This maybe the biggest resort in Ontario but it has way more skier per inch than anywhere else I have skied. It has 4 high speed six person lifts but these cannot cope with the crowds and so you spend 15 mins waiting to get onto the lift. And with such a capacity of lifts the slopes are packed with people. I was terrified for our kids just waiting for an accident on the crowded slopes. If you can ski here on a quiet midweek day then I am sure you will enjoy the size of the resort and the varied skiing but with Intrawest having built so much accommodation I would not recommend this to anyone for a weekend. Try the Talisman resort a few miles up the road, it has almost as much vertical yet none of the crowds.

I, and my family have been skiing at blue mountain for over 30 years. The only reason that we continue to ski there, is because of its proximity to our home, and our love of skiing. The Mouuntain itself has little to offer that is attractive to the avid or fairly accomplished skier. The staff, are inconsistent in their level of friendliness, courtesy, and enthusiasm, which I suspect is directly attributable to the level of