Powder Ridge Mountain Park & Resort

My children (ages 5 and 7) have had their best season yet thanks to the amazing instruction provided at Powder Ridge. My husband and I are so thankful that they made such tremendous strides this year and we can plan our first «family» ski trip away for next winter. Super pleased.

We went tubing and it was a horrible experience. First we could not check in because the girl repeatedly kept spelling my name wrong. She kept telling me I had no reservation like it was my fault. I had to push her to keep checking. Next, no one could give us proper directions on how to get to the tubing area. Three different people told us three different things. Once we finally got to the area it was simply a mud pit. The conditions were horrible. It was so bad even the staff were complaining the entire time. The park should not have been open and charging people for a service they could not provide.

I took my family there on ²⁄₁₈. I booked group lessons for all of us. I took ski along with my youngest son (3) and my oldest son (6) and husband took snowboarding lessons. We have not done either sport before.
We were greeted with a smile as soon as we entered the «Rental Equipment» area. The staff were very helpful, knowledgable and pleasant. Equipment in hand we head off to our lessons. My husband and oldest son enjoyed their snowboarding lesson. My oldest son loved, loved, loved it and is hooked. My husband felt it was difficult and will try skiing next time. Jedi Joe was extremely patient unfortunately, my youngest was more interested in playing with and eating the snow not skiing on it. My instructor Dawn was Wonderful! I am hooked. The weather was awesome and we had a really great time.
We worked up an appetite so we decided to check out the café. We ordered fries and a cheesesteak and were pleasantly surprised. I would not rush back for the food but I would order it again.
Overall, we had a great experience. I am planning a few return trips next month to get some more practice. Seeing my sons happy and excited to try something new… Priceless. Thank you for the awesome memories!!!

Went on the website at noon… Site indicated all trails were open and the conditions were packed powder. Brought my daughters to ski… When we got to the top of the lift the entire left side of the mountain was roped off. The trail we rode down consisted mostly of ice sheets and ice chunks.
Went in to ask for a rain check because the site was misleading. The manager literally updated the site two
computers over from me and told the girl to tell me that the site was updated and there’s nothing they can do.
Comical… Horrible business ethics and practices!
Needless to say we won’t be back, at least this year anyway.

The Restaurant and bar are way over priced, for a new place the owners should serve more comfort foods and step up the quality. We figured we would try the apps first and glad we did, the chicken wings tasted like they just came out of the freezer and were mushy to the taste, not something I would expect from a place that is charging $ 12 for 8 chicken wings.

5 stars for being 30 min from my house! **NOTE, this is NOT a destination ski place (locals will be thrilled though). I have skied all over the world from Nagano to Park City to Gstaad and all over New England.** The bunny slope is the perfect place for a small child (or any beginner) to learn how to ski. Mountain is very small with only about 4 runs. The longest run from the peak is a wide easy blue but can get icy (like most New England skiing). Children 5 and under only $ 17 for the magic carpet bunny slope + $ 25 per 4 hr rental. All skiers/​boarders need a helmet (Action Sports in Branford is having a 20% off sale now). Parents were even running alongside their kids, so no need for parents to pay for adult rentals/​lift ticket on the bunny slope. Great concession area (burgers, fries, grilled cheese, hot cocoa, etc.) with bathrooms and lockers (and even a 21+ bar area for ski bunnies who want to people watch). Yes, lockers are expensive ($ 18/​day) but some people just left their bags (nobody wants anyone’s smelly shoes). Will be back this coming weekend and will be getting a season pass for each kid next year. Love this place! I think Powder Ridge finally nailed it. The staff was so nice too: concession, ticket booth, rentals and instructors! To all the nay-​sayers, your loss my friends… Sure beats a 3+ hour drive to VT or 1 – 2 hour drive to other CT mountains for that matter.

