We visited Powder Ridge for our first-ever day of downhill mountain biking, and overall we had a OK experience. The rental process was surprisingly easy and efficient. They offer a great selection of bikes, including different wheel sizes (27.5" and 29") as well as full downhill setups, so it was easy to find something that worked for us. While a few of the rental bikes looked a little worn and could have been cleaner, they were perfectly rideable and got us out on the trails without any issues. The lift service was convenient, and the trails themselves were in good condition and well maintained. The biggest area for improvement is helping beginners. Since it was our first time, we asked the lift attendant which trail would be the easiest, but unfortunately he wasn't able to tell us. We also found that the trail map appears to be outdated, and there was only one green (beginner) trail, Lil Bruiser. Better signage, updated maps, and having staff proactively ask if riders are new and recommend appropriate trails would make the experience much more welcoming for first-time visitors. Overall, we enjoyed our day and would come back. With a little more guidance for beginners, Powder Ridge could offer an even better experience for people who are just getting into mountain biking. read more

Powder Ridge Mountain Park & Resort - Mountain Biking Near Me - Middlefield, Connecticut

Powder Ridge Mountain Park & Resort in Middlefield, CT, is a year-round spot for winter fun like skiing, snowboarding, and tubing, as well as summer activities like mountain biking, zip-lining, and paintball. My son and I checked out The Haunting at The Ridge, which includes a chairlift ride to the top of the mountain and a 45-minute hike down through haunted trails, pumpkin patches, and zombie lounges. We had a blast. The chairlift was super cool, and the ride up was kinda spooky. While you're on the lift, you can see the trail below. It's downhill, so wear good shoes. The trail was pretty fun, with some jump-scare moments where characters jump out to scare you. At the end, you can grab a bite, chill at the tables, have a drink, and listen to the band. I'd totally go back for the experience. read more

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Looking for something fun to do this summer? We recently hit Powder Ridge for some paintball fun. I hadn't played in ages and it was so fun to be back on the course. What a workout for this old guy. They also have mountain biking and a whole slew of mountain sports. I highly recommend read more

This is a very cool ski area! I took a lesson and then had a 4 hour lift ticket with rental. The Instructor I had was very helpful and knowledgeable. The Snow was great, not icy at all. But If you're going to rent you must purchase the ticket for the lift and rental at the same time. After that then you wait in a long line before you get to start skiing and the skis are timed 4 or 8 hours. They also have a great place to eat and relax right on premises. read more

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Really enjoyed this place! Everyone was super friendly and the beginner slopes were actually for beginners! The night riding was really fun as it wasn't as crowded and the lines for food were really short and pretty affordable. They also do really well for rentals as the size you need is actually available and comfortable compared to other ski resorts in CT. read more

Powder Ridge Mountain Park & Resort - Rental area - Mountain Biking Near Me - Middlefield, Connecticut

Came here during the summer for zip lining, tubing and water slides. 11 am entry with 4 hour slot and started and with zip lines (limited harnesses about 10-12 max and 200 lb WEIGHT LIMIT!!). This soon became PACKED with people waiting for these for the remainder of the day. Next was the tubing which was a workout in itself after doing down once. Walk up to the beginning of ramp after as there are no lifts here. Only made it about half way down. Water slides were last. Biggest slide had the longest line (about 10-15 minute wait). The other smaller and medium slides were just as fun and we were able to do these multiple times (barely a wait 1-2 minutes) in comparison to the one time going down the big slide. Music was on point with the island reggae themes. **Mentioned to staff that going down face first was a safety hazard as I watched many people "scorpion" themselves at the end of the waterside. read more

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Directions to find the mountain were easy to understand, lots of signs on the way there. My brother and I rented ski/snowboard. It took about 45 minutes after check in to get fitted and onto the slopes. We showed up around 2 pm and got a 4 hour pass, they were making snow. The powder was not easy to ski through- the conditions were ok - it seemed as some slopes were closed or maybe not well labeled. It would be nice to have a sign on the top of the mountain of where you're at. I am advanced skier, my brother is beginner snowboarder. Definitely was a good workout for the both of us but not sure if we would be back. It is a good beginner mountain though, especially for kiddos- they have the magic carpet, and they do winter tubing as well as summer sports - check out their website for more details on their year round activities read more

