Mt Crescent Ski Area

My expectations from the onset were low for this place… and yet they still weren’t low enough.
I will preface this review with the fact that I was not expecting amazing slopes. Let’s be real here… we’re in NEBRASKA. With that said, this place is still absolutely horrible. First, their terrain map is VERY misleading. Online (and at Mt. Crescent itself), the terrain maps advertise as having 6 – 7 runs. Both times we came only 2 were open, and it wasn’t as though we came during the beginning or the end of the season. We came at the end of January and in the middle of February. Apparently the only times all of their runs are open are when there is a ton of snow on the ground.
In addition to only having 2 runs open, the second time we came they only had one lift open (on a SUNDAY!). This lift might be the worst lift in the world on top if it all. It takes over 5 minutes to get from the bottom to the top and the hill ISN’T EVEN THAT BIG! Basically, you spend about 75% of your time on the lift and 25% of your time skiing, which is VERY frustrating.
Given how terrible this place is, you would expect cheaper prices. With the Groupon, we still paid about $ 24 a lift ticket, which is extremely overpriced for a place that only has 1 – 2 lifts and 2 runs. That is the last time my desperate need to ski overpowers my reasoning abilities.
The high reviews for this place seem to be related to sledding and zip lining so MAYBE this place is worth checking out for the sledding or zip lining. However, if you are looking to ski or snowboard, I highly recommend you STAY AWAY.

Did some research on snowboarding near omaha since i was going to be in town. Wish i did better research. I decided to fly my snowboard in this past weekend from california to omaha wasting $ 25 on check in baggage. their midnight madness turned out to be a disaster. I prepurchased my ski ticket, wish i hadnt because i would have left once i saw the 10 second long slope down a hill… i couldn’t believe how short the slope was. I even had to wait in a long line even with presale in order to get a wristband. The other lift was closed and other small trails closed as well. Only 1 out of 2 lifts opened… overheard other patrons complaining about the other lift closed that was guaranteed to be open. I felt extremely ripped off. I left after 3 runs or so. Spent and hour there and majority of my time were in lines from ticket booth and on to the lift. Do not come here. You will regret it. Guess i should have done more research and stuck to boarding in more well known destinations.

3.5 rounding up to 4 stars…
I have skied in New York, Colorado, Utah, and Idaho, so how does Mt Crescent (opened in 1961!!) compare you may ask? Not even close, LOL, but that’s not the point here. We in and around Omaha live in the Great Plains. There simply is no skiing or snowboarding anywhere close by, and for years my snowboard was collecting dust. Last year we decided it was time for our daughter to take some skiing lessons and brought her out to Mt Crescent, which for us in North Omaha, means a quick drive into Iowa across the Mormon Bridge.
So yes the place is incredibly small, with basically 2 – 3 runs and two lifts. They make and groom their own snow so don’t expect a lot of fresh powder here. But I have to say, I actually have fun skiing here with my daughter, and because of this little place in Iowa, she has learned to ski and is really enjoying it. They offer lessons (with discounted/​free season passes to go along with it), and you can rent all your gear there if you don’t have your own. They also offer tubing and sledding (with b-​day party options for those). They recently put in a really long zip-​line as well. I haven’t tried it, but it runs the entire length of the hill, so it looks like fun!
The ‘lodge’ is one big two story building, with ticketing and food on the main floor, and the ski rental portion on the lower level. Real basic food options here, think basic fried bar food. They do offer beer as well, but your basic non-​craft styles, along with limited wine and cocktails.
Overall this place isn’t the biggest, the best, or the cheapest, but it is definitely a fun place to go and get outside during the winter. Get some practice in here and have some fun, then plan your trips to Colorado!

We didn’t ski. I went to zip line! Called ahead, booked one run and got more after we got there. I had never done it before and had a blast. Every single person working was a pleasant person. We even met the owner skiing our last run of the day. It was a fun day ride from Des Moines if you have never done it. The fall colors were lots of fun to see from the to of the hill. It was busy but they got our extra friends in too. Good job. Thanks for making my first time awesome.

Taught my kids to ski in a day. The long hours on Saturday allowed me to have my daughter off snow plowing by the time we left. Only 3 runs open but was perfect for the beginners. This was expected as it’s march in Iowa. Going to be 70+ tomorrow. Now we can go to colorado, New Mexico or Wyoming next year and we won’t have to waste money and time learning and can ski together right from the start. We will return next year for a refresher. My kids will also be back with a school group next year as well. It appears they have 7 or 8 runs so will probably come back when they are all open. There quick runs but also quick trips back up. You’re skiing in Iowa so if you expect mountain skiing you really have no common sense. Had a great day with my kids and am really happy we have this option to ski locally. My only complaint with this place is the answering of their phone. Could do a much better job at that.

All of the reviews are pretty accurate. It is obviously no colorado but if you want to practice before you drive 9 or more hours to real mountains, this is a great spot. Runs are short– lasting about 2 to 4 minutes max with about a 4 minute lift. The lodge could be nicer but nothing to complain about. Food prices are on the high end ($ 7-​$ 10 to eat) but could be worse. Lift tickets are about $ 39 there and can be as low as $ 22 if purchased ahead of time. Sure equipment is somewhat expensive to rent, but it cannot be super cheap to produce the fake snow. The blue routes are probably closer to the greens at a true ski resort. This place is far from perfect but with a 20 minute drive from Hoemaha, there is not too much to complain about.

