It Was worth the long drive Great ski resort levels for all ages and skill levels and amazing camps and lessons great instructors and coaches great terrain park and freestyle parks and the food was great and speedy definitely recommend swain ski resort. read more

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skiing okay at most, horrible trials, I go to dinner with my family and wait for 45 min to get my menu then another 20 min to gove the order, after the food takes 25 or so min and i do not receive any of my condiments or any refils, do NOT reccomend! read more

Great small ski resort. We went 2/18/23 and it was pure ice (due to weather- not the resorts fault) so we didn't get to see much of it. I spent a decent amount of time sitting at The Shawmut Grille on the patio in the sun as I've already broken bones skiing on ice so wasn't trying to do that again. The bartender was wonderful, there was a great selection of beers-heavy on the sours, and the food was good! Prices were similar to regular (off ski resort) restaurants which I thought was great! Very nice open patio with fireplaces and Adirondack chairs where you can enjoy the view of the mountain. I'm looking forward to returning if and when we get any snow! read more

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We had a fantastic ski lesson with Sam which was great for my wife who has never skied. Sam was super helpful and patient. I learn some new techniques to improve my skiing. For a beginner a lot of the runs can be a bit overwhelming, but I enjoyed getting back on the mountain as an intermediate skier. The blues off of Quad 2 and the green off Quad 3 were fun. You'll need a little more experience than first time skier to enjoy those steeper runs. There aren't any super easy beginner only sections, so I would advise you go super early at 9am on a Sunday (1 hour before lesson) at 10am. There's less people early, and more equipment to rent. I think the best run for beginners is on Quad 2, going halfway up. One of the long greens along the top right was way to slow, maybe from the super cold temperatures (10-15°F). We had to really work on pushing ourselves on the slow green. It was a workout. Note: We missed that green the first time and ended up on blues. At that point my wife wasn't with us, but that would have been a little too much for her ability. I'd go back, but I might need to take my wife to another resort to work on basics with a little less steep greens. read more

Swain Resort - Short bunny hill with a magic carpet. Easiest green is on the right above, but it joins some steeper sections before the lifts. - Ski Resorts Near Me - Swain, New York

I visited Swain for the first time a few weeks ago. We chose Swain because my buddy's dad is on ski patrol there and has a hook-up for ski passes. I'm an intermediate skier and I thought the slopes were okay. There are a decent number of runs with about 4 quad-chairlifts and maybe between 10-15 trails open that day. I think I enjoyed skiing at Bristol a little bit more. I thought the trails were better groomed over there. Part of it could have been the weather, but generally speaking, I found the trails to be inconsistently groomed. Parts were covered with thick powder, others were icy and numerous areas with pot holes (getting off chair lift). Another pet peeve was that the green trails were either too flat or too steep. My friend who was skiing for his 2nd time had a hard time transitioning from the bunny slope to the green trail. It's a tough place for beginners to start (I think). Although the instructors seemed very patient and friendly, the trails themselves were not. Some green trails were also entirely too flat. They almost appeared to be more like cross country trails than downhill skiing. You definitely needed momentum going down some of the trails, or else you'd be stuck going nowhere. Everything else was alright. I think lift passes and rental equipment are priced competitively priced. They have a separate bar and a cafeteria that makes some mean chicken fingers. read more

Swain Resort - Ski Resorts Near Me - Swain, New York

Stephanie is amazing!! My family and I had an awesome experience at the Women's Ski Retreat. We will definitely be coming back. All the instructors were incredible. read more

Swain Resort - Mom and sisters - Ski Resorts Near Me - Swain, New York

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My fiancé and I went skiing here early in 2020 and enjoyed it. She's skied before, but it had been a long time, so it was perfect for her to get back into it. The only downside is that it's a smaller ski resort, which means the runs are a little shorter. I still had a great time though and we didn't experience long waits to get on the lifts. read more

Swain Resort - Ski Resorts Near Me - Swain, New York

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Mixed feels. The mountain is bigger and more diverse than I originally thought. I had always thought of swain as a mild mountain with not many challenging trails. They run some deals throughout the week so they're more affordable than other mountains in the area. However don't accidentally go during school break like I did and quite a few others... All their deals are not running during school holidays... Wish this was more prominent on their website. The woman at the ticket counter was not pleasant and the line to buy tickets was painfully long and slow moving. I was also disappointed with their learn to ski area. I was with a friend who was learning and there wasn't much of a gradual area to learn on. I would definitely recommend taking beginners somewhere else. read more