We bought a 4 hour flex pass and went snowboarding for 3 hours. Out of nowhere, the lift operator stopped the lift before we could get on and told us «You need to have a helmet. Helmets are required here». We were then told that we could pay to rent a helmet for the remaining hour left on our lift ticket/​pass.
I have never been to a mountain (or poor excuse for a hill) that requires a helmet. Powder Ridge does not have any sign that states «Helmets Required». I feel sorry for the people that drive from hours away to find out that they have to pay extra money to rent a helmet on top of an over priced lift ticket. It’s pretty scandalous. Best of luck Powder Ridge! We will not be back!

The double lift at this place is horrible. The triple is not nearly as bad, but if only the double is running, it’s not even worth it. It’s not just getting on it, but sitting on it. And you spend a lot of time on the lift because it’s only a few hundred feet vertical and the lifts are slow. It absolutely kills my hamstrings. Couldn’t feel my legs by the time I got to the top. I don’t know why they decided to use «park benches» out of wood rather than normal lift which is comfortable to sit on.
They also can’t seem to get all their trails open. They have a very weak snow-​making system compared to any other mountain in CT. It seems to be just one top to bottom run and that’s it when there’s no natural snow, which is ridiculous especially considering the prices being charged.
Also, absolutely ridiculous to require adults to wear helmets.

Powder Ridge has come a long way since they opened. The Lodge is very comfortable and has plenty of seating for families in addition to a small bar area. The food is good and on the weekends they offer a bar menu, which is amazing. I often go here just for the poutine and pizza. The skiing and snowboarding are fun for the entire family and the mountain is small enough that I feel comfortable letting my kids go off on their own. For everyone who went last year I highly recommend giving it another chance. Huge improvements this season!

The snow tubing is truly a waste of money! I took my three children and a few of their friends. It cost $ 25 each for two hours so I paid $ 100 for the four of us and was extremely disappointed. There was only one hill open so the line to go down was very long you had to wait quite a while. The lift does not bring you all the way up to the top so you have to walk ¾ of the way and the snow was very slushy making it very difficult to walk up. Even those that work out on a daily basis were struggling.
The parents that attempted to watch were frustrated too as the grounds were a mess slushy to get around it was difficult to walk anywhere. Don’t know why they didn’t clean it up since they did not open until 3 pm indicating due to the conditions.
Apparently nobody did much about the conditions and sadly, the kids did not have fun at all as you are not able to go down the hill with anyone meaning together side-​by-​side which is one of the fun parts about sledding. They do not offer double tubes either. To us, the whole point of going sledding is to have fun so to struggle so much to get up the hill only to go down by yourself was not fun at all.
Many years ago I went tubing at Powder Ridge and we had a blast they had double tubes, you could go down together holding hands or whatever and the hill was much bigger and there was always more than one hill operating and the lift brought you to the top. I had always told my children about your place and how much fun we had. I was so embarrassed it was such a dissapointment $ 100 for what… we went to a local hill for free and had much more fun going doown together laughing and raced each other made all the difference in the world and the kids all had a blast and we did not have to wait in line. Unfortunately there was no enjoyment even when we went to your café to get a bite to eat a small fry was $ 5.00!

We took our family (14, 11, 8, 6, and 2) this past Sunday, 2/​22, and had a great time! We put our 6 and 8 year olds in «group» lessons. As it turned out my son ended up having a private (for the price of a group lesson) because no one else came for his age and ability at the same time. My daughter ended up with just one other student in her group. The instructors were great! I stayed in the lodge for most of the day with our 2 year old and was very impressed with the staff. My husband and older children thoroughly enjoyed the day. The mountain is small enough that our 14 and 11 year old could ski on their own without worry they would end up on another side of the mountain (as you can at Okemo). We usually ski at Okemo — Jackson Gore. Powder Ridge was a wonderful local option. We are planning our next day there!

