Snowboarding at Blue Mountain

Whew! What a day.

 

This week, I headed up to Blue Mountain Ski and Snowboard Resort, Ontario’s largest mountain village resort on the shore of Georgian Bay and spanning across the Niagara Escarpment.

I’ve had a long history at the resort. I have been snowboarding for years at the resort with family and friends and we even did an off-season visit to the resort this summer to try out the mountain biking trails and Wind Rider Triple Zip Lines. 

I checked in for a a couple days of training, relaxing and of course to check out the new ski runs on the hill. On Thursday, I was joined by a few friends and family to get out and play in the powder.

That is Kaitlyn, the friend I adventure with. You may remember her from that last minute trip I took to Tennessee last year? Only person I know who will road trip over 2,000 to see a concert.

This year, I have been snowboarding at Blue Mountain with a Super Pass, which gives me access to the hills at anytime. It has been a lot of fun to head up whenever I have a spare moment and do a bit of cross training. It gives me access to the terrain park, all the hills, free snowshoe rentals and discounts on the food and shopping at the resort.

One of the things I was most excited about was riding the new trails in the Orchard area. Blue Mountain has added six new trails, new chairlifts, and 64 acres of terrain. My favourite runs on the hill have traditionally been the North side as they are fast, steep and often not as busy.

I had so much fun riding the new trails this week because the first thing I noticed was that they seemed longer than the trails on the resort. They are not as steep as the north side so there were a few more jumps to hit and it was easy to go fast.

It was noticeably busier over in the new area as people were clearly checking it out, however it didn’t inhibit riding at all.

I have a terrain park pass and love to check it out when I am feeling brave in my off-season, however, now that I am back to training with some important races coming up, I tend to shy away from the most extreme bits of snowboard ing, but it didn’t stop some of our group from checking it out.

Trevor, doing some impressive tricks in the terrain park.

One thing I really like about the park is that it offers jumps, rails and boxes for every ability level to make sure that everyone has a good riding experience. They are focused on safety and make sure that each rider is trained on terrain park safety before going into the park.

Living in South-Western Ontario where we are not exactly surrounded by mountains, Blue Mountain is my favourite place to go play in the snow. It has trails for every ability levels, lessons to learn proper form and technique if you are just starting to ski or snowboard and has fabulous amenities to make the trip amazing.

What is your favourite local ski hill?
Have you tried out the new Orchard at Blue Mountain? What did you think?