Wilmot Mountain

This review is solely for the tubing hill. I have to admit that I have not had this much fun tubing since I was a little kid. I took my two children 5 and 8 and we had a blast. I could go down the hill on my own or connect all the inner tubes and go as a family.
A few things to consider: it can be fairly pricey on certain days. A Saturday will cost about $ 25 per person for two hours. I would recommend going on a night where they have discounts for the County you live in. Lake county IL discount night is Monday night. $ 15 per person from 4−10pm. Now that is a great deal. So much fun you will not be disappointed!
What separates this hill from every other one is the conveyor belt which takes you and your tube to the top. It takes about 3 minutes and it is part of all the fun with music playing in the background. Everyone is so excited to get to the top and go down again! Very safe with plenty of workers on hand. Have fun and be a kid again! You will thank me.

I am a beginner — in fact way behind even just a beginner, if there was such a class, I had fun, obviously since I don’t have any comparison point. One of the instructors was kind of grumpy and looked irritable when I fell on the beginners slope going up the rope and could not get up. Hey, if I could do all that, why would I be a beginner? But our main instructor Dan was awesome. One thing, when you go down the beginners slope, it ends right where the people and kids are waiting in line for the rope. Of course the instructors tell you to turn around and stop, but again, I am a beginner — as clumsy and nervous as they come, and was not able to stop in time, but somehow zipped through all the waiting people and slammed into the fence on the other side. that was one way to stop I guess. Not sure if it’s a great idea to have the beginners slope end right in the line of waiting people. But overall fun.

Some of the other complaints on Unilocal are completely unwarranted. I wouldn’t let those reviews keep you away from here. I don’t think it is really fair to complain about the size of the hill/​mountain because you can’t make a mountain out of a mole hill. I realize that Abu Dhabi just made a mountain out of the desert but it’s incomparable. The other issue is that you can’t really complain about high costs and overcrowding. Well, I guess you can complain about it but they are kind of symbiotic. You should go during the week. I took my daughter there today and the place was empty and the price was reasonable.
My daughter had an absolutely amazing lesson from Clee who definitely warrants 5 stars.
Yes, the food is kind of Jr High cafeteria quality but it wasn’t outrageously expensive.
I recommend this place, especially if you can go during the week.

Yikes no wonder they sold this place, they haven’t invested a dime in keeping it up. I haven’t been for a few years, just went up this Saturday. The center lift was manned by complete idiots who had no training. The kid at the top of the mountain wasn’t paying attention and after a kid fell getting off the lift he let people just run into the little girl who fell. On the bottom on the same lift the guy with the Penn State hat let the lift hit a kid and take him out. Then all he wanted to do is argue with his co worker about who is responsible. UNSAFE, UNTRAINED DANGER. I hope the new owners train the staff. I won’t be back.

Congratulations to Wilmot Mountain and Vail Associates!
How cool is that?
5 Stars… for a ski hill 1 hour from Chicago.
I’ve been skiing for 55 years, and after Holiday Park (IL) and Fox Trails (IL) closed, after Lost Valley (IL) and Gander Mountain (IL) gave it up, I moved next door to ski at Wilmot. Looking at the other nearby competition, it certainly is a much better facility on a bad day than Villa Olivia (IL) is on their best day. Nearby Alpine Valley (WI) is picturesque with its trees, but as far as skiable terrain, Wilmot has it, hands down.
Wilmot Mountain arguably invented snowmaking machinery, and they go hard at it to cover «the hills». Snowmaking and achieving full snow cover is a delicate art, and anyone that expects consistent soft, puffy snow had better move to Utah. They do a very good job of deciding when and where to make the stuff. By it’s nature, any man made snow (even in Aspen Colorado) is granular and icy. Wilmot knows when it is practicable to go in and «groom» it with their fleet of machines. It’s a delicate process of a ballet and they have it nailed down.
Out West in Colorado-​Utah, they refer to skiing as «on the mountain». Anywhere you go in the midwest, we call them «hills». They all work the same, especially if you’re learning– no matter the level. Unless you can ski with absolute perfection on any given «hill», you still have some room to learn before «needing» a mountain.
I see a number of Unilocalers complaining about the laborious ski rental process. I’m sure, with some adjustments and a lot of costly construction, they could shave 8 minutes off of that process, but it serves the purpose. If you really want to ski– how long are you going to be renting your gear in that line? It’s for people who haven’t made up their minds yet, and for the volume they serve, it works fine. If you’re going to rent, avoid mid-​morning arrivals on high volume days. Don’t worry about the masses of skiers, the most of them will be thrashing around at the bottom, and they always open up more lifts as needed. If you have-​to must gotta stand in your favorite lift line, it might be long. Use your head, shift over and ski another «hill» on the hill.
I believe that Wilmot has helped turn out some of the best amateur ski racers in the US. Why? This is all that truly advanced skiers have to do there! I have seen gatherings of skiers from all over the US (at USSA) and CMSC Wilmot racers lead the pack. Hills laid out for ski racing try to achieve the same snow conditions that you will find at Wilmot. Wilmot does it to make the snow last… same for the big mountain race courses out West. We local racers have a distinct advantage.
I never cared for racing. I still had a ball at Wilmot and always had a great time on the 200 vertical feet and stretching the run to 2500′ when conditions allowed.
I have literally skied all over the world, on 5 continents, I have sat on ski lifts with celebrities and Olympians, I will always still treasure most my times at Wilmot with others from Chicago~ Helmut, Walter, Don, Gerrie and so many others I had met skiing there. It will never be the Rockies, not in any way, but if you need a fix… or want to learn to ski the world~ it’s a pretty good place to start. Read less

