Brian K.
Yelp
This resort has really gone downhill in the last few years. The traffic, parking, prices, customer service, food, and lift operations are all terrible.
They routinely oversell the resort, so the traffic and parking are horrible on the weekends. In the past I could get into the resort quickly and find parking easily. Now you have to wait in long lines, use a terrible online reservation system, and pay $30.00 a day for parking if you're a solo skier.
During my last visit, I decided to try the park and ride option instead of the lot. I parked in Truckee at 7:45 a.m., waited outside in 14 degree weather, and didn't see a bus until 9:45 a.m. The bus driver lied and said he was late because of all the traffic in and out of Palisades resort. I found out later, he was just two hours late for work that day.
After another 45 minutes on the bus, I arrived at Palisades and found 45 minute lift lines (still) at the gondola and funitel. The lift operators were late starting snow removal, so one lift, Wa She Shu, didn't open until well after 11:00 a.m. It didn't seem like they were understaffed because there were 4-5 employees standing around, at the bottom of Wa She Shu, socializing and not working. By this time I was getting hungry so I stopped for an early lunch.
I tried Oh! Burger but the electronic menu behind the counter wasn't working. I asked an employee about the menu, but she barely spoke any English and just motioned toward another cashier. I went to Bluebird Chicken instead, waited as an employee struggled to ring up my overpriced food, and then needed help from a manager. When I got my food, it was over cooked and dried out. Like it had been sitting under a warmer for a long time.
After eating my heat lamp chicken, I went back to We She Shu and found it was finally open. However, the turnstiles weren't working, so everyone had to duck and squeeze past them. The lift operators were playing really loud annoying death metal music on their radio, and some of the same employees were still just standing around chatting not working.
After skiing for a while, my pole strap got stuck to the back of a Wa She Shu chair. As I neared the top, I started waving my arms and yelling at the lift operator to stop the lift. He wasn't paying attention, so I had to de-chair without my pole. I nearly crashed in the process. I kept yelling at the lift operator and he finally woke up and came out of his booth. Then, instead of stopping the lift like I asked, he started chasing the chair. I couldn't believe it, because the chair was way out of reach and moving too fast. I wouldn't be surprised if he was stoned.
I skied down to the bottom of the left to get my pole and guess who I saw? Some of the very same employees I noticed standing around socializing earlier in the day. They'd been there for hours just hanging out and chatting with their co-workers. No wonder the lifts don't open on time.
It was the worst and most frustrating skiing experience I've ever had. There are better places to spend your ski dollars than Palisades.