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We went to Powder Ridge at the end of February for a private lesson for my two children; ages four and newly seven. There was no line at the ticketing area. Our instructor Makayla found us right away and our children warmed up to her very quickly due to her gentle and encouraging approach. It was apparent that she was a very skilled and knowledgeable skier. By the end of the lesson, she had our children skiing down the bunny hill, turning, and stopping (pizza!) - skills that we had tried to introduce on our own a few weeks earlier with lots of M&Ms and very little success. Most importantly my children left feeling proud, calling themselves skiers, and excited for our next ski day. The atmosphere was warm and welcoming despite the frigid temperatures. The slopes looked well groomed and well maintained. The bunny hill was popular, but not crowded and the wait to go up the magic carpet was short. Staff members were easy to find and helpful whenever we needed assistance or had a question. Bathroom facilities were clean. Overall, our experience was VERY positive. I highly recommend Powder Ridge, especially for private lessons. read more

We had a wedding reception here in August, Best decision. My daughter wanted something not something over the top. Marla and her staff did a great job. They were on top of every detail from the guest/table seating to set up and break down. The food was phenomenal our guests are still talking about it. The fire pit and the s'mores were a hit! Plenty of room both indoors and out. Would highly recommend! read more

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If you choose to rent you must purchase the ticket for the lift and rental at the same time and then waiting along line before you get to start skiing and the skis are timed four or 8 hours. I do not like that the time starts as soon as you purchase the tickets and not as soon as your ticket was first scanned for the lift as you were not using the items or the lift ticket until you already had all of the items you're renting so you're paying more and getting less time. Other than that the lines to go up the lips were not very bad at all The lifts ran pretty smoothly and it's very good for beginners. I recommend going earlier in the morning because later on in the afternoon the conditions get a little bit more icy and after the snow has been skied and snowboarded on all day it gets a little bit harder to navigate. But I really like this place and definitely will be going back because I am a beginner and it's a great place to learn. read more

Nice smaller ski area! I took a lesson and then had a 4 hour lift ticket. Instructor Michelle was very helpful and I felt like I was able to advance my beginner technique quite a bit. Snow was great, not icy at all. read more

This review is only for winter as I haven't been during the summer. A friend of my mine offered to take me skiing as I've never been before. We decided to go night skiing on a Saturday as there tends to be less people on the trails. Night skiing starts from 5-10 so we arrived around 5:45. Once parked you can go to the white building that is off to the left. It took us almost 30 mins to get our passes and rental gear which was ok? Not sure if this is slow/fast. They have lockers you can rent for as low as $10 which we passed on and just threw our shoes on top of the lockers as others were doing. Ended up on the trails around 6:30 and the slopes were basically empty. Maybe a 2 min wait for the lift but it was completely worth it. Staff were all very friendly and the people on the smallest trail overall were very nice. IE almost everyone on the smallest trail was learning still so expect people to be stopped in the middle or still learning etiquette. Regarding the food, I've been here separately for the restaurant and I wouldn't come here for that. Expensive overpriced food. I also tried to get a drink last night at their bar and, expectedly, it was very busy. I waited almost 20-25 minutes and tried waving the bartenders down a few times and no one came over. The busboy even tried to help but was ignored. I would recco just bringing a small cooler and thermos to stash in their lockers (which you'd need to pay for) or take a drive to Main Street in Middletown for some good food! read more

Huge thank you to Marissa! She saved the day on my guys birthday when my skis were a total malfunction. Also, what an awesome waitress- thank you, Jeannine! read more

Went during summer, with a camp, promised paint ball, Wiffle ball, and more. the paint ball that the camp paid for was closed, and Wiffle ball never happened I doubt they even own a Wiffle ball bat. I would not consider going again. read more

Nice place. Been there both summer and winter. Haven't tried the bike trails yet but that's on my list.

