Boreal Mountain Resort

We are season pass holders and my kids grew up on Soda Springs their sister company. Something has changed over the years where they quality of staffing went down and concern for safety is no longer there. Its hard to stay away from this place as my older son enjoys the terrain parks, a niche in the market.
However my main concern is castle peak lift where my younger kids likes to stay at. During busy times it often takes 15 min to get a lift. There is hardly any supervision to prevent people cutting in lines or older kids pushing younger kids out of the way. Last time we went an older kid looks to be 12 came in from behind the loading zone so my son who’s only 8 did not see him. The older kid sat in the middle then pushed my son off the lift and laughed at him. The operator helped my son to trap in but he already hurt his shoulder and was traumatized by the whole experience. The other kid should’ve been kicked off the lift for doing what he did but he didn’t even get a warning. Had there been an extra worker there to help direct the traffic this would’ve been avoided.
I hope they do something regarding this. As ONLY Castle Peak need this extra staff during busy times and it should not break their budget to do so.

I had so much fun here!
The people were so nice. And the lift operators were sexy!
I definitely recommend Boreal to friends and family.

Greedy, not kids friendly anymore.
I used to love Boreal, used to be perfect place for kids and families. Now they just want to suck in as much money as they can. They have advertisements for alcohol all over place, no customer service. We signed up for kids’ lessons and the lessons started 40 mins late and their supervisor just said «that’s our product, deal with it». For a 2 hour lesson, starting 40 mins late is their product? We waited for 3 hrs in the line to get to the equipment line and the guy says we may not have equipment for you, we can give you refund. They could have easily stopped selling lessons once it reached a certain limit, but they wanted to suck in every last dollar they could. They stopped the lifts, changed tubing lengths at their whim, no notice or information and everyone from their staff just shrugs their shoulders.
Now they have started parking fee.
Last time here, dear Boreal, rest in peace, with this kind of attitude, I don’t expect people will come here often.

My family of 4 all signed up for the beginner snow board package. A great deal! Alyssa (hope I spelled her name correctly) is the best instructor ever! Even though it was a group lesson we were lucky enough to have a small class. Just the 4 of us. Alyssa quickly graduated us from the bunny hill and we on the bigger lifts in no time. Highly recommend Alyssa!

I had a terrible experience with the staff of boreal. My snowboard was taken from right outside of my car. I called the resort, and was told that they had a board matching the exact description of my board and bindings, so in excitement I drove 2 hours from my home town to Boreal, in hopes of getting my board back. When I arrived, I was asked to describe the board, and was told that they just needed to make sure it was the right board. And after waiting for about a half an hour, they came back and asked more questions about the board. After I answered them, I was told that it turns out they did not have a board at all. The way the employees were whispering among one another it seemed as if one of them decided to keep the board to themselves. I have been a season lift ticket holder for three years, but can assure you I will not be going back after this experience. I would not recommend this resort.

Avoid this place. Parking $ 20. $ 40 for 2 hours of tubing? This place was so disorganized that it took me 20mins just to get a tube. In the snow, it might take you 20mins round trip to use the facilities so better do that before you get your tubing pass. Tubing runs are pretty lame, not long or fast.
These employees/​temps they hire have no motivation to keep any order and are more incompetent than a high school kid working at the local amusement park. Café was a complete disaster as it took 20−30mins just to get food after the 10min walk. Just go somewhere else.
Only good thing is that this place is right off i-​80.

Screw this place. I just had my Jones snowboard stolen from the racks for the 2^nd time in 3 seasons. I left it on the holding rack while I went inside to grab lunch. When I came back for it, it was gone. Staff «watching» over the racks were totally unhelpful. This place is more sketch than fun. I’ll pay the premium price to go snowboard at kirkwood, north star, or heavenly from now on since shitty people can’t afford to go there. I hope whoever stole my expensive gear gets paralyzed riding my board. Someone’s cunt mother clearly didn’t raise them well. Beware.

This review is of the food place inside of Boreal. My buddy and I both ordered the «House Special» Tri-​tip sandwich and let me tell you, it tasted like a moldy sponge. The meat was precooked, and warmed on a stovetop, and the bread had the consistency of a Brillo-​pad. The peppers inside of the sandwich were tasteless, and as I bit in to them I felt they were slimy worms. I would not suggest this restaurant based on our experience today. I would rather eat yellow snow.

