Ontario Snowboarding
Night Riding at Blue Mountain
Those of you keeping score at home have probably noticed I haven’t talked about my snowboarding experiences lately. In fact, if you’ve been keeping careful score, you’ve probably noticed I don’t seem to have gone riding since my Whistler vacation. Well, I finally went last night. I can’t believe it took me a month to get back out, but time constraints have really prevented me from going since I got back. And to be honest, six straight days of non-stop riding in Whistler can make you’ve had a damn good winter’s worth of riding if you live here in Ontario!
Anyway, I hit up Blue Mountain yesterday for some night riding. I’ve only been night riding once, so I was a bit tentative; I seemed to remember not being able to see a thing last time I went (goggles+dark=lousy visibility), so I was a little worried that seeing where I was going would be difficult. Thankfully, tinted lenses didn’t really seem to impede my vision. But because most runs in Ontario are so short anyway, I ended up riding most of the evening without goggles on.
Probably the three best things about night riding at Blue Mountain were:
-Most of the lifts, save for the Silver Bullet, were empty.
-It was relatively cheap (something like $30).
-Most all lifts and runs were open. The terrain park was open as well. In fact, the only thing that seemed unlit were the black diamonds on the north end.
Although I didn’t hit the terrain park, I’m starting to hit booters with reckless abandon again. I figure knee surgery is less than a month away… so what the hell! :) I spent most of my time on the north end, seeking jumps in Happy Valley and tucking it down Calamity Lane, Apple Bowl and Wally’s. It was a great deal of fun.
What sucked was the drive home. Anyone who has had the pleasure of driving to Blue knows that conditions on Highway 26, the little two-lane road that connects Collingwood to Barrie, can disintegrate rapidly when it starts snowing. Well, guess what? As we left Blue, it started snowing very heavily. We nearly slid right into a car in Stayner (I wasn’t driving, mind you) and from that point I rode home grabbing the door handle.
Thankfully, I got home safe and sound, and was able to close the weekend out with a couple of dozen nice evening runs.
Discussion
5 comments for “Night Riding at Blue Mountain”
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YES! The night time IS the right time!
I never go up to Blue without staying for night riding.
On Sunday night there’s usually zero wait time at the lifts. Another advantage: the runs are groomed around 4:30, so you can get a couple of “first track” runs in if you time it right.
Hint: get a pair of non-tinted goggles …
JB
Yeah, I had a great time. Less people most of the runs.. and you’re right, I forgot about the groomers at 4:30. Good idea. Do you know if they groom everything?
–adam
the night is fun, were lucky enough to have one of two ski slopes within city limits in the lower 48 states, 5 trails, 1 lift, 10 bux all day/nite 10am-10pm ……. no kickers, some natural hits, no rails ….. but the best is NO PATROL! ….. we get so wasted on the hill, its like we own it
We were not even close to hitting that car you big baby!
Whatevs! :p