Back at the end of December 2010, several cities on Groupon offered two any-day, any-time lift tickets to Seven Springs Mountain Resort in PA for $50. It was an excellent deal, and what I had been waiting for since the ski season began.

I have been skiing since high school, and typically go to at least one of the nicer east coast ski resorts per year. I hadn’t been to Seven Springs in probably at least 6-7 years. So I purchased two of the Groupons valid for 4 tickets.

I invited my sister and her husband to go with me since we all go together every year. Since I wasn’t able to find anyone else to go, I sold my other Groupon to a friend who lives near Seven Springs, and her and her husband also met us at the resort. I was able to purchase a single discount ticket through a friend. Seeing as we are expecting a baby anyday now, I was running out of time to use my vouchers, so we were finally able to use them on Saturday, January 30, 2011.

The weekend prior, the Great Lakes region was hit with extreme cold temperatures. So since the weather was going to be in the low 30’s, ideal skiing conditions, I knew the crowds would be higher than normal. The area had also received several inches of fresh powder.

We arrived to the resort around 10:00 AM, and the resort was already fairly crowded. We were directed to park at the north lot, with shuttle service to the lodge. We needed to redeem our vouchers, so we weren’t able to redeem them at the north lot gates and had to visit the lodge. One person in our party also had to rent equipment. The worst part of the day, for me at least, was the shuttle service. Due to the crowds, it took a while for the shuttles to arrive both in the morning and again when we left around 5:00 PM. The buses were also extremely crowded when you did get on the bus. I had never driven to Seven Springs before and dealt with the parking situation; we had always taken tour buses or stayed locally in the area with it’s own shuttle service.

However, when we finally got on the slopes, everything was great. The crowds were definitely high and the waits for the lifts, especially the smaller ones, took upwards of 15-20 minutes to get one each time. However, I had forgotten just how beautiful the area was when you were standing at the top of the mountain. During most of the day you could see for miles.

I felt bad for my brother-in-law though because he had forgotten ski pants. After a couple of spills on the slopes, he was soaked for the day and done skiing by 3:00. It was disappointing because it really was ideal conditions for skiing, and I think he would have really enjoyed the slopes.

After going to Holiday Valley the past couple of years, I’m now convinced to switch back over to Seven Springs because we all had a really great time!