Was feeling nostalgic and wanted a fun winter activity to get some friends together when I stumbled upon powder m ridge mountain park! My friends and I had an amazing time snow tubing here! The tickets were reasonable and the "interstellar" package includes snow tubing for 1 hr 45 minutes with lights and music. The lights were cool but the music could've been louder and a bit more upbeat to fit the mood/ activity. Great experience overall! read more

Bought tickets for a 7:00 pm show. By 7:30 it still had not started. No announcements. The posting links for tickets didn't clearly go to a site for tickets just general admission. No where did it say only general admission was required. Based on posts this was confusing to many. There was no mention about seating general or if there was any seating. From the posts to the actual show,or lack of, the entire event was unprofessional. I've been to many shows and many locations and most venues and performers pride themselves on starting on time. A rip off. read more

It takes a lot for me to leave a bad review. But I need to leave an open and honest review so others don't experience what we have. Our son did a 4-week "little rippers" ski school program. It is an absolute joke and waste of money. I read about it online and it's classified as small group lessons. When I called to register him over the phone where I was again told it's small group lessons. When I asked what the kid to teacher ratio is, I was told 3 or 4 kids per instructor. It is around $350 for 4 weeks. It's not cheap. Week one we had a 17 year old kid with 9 kids. After 45 minutes it was down to 5 kids because parents pulled their kids out because it was a joke. Week 2 was a newly 16 year old kid with 8 kids. Again, after 45 minutes the class was down to 4 kids because parents pulled their kids out because they said it was a waste of money and they can teach them better. Week 3 we had Jill and she was fabulous even though she had 10 kids all by herself. Today we only had 6 kids and 2 teachers (one 16 and one 17) but at the start of our 2:30 "class" there were no teachers to be found. Our class didn't start til after 2:40 and at 3:55 was done. One of the kids who was teaching had to leave at 3:30 because his mom was picking him up so Jill came over to help finish our class, again doing an amazing job. But they didn't receive a full 90-minute class. It was a 70-minute class. One parent brought their child to todays class and shared they are no longer going to the Sunday class because it's 24-26 kids and 2 teachers. High schoolers who powder ridge management deem appropriate to teach 5-7 year olds how to ski. Last week when we asked for clarification we were told the little rippers program isn't lessons, it's so parents can ski and have a place to leave their kids. No, that's called day care or babysitting. And not $100 a pop. This is LISTED as small group lessons, and it's not. It's high school kids keeping an eye on your small child in a large group. Allow me to be clear, their "ski school" is a joke and a complete waste of money. Their "instructors", including the private lesson ones, are high school KIDS. The management should be ashamed of themselves. Whoever runs the ski school needs to learn about management, organization, and responsibility. They also need some people skill lessons. Sometimes there's a check in table, sometimes not. Sometimes there's a list of kids enrolled, sometimes not. Sometimes they give your kid the right color vest for their class, sometimes not. Sometimes they have enough teachers to teach their classes, actually they don't. They have yet in 4 weeks of coming ever had enough teachers for any time slot. That means someone isn't looking at registration names and numbers. And is just counting the money that's rolling in. It's just a joke. Mount Southington and Mount Snow are worth the drive to just not go here again. read more

Good ambiance and good food made for a great experience. Very friendly and welcoming staff

Non skiing review: I came here for a work event so I can't comment on winter activities. We were allowed about an hour and a half to play, our choices were downhill biking( you had to bring your own bike) disc golf, tubing and zip lining. It was not communicated very well how to do the zip lining, so after a lift to the very top, and a short hike down to where lines were, I sadly found out that you have to bring the equipment up with you. To do that you had to be at the other end of line and retrieve it from folks who already went. So now back down the rest of mountain, 20 minute wait, then climb back up half of the mountain again. Lots of steps for a short but exhilarating ride. The facility itself seemed a little shabby from the outside, inside was slightly nicer. The restaurant onsite catered our food for the day, breakfast was pretty good with several pastries and even waffles. The lunch was even better, but they underestimated how much our group could eat. They worked frantically at replenishing items, only to have them wiped out quickly by us waiting vultures. Due to the nature of the event it was hard to tell if any of their staff interacted with us, but the young men on the slopes seemed friendly and helpful. If I lived in the area I would definitely take advantage of this place to bike and zip line at, probably even do a round of golf. And for what could have been a dull work thing, this venue perked it up a bit. read more