Absolutely love this place ! It's not like the other local place. Swain has the whole ski town feel. Bar in town as well as at the resort itself ! Good food, twilight skiing, tons of variation with good staff. The locals need to back off though before otherwise people are going to really attack them for damaging the swain experience read more

I attended the Ladies Ski retreat and it was the most fun I've ever had. All of the instructors were amazing. Stephanie in particular had an approach that worked for everyone and Darcy was very calm and soothing. The service was excellent, Linn at the Shawmut Grill is amazing. The entire space just feels like one big family. I loved it and will definitely be returning. read more

Swain Resort - Ski Resorts Near Me - Swain, New York

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I'm going there tomorrow with my fellow boy scouts. I have never skied before and I'm excited but also a little nervous because of the ski lifts. read more

I took my two teenage children and a friend to Swayne Ski Resort on 1/9/21. It was the first time my kids & I have visited Swayne and a long time since my friend visited. We arrived at 9:20 am for a 10 am beginner Ski lesson and encountered a line of about 100 people at the lift ticket desk. (Pics attached) After about 20 minutes and the line not moving much, I called the resort and spoke to a receptionist at the resort regarding the circumstance. She was very apologetic, indicated they rarely have the issue with understaffing and had called an employee in to help the two people at the lift ticket windows to help manage the customer line. I shared our concern for the fact that we may be late to miss our scheduled ski lesson, but the receptionist did not have a response. It was about 15 degrees out and it took 45 minutes for us to get through the ticket line to get our lift passes. I know it's a ski resort so you would expect to be outside in the cold weather. However, when you must stand in one place for an extended period, especially when you're a child, you get cold. We then walked over to the next building to get our boots and skis. I'm not sure why they don't have all these stations and processes incorporated into one building for convenience sake? Again, we encountered a line of about 25 people and again there was a limited staff with one person at the counter. We then needed to complete a waiver, which took a few minutes, and onto getting our boots. We discovered another line of 15 people at the boots with only one Swayne employee at that desk. We overheard other customers along our way complaining about the delays and the time was now 10:55 am 90 minutes from the time we first stepped into line at the ticket desk outside. While we were getting boots a 4" tall rack of black plastic trays fell over on a young boy behind us. The trays should probably not be stored/stacked where customers are going to stand or walk by as they are a safety issue. We got our skis in about 10 minutes from the one person working at that desk and then went outside to see if we could find the Swayne employee giving the lessons. We could not differentiate Swayne employees from customers, which is an issue. We thought that employees should wear bright green, yellow, or some other color along with large Swayne patches so they can be easily identified for any questions or help. It took us 15 minutes walking back & forth to identify a Swayne employee who happens to be holding a clipboard who could help us. The employee indicated they needed to find an instructor who could deliver our 90-minute lesson. The time was 11:20 am and almost two hours after our arrival until our lesson finally began. It wasn't that the resort was busy, it was the fact they had very few employees working and for a Saturday morning, that was very disappointing. During the delays in processing, I looked on my phone at the reviews of Swayne and most were not good. Many similar complaints and more from prior customers. Clearly, none of the comments have been taken into consideration by Swayne management as nothing had changed or been improved. In fact, there was not a single response from Swanye management on any of the feedback sites I reviewed. Also, I noticed of all the ski resorts posted on Yelp, Swayne was the LOWEST rated by customers! The entire facility appears to be very aged, worn, and run down. It looks like the last time it was painted was the 1990s and the paint colors (gray & purple) not the best choice for interior colors. I felt that whoever owns this resort is completely disconnected and does not care. There are many areas of this resort that could be modernized in terms of decor, process improvements to increase the speed of equipment & ticket processing, and other organizational changes to make the entire experience for customers more enjoyable. The staff albeit barely visible were friendly and did the best they could to keep up. However, it is quite clear that they are way overworked. My friend indicated that Swayne used to be a much better place to ski and better experience years ago. Although my two young teen kids absolutely loved skiing, and I plan to take them for many years to come, I'm honestly not certain if we will return to Swayne with other options available. read more

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It's a nice resort it has everything like a bunny hill,greens,blues,blacks and double blacks. Also has a nice teran park with rails and big jumps.lifts do not have a gondola cover and a nice loge and a really good cafe. read more

Friendly staff, family atmosphere, not too crowded and a great place to unwind. My family took a long weekend here. We had a Groupon deal and flew/drove in from Virginia, Philly and NYC. The whole weekend was super relaxing and enjoyable; the lift lines weren't too busy, the staff was beyond accommodating, and we had a wonderful time. read more