Sooooo much fun! We didn’t ski, we sled! It was so much fun! You latch on and it takes you up the hill. Soooo much run! And you fly down the hill!!!

I was registered for a 5K that got merged with a Mount Crescent run. Despite moving the date by three weeks, they refused to refund participants that couldn’t do the new date. Very unethical. Stay away from these cheats!

Mt. Crescent is the best option around for Midwest Skiing. A great place to learn and family oriented. Owners are nice people and Ski Patrol is readily available and literally a minute away for injuries anywhere on the hill. Runs are groomed well and snow is made as often as possible all winter long as long as mother nature cooperates with temperature. Pricing is VERY affordable during the week. Weekends are more pricey, but for an all day event/​activity, it’s worth it. Try Mt. Crescent out and support your local ski hill!

We were wanting a place to go snowboarding that was decently close to Des Moines and large enough to actually get our money’s worth. We had heard about Mt. Crescent from a business contact who also snowboards and said it was decent. We decided to give it a try on a Saturday in February.
There was 9 runs with two lifts, a tubing area, a small château with resonably priced food, a small fire pit area and a couple of small parking lots. For the southern Midwest area, it didn’t seem too bad.
The snow was on the icy side since the falling snow was fairly wet and the lift loading and unloading areas for the lifts became very slick as the day went on. Due to the ice at these two spots, it got rather dangerous. At one point, we were getting ready to exit the lift when we saw a small boy had fallen down in the middle of the unloading area. Instead of stopping the lift, the operator went out to get the boy. This caused us to have to act quickly and go around them. Well, that did not quite work and I ended up smacking the operator in the head with my board because of how slick it had gotten. Then the next lift came and it just got worse. We kept saying «stop the lift» but the operator seemed to not care. We finally got to spots to strap in and saw it all replay again. Again, a young child fell off the lift and the operator went to them instead of shutting off the lift. The lady in the next chair was forced to stay on the lift and this caused the lift to finally stop. We watched her struggle off the lift again while the operator did not seem to care.
Other safety concerns here:
–Sign the waver and basically, they do not care about your safety. A waiver shouldn’t be an excuse to dismiss areas where safety could be of higher concern.
–Some people were riding the rental boards down the hill like sleds, completely unstrapped (the rental boards didn’t even have leashes intalled). Needless to say the riders fell off and boards continued down the runs uncontrolled. Where were the ski patrol to take action on this?
–Where the lift lines are positioned are in a prime area to have people coming down the hill crash into them. Again, no ski patrol to be found that could possibly discipline the person for being totally out of control and taking out unsuspecting people waiting in line
Overall, not a bad location but I am not willing to pay the money for a chance of being severly injured!

Pros: Shorter drive than heading to Colorado for skiing
Cons: It’s not Colorado. Not even close.
The Mt. part of Mt. Crescent always makes me giggle. This is no mountain, but it’s skiing and it’s a heck of a lot closer than the Rockies.
I went to Crescent a few times with friends in high school and have to say that it definitely isn’t a great skiing area, but it’s fine if you have a ski itch to scratch and don’t have the time/​money to drive to Colorado. It’s pretty basic: a few runs, a small ski lodge for eating, rental area, nothing too nice, but again it’s okay. Great place to practice also before you head to Colorado or Utah or just want to learn basic moves to ski competently.
It’s something new to do with friends, though $ 65 is a bit steep for what you get in return. Still, if you have cabin fever and want to do something new, it’s worth giving it a shot.

Surprising that nobody has reviewed Mt. Crescent yet… this infamous Iowa ski area looms about 15 minutes northwest of Omaha in the Loess Hills. I’m not sure what criteria you need to call yourself Mt, but as you can imagine it’s no Colorado.
That being said, for someone who’s never skied or snowboarded before, it’s about 300 ft of vertical elevation change, and that’s plenty large to scare the pants off you when you’re careening down the hills on a freshly waxed board on fresh snow. So, with that in mind, it’s definitely a good place for beginners.
Mornings are less crowded, though you’ll have more of the ‘regulars’ and less of the bumbling learners… I’ll let you decide which of those I was.
There are two different lifts for access to a variety of slopes (check out the trail map here:
). They also offer full rental services for whatever kind of setup you might want.
Expect a lift ticket and rental to set you back around $ 65/​person for adults. I managed to snag some groupons for the lift tickets to ease the pain a little, but if you’re willing to commit to the price, make it worth your while and stay for half a day or more. More pricing info is avaiable on their website… make sure you bring quarters for the lockers as well.
The ‘lodge’ isn’t really anything special, and understandability they have some moisture issues what with all the snow that gets tracked in. The whole place had a dank, musty feel to it, despite the ‘recently renovated’ status toted on the Mt Crescent website. Still, for what it is, it’s pretty impressive all things considered.