Bristol Mountain Ski & Snowboard Resort

Decent mountain, terrible customer service. The Guest Services center is deeply confused about basic offerings, frequently giving information that conflicts with other departments and the website. I was once turned away after driving all the way there because someone gave me the wrong information over the phone. Today, I’ve spent hours unsuccessfully trying to get a straight answer about something simple.
Guest Services is the most important link between customers and services. When they can’t answer questions correctly, everything else suffers.

Me and my friends used to snowboard a lot here when living in Rochester two years ago. It was the irresponsible and unresponsive attitude of the arrogant managers and poor management of the resort (resulting in potential dangers) that eventually turned me away. After that we found out there were many resorts nearby with better overall experience, and never went back to Bristol Mt ever since.
In short, I broke my shoulder there because of severely damaged trails — there was a GIANT POTHOLE lying in the middle of a groomed tube, which was over 5 feet in diameter and 2 feet in depth. Unbelievable, right? Considering it was on March 2, maybe it was because of the rise in temperature, or just because the resort dug too deep to build this tube, anyway, it just existed there. And there were not any signs nearby informing people of this extreme danger.
From then on, I contacted the resort immediately to tell them the problems needing to be fixed, and what I’ve got so far in two years is just two meaningless emails from the operation manager D*bra, who was reluctant to take any responsibility and denied the fact. And even worse, lately another Guest Services manager Kar* sent me an email blaming me for not contacting them earlier and she refused to look into this case at all, which is arrogant and just ridiculous. However, I still sent over the email history in the past two years, and then, again, no response.
You know, at least it could be a better hill than this for skiing and snowboarding. Sadly, they just refused to improve.

It’s as good as you’ll get in the area. Great for beginner & intermediate skiers. Experts who have skied out west might think it’s quaint, but not a challenge. Great family spot. Rental options have improved immensely over the years. Check out the yurt at hilltop for demo options!

Had a great day of skiing! Snow was excellent and well groomed. All of the staff we encountered were helpful and friendly. The whole check-​in and ski rental process for the kids went quickly and smoothly. Everything was reasonably priced including lunch. Great spot to take the whole family.

expensive ski «resort» for little features ! Long waits in line! It’s packed on week nights and weekends so I shall be going on weekday mornings!
They really need to do some major cleaning, bathroom stalls need a really good wiping down. It’s really disgusting. I’ve been here enough to see the same nasty spots on the stalls.
Also, it would be nice if they could continue with remodeling, like Holiday Valley.

Mediocre at best. I’d love to give it 2 stars, but I grew up riding here and it sadly holds a special place in my heart. It’s like that annoying friend from college you thought you hated, but looking back you realize he wasn’t all that bad. Then you slap yourself, and the vicious cycle continues. If they expanded their terrain, I’d be A-​OK with their prices.
The good:
— Paved parking lots. Very few resorts have this.
— Bosco sticks (yum)
— New bathrooms (2015)
— Vertical. They are the «tallest» resort within 4+ hours
— 2 high speed lifts
The bad:
— Their «trail count» of 35 is a joke. They split the «mountain» into «Upper _​_​_​_​_​» and «Lower _​_​_​_​_​» — so they really have about 20 trails at best.
— They get an incredible amount of traffic for only 20 trails, because everyone in Rochester is too lazy to drive the extra 15 minutes to Swain. So EVERYONE and their ex-stepdad’s tax guy shows up. The trails, lifts, and lodges are PACKED every weeknight, and every weekend all day. The management refuses to acknowledge this, and instead of adding more trails and lifts (by which they’d rival Holiday Valley, and become a top level resort), they instead add ropes courses for the summer and an overpriced housing development at the base of the mountain.
— From what the employees tell me, the owner is less than desirable to work for and only cares about skiing/​racing. The terrain parks rarely see any development because of management. There has been a noticeable improvement in the past 3 years to the terrain parks — but they are still far, far behind their competition (Holiday, Big Boulder, Seven Springs, Hunter, etc.)
— They charge $ 2 + tax for Arizona iced tea, when the cans clearly say «99 cents» right on them! REALLY? (UPDATE: I actually emailed them and posted on their FB wall about this, and they have since switched to the plastic Arizona bottles that have no 99 cent labeling lol)
— Snow is always kruddy because theres wayyyyyyy too many people! They need more trails.
— Lift ticket and season pass prices are outrageous, for what you get to ski. Holiday Valley has 100+ trails, but the same prices. Season pass prices are a JOKE!!! Absolutely insanely high.
— They announced some big expansion goal years and years ago, and all that’s come out of it is new bathrooms, a ropes course, 2 new trails, and higher prices.
Overall, it’s a great location for a resort, but they don’t take advantage of it. Wasted potential. Sad.

Terrible conditions. I was told everything was groomed but there were piles of snow in the middle of every blue run. Not worth the trip. Customer service was terrible too and treated me like I’ve never been snowboarding just because I live in Virginia.

Had a great time learning to ski today with instructor Kurt!!! Thank you, we had so much fun. Almir and Megan

Let me start by saying I am by no means an expert skier. I just started skiing last year and my first experience was in central NH. Bristol is a great mountain for beginner to intermediate skill levels since its not too intimidating. I’ve skied only about 6 – 7 times ever and I felt comfortable doing the hardest trails at Bristol — though I did take my time going down.
For the Rochester area, it’s the most convenient and best prices ski area. You can get really cheap lift ticket and rental deals when they have family fun night on the weekends. You’re supposed to have a family of 3 or more but they’re pretty relaxed on who you call «family».
The only down side is that, because its not a large mountain, when some trails are closed it feels kind of limiting. The nights they finally opened some of the far right group of trails, they were super icy.
All in all, it’s hard to beat the relatively short drive from Rochester and price for a fun day/​night on the slopes.

Ok, there are no snowy pics yet? I’ll have to submit some this winter, the gazillion times I visit. The fall is nice, you can ride the chair lift up to view the colorful leaves. Great staff and they make a bunch of snow.