Ontario Snowboarding

A Closer Look At Ski Resorts: Blue Mountain, Ontario, Canada

This is the first entry in what I hope will become an occasional series on ski resorts I frequent. The purpose is to provide some insight for people thinking of booking trips to any of them, and hopefully foster some discussion as well. First up: Blue Mountain in Collingwood, Ontario.

I’ve mentioned Blue Mountain before, but have re-visited many times since. I think this has given me some additional perspective.

Blue Mountain, according to Intrawest (owners of popular resorts like Whistler/Blackcomb) is Ontario’s “largest mountain resort”. The precise definition is unclear, but here’s what you need to know: it’s pretty much the biggest hill in a province devoid of hills. With a vertical of 720 feet (220 metres) and 34 trails, none of the runs are spectacularly long, but many are creative enough to keep you riding all day.

I only started traveling to Blue Mountain last year. If I wanted to visit an Ontario-based resort prior to traveling to Blue, I usually went to Moonstone (we’ll cover that hill in another entry). My rationale was: Moonstone was a little over an hour away, whereas Blue Mountain is about a two-hour drive. But having been there several times now, I think it’s worth the drive.

The good

There are plenty of good things to talk about regarding Blue Mountain:

There’s a good mixture of runs. Blue features a wide range of green, blue and black runs (34 runs in all, which is good for Ontario). And for the most part, each tier is kept together on a certain part of the hill. So, if you’re looking to hit some black diamond runs, chances are you won’t run into a ski school checking out a green trail.

Now, a hill with a vertical of 720 feet means none of your runs will be long. It’s not uncommon to be at the top of the hill and see someone yell “I’ll be right down! Wait for me!” into a two-way radio. But that’s not the resort’s fault. Some creative run designs mean a few of the cross-mountain runs can last several minutes, and there’s even some challenging glades and a fairly large terrain park to boot.

The facilities are excellent. Since Intrawest purchased 50% ownership of the resort in 1999, Blue Mountain has become a four-season resort that bears a striking resemblance to Whistler: at the base of the hill is a large village with plenty of restaurants, stores and more. This makes après an option if you don’t face a two-hour drive back to Toronto.

On the hill, there are several restaurants, snack stands and even a Beaver Tails hut on top of the mountain. Food choices aren’t as extensive as a place like Whistler, but there’s enough variety to make everyone happy.

For those in need of renting equipment, Blue’s rentals area is a well-oiled, factory-like machine. And like in Whistler, the equipment loaned out is half-decent (low-end Burton boards for the riders, for example).

There is night riding. At precisely 4:30PM every day, the groomers head out to re-groom the trails, the lights turn on, and night riding begins. Not all the trails are covered by lights (22 runs, 10 lifts are covered – still an excellent proportion), but there are few resorts of Blue’s size in Southern Ontario that offer night skiing at all. And because the hills stay open until 10, heading up to Blue in the evening becomes a viable option.

The not-so-good

I hesitate to use the word ‘bad’ because, in my estimation, some of these are not really anyone’s fault. Furthermore, I don’t consider any of these ‘deal breakers’ – that is, they wouldn’t prevent me from visiting Blue.

The lineups can be insane. Now, to Blue’s credit, they have incredibly fast, six-person, high-speed lifts all over the place; in fact, virtually every lift is top-notch. I haven’t seen better lifts anywhere else. But Blue Mountain has become incredibly popular in the past several years; people are buying vacation homes and rental properties all over town, just to be close to the resort. Many ski schools also frequent Blue. This can make weekends a little crazy; I’ve waited close to 30 minutes to get on a lift that, to be honest, will take me to the start of a two-minute run. Sometimes you wonder if it’s worth it.

But I discovered something: the black diamond area, which consumes a good chunk of the north end, isn’t too bad. Stick to the black diamonds if you can, because you’ll avoid gobs of beginners who a) travel in packs and b) can’t master the art of loading/offloading a lift, which leads to many delays.

It ain’t cheap. But that’s to be expected at the largest, most decked-out mountain resort in Ontario, I suppose. An all-day lift ticket (until 4:30, when night riding begins) costs $50 plus GST. And a special pass is required for the terrain park, I believe, which is an extra one-time fee (but the pass lasts all year). Moonstone is $44 plus GST.

It’s far from Toronto. Driving two to two and a half hours in the dark after riding isn’t fun. And the first half hour to 45 minutes of that drive back isn’t on the highway, either. That’s also a lot of gas, too. Ouch.

But like I said, none of these ‘not-so-goods’ would prevent me from going back. I’ll be honest – since I discovered Blue for the first time, it’s the resort I visit the most in Ontario. The drive, lift and lunch can turn into an expensive day, but I find Blue’s terrain to be the most enjoyable.

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