, NJ
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Dec 31, 2006 |
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| Overall Rating: 1.6 |
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I have been a long time customer of Mountain Creek from way back when it was Vernon Valley Resort. I have to say, I am never going back! The staff cannot control the line cutting/cursing kids. The employees it seems have better things to do than help you out when you need it. It has become overcrowded and overpriced. Go west to PA or north to NY or VT.
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RYAN
from NJ
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Nov 28, 2006 |
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| Overall Rating: 1.6 |
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I have been riding this mt. for over 7 years, and every year it get's WOrse.. Crowds during the weekend are so bad that you can guarentee you will get run into by some kid at least twice... The only reason to ride here is the Park or Night skiing. The Park is good but get's very busy, The night sking is not bad because no one knows about it. I recomend only going mid week and only after a big dump... they take a long time to open all the trails and they are never that long... I WILL NOT BE RETURING TO THIS YEAR, GO TO VERMONT WITH ME.
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Matt
from OB NJ
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Apr 14, 2006 |
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| Overall Rating: 3.6 |
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as a snowboarder i love it here cause of the park, if ur a skier or a boarder that doesnt do park u prob wont like it cause theres pretty much no challenge and it crowded, it good cause of the variety of parks and the closeness. great place for jersey.
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Nils Klarlund
from Chatham, New Jersey
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Mar 12, 2006 |
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| Overall Rating: 2.6 |
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After skiing at Mountain Creek for the 2005/6 season (a warm, lousy winter in the NE), I have decidly mixed impressions:
-- The mountain has a great variety of trails, including challenging terrain for experts. They do a very good job at keeping the mountain skiiable. Most of the lifts are fast.
-- Lift lines of 20-25 minutes are something I experienced on weekends. But more often, the wait is from 2-5 minutes.
--I brought my kids, age 6-8, several times. They like the terrain but the overcrowding on weekends is a concern. Do not allow kids to ski without helmet there. Nearby Hidden Valley is more attractive for beginning little skiers in my opinion but does not offer much for advanced skiers & boarders.
-- My kids enjoyed the ski school. Be sure to check the online coupons (on Mountain Creek website) for rebates. Otherwise $90/day/kid may not get you very far. Because of the customer service incidents below, I only enrolled my kids once.
-- When I arrived to use our family's third Triple Play card on 3/11/06, the associate in the ticket booth refused to honor it. Her supervisor also refused. They wanted me to prove that I had bought it! Through endless interrogations, where I provided my wife's name, credit card numbers etc, they were unable to prove that I or my wife had bought the card . Although transactions for hundreds of dollars in our names showed up---yes I spent $400 or so there already for the season---they regarded me as thief. My wife had bought three cards, but at the window I could not procure three month old credit card statements that proved it. I got very angry and the supervisor finally relented. I wasted half an hour talking to employees who I suspect have been instructed at all cost not to honor triple play cards. This is shockingly poor service that could probably form the ground for law suits involving breach of contract.
At another occasion this year, an employee sold me a discounted lift ticket, but did not refund the full price ticket we had initially bought. I've spent hours talking to their office in Canada and in Vernon. I was promised a refund, they did call me back, but I did not get anything, of course. So I ended up paying $90 for skiing just one day (on MLK when the Triple Play cards are not accepted [if they every are]).
Next season, the Village will open, including a hotel. This will mean more overcrowding on weekends I suspect.
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keith
from New york
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Feb 9, 2006 |
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| Overall Rating: 3.8 |
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As a second time snowboarder it was a great experience. The terrain was awesome considering we have not gotten much snow this year. It was well worth the drive comparing to going upstate which is further. Weekdays are the best time to go.
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Mark
from Alpine, NJ
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Feb 6, 2006 |
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| Overall Rating: 2.0 |
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Mountain Creek was the next nearest one to where I live and I wanted to try this place out since it's about 1 hr away.
Bottom line verdict: overall terrible experience, spotty service and horrendous crowds (considering it was a slow day because of Super Bowl).
The only thing going for Mountain Creek are its trails which are great fun.
I rented skis for my kid. There were literally two ladies setting the bindings up. I started getting worried when I had my son try it and it didn't even fit his boots (not even close). 2nd, they didn't speak English and couldn't understand what I was saying (was asking them about the DIN settings). 3rd, they started cursing me in their native tongue thinking that I didn't understand them.
The rental boots are truly old and deplorable. Had to struggle for 15 minutes or so to just help my kid get it on.
Next, what entirely caught me by surprise was the ratio of snowboarders to skiers. This is not necessarily a bad thing but wow, I did get a higher ratio of rude snowboaders as well. The young snowboarding kids were impolite, shouting at my kid from behind like they own the trail more than a few times. One snowboarding kid did this in so rude a fashion I had to chase her down on a black diamond trail to tell her to be considerate of other skiers in front of her. It was not a surprise later when I see signs up around Mountain Creek telling people literally to show more respect to get respect. They must really have a problem there to be putting up signs like that.
In my kid's own words, "the cafeteria smells of bad oil and sweat and I hate it here."
Despite the great trails, it's not meant for a family setting. If you love the blues and blacks and have your own equipment, snowboard more than ski, and wouldn't mind some rude folks at times, go for it.
For me, the extra 30 minutes to drive to Camelback would be a better experience and value (considering also MC is a bit more expensive than Camelback).
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Casey
from Westchester County, NY
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Jan 27, 2006 |
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| Overall Rating: 3.2 |
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Having spent lots of my ski time at Vernon Valley/Great Gorge, a few things.
This is a great night or midweek mountain. The new lifts are very fast, and probably double your actual going-down-hill time. I recall the old lifts, and they were a 25 minute ride, or a 17 minute ride. The new ones are 7 and 5 minutes.
You don't want to go weekends. A scary combination of crowds and "first day out" skiers makes it rough for anyone else. I've skied for close to 40 years, and the only times I've been injured are at VV, both times when I was hit hard from behind by out of control skiers. Lower Horizon on VV peak is like Times Square with skiers. If you are a decent skier/boarder, go to the south peak. The blacks scare off the rookies, and the snowblowing is great.
I am miffed that "Great Northern", the best trail on the VV mountain, has been turned into a board park at extra cost. I know that boards are the way of the future, but I mourn the loss of a wonderful open slope, with a nice face toward the sun. Likewise Hawk Highland/Exibition on South Peak, another wonderful open space carved up.
Still, between warp speed lifts and state of the art snowblowing, well worth the $. Just go off peak, or it is line wait heck and a great example of why some areas don't fix their lifts, to keep the slopes open.
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Matt
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Nov 3, 2005 |
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| Overall Rating: 4.2 |
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Being that this resort is in New Jersey I thought it was going to be only mediocre, it was completly the opposite. Even though I went in the spring when many of the resonts in New Your around my house were on the verage of closing Mountain Creek was running strong. Their terrain was amazing and only 3 lifts were open at the time, if all the lifts were opan its would have been better. Their open gondala is very nice. Because of it there are very few lift lines and it also goes rather fast making the life ride pretty quick. Their terain park was so so so good. Even though you have to dish out another 5 dollars to get in, but its worth it. Even in the spring the pipe was in great condition there were also nice jumbs from little 3 footers to huge 40-60 ft tables. Also, there were 15 rails all of which were in great shape. The only thig which disapointed me was that the food was so expensive. Next time I go im deffinetly bringing food instead of paying 13 dollars for lunch. Also, their lockers are small but very cheep 1.25$ for one. All in all I just can't wait to go back a few times this year.