Went today. The two-​star folks are being pretentious. Excellent instructor to teach my son boarding. This will be our regular spot for routine weekend snow play. If you are looking for a fun place to take a family to ski, board, or tube, this is a surprisingly clean, well appointed place with great new equipment and well groomed slopes. We moved here from CA and have ski’d everything from Vail to Banff. If you are looking for black diamond skiing, go to one of those resorts or Vermont. If you are looking for a fun local place to spend a day working on your essential skills, introduce your child to a new sport like boarding, or play in the snow with a tube, go here. We have hit all of the local hills, and this one has the nicest staff, food (including a bar :)), clean/​new facilities and rental equipment, best groomed slopes, and quality instructors.

Apparently they can’t take any criticism. God forbid your investors (early buy-​in season pass holders) ask why you aren’t open when your competitors have been for 2 weeks?!?
Deleting social media comments is not a good policy. I will be buying my season pass at Mohawk or butternut next year.

I wish Powder Ridge nothing but success,
But at this point the place is a bit of a mess.
The trails and the lifts need a good fix,
I’ll wait for next year until I buy more tix.
I went on a Saturday night (6−10pm) for a discounted $ 35 rate. When I arrived the main ski lift was broken, so I did a couple runs on the bunny hill until that ski lift also broke down. The running trend was that 1 of the 2 lifts was broken most of the night. The lifts themselves were very creaky and could use a tune-​up. It was also kind of a bummer that only 3 trails were open at night: the bunny hill, the hill for tubing, and the one main hill (Blue Square). Lighting wasn’t wonderful on these trails either.
The pathways around the grounds were pretty muddy. There were also spots on the paths that were rocky/​muddy, which raised some concern for safety. Bathrooms were outhouses. The place itself was not very easy to get to or easy to find.
There were, however, some silver linings at Powder Ridge. The bunny hill was nice for beginners (but beware the numerous poles from the ski lifts). Helmets were required, which was admirable. The place does a lot of great promotions, including events sponsored by Radio 104 and Two Roads Brewery. The night I went there was a bonfire and the Two Roads trailer was serving beer at the base of the hill. Pretty phat.
In summary, the place has potential, but I have been to much better places for a comparable price. They give 50% off for Middlefield residents but I think that should include Middletown as well since it’s the most populous town in the area. Maybe I’ll be able to give them another star or two next year.

They do not know what they are doing (tubing). Not enough tubes. Not enough lanes. Over an hour wait.
Pro: they gave us our money back

This place will be out of business again before you know it. I came hear on a Sunday morning to let my girlfriend try out some new skis that she bought, and we ended up waiting in line for an hour to get a lift ticket. There were only 2 employees selling tickets! We go to rent a locker for our stuff and found the price to be $ 12 – 18. Powder ridge is lucky that I even stayed to buy a ticket, but I will not be back.

Pros: Short drive for the NY/NJ’ers and the barely New Englanders. Reasonable rates. Good for beginners.
Cons: Service is very disorganized. Lodge is still closed — no place to sit inside. Small number of trails open for the more advanced skiers and snowboarders.

open now — but still very much rebuilding, maybe next year will be full on with a nice lodge and restaurants. if you are local and looking for a hill, here’s one more!

It’s still a bit early for CT skiing, but they’re trying. One long trail was patchily open, one bunny slope, a little bit of terrain park, and the learning area. Two lifts serviced the available area. The base was mud and straw. Snow-​making was apparent, but not caught up yet.
Lodge is not open yet, but good pizza and waffles were available as well as vending machine drinks. Very upscale port-​a-​potties did OK for the family. There were some lockers available and a tiny changing room. Nowhere to sit and eat until we found the picnic table way across by the firepit.
One warning: we were told after 3 hours that we couldn’t ski without helmets – apparently, there’s a policy that appears nowhere that they enforce when they remember. Might be a good idea to post that on the website, the ticket sales booth, or slopeside to avoid more bad feelings. We packed up and left. [before you say it, we should all be wearing helmets anyway – but they should still post the signs!]
It was a nice start to the season despite the abrupt ending.

This place just reopened after being closed for 8 years. It’s still cold but they’re gathering faux snow.
They apparently have hills for beginners and more seasoned skiers and as expected its it’s cold here, but they’ve got a nice ski stuff snow store too. Cool beans.