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I really want this place to do well. Every time there's been recent improvements, I've been ready to clap and cheer. This is where I learned to ski as a kid. However, last year my husband and I finally went back and were so disappointed. It's about basic care and safety, basic ski conventions that exist for a reason: - no marked line letting you know where to stand to be picked up by the lift - Huge holes from the lift landing spots meaning you have to jump off and hope for the best, because no one's raking the snow back when it gets skied off. - Lift lines so slack you slam back into the ground, pinching your legs/boots under the chair. The whole thing has a raucous vibe that no one working there gives a s***. It's the Wild West... Or maybe Action Park. I'm posting in hopes that management will visit some other local ski spots and take notes. I look forward to returning and editing my review in the future, if anything improves. read more

Ehh.. that's about the best I can come up with. Now I will preface this by saying it's still early in the season but they are technically "open". Had some family visiting that hasn't seen snow and really wanted to go tubing. We ventured up the first weekend in January for what we hoped was a fun day of tubing. First off, they make their own snow but what is there is a dismal amount and you spend as much time on sludge as you do snow. Second, there is no discounts or early season pricing offered despite the far from perfect or even ok conditions. The food, if you can call it that was way over priced and even the 4 year old in our group complained it wasn't good and it was chicken tenders and fries! Perhaps this place comes to life and does a complete 180 later in the season but as for first impressions / experiences it missed the mark. read more

Honestly the ridge was so fun today Much better conditions than Mt. Southington. The bar/restaurant was also very nice. read more

Powder Ridge Mountain Park & Resort - Powder - Mountain Biking Near Me - Middlefield, Connecticut

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This place sucks. Helmets are mandatory, which is not mentioned when you purchase online. Even if you purchase ahead of time, you still have to stand in long, slow lines. Haven't even made it to the slopes and I would leave to go somewhere else if I hadn't already spent so much $. read more

Powder Ridge Mountain Park & Resort - Joint ticket/rental line. - Mountain Biking Near Me - Middlefield, Connecticut

Drive by randomly: open and running like there is no pandemic: woohoo. But people were careful with masks and ate in their cars. Ample parking. Snow making. It was busy so I did not dare to join the crowd. Busy slopes and I did not see any lines. read more

We had our wedding here under the pavilion - the bathrooms stopped working less than 30 minutes into the reception. Their solution was bringing down the porta potties from the top of the mountain which had NO lighting. They did not clean any of the reception chairs which we brought to their attention the week leading up the wedding and they said they would take care of it - there was dirt and cobwebs visible. The bridal suite air conditioning had "just went out" right before we got there and they had to bring in a portable one that left the window opened and accessible to the room. They offered no type of compensation, gift card, nothing. They stated it didn't warrant any type of refund. Do NOT recommend this venue to any future couples. Reading through reviews and their responses, they do not care about the customers at all. read more

I really wanted to love this place. But when you have a group of 12 driving up to an hour to play disc golf, and we confirm a week before and again 3 days before... we were unable to play because no-one mowed the grass that was halfway up to our knees. Other than that, the Zipline was nice. The staff was very knowledgeable and most were very friendly. Also the tavern food was good and reasonably priced. Staff was working hard and not playing on phones. 4 stars for staff. read more

Attended a friends wedding here! The ceremony was really pretty on top of the mountain. We even got to ride the ski lift up and down the mountain. The reception was inside but there was no air conditioning. It was an extremely hot day in July so I'm not quite sure why they didn't have AC but it was very hot indoors. read more

Amazing service, the young man named shanyi deserves a raise, even though he "wasn't feeling it" that day he pulled through and was able to accommodate for my son vergs and I. 10/10 would come again read more