Pretty disappointed and maybe mostly because I never made it to the hill. Took the drive from Rochester down to check out the slopes and ran into several things that were disappointing. First off, the specials were unavailable and the hill was packed because it was apparently a school holiday. Now I don't have children so I wouldn't know and there are no postings anywhere on the site to explain what days end up having more or less traffic due to holidays. Besides that, the more disappointing part was the bunny/beginner hill. I'm still learning to snowboard and wanted something simple to learn on. From what I could see, the beginner hill had a decent slope, but curved around a bend and came to the edge of another hill where the slope increased dramatically, meshing with other skiers/snowboarders of various levels. It was intimidating to someone who had only stood on a board a couple times. I may come back to this mountain in the future when I'm more experienced, but for now it doesn't seem very beginner friendly, and I'll apparently have to pay more attention to when kids have their days off, since it's no posted anywhere. read more

Cute place for a young family. Just enough options and space. Shawmut has a great beer selection. Love that a family runs it!

So I decided to take my 13 year old Nephew and his friend snowboarding at Swain on 1$ lift ticket day. Most of the review has been deleted. *UPDATE* I contacted the resort after I left and was offered a free trip to make up for the problem with my last visit and I am very happy with the resolution. read more

My wife and I recently visited Swain Resort two days after receiving about 10 inches of new snow. We decided to purchase the 4 hour ticket starting at 4:00 on a weekend evening, as the cost was cheaper than the $60 price for 4 hour daytime ticket. I remember skiing at Swain as a kid, and I have to admit, I have not skied at Swain in a number of years. I am not sure what happened to Swain, but it certainly is not the place I remember it to be. The facilities at Swain are definitely in need of an update. It looks like the owners don't have the capital to take care of what they have. The lodge is old and dirty and is not welcoming. The cafeteria is terrible; overly priced food that does not look very appetizing. In fact, most of the food looks like it has been sitting out for hours. I remember the lodge to be a gathering place for people taking a break from skiing; I would not feel comfortable doing that now. Simply cleaning up would help, and during the off season, fresh paint and easy repairs would make this more welcoming. It looks like the owners of Swain Resort just don't care. Further, the ski conditions were terrible. After just receiving new snow, I would have expected the conditions to be much better than they were. I didn't feel the trails had been groomed or taken care of. Clark, one of Swain's more popular runs, was in terrible condition. Someone needed to make several passes up the hill with the groomer; the snow was clumpy which made it very hard to ski. Are there groomers at Swain? Or have they been cut from the budget? We skied on both sides of the mountain and the conditions were terrible every where we went. Further, when it started getting dark, the lighting was bad, making it nearly impossible to ski. We skied two of our four hours and left. This was a very disappointing trip, and I don't think we will be back. Swain Resort reminds me of a place for the 'townies" or "regulars" who are used to a mediocre ski experience, who just want to hang out at the bar, or who just don't care. Sorry to say, but this place has nothing special to offer. I would expect that in a few years, Swain Resort will not be around. People who are looking for a special ski experience will go to other places and get a lot more bang for their buck. I would not recommend coming here. It's expensive to ski, so please spend your ski dollars on a place where the owners care and where your experience will be worth the dollars you spend. read more

Skier at Swain as a kid from 1991-2006. First time back today since 2006! Place is not what I remember, but still a great place to ski and board. With some serious $$$ to maintain what was once a tremendous resort theme it could compete with Bristol. Here on NYE 2018 day and maybe 85 people on the hill. Should easily be 500-580 people here on this day. What a shame. Lots of potential to improve. Lifts are the slowest I've ever experienced, bad enough I left 2 hours early. Rentals are very old and not well kept. Limited trails open, maintenance not great overall. I'd love to assist in getting this once promising ski resort back to promise. Email me at rdk10@my.fsu.edu read more

Unless you are a local owning own equipmwnt or have small children I wouldn't recommend going to Swain over the various resorts in the area with better value. I've consistently asked myself after every Swain visit on why I went. Slow lifts which are often closed either because an event they won't warn you about or for conditions. Old rental equipment you'll be charged as if it were cutting edge. If you are making up your mind to give Swain a try and you are traveling more than 30 min, just do yourself a favor and choose to ski at another resort which will be a much better experience and give you a better value for your money. read more

This is for the Shawmut Bar at the Swain Resort: One of the most beautiful days of the ski season and a Saturday. Only one bartender on, we waited 15 minutes and couldn't even get a beer list. The people next to us were waiting 30 minutes for drinks. They are concistently slow and understaffed. We walked across the street to the Sierra Inn and received prompt and great service. I suggest you do the same. read more

