huff hills ski area

I spent half the day relaxing on the Huff Hills ski slopes. There was not many people there and about half the slopes were open. It was very economical, had great views and was super relaxing. I was happy to be able to enjoy some piece and quiet while taking some time to myself. This isn't a big reaort like you see in Colorado or Vermont, but it is a great beginner/intermediate slope. For the value i definitely recommend. This family owned place is wide open and you can ski through the trees and other areas of the course im used to being restricted.

On our trip to Huff Hills, we experienced the bad, the worse, and the ugly. Hopefully, our experience was an off day for the ski hill, and for this I will give them the benefit of the doubt. But here is a summary of what you won’t find on the Huff website.1. The parking situation is a real challenge. Parking is not close to the base area, and all of the parking areas we noticed were mud pits. We happened to be there a day after some rain showers moved through which created for a muddy, icy and miserable trek to the ski hill. 2. The trail map shows 3 lifts, not including the bunny hill lift. The left lift opened on time. The center lift is permanently closed. The right lift opened 90 minutes late at 11:30AM, and closed two hours early at 3:00PM. 3. So, our only choice in the morning was the take the left chair lift (which is seven and a half minutes long). From the top of this chair lift, the trail map has 12 available runs. Of the 12 runs, only 4 were open the entire day (33% open). Since the center lift was closed, both runs off the center lift were also closed (0% open). The far right lift has 5 available runs (six and a half minutes long), in which only 2 were open (40% open). An overall open rate of 32% - and that is being generous since the right lift was closed for nearly half the day.4. Lift ticket prices – I can understand paying $30 for a ticket to ski on all of the terrain, or even just a majority of the terrain. However, they don’t tell you about the closed runs and closed lifts until after you’ve bought a lift ticket.5. Granted, it was relatively warm 33-38 degrees, but we were told they rarely make snow this time of the year. The snow makers did not look as if they had been used or moved in a while.6. The cafeteria was laughable. At lunch time, they had no pizza, no burgers, 2 hotdogs, a smattering of chips and candy and two crockpots with homemade soup and chili. It was hard to distinguish whether we were in the employee break room or a public cafeteria. That said, our experience was still fun due to the company we were with, however, Huff Hills leaves much to be desired to be considered as something to do, like going to the mall or going to the zoo. We certainly were not looking for a 5 star ski resort, but there are some things that could EASILY be done to improve the experience of those paying for lift tickets, or summer time mud runs, or other events you host.1. Put some gravel down in your parking lot and side roads. A little gravel would go a long way in helping drainage and preventing road ruts and mud holes.2. Update the website, and don’t mis-lead people. Website currently says 19”-26” base. A vast majority of the hill has 0” of snow, and where there is snow, it been run down to dirt and weeds in spots. Website says 80% of the terrain is serviced by snow machines. Clearly that is not the case as no snow has been made in awhile. Tell people the number of runs that are open and inform them of delays or closings in lift operations.3. The primary reason people are coming out to Huff Hills is to ski. People can’t ski when there isn’t snow. Make some snow. 4. If you are opening lifts late and closing them early, you are really cheating folks out of skiing. You should offer partial refunds or discounted future tickets when this occurrence happens. (I did see a sign that said something to this effect if lifts closed before 3:00 – however, we noticed they closed just minutes after 3:00 – a coincidence?)5. The cafeteria could be overhauled relatively cheaply, but have a significant impact on the look and feel of your chalet. Remove the walk-in and help yourself experience and treat it more as a walk up and order experience. Instead of using a back door as your bar, have the ordering counter be an actual bar top. The look and feel of your entire room would be much more cozy and sociable. Patrons could still just order their nachos and pizza right across the bar.After experiencing Huff Hills, you kind of get the feeling that re-investing in the facilities and experience is not a priority. The day we were at huff, I would have ballparked the crowd to be an average age of 15 years old. Maybe investments int eh facility and snowmaking are not a priority to please this crowd?

We took our kids here as something different. They are 1,3,5 and 6. The 5 and 6 yr olds have been skiing before...it was the 3 yr olds first time. My kids had a blast! They never came in and complained about being cold or hungry so they must have been having fun! We just kept them on the bunny hill the entire time. Once they figured out the toe rope it made things easier on my husband. I stayed inside with the 1 yr old. My only complaints are it's a bit tight inside. It was hard to find a place for all 6 of us to sit together. I was able to get a spot near the window and that made it easier...my daughter watched everyone outside. They did have a table of coloring books, crayons and paper which was nice! I was also a little disappointed in the prices. We don't ski a lot but we have been to red lodge mt a few times...but I was bummed we had to buy a lift ticket for my 6 yr old even though he never used the lift. We didn't buy any food although it smelled good and the prices looked decent and they had a wide variety on the menu. The people were all very kind that we dealt with. We will probably go one or maybe two more times mostly bc there isn't much to do in ND outside with little ones.

The hill gets extremely boring if you are going to be on the slope all day. It's good since Bismarck/Mandan isn't extremely mountainous or even "hilly" but the prices are a little steaper than their hills. You can't expect much in this area though!

This is a nice ski area for North Dakota - we aren't exactly known for mountains but there are some decent runs here. Friendly helpful staff.

I recently spent a day at Huff Hills Ski Area, and found it to be a great place to visit. The area has fun runs, and had just received great snow before I arrived. The staff was helpful, and all the runs end up in the same place, so the kids can't get lost. We had a ball.

Don't waste your time and money on this place. It is a sorry excuse for a ski resort! The skiing is a joke and worst of all the people working there are HORRIBLE!! They are the most rude, discourteous, and impolite people I have ever encountered. I will glady drive the extra miles to go to Red Lodge, Deer Mountain, or Terry Peak. I suggest you do the same!