Wild Mountain Ski & Snowboard Area Reviews

• Overall Rating 3
• Family Friendly 4
• Downhill Terrain 3
• Terrain Park 2
• Nightlife 2

Pros: The first resort to open for skiing in the Midwest

Cons: Overcrowded

Recommended Skill Level: Beginner, Intermediate
Recommended For: Single/Newlyweds, Empty Nesters
Date Visited: Nov, 2007

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Full review

Wild was the first resort to open in Minnesota. Although they only had one run open, it was still worth it to finally get out and make some turns.

The single run was completely packed, of course, as people from all over the state were hoping to get in some first-season turns. On top of that, there were reps for ski and snow board manufacturers there doing a demo, so that added to the business.

The base was deep, but the snow was so soft, you couldn't find the bottom to it, so carving turns on carver skis was just not happening. Wild did have a few rails setup for people to hit, but there was a constant line to run them. On top of that, they were all very short.

The biggest complaint isn't about the snow conditions or how busy the resort was--this was to be expected--but it was the management that was the problem. Instead of putting up ropes or having someone at the bottom of pair up singles or doubles to use the single quad that was running, it was just shear chaos. Also, instead of having the lifty at the top shoo people away from the top of the run to click in, they just let people pile up at the top, making is completely terrible to get off the lift. Additionally, the lifty at the bottom was horrible on getting the chair slowed down and lined up for you, so it would constantly catch you painfully in the back of the knees.

So even though the snow was crappy and the run was busy, it was worth it. I think Wild Mountain wasn't exactly thinking clearly on the management of skiers and boards on the hill, so this really detracted from the experience. So instead of staying a second day as I had planned, I decided to skip the terrible management of people in the lift lines and head up to Lutsen for Sunday.