DO NOT COME! Waited for 2 hours in line for the ski rentals. This is NOT COVID related, people are less than 6ft apart in the line, once you go in the building people are even more together so they obviously don't know how to run a business where it should take no more than 10 minutes to find your reservations, get your skis and get you out the door to reduce the amount of people in co fined spaces. DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME!!! read more

Powder Ridge Mountain Park & Resort - After you paid for the rentals but before they give them to you they have you standing in line less than 6ft apart - Mountain Biking Near Me - Middlefield, Connecticut

I cannot say enough about my overwhelmingly positive experience at Powder Ridge on 2/9. Special thanks to JOEL, ANDY and TYLER. Learning to snowboard was one of the first things I've tried to do on my own since making some major health and lifestyle changes about 14 months ago (IYKYK). My lesson instructor Andy knocked it out of the park. He was careful to give me specific instructions to improve my own riding as opposed to general guidance. I have some long boarding experience so he tailored the lesson to relate to the minimal board skills I already had. Joel was an employee I met on the slopes who took time out of his day to coach me 1 on 1 - he was courteous and patient and built my confidence to a point where I was liking three turns on a no-fall bunny hill run by the end of the day. His coaching was a huge confidence boost and he seemed to do it out of sheer kindness and willing to share. Special shoutout to Tyler who kindly accepted my request to film me on a final run. This was one of the best days of my life in a long, long time. You've got a long time customer here. Good on ya, Powder Ridge. read more

This place is ran by incompetent people. The Little Rippers class is so un-organized and over priced. The Halloween crap is an eye sore , I'm surprised this place is surviving. The managers hide and will not take accountability. Don't spend your money here on Lessons go to Mount Southington. Mount Southington have all their trails open and seem to have many snow makers. Powder Ridge had one trail open really! I went to Mount Southington and it's a whole different world there. This place will go under if they don't get their act together! The restaurant up stairs is decent. read more

I wanted to love the place, overall organization of things made it tough. So the place itself is well located, ample parking, and the trails overall look good. Tubing is a huge attraction and seems well run and is sold out at least a week in advance. Skiing is where the rub is. So woth covid many plaves have you buy ypur tickets online and provide gear sizes area of your arrival so when yoi get there you get your gear and go. Here picking up your paid ski pass was efficient no issues....gear rental . Gear rental - we waited 2 hours and gave up. With 2 small kids it was too much. Basically there seemed to be 1 person in inside providing gear out to each group, checking that it fit, then adjusting skis and then taking the next group. This 1 on 1 attention without anything setup in advance made the process super long. Our friends did the 2 hour wait and by the time ot was their turn adult poles were gone for the day. If you have your own gear and book ahead you are safe. If you need gear then you should really look to go elsewhere or find a way to rent gear from somewhere else and bring it here with you. The kids snow zone was a 2 tube set. Although small, toddlers absolutely loved this and were content for 30 minutes. If you have small kids who cannot go tubing as they must ride alone this is a good option. read more

Powder Ridge Mountain Park & Resort - Kids snow zone - Mountain Biking Near Me - Middlefield, Connecticut