Went to Swain for my second ever day of snowboarding, and took a lesson as well. I've wanted to learn to ski or snowboard since high school, so I finally bit the bullet and decided to give it a go this year, "Crazy Chris" was a great instructor, I wish that I had him on day one (my first lesson was at another place). Techniques that two other people were struggling with teaching me, he had me doing in less than a minute. It seems a great teacher makes all the difference in the world when you are hurtling down a mountain at ludicrous speeds with a board strapped to your feet. Especially when you are built more like a linebacker than a snowboarder! He explained things very well, was very in-depth, but never confusing. He teaches you techniques while making sure you know why and when to use them. I think he thinks he is unorthodox, but whatever he does, it works. He also always identified what I did wrong to cause me to lose my balance (straightening my knees, leaning too much, looking at my board instead of where I was going), and that is huge when you are trying to correct mistakes. He was very encouraging, personable, down to earth, mellow, and just a cool person to be around. He's the type of person that I could see myself having a few beers and hanging out with. The lesson was an awesome experience! If anyone at Swain is reading this, give Chris a raise, he deserves it!!! As far as the facility goes, I'll be honest: it's not nearly as nice as Bristol Mountain or some of the other major ski resorts in the state. But the hills are in decent shape, and it is not overwhelmingly packed with people like Bristol seems to be all the time. That makes it a great place to learn without worrying about people crashing into you. Actually, I worry more about crashing into some poor innocent soul than someone taking me out... From what I saw, there is a nice mix of trails for all levels of skier/snowboarder. Great deals if you buy your tickets/rentals online in advance (only needs to be one day in advance generally). Celebrate your shredding, drown your sorrows, soothe your wounds, or get some liquid courage at Paddy's in Hornell (about 15 minutes away). read more

If you're a snowboarder don't even waste your money coming here. The slopes are clearly designed to be for skiers only. Additionally there is ice everywhere which makes it less enjoyable, especially for snowboarders. If you really wanna go snowboarding travel 40 more minutes east to Bristol ski resort and you'll have a way better time. read more

It's August, and here I am, dreaming of hitting the slopes at Swain once again. My kids began going to Swain years ago with their school club. Two winters ago they pulled my husband and myself into the sport, and now we are a family of snowboard addicts. We have season passes. I learned to board the year we didn't have much of a winter, yet Swain made snow, and we averaged going there five times a week. This past year had more natural snow (and even more snow making machines), and we had a fabulous time. I'm chomping at the bit to get back on the slopes. The ambiance of the resort is very inviting and family-friendly. I spent many hours in the coffee shop my first year, waiting for my kids after I exhausted myself learning. During the time there I was able to work thanks to the free Internet access. The staff was friendly and the food and coffee prices were fair (especially since the food is very tasty). Everyone was so kind -- even the lift operators were cheering me on as I practiced staying on my feet. It's fun to watch the people on the rails and to participate in the excitement of the races. Our family favorite days are the carnival and the slush pond at the end of the season. I also appreciate the modified equipment such as sit-skis that allow people with handicaps to enjoy the slopes. As we all know, skiing and snowboarding can be tough on the body. From head knocks and hospital runs to bandaids for blisters, the first aid staff knows what to do, and they do it in a friendly yet professional manner. We have brought family members and numerous friends in to learn to snowboard and to enjoy skiing at Swain, and every single person has asked to come back again. Season passes are affordable, lines are short to non-existent, and everyone is so friendly that going to Swain feels like we're coming home. read more

This was my wife and I's first time up to swain. For the most part I­t­ wasn't very homey and a little rundown. The lifts were old, rusty and stiff which didn't aid in the, what felt like, 5 minute ride to the top. The slopes were not well maintained and hardly groomed, not to mention the lack in variety of trails. Some blue slopes felt more like blacks which didn't make for a very comfortable casual time for us intermediate snowboarders. After several rough runs down the mountain we stopped at the cafeteria for lunch. The customer service was lack luster to say the least but the food and beverages were fairly priced. All in all, wouldn't recommend... Swain deserves all of this 2/5 read more

Ahh not much i can say about swain other than it was terrible. The hills where full of ice patches, the lifts were slow and uncomfortable, the terrain park did not seem very safe, the rails were sticky, it was really icy all over, lots of flats for snowboarders to get stuck on, it was super icy, and oh did i mention it was icy? Over all not a very good experiance. At least it was cheap and the lodge was nice. I would recommend bristol mountain over it any day. read more