I first started snowboarding when i was in middle school. My school had trips to alpine and i went there for a few years but never really liked it. In high school someone told about wilmot and ive been going there for 6 years now. The hills are all different some are more steep but are still easy to ride down. They have most of the lifts open but sometimes they dont because the hills arnt rideable. They have good rentals good food nice fire place to sit by. They also have a board check outside. For a dollar u can make sure ur board doesnt get stolen. Overall great place to go

WOW how about a blast from the past. On the way to Kenosha from Huntley we passed Wilmot Mountain (really more of a mole hill). Back in the day when I was a neophyte skier we use to come up to Wilmot mole hill. It was an alright place to jump in a get your ski legs under you to see if you enjoyed the sport. Once I gave it a try and realized how much I love skiing we went out west to Colorado.
Afta dat fugget about it. We was spoiled no mo waiting 30 minutes in line for a run that lasted 30 seconds.
Still Wilmot & Alpine valley hold a special place in my heart for the place I got started and learned to ski

We came to Wilmont for snow tubing in early March. It was great and we definitely plan to come back next year.
We were here with a bunch of adults and 3 kids. I think the adults may have had more fun then the kids.
The weather was perfect, it had finally gotten above 40 and was sunny, but there was still plenty of snow.
At first people were a little scared, but after the first run no one was scared anymore. It is very hard to flip over, fall out/​off, spin around unless you are trying to.
There are a bunch of lanes, so we never had to wait very long.
I thought 2 hours was a great amount of time to be out here. We were all tired and hungry after that.
It’s not a bad drive up from Chicago, Google maps was extremely accurate with directions and time. We pulled right in to the parking lot with no problems.
They have decent bathroom, a snack bar, and a bar.

The tubing was pretty awesome even for a couple in their mid twenties!
Make sure you go at the hour since you get tags that show full hour only.
2 hours is more than enough! Don’t get longer than that! I believe we went 10 times in that 2 hour period.

C’mon people — stop being so hard on Wilmot. It’s a big hill and not mountain, but serious skiers don’t care. We appreciate being outside shussing down the slopes surrounded by snow. It’s Wisconsin and not Utah, Colorado or Canada peaks. It’s 1 hour north of Chicago, has parking close to slope (ever walked ½ mile in ski boots and carrying skis and poles? Not fun!), good runs, qood chairlifts especially quad which are faster, and good food including homemade soups. The staff are friendly and welcoming. You want to ski the best? Then ski out west. Just enjoy having a ski hill within 1 hour drive to Chicago.

This is a typical Midwest skiing mountain with low-​grade chair lifts and so-​so runs. If you’re looking for a place to practice your skiing skills or to learn to ski or snowboard, this is a decent place to go. There are lots of easy runs to try and practice on, including a terrain park on the far north side. It’s somewhat decent as far as price goes. If you can get a big group, it’s worth getting lift tickets and/​or rentals.
However, the quality of the skis, terrain, chair lifts, and indoor facilities are not worth the cost. The place hasn’t changed in over 30 years, and it’s fairly outdated. The lifts are mainly 2 – 3 seaters, except for the Expedition 4 seater chair in the middle of the mountain. The indoor facility still has a musty smell that hasn’t changed in years. The quality of the food is not great and is definitely not worth the money. The facility also cannot handle the large crowds of kids and groups that show up on weekends. There’s hardly any breathing room at times! In fact, crowd control becomes a problem, especially on the mountain. There are many novices that come to Wilmot, which result in a lot of accidents and calls for the ambulance. Every time I come to Wilmot, an ambulance shows up at least once during my visit. The place is pretty dangerous, especially for inexperienced people.
If you’re used to high-​quality skiing or are looking for something similar to the Rockies, this is not the place to visit. But, this is a good gathering place for day-​skiing.