Fairly small ski resort near Tahoe but a vey fun an enjoyable experience. They have awesome Friday college student deals with 15 $ all day lift tickets! It’s absolutely unheard of compared to the typical 90 $ lift ticket everywhere else in Tahoe! I also liked this place because it has night ski from 9 am — 9pm which Heavenly, Squaw, and Kirkwood don’t have.
The actual routes were very short and limited. The waiting lines were long considering how short each slope was and they weren’t labeled clearly. Most ski resorts have huge signs indicating what level each route is and this one was hard to navigate. I couldn’t tell if a slope was a green circle or a black diamond until I was actually skiing it… However this place is great for all the cool ramps, boxes, rails, and the HUGE half pipe in the middle of the resort. If you are looking for long slopes and scenic views, then skip this place. If you are looking to test out your tricks and show off your moves, I would definitely recommend this place!

The workers here are rude and scammers. They are happy taking your money and rude with all other questions and concerns. 20 $ to park, 40 $ for 2 hour tubing/​person and 10 $/​person just to play with the snow is just awful. Not family friendly at all. Nature is free and I do not recommend this place, at all. NO REFUNDS on parking too so do not go in thinking it is a friendly or reasonable rest stop.

WARNING: READ the negative Unilocal reviews before you go. The ski camp instructors nearly lost my son! I don’t think I need any more explanation then to say that it’s total irresponsibility of the resorts’ instructors.

First experience was a little rough. I’m sure it’ll be better the next time. Bought tickets and rental package through liftopia (great deal by the way) but processing at the ticket office was slow (in all fairness, very long lines). Once we got our lift tickets we got to get our gear immediately (bypassing all the lines).
There was quite a bit of snow and the lifts ran smoothly. Why it’ll be better next time: now that we have their «One Pass», which everyone received upon processing, we can load our lift tickets for next time online and go straight to the lifts. Pretty sweet deal.
The food line, also tremendously long, moved very quickly. I would suggest packing a lunch unless you’re okay with $ 10+/person for food. At least the food was pretty good. The boys had burgers which I thought were very tasty and I had the clam chowder bowl which was okay.
Get there early if you know it’s going to be busy and it’s your first go around!

Very, very disorganized. Look for 3 hour waits. They should be implement a use it or lose it system. Their processes are very antiquated.

The worst lift ticket buying experience EVER! They have 1 window open, out of the 6 possible. That is not the bad part. I am only 10 people back in line when I arrive first thing in the morning. 45 minutes, yes 45 minutes later, I am in the same spot! The line was now over 100 very angry people, still just 1 wondow open. They finally open a «cash-​only» window, so I move to the front. It took 15 full minutes for them to take my money, and give me the tickets with cash! Yes, 1 hour in line and only 10 people back.
It’s bad enough that they now charge many for parking, another $ 20, but to lose an hour of skiing at the current cost of a lift ticket… Boreal you should be ashamed, embarrassed, and seriously change your business model. It was a terrible experience.

I think I got extremely lucky in the weekend that I picked to come here (Super Bowl Weekend) because there was not that much people here which means you don’t have to look out for people who keep falling or people who ski/​snowboard too fast and freak you out.
It’s a pretty small resort which only a few ski lifts open, but it was enough for me. This place is really good for beginners, so most of the slopes weren’t too steep. CA is in a drought so the snow wasn’t that great, but it was enough to snowboard down.
The board rental and lift prices weren’t too bad either. I forgot the exact amount but definitely less than $ 100 for both.
Overall, I had a good time and I would come back.

I can’t comment on the the prices here because I only come here once a year through an organization that pays for everything. I will, however, comment on the services and experience.
Every time I go, they of course make fake snow in addition to the real snow (We got early February). It all blends together well.
The first time I came here, I went snowboarding and took a lesson. The lesson was just OK and I felt it could have taught more, like, say, I don’t know, how to get off the lift safely without twisting your ankle on the board?! I don’t entirely blame this for this mishap that happened to me, but I say the lift is by far the worst thing for beginners. The lesson could have incorporated a method of this instead of just a verbal. Multiple times myself and others collided into each other and almost into children. The employees standing by are generally rude and unhelpful. All they do is yell either «Move out of the way!» or «Hurry up!» (for us to move away from the lift to make way for others coming up). Oh, excuse me, let me just crawl away with my swollen ankle.
It was fun snowboarding in the end.
This year (just last weekend) we went up to Boreal again and this time I went tubing. The tube hills are awfully dirty looking but that doesn’t excuse the fact that it’s pure fun going belly down on a tube!
So, the activities are obviously fun and wonderful. The employees, though, are really pathetic. Again, the attitude was the same with them. Unhelpful and lazy. On this trip (through the organization) there are a few people who are mentally disabled and as a result are unable to fully walk correctly on slippery ice. One of the girls fell multiple times because the ice in the line to get tubes was melting. A person from our group had to tell the employees to put salt down. Really?! It is not the customer’s job to tell the employees when salt needs to be put down on the ice! Even after she told them they lingered and lagged and took their sweet time.
As I was tubing down the hills, it wasn’t even the children that I needed to watch out for, but the employees! If I’m coming down the hill at full speed, you need to move! They were too busy talking about how so-​and-​so was spreading rumors. Well great, but move! They did poorly at regulating the children walking across the slopes because multiple times a child could have been run over by someone going down a tube and one adult woman was actually mowed over by someone! She was alright in the end but really? Your job is to regulate safety, not talk about how your fell coworker is a loser or whatever.
Besides the employees, we have a great time in the snow and will return for the fun of the activities.

