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Joe
from Toronto
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Jan 6, 2008 |
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Overall Rating: 2.4   |
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Anyone who endorses this hill as a ski resort to someone who hasn't been here before is seriously hurting. This is not a mountain its a hill, 5 minutes to get up, 1 minute to ski down down. They charge as much as the real class A ski resorts and have almost zero 1/2 day discount. Its a scam that feeds on the overcrowded city of Toronto. The nightlife village is like the Walmart of ski towns, totally fabricated with a strip mall feeling to it. Aside from that, its the only place to ski around here, so your screwed.
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John
from Hamilton
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Jan 1, 2008 |
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| Overall Rating: 2.8 |
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Visited this resort after a while again ...
I do agree with many reviews here...Overcrowded especially on the weekends, and overpriced !!!!
I guess, Intrawest does take the opportunity of no other seriously competing resort in the region and testing "the waters" >>>how much higher they can go with the lodging,equipment renting and lift ticket prices????!!!!
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Glorria
from Orlando, Florida
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Dec 26, 2007 |
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| Overall Rating: 2.4 |
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A friend and I spent Saturday, December 22 at Blue Mountain. The resort was absolutely uncrowded. We'd heard that it's normally very crowded on Saturdays (seeing their set up I believe it) but I think we lucked out due to a combination of it being right before Christmas, there were no day tours from the local ski clubs that day, and it was forecast to rain (although it didn't).
Weather turned out fantastic, good temperature, the snow (from a week before) had held up real well. It was a tad bid windy, with some pretty cold gusts coming off the lake, but that really only made an impact when we were on the lifts. Nearly all runs were open. Lift lines were non-existent.
It's a nice little mountain, the runs and lifts are set up so you can move easily across the mountain. The left side (if you're facing uphill) is the easiest and it gets progressively harder as you go right (at least on the map). There were enough runs to keep us busy the better part of the day.
The Good:
1) Two nice beginner sections, well served by little lifts. The one on the left is particularly well done. My friend is still a beginner and these were good starters for her.
2) Good variety of intermediate runs that give the intermediate some challenge if they try to find it.
3) Enough high-speed lifts. I can imagine that when it's crowded they get a little rought, but most are new, wide, comfortable and efficient.
4) Nice facilities at the base. The food at the cafeteria was good and not real expensive by ski resort standards.
The Not-So-Good:
1) Vastly, VASTLY overpriced. Both the lift ticket and the rentals were unreasonable for the location, facilities and entertainment value. I will not return strictly because of this, otherwise this could be a regular little day (or two) trip out of Toronto.
The day lift ticket was $57 (tax inclusive) which is comparable to the smaller resorts out west. Completely overpriced for the quality of mountain and services. The day/night ticket is $64 (plus tax) which could be a decent value if you can go for 10 hours, but overall, the lift tickets were outrageous.
However, that doesn't even come close to the rip off that the rentals are. We didn't bring our skis all the way from Florida for just a day skiing, just our boots, so we rented skis and poles.....for $44!! My last trip to Colorado we paid $16 a day for regular skis and $22 for my high performance skis. They also said that this is the package that includes everything (boots, skis and poles) because renting the skis and poles alone would have been EVEN MORE. Frankly, I was flabbergasted.
Unfortunately, this single attempt at gouging (I still can't believe they can command those prices - I can only assume they are so much better than anything in the area, although I've been to Tremblant and a few resorts closer to Montreal and they were all nicer and cheaper) will ensure I don't come back.
2) Not much (any) challenging terrain. I wasn't bothered since my companion was a beginner and I only skiied by myself for a short time, but there really isn't any reason for experts to come here unless they're part of a mixed group.
3) Inconsistent grading of slopes. I found that it really didn't matter how steep a slope was, if it was wide it would be designated blue. This was very deceptive for beginners. I also found many black-rated slopes to be FLATTER than some of the blues - however, they were a little narrower so that seems to be why they were graded black (it couldn't be because of the grooming, since they were all well-groomed - nor the moguls, since I only found those on one trail). It was so inconsistent I couldn't realiably take my friend on anything blue without trying it first.
Other impressions:
The little town down the street (Collinwood) is overrated in cuteness and stuff to do. It's strictly functional.
While the staff at the lifts was very friendly and helpful, there was little (no) onslope monitoring of speeding and such. As a result, there was the typical speeding by snowboarders and teenagers through designated "slow zones". Happy Valley is a perfect leap up from the beginner slopes, but it was uncomfortable that day because of the speeders and I'm sure is outright dangerous when it's crowded.
Overall, a pleasant day was had, but I think this was just because we got lucky with the crowds and snow and the cost-entertainment ratio was very poor.
