Marcus Barrett
Google
Updated Sugarbowl review of SB parks on April 27, 2025.
The park is inconsistent from the social media marketing and what Bridget L suggests to what the terrain park actually delivers.
It should be noted we were offered free passes to come out on closing weekend after my original 2 star review. During closing weekend it did have 2 big jumps and multiple large park rails set up. The jumps were nicely groomed and spaced well unlike earlier in the year. However the park crew was still not able to get out early to salt the jumps properly. They did end up getting out but were about 2 hours late from when they should have been salted.
I do think this last week showed they have the potential to be the best in the Tahoe area, even with Level 1 being at Palisades. (Palisades rails do not glide as they are not maintained). Palisades had 1 large jump feature but the Gold Coast chairlift is unbearable compared to Christmas Tree at SB as it gets in a lot more laps.
Social media did contact me and has stated it is in thier phase 1 of the build.
To call and promote it as the premier training grounds is delusional, but it defintely has potential. It is clear Mammoth is the best park in California and has the best TP crew in the USA.
Their is a lot of great employees there that were helpful and honest and said don't expect what was promoted. Some as far as saying they were quiting after the season because of management.
We wasted a couple of weeks waiting for the big park to built but enough was enough.
Updates were not existent by social media or posted well after anyone would needed...ie describing the weather for the day after they were closed.
Employees smoking pot in the park and very slow build of tiny features. Jumps were just flung with salt instead of shutting them down, grooming then salting.
This is good park for the weekend park warrior but not aspiring atheletes.
An extra star for whomever built or grinded the features as they were in great shape and slid well. The features were set well not tilted. Also the actual customer base here was great, an older clientel.
There is the potential for this resort of what was promoted, but it is not there yet nor close. I hope they succeed for the employees that work there and were sold on it as well but unethical promoting and not delivering what is sold is not the way to go.
I do not want the snowboard and ski community to be burned by their poor social media marketer and Bridget, so this review is what it is.
We were refunded our season passes by customer care over the phone, as the person whom answered the phone was honest and said we were not the only ones whom provided the feedback.
The reviews was upgraded to a 3 star review as it looks like it is headed in the right direction.
It should be noted after writing this review social media did block my account and my families account.
Here is where SB can improve
-better honest and accurate updates on social media (this could just be daily or weekly pic updates of what the park looks like).
-cameras that showed 24 7 coverage of the parks on the webpage (currently only small 1 park is available to view).
-rakers could take a training class from Mammoth whom I believe offers classes on how to groom
-more rails they currently have a lot of tubular features
-bigger jumps are needed with wider ramps (they offered large jumps that were better than Tahoe area but just not as big as Mammoth's main park).
-opening earlier at the end of the year, as they could adjust to spring hours as the weather gets warmer.
-do not use weather as an excuse of why a park was not built. The true premier resort (Mammoth) finds a way to get it done every year.
We are rooting for Sugar Bowl to get to be the premier training grounds.