Bought tickets well in advance for evening "interstellar tubing" (5-7p). We had a whole group drive 2 hours to experience "a Dj spinning tunes, cool lights and Powder Keg Rail Jam " (whatever that is).After watching videos of other peoples experiences, we were all very excited, but instead showed up to find the reality was NOT at all what was advertised. First when we arrived, the drive into the property was initially impressive. when we got to the ticket booth we each scanned the QR code and completed our waivers and walked up to the two 15-16 year olds running the ticket booth to be told our waivers were not coming through. I, having a kind of odd last name, always make an effort to ask if it could have possibly been spelled wrong. He was very confident that he had searched for it and that I (and my partner) would need to fill out both our waivers again. I got his attention again to show him the original webpage stating "you have completed your waiver" and politely asked if he can try searching again and spelled my name for him the exact way it was entered into the waiver and of course... it appeared suddenly. By the time we finally got that sorted, we had lost roughly 15 or so minutes of our time slot. He was a bit unprofessional, but he's also maybe 16. The conditions of the "slides" didn't seem to be under control by the staff of teens who really seemed to lack proper training. Of course this implies a serious problem with management not properly training their staff. We watched multiple tubers fly off the track beyond the boundaries and netting and the staff kind of scrambled around seeming to try different tactics to tackle this issues. It seemed more like experiments of trial and error, but we all signed those waivers so who really needs protocol and safety training... This completely turned off one of our group members who chose to instead spend the remainder of their time on the sidelines watching. Ultimately they closed down three of the lanes which only made the wait so much longer in an already overbooked time slot. The "Dj" was just a handful of overplayed tracks from the 80s on repeat. Understandably the lights weren't really visible until about an hour into our scheduled time slot, however not long after it finally got dark enough to enjoy the lights, they all turned off leaving everyone just awkwardly tubing in the dark. Overall, I wish I had not driven 2 hours and paid $39 x2 to leave early and unhappy in the dark. There appeared to be some serious training and communication issues with management and I really think they need to be more honest about what theyre offering. Extremely disappointed and currently sitting in my two hour drive home wondering what I'm doing with my life. Would not recommend. read more

My family and I have done both winter and summer sports at Powder Ridge. We have gone skiing in the winter. Powder Ridge is an excellent spot for beginners and is very family friendly. This summer was tried out the water slides. We loved them! read more

Awesome small mountain when you want to get your first run of the season or teach a friend how to ski. It is very reasonably priced and never too crowded. It's a little older but for the price, definitely worth it! read more

i wish i could give zero stars to this place. me and 11 other people were waiting all day to go tubing, and after driving 45 minutes with 12 people to come to this place, apparently the tubing track was "closed". no one could give us a straight answer, and they said that they had sent us a email to reschedule( there was no email) they said they also sent us to send us an email to reimburse us(again there was no email). this was a very frustrating experience and it was not worth anything. go anywhere else but here. read more

** BEER FEST REVIEW** I won free tickets through a Yelp give away. **THANK YOU** I am an avid brewery and beer fest patron and I had never head of this one, so marketing and advertising would definitely bring a larger crowd and a more successful event. First you need a big orange cone on that HUGE pothole that swallowed the whole right front tire of my car as I turned into the bottom right parking lot. Secondly, please think of adding hand washing stations. There were 3 portable toilets, but only one had a sanitizer dispenser. Thirdly, why list the time on Yelp as 3:00-9:00 and then instruct the beer stations they cannot pour until 4:00? Other than that, the beer selection and local breweries were fabulous as well as the food trucks (The Whey Station WOW!! YUM!!). Maybe you could add more vendors because there were only a few and there was really not much to do that first hour when they weren't allowed to serve and in between breaks from drinking beer. I also enjoyed the home brewers contest, however there was no clear direction on where to vote! I had a favorite #1, but after a few minutes of trying to find out where to vote I just gave up. read more

MTB review... If your looking for a little down hill park... This is the spot. double chair 1 bike per chair and about 7min ride to the top for 28 bucks on weekends and 14 bucks on Thursday. they run the chair til 730p... They have all the trails from rock gardens to flowing to the old cement water slide an a decent downhill race course. The structures on Raptor keep the speed demons happy an the doubles an pump track make it fun for everybody. read more

Dear Powder Ridge, I am honestly speechless. I have never, and I mean NEVER have I experienced such disaster. Just to preface, I had bought 12 tickets to this poor excuse of an establishment for kids ranging from 10-17 for night tubing costing around $550. We arrived at this place for our tubing event and come to find that the event was cancelled. I, nor anyone in the party was given a confirmation email or phone call that it was cancelled. We had to specifically request a reimbursement confirmation. Keep in mind that the person helping us, potentially named "Bridget" I believe she gave a fake name to be honest, and she offered us a "rain check". Half of our party was from out of state and we brought all of them to the tubing place and a rain check was unacceptable. The whole place was ran by teenagers and I will never be returning. I have more to elaborate but I'm just burnt out from this experience. I wish I could give 0 stars. read more