Cloudmont Ski Resort, Alabama, United States

3Theme_Park_Fanatic 5:00 PM Jan 31, 2010

Skiing in Alabama, why not ??
Ok, this is not the Colorado Rockies but it's a fun little place that is worthwhile if it's not too much time or trouble to visit. We live in the NW area of metro Atlanta, so it's 1.5-2 hour drive for us. I have skied the NC resorts (Cataloochee, Beech, Sugar, etc.) and made many trips out West. But we try to make a visit to little Cloudmont once a year when possible. It only has one or two slopes and a tow cable to take skiers up top. The vertical drop is only 150' and the length of the main run is approximately 1000', but watching the other skiers and snowboarders is half the fun. Their ski season is pretty short, but when there is a good stretch of cold weather (overnight lows in the 20s), they can cover their slopes pretty well. Be sure to call ahead and verify if they are open. Avoid major holiday weekends (MLK, President's Day, etc.). Ski Bama !!

3missmollymae 5:00 PM Feb 16, 2014

Good for beginners.
Its not Snowshoe but its a good place for beginners to get their feet wet. Its about $50 to ski/board, that fee includes gear, lift pass, and basic instruction. Cloudmont has a lot of beginning skiers/snowboarders so its a welcoming environment and you won't need to feel bad about inexperience (like you might at a bigger resort). The staff for the most part was friendly. The ski instructors were wonderful and knew what they were doing. The ski gear is in decent condition for the most part. I do have a warning about the lift (and it isn't really Cloudmont's fault). It is a pulley system rather than a chair lift or a conveyor belt. Other ski lifts have these (usually to get up the bunny hill) but Cloudmont has them exclusively up their main hills (only one of which was open). I fell more times trying to get the hang of the pulley lift than I did on the snow. Plus the top 1/4 of the hill is rather steep and its tiring to go up multiple times in a row (several people would stop at the top to catch their breath after the ride up). It takes some upper body strength to get up (remember you are holding onto something pulling your entire body weight up a hill). Like I said it isn't Cloudmont's fault, the hill is too little for a chair lift and too steep and long for an conveyor belt. Its not awful once you get the hang of it (and there are some tricks that the ski lift operators can show you if they have the time) but I saw several people become frustrated. Other than that there was about a 10 minute wait for the lift, which did allow for a short rest but could be frustrating if you fell at the bottom of the hill and had to wait in the line again. Its not anything that ruined my day at all but something to be aware of. One complaint is that they adverted that they had 2 hills open (via a link that yo click on their website that is 'updated regularly'), that was not true unless they were counting the 20 feet run of the training area as a 'hill'. There was a lift (not operating) that went up to the top of what appeared to be another run but the top didn't have any snow on it. So that was a bit misleading. There is also no changing area other than the small bathroom. We also stood in the line to get our tickets and gear for over 30 minutes, it was extremely slow. One last thing is that they have limited sizes in very small and very large skis/boots/snowboard gear. So if you have little kids or big feet in your party you'll want to show up right at opening as they can't reserve the gear in advance (more information is on there website under 'ski conditions' instead of the rental info page oddly enough). The best things about the resort is that its close, relatively affordable, and geared to beginners. Most people were not experienced skiers so there is no need to feel bad about going to the ski class or falling on the slope. Plan for at lest 3-4 hours on the ski slopes to really get your feet wet. The one run might eventually get boring to those more experienced but it is decent for a day or a weekend trip.