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Jared
from Detroit, MI
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Nov 4, 2007 |
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| Overall Rating: 3.8 |
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Blue Mtn. isnt a bad place. Although it did seem a bit overcrowded when I was there. They have a real nice village at the bottom so if you're looking for a night out after a day of skiing, you should be set. If your an expert skier or rider, you may want to go elsewhere, like Vermont. Blue Mtn.have plenty of diamonds and double blacks, but they are generally not very difficult. If you like hitting the terrain park, this is your place. I still enjoyed myself though, being from the midwest Im wasnt used to larger resorts. So Blue Mtn fit the bill at the time.
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Jerry
from Mississauga
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Jan 12, 2007 |
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| Overall Rating: 3.0 |
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Hello, I do agree with Patrick and his first review of this resort on this website>>>
TERRAIN: the best in Ontario, taking into consideration the lenght of runs, the park, pipe (when available), number of runs and lifts, and the combination of easy run, some moguls and more difficult diamonds;
SERVICE: mostly good service when not pressured by big crowds;
CROWDS: too big on the weekends, especially after the last 2 years of a big advertising campaign of the resort;
ACTIVITIES:smaller version of INTRAWEST RESORTS in Quebec and the ROCKIES;>> the best in Ontario
VALUE: This resort comes with the ever increasing price tag>>>> be aware>>> it is not just a ski lift ticket.... try to buy a snow pants, your kid just ripped, or gloves, he or she has lost... most probably $$ times 2 or 3.. go get a pizza with your kids on Saturday here... you better forget it and drive to the nearest town.. you will still eat sooner!!!????
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Patrick
from Toronto, ON
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Nov 23, 2006 |
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| Overall Rating: 3.0 |
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Definatly the best in Ontario but Quebec close by is alot better then on the other hand quebec is worse than vermont and finally west coast far surpasses all of this. Good resort for this area, blacks are really easy, powder days few and far between only time u get them is with lake effect snow. On weekends and holidays it is VERY crowded even though all the lifts are six packs, everyhting is groomed twice a day. Night skiing is awesome, less people, and lake effect happens alot during the night!!!
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Taylor
from Goderich, Ontario
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Nov 14, 2006 |
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| Overall Rating: 4.8 |
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Sweet place to ski. The lifts are super fast so you are up the hill in no time. The park is the sickest park i've ever skied with massive rails and jumps TWO super pipes and a halfpipe. Its got terrain for everyone from begginer to expert. Membership pricing is super low. Try to avoid weekends especialy saturday mornings but there is never line ups on the weekdays. Its also got sweet moguls and glades. Overall its has good has it gets in Ontario.
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Matt
from Toronto, Canada
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Nov 8, 2006 |
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| Overall Rating: 3.0 |
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Blue Mountain is my regular ski resort, and although I enjoy it, I don't think that it is fair to give it such a high score, when resorts in the rocky mountains are far better in terms of a skiing experience. On the other hand, it is a very well maintained resort with much help from intrawest, developing a true mountain village.
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Keith B
from Novi, MI
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Jan 11, 2006 |
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| Overall Rating: 4.0 |
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Very nice place for this side of the country. The place has plenty of variety and the runs are long. Fun Fun Fun.
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kevin
from barrie ontario
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Dec 29, 2005 |
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| Overall Rating: 4.4 |
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Blue Mountain is by far the best resort in Ontario. 6 person chairs make it so that the lines are never too long. Has a very nice village with a lot to do.Good restaurants and shopping.Good terrian park, expanded glades are nice, normally pretty good snow conditions.Can be very crowded on weekends.Pretty good prices.
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bob
from denver,colorado
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Dec 25, 2005 |
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| Overall Rating: 5.0 |
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most trials I have ever seen, it is has the greatest jib park and super pipe and half pipe and terrian parks
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Keith Gear
from Ancaster, Ontario
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Nov 3, 2005 |
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| Overall Rating: 3.6 |
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Blue Mountain is the lastest Intrawest development, becoming a smaller Tremblant village.
The skiing is adequate and intermediate skiers will feel comfortable on the all of the slopes. Unfortunately this is the best skiing in Ontario and highly promoted so you need to stay away from Blue on Saturday mornings. Evey novice skier with money drives up from Toronto to create gridlock. Traffic gridlock in Collingwood and launch point gridlock on the slopes.
The private clubs on the same hills charge $40,000 plus for membership simply to avoid the Saturday crush. And the clubs memberships are full. If you go Saturday morning be prepared.
The village is a great, a small funky town, and the latest accomodations are fabulous. If you can grab a condo for the weekend you can ski Fri night, Sat afternoon/evening and Sun morning.
Overall if you live in or around the GTA Blue is the only place to ski.
