Last Monday, while vacationing in Vail, I decided to take my 15 year old and 11 year old on the 2 hour Tigiwon snowmobile tour. My 11 year old rode with me and my 15 year old drove his own snowmobile. After the literally 2-3 minute lesson on how to use this machine, the entire group went out on the tour. My 15 year old son was the last snowmobile in the line. When we came to our first stop, my son slowed down his machine as instructed and by accident slid slowly into the snowmobile in front of him. He couldn't have been going more then 2-5 mph, but he did dent the rear bumper of the snowmobile in front of him. The instructor came over quickly and saw the minor damage to the snowmobile and told me, not to worry about it, it is only an $80 part. The snowmobile that was dented continued on the tour and there were no further problems. When we got back to the base, the women at the counter came out and looked at the dented bumper and also agreed that I shouldn't worry too much about the damage, "it happens all the time" and the piece only costs about $80 to fix. I gave them my credit card and they told me they would call me with the final price after the mechanic took a look at it the next day. Luckily, I was smart enough to take pictures of the minor damage. The next day, I received a call that the entire cost of the accident was over $2600. Wondering how this could possibly be, the women that called me told me to leave a message with the owner and he would get back to me. I checked my credit card statement online and saw that the charge was already posted to my account. A few hours later, I received a call from Greg, the boss, and he proceeded to tell me that the entire heating and cooling system was damaged and that the snowmobile would be out of service for days while they fixed the problem. I was shocked, I told him that both the guide and the women from the desk looked at the snowmobile and both told me that the cost would be around $80 to fix the dent and the accident happened at the beginning of the tour and the dented snowmobile had no problems after. Greg then rudely proceeded to tell me that my 15 year old should learn some responsibility and should pay for the damages himself. We went through what happened and I told him the speed at which the accident happened and that the snowmobile worked perfectly after the dent and this heating and cooling problem could not have possibly happened from the minor fender bender. I asked him to speak to the guide, Ronnie, and he would confirm all this. We spoke again later and he told me he spoke with Ronnie and that Ronnie said my son was "coming in hot". That was a complete lie. I even asked to speak to Greg and Ronnie together and when we all chatted together, Greg recanted the entire statement that my son was speeding and "coming in hot". After a contentious debate about the cost of this damage, Greg informed me he will speak to the mechanic again and see if he can reduce the cost of the damage. Two days later, I received a call from Greg, informing me that they credited my credit card and gave me back around $2100 of the cost. So after getting yelled at and berated about how much damage and how irresponsible my 15 years old was, he reduced the cost to $500+ from $2600. If I didn't complain, I would have been charged $2600+ for phony costs. The boss, Greg, was completely rude to me on the phone. I paid a lot of money for this tour and I was fully prepared to pay the $80 of damages that my son caused. After all this happened, I decided to do some research and find out if my 15 year old son who doesn't even have a learners permit was able to legally drive the snowmobile, the Nova Guide web site clearly states that children 14 and over can drive their own snowmobile . I researched the Colorado Parks and Wildlife web page and found the Snowmobile laws. It clearly states that children between 10 and 16 need to successfully pass a snowmobile safety education and training course. Not the three minute overview on how to handle a $10,000 powerful machine. There is an exception to this law if the child is in the "immediate supervision" of someone that holds the safety certificate. I am assuming that the guide Ronnie does hold this certificate, but as I stated earlier, the guide was in the front of the line and I was on the second snowmobile and my son, who was last in line was at least a 1/4-1/2 mile behind due to proper spacing of all the snowmobiles. There was no supervision at all when my son was driving. As per the website, any person who violates this section is guilty of a class 2 petty offense. read more

03/10/17 WOW! We took the full day ride which included lunch at their very beautiful lodge. Our guide was absolutely fantastic! The machines were so easy to ride and had the power that allowed us to maneuver through serious trails, meadows, and back roads. Our guide was very open to taking us on the adventure that we wanted. We were paired with two other experienced riders, so this allowed us to really try some more challenging areas. He was so knowledgeable about Camp Hale and the local area, giving us interesting information, and advice on how to create an even better ride the next time we return to the Red Cliff area. The weather was perfect for riding, and the area had just received new snow a couple of days before we arrived. We will most certainly take that advice and will return to Nova Guides when we return to Colorado for our next winter vacation. We felt all of the associates with Nova Guides were friendly and helpful. I was the only woman on this tour, and I kept up with the best of them, and personally tried things I didn't know that I could do....the guys I were with were at first worried taking the tour with me, but I had such a great time and our guide gave me the confidence to try things I hadn't before, and boy oh boy am I ever glad that he did. It really enhanced our day. Only one complaint, we drove over from Breckenridge and were there well before the suggested time for our check in. Our guided tour was to begin at 9:00AM, so we were all geared up, and sat around until after 9:30AM to start. Really didn't appreciate this delay. We were concerned that this would shorten our ride, but that wasn't the case. Just annoying to comply with the arrival time only to wait, and wait on the other parties in our group. read more

