Louis R.
Yelp
This review is is for the Sundance Mountain Resort Ski School. This was my first time skiing, so I booked a lesson. I was put into a group with two other students who also had never skied before. I was doing reasonably well the first hour of the class, but as I started to get tired I started to make mistakes. That's when our instructor, Scott, became impatient and irritable. Every time I made a mistake, he would make rude and sarcastic comments like, "Oh come on!", "What are you doing?!", "Why would you do that?!", and so on. When wearing skiis, it's difficult to get up after falling, but Scott only occassionally offered to help and he was visibly irritated by having to do so. The first two hours of the class, we stuck to the bunny slopes, but Scott wanted us to increase the difficulty and go to the actual ski lift. I was completely exhausted and I wasn't ready to increase the difficulty - I needed more practice. Scott starting yelling "HURRY UP!" at me and when I tried to go faster, I fell and pulled a muscle. He came over and said something like "What's going on with you? Do you want to go on the lift or do want to call it quits?" I told him I'll call it quits and he replied, "REALLY? You REALLY want to call it quits?!"
After much goading, I agreed to go on the lift. Getting off the lift is a little tricky for beginners because you have to stand up and start skiiing down hill at the right time. I was doing fine, but one of the other students crashed into me, dragging me down with him. He managed to crawl away but I was struggling to get up. Then the ski lift chair hit me in the back of the head, causing me to fall over again. The lift chair probably weighs a good 200 lbs, so it hurt! The lift operator is supposed to stop the lift when someone falls, but he didn't. I was trapped laying on my back as chair after chair passed over me. It took a long time before instructor noticed me and had them stop the lift so I could safely get back up. The lift operator at least apologized, but Scott didn't show any sympathy. He only had three students and yet it took a long time for him to notice I was in trouble.
Wisely, Scott told me to go slowly down the mountain with him there to help me slow down in case I lose control. But the whole time, he was yelling at me. I made it down the mountain finally but what should have been a fun and informative ski class was discouraging and stressful. I don't recommend booking a ski class here.