This rating is for snowboarding here. Not much they can do to improve their runs because it’s largely out of their hands. The snow is icy a lot of the time and the runs too short. As short as the runs are, they sure are steep as well. I know the upside is the fact that they are so close to the Chicagoland area, but I would recommend driving the few extra hours to Devils Head or Cascade. That being said, it is a good overall value as a day pass is only 35 dollars, and cheaper if you’re a student. Oh and the day runs from 10am to 11pm.

This review is for the tubing hill. The facility and set up are nice as are the snow lanes. The lines can be long, but things move relatively well.
My complaint is with some of the staff. A few of the people working the bottom of the hill are beyond rude. It’s almost like power tripping security guards yelling at people instead of directing them on how to exit lanes.
Remember your fat gym teacher from junior high who was constantly screaming at people for ticky tack things? That gym teacher is a Rhodes scholar compared to these clowns.

You can’t expect too much here. It’s not the greatest of elevations obviously but the slopes are kept for the most part. Pretty crowded for such a small area. For those who are giving this place a bad review on the size of the mountain are missing the point.
–a run will literally take you less than a minute to get from top to bottom
–Reasonably priced.
–lodges are crowded and dirty

This is a great beginner «mountain.» But if you have ever skied out east, out west or even in the Alps, you will be bored after an hour. I was able to make it down all their trails in less than an hour. Two pluses — it is only 1.5 hours from Chicago and the staff manning the lifts are super friendly.

Pros:
*Decent varieties of lifts and runs
*Lounge with nice fireplace and free Wi-​Fi
2 cafeterias and ski store and shop
*Easy to get from Chicago, pretty close to i94
*All day ticket $ 35 (Mo — Fri)
*Parking lot is very close to the slopes
*the best ski resort near Chicago
Cons:
*very short runs (still better then villa olivia though)
*overpriced and low quality food
*very old equipment (everything!)
*crazy lift queues after 5 – 6 pm on weekdays, and whole day weekends.
*annoying security.
5 stars for the resort with cosy fireplace and free Wi-​Fi in 1 hour driving from Chicago.
However it is old dirty and poorly maintenanced place.

Can’t say I have anything to compare it to, but it’s okay. Overpriced, of course. And as a first-​timer, I didn’t get any sort of instruction (like even how to put the skis on or which general direction I should go after picking up the rental skis). But we had a good time. Went with my 4 year old and he was as bad a skier as I am. Went back and he took a lesson. he didn’t care for it and told me not to make him do that again, but oh well. He’s four, so it’s hit or miss with these sorts of things. he would rather have been learning alongside his mom. Once I pulled him away from the class (he was just sitting out), he really enjoyed our time on the kiddie hill. So that was a waste of $ 50 for the lesson.
Whatever you do, do NOT eat here! Yikes, the food at the convenience store would be a huge improvement. Hope you didn’t come here to eat though.
We will go back again, since it’s close by and we are enjoying the winter and snow (although a four year old only wants to build a snowman in the snow, not learn to ski).

Tubing at Wilmont is fun for the whole family. Even when there was no snow to be elsewhere the facilities snow making machines do a great job keeping the tubing hill in great condition. They have several side-​by-​side tracks so you can have fun racing as a group or linking tubes together to go down as a unit. Once at the bottom of the hill they have a moving walk-​way to transport you back to the top. Great winter activity for kids and/​or adults.
The ski hill they offer is a great place to learn locally. The ski area also currently has many runs open due to their snow making ability. The runs are short and lines are long. But you have to start somewhere.
Both tubing and skiing are open during they day and evening. Each area has a lodge that sells food and drinks. And TVs had football on for those who would prefer to stay indoors.

Last year my boyfriend and I went to Wilmot, he bringing his own snowboard, and I rented skis. While we went inside to buy lift tickets and get me some rentals, his snowboard was stolen! It had happened within 10 minutes of being there, in the most public spot, right in front of the front doors. A guy just walked up from the parking lot, looked around, and took the snowboard back to his car.
I realize that theifs are unfortunate, and it might be unfair to judge a business based on this. In fact, the security guard watched the security camera with us to find footage of the guy who took it, and they let my boyfriend rent a snowboard for free. However, they weren’t surprised at all that it was stolen, and their only advice was to find the snowboard for sale on Craigslist and buy it back from whoever stole it. Overall, I wouldnt recommend this place if you bring your own skis/​snowboard.
Other than their theft problem, their slopes are very steep, and rather short. If you’re into really intense runs that are over in a few seconds, then you might like it here.

Tubing fun!
I would suggest going
early in the AM
or late afternoon/​evening
peak time is 11−3pm and totally not worth it because of the long lines to get back UP the tubing hill. They have a conveyor belt that takes you back up the hill but it literally takes 20 – 30 minutes to get back up the hill.
So we bought a 2 hour block for $ 25 a person and could only manage to get 4 runs in.
I would suggest getting your runs in before that peak time and be able to get at least 4 runs in an hour would be a minimum.
Other than that. a ton of fun