Took the snow coach ride up the mountain with Pete! Pete was awesome! Everyone was so friendly and helpful! The views are amazing and can't be beat! The lunch was delicious as well, fresh and cooked to order! Would highly recommend this experience when in the area! Hope to be back in the summer to experience the jeep ride in this beautiful area! read more

Wonderful ATV experience. Our guide Patrick was fantastic. Prices are a little high, but we had such a fabulous experience that it was worth it! read more

If you are looking to ATV with or without a guide, this is a great place to start. We rented them for 2 hours and had a blast. The owners and staff were great. They will go over how to ride one if you are unfamiliar or they will give you a tutorial if it's been awhile since your last ride. read more

First, I have to give credit to our awesome guide, Fred, who is not the subject of this review. The operation overall was poorly organized. Equipment was old, worn, and in some cases, poorly fitting due to shortages in certain sizes. We came with a large group of 40 expecting to run the upper river class 4. Instead they sent guides with us who were not experienced on the upper river so we could only do the lower class 2/3 run. I can deal with worn equipment, but this bate and switch was inexcusable. We will return for the upper river. On that trip I think we'll give Lakota a shot. read more

My buddy and I rented two snowmobiles for a two hour no guided excursion. We blazed all of the amazing trails. It was an amazingly beautiful day. Riding up to the tops of mountains with the beautiful blue sky and white snow. It is now one of my top 10 lifetime experiences. But at the end my buddy and I had 10 minute to kill and decided to do exactly what we were told a thousand times not to do, we went off the trail into the woods. After about a quarter of a mile into the woods with no place to turn around we got stuck in 4 feet of snow. Fearing the pre-signed amex slips that we signed before we ventured out, we desperately tried to get unstuck. But to no avail. We took the 2 mile walk of shame, back to the shop. First we asked for forgiveness and then we asked for help. Erika and David came to our rescue and helped us dig out of the mess we got into. Erika and David were wonderful, amazing, generous and gracious. They could have rightfully been angry with us as we did exactly what they told us not to do (and we are around 50 yrs old not 21) but they didn't. Their shop is well staffed. Run professionally and is very well equipped with great top of line equipment. We are happy the other snowmobile place cancelled on us at the last minute even after we waited for them for an hour as it lead us to Nova Guides - Erika and David. Thank you for one of the greatest times of my life and for your kindness, generosity, and good spirit. See you next time we are in Vail. read more

We just went on a Snow Cat tour by Nova Guides, 2/24/2011. Everything was fine and had a good time. Lunch was free and good. The only bad thing was a lack of organization. No one person seemed to be in charge of directing the large groups of snowmobilers and snow catters. Both arriving groups and departing groups ate lunch at same time 80 people crammed into a dining room set for 40. I suggest you take the snow mobile tour instead, The people that took that seemed extremely pleased. read more

Our guide reminded us over and over again that we were tourists. The Lake County native and the Boulder County native found his narrative on local history to be fictitious and filled with misinformation. Lost count of the number of ways the guide found to offend our group. Was glad to get hiking so we could get beyond the guides incessant gibberish. read more

We did a two hour snow-mobiling trip with Nova Guides. They did everything right to the point where it would be difficult to ask for more. Our guide - Jason picked us up from the hotel, drove us to their cabin, took us on a private tour and then dropped us back. The snow mobiles were brand new (with about 80 miles on them) and Jason let us pace ourselves based on where we wanted to spend more time clicking pictures. We saw some amazing views and covered a number of hill-tops. Jason turned out to be the perfect guide! We had a lot of fun and will definitely end up going with them on our next trip to CO. Highly recommended! read more