I bought lift tickets through Liftopia for Boreal ~ Saturday, 1÷31÷2015. I knew since the pricing was cheap that it was a smaller resort and maybe not have as many amenities as Northstar or Heavenly do. However, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I loved my experience at Boreal!
We got there around 8:30AM and they open at 9AM. We boarded until 1PM without any wait! It was such a fun, easy time, especially for beginners and intermediate snowboarders/​skiers.
Perks:
–Short lines
–Less people: they sell out a smaller amount of tickets so that the mountain is not crowded
–Quick, close access to food court, restrooms, rentals
–Layout of the mountain is so easy to maneuver
I don’t really have any cons. The runs are definitely shorter than other mountains but my boyfriend was able to go down the black diamonds a few times since the lines were almost non-​existent and he had a blast! Thanks Liftopia/​Boreal!

First time visiting this resort. We did a 2 day ski/​rental package through Liftopia. Fantastic pricing.
We showed up a bit late Monday (my standards, not the wife’s). If you purchase your tickets off Liftopia, go straight to the rental area if you need gear. Be aware, sweaty boots make for an enjoyable aroma. Everyone we dealt with in rentals were very friendly.
We started off on Walts Run. Good slope, not very long. We have been to worse bunnies then this. Moved over to Castle Peak Quad lift. And went down Kiss a Bear. For beginners this way can be intimidating. Starts off with a drop that many noobs may be frightened of. But if you know how to read a run its very easy. I decided to try Sunrise trail and left my wife on Kiss a Bear.
Sunrise is a green run from the top left side of the resort. Excellent green run. Couple decent drops for beginners. Very long run and has some nice wide areas to work on your skills. Only negative, it is hard to get back to the lodge. Too flat and actually uphill.
Took a break for lunch. Get their salad. Huge portion compared to they price you pay for other items.
We were blessed with fresh snow Tuesday. Made everything easier. My wife even asked about going to do Sunrise. So we went down 3 times before taking a break. Again showed up late by my standards.
Wife decided to stay on Kiss a Bear. I tried Sierra/​Prospector (blue runs). I stayed run right. Not being great. I took my time so I wouldn’t get ran over by boarders who love to bomb the run. I found the perfect time, every time, to merge into the run when it was empty. Gotta love Tuesday!!!
The staff was very friendly. Always saying hi before you got on and waving before you get off the chair. I would strongly suggest this place to my friends and family.

This is one of the first ski resorts you’ll see when you’re driving up to Lake Tahoe from San Francisco. I’ve been here a few times in the past years for snowboarding.
Pros:
— Great for beginners
— Free and close by parking
— Reasonably priced lift tickets
— Friendly managers
— Open from 9am — 9pm
— They have ramps and rails if you want to try any tricks
Cons:
— Disorganized/​Improperly trained staff members
— Only one lift is actually opened till 9pm
— Only about 3 lifts in total
Overall:
A great place for beginners! But if you have steeper runs, then I wouldn’t recommend coming here.

Boreal what can I say…
Lots of quality time here with out the headache of $ 120 lift tickets. You always open first and close last. You always have different park stuff to try and its finally gunna be a decent snow year (last 3 years were not so good snow wise) but you guys ALWAYS had the guns blowing and making snow.
For the noobs: «Why Boreal? Its not that big and it has a lot of terrain park stuff»
1) Boreal is great size for RUNNING LAPS through the park. Their quad is a fast lift and sure, the run is short but there are lots of things to jib and work on if you are a complete beginner or an Xgames elite athlete.
2) If you are a beginner, they have an excellent program where you take 3 lessons in 3 visits and you get a season pass. Best deal out there for beginners.
3) The parks are set up «mini Shred» to big to huge to omfg why? If you are in awe of some of the booters and the half pipe dont be caught in the middle of the run, slide to the side and watch some sweet tricks and horrible bails.
4) There is a smaller chair to the skiers left near the tubing area that is a hidden gem on pow days. Highly recommended if you can get over there.
In all its worth it if you are just starting up and dont wanna ruin your pay check in one lift ticket price.
Ill prob hit boreal 2 – 3 times this season easy.