I love snowmobiling- it's something that I enjoy doing during all of my ski vacations and always recommend to others when they come to visit. Unfortunately, I can't recommend Nova. I've now had two separate situations where customer service and communications were lacking...hence, I've actually never even been able to go on a Nova tour. The first situation occurred in March 2013- I had friends in town and had scheduled a 4-hour morning ride at Vail Pass. We arrived (from Denver) for check-in around 8am. We knocked on the doors, called the office... no answer. About 20 minutes later we received a phone call that the tours had been cancelled for the day. Really? How is it that no other groups or individuals were waiting with us? Were we the only group scheduled that morning? Not likely... Did they forget to call us? Most likely...we will never know. The second happened yesterday. I had family in town and thought snowmobiling would be a fun way to end their vacation in Colorado. I called and made a reservation for a 4-hour ride at Vail Pass. Unfortunately, my brother woke up with a stomach bug. I called the office and sent an email around 5am letting them know that we would not be able to make it for the 9am ride- I didn't receive a phone call or email back, so I followed up again. I was hopeful that they would be understanding and allow me to use our reservation (and $500 deposit) for a reservation at a later date. After speaking with Erin (very nice), she let me know that she would need to speak with management and get back to me later in the afternoon. When I didn't receive a return phone call, I followed up again today. This time I was told that I needed to contact Summit Concierge regarding the request. I spoke with Ben at Summit (again, he was very nice) but he said the ultimate decision was Novas... He offered to call Nova on my behalf, but was told that I could not use my deposit for a later date, and that was that. It is clear that Nova doesn't rely on or care about local customers or referrals- which is a real shame. As much as I enjoy snowmobiling, I will have to go elsewhere next time I have guests in town and recommend that you do the same. read more

Our group did a guided snowmobile tour through Nova Guides. It was awesome, both in terms of the thrills, and the scenic / natural aspects. A main reason it was so great was our guide, Sarah Grimes. She made it a perfect balance of fun (not too conservative or slow) and safety. She was very knowledgeable about the terrain, local history, and best ways to get the most of the machine. This was the third annual tour for our group, which have all been great, and the verdict was this was the best. read more

What a great atv tour of Camp Hale! Thanks to Patrick for making it safe and fun for us.

If you step foot in Colorado and have ridden a snowmobile, head over to Nova Guides!! Start-to-finish, this establishment and the experience were beyond words. Seems they've been around for 31 years and have a fleet of well maintained snowmobiles. We were professionally, efficiently handled and sent on our way with maps and great instructions. The views from the top of the groomed trails were breathtaking and there are vast route options. When we got stuck (completely our fault and stupidity), the staff came and dug us out without scolding or outrageous cost that we deserved and expected. I can't say enough about Erica, David and owner Steve. Don't miss this place! read more

1st class operation from start to finish. I would pick Nova Guides over any snowmobile operation in the Vail Valley. Best tour, best guides, best operation. First class from start to finish--everyone in my family and group had a great time! Our tour guide made the group feel safe and comfortable for all ages. That is first and foremost the most important--. The tour and our guide were great--from point out the history of Camp Hale to the mountain ranges to the wildlife--great tour and great operation. read more

This is a terrific group. I brought my business team in for a couple of days, and we did a team building with Nova. We had three vehicles, and the majority of my team is from the UK. They all loved it! The driver of my vehicle was Chris Miller. Chris is friendly, funny and full of great stories about the area. This was a jeep tour, and we will be back for a snowmobile tour as well. I highly recommend this group. They will ensure you have a great time. Thanks to all of the drivers, and especially Chris for the terrific tour! read more

We got some snowmobile rental today with few friends I will highly recommend to anyone who want to rent snowmobiles to contact those guys super professional and nice and the prices are very decent read more

Our group did the unguided tour and it was amazing! However, we learned a lesson the hard way. This company does not have you sign an insurance waiver. This means their ATVs are not insured. The plastic cracked from rocks or who knows what (tours are in the rocky mountains) on two of the ATVs while we were riding them. This is no way impacted their ability to run and be used safely. It cost over $1,000 total to fix PLASTIC COSMETIC damage - small damage at that. I highly doubt those parts will be fixed anytime soon, they will probably wait until they are very badly damaged. Do not rent anything from anyone unless they have an insurance waiver that will protect you from outrageous charges. read more

I'll make this as short as possible due to so much frustration with the ownership of this outfit. Basically, my brother and our three daughters rented ATV's and went on our way. About an hour or less into the ride, my brother's ATV broke down. He waited for over an hour for them to answer his help call. They brought him a fresh ATV. The two guides then started towing the broken down ATV and it must have rolled while in tow. My brother had left already. We stayed for lunch, didn't complain about being charged for a useless ATV, but after 30 minutes in the restaurant, we get called in and are told we owe $800 in damages. We obviously were outraged and argued. They took us out to show us the vehicle and it was trashed. We again argued before the owner began calling us f-ing liars and to f off. He disparaged our kids and made a complete ass of himself. The two guides looked so guilty and although they knew we were getting completely hosed, they remained total cowards and refused responsibility. It was a gross display of immaturity, greed, selfishness, and cowardice. We called the police and drove out there with him the next day because we so frustrated and the owner refused to meet with us with the police officer as the moderator. Fortunately, my brother had video documentation of his bike before these two cowardly guides showed up and the charges were dropped.I never write reviews, but figured someone could benefit from our experience. There are too many great choices in Colorado to make this mistake. Plus, the trails are very boring. read more

Big rip off when it comes to their 24h CANCELATION POLICY. To make it short. 24h during winter in Colorado Mountains anything may happen. We could not get there on time to use the services and had to cancel on a short notice but guess what my card was charged without finishing our phone conversation (lost signal) and my authorization as I wanted to use another card for any fees. I was never informed that the cancelation fee is actually the FULL PRICE!!! As you would use the snowmobile. NO USE OF EQUIPMENT AND FULL PRICE for something that you may rent for walk in customers and double the profit. I guess that is how you make money at Nova Guides Inc. We will not let it go and further action will be taken to get our money back. For you POTENTIAL NEW CUSTOMERS of this establishment FIGURE IF YOU CAN PREDICT EVENTS IN COLORADO MOUNTAINS DURING WINTER 24hrs PRIOR TO YOUR ARRIVAL. Check the other review websites we are not the only ones that had the same situation. read more

Our Nova Guide snowmobiling experience was first class in every respect. Every one of the staff was professional (lots of experience in high country adventure operations), helpful, friendly, and knowledgeable from our expert rider/guide "Tall Paul", to the General Manager Shane, Nathan, Nate, and the owners. The equipment is top notch from the boots to the machines. The trail system is probably 10x larger than other outfitters in the area. We did the Top of the Rockies tour which was a real adventure to be on the Continental Divide at 11,700' elevation in a white-out snow storm! The lodge is a beautiful log building with roaring fireplace and leather chairs. For lunch we were expecting a small pre-made sandwich of so-so quality ingredients. We were pleasantly surprised! Lunch was a fresh grilled chicken/cheese sandwich, seasoned fries, and excellent hot chocolate served by our guide Paul. Thanks Nova Guides for an awesome experience. We will be back with friends! read more

1st time snowmobiling today. We took the 2hr self guide tour. Their equipment is top notch, great operational and safety explanation. The reason why I don't give them a five star is cuz when I called the day before, I was told the trails were well marked. Unfortunately, it was not the case, in fact, we got lost on our way back, were trusting snowmobile tracks, but were covered due to the heavy snowing. They give you a paper map scaled too small. So find key objects as reference on each of your turns. I wish forestry would have good signs viewable from all directions + the shop providing a laminated map with just the expanded scale and key referemces of the routes appropriate for your rental time vs the entire forest area. One more point, if for some reason your vehicle starts sinking in the snow, stop immediately, offload weight, never attempt to go back only fwd, ensure your front steering skis are not sunk, create a flat path for these ski, and making very shallow wide turns is the key, slow on the gas. read more

I did an unguided ATV tour through Nova Guides. The trip and the scenery were absolutely spectacular but I must warn against renting anything from this company. They do not have any sort of insurance on the equipment so you are liable for anything and everything that happens. Our ATV's got some extremely minor cosmetic damage and cost each of us over 500 dollars. I highly doubt they will even replace the part because it was purely cosmetic and did not affect the operation of the vehicle at all. If the company had an insurance fee that you could pay then I would recommend it without a doubt. But for your own peace of mind, go somewhere else with a company that has insurance that you can purchase. One of the ATV's was damaged by a rock that was kicked up which was completely unavoidable and not anyones fault, but it still cost over 500 dollars. You will pay for the part plus 75 dollars an hour labor, plus up to 1000 dollars in lost next day rental fee. That risk is absolutely not worth the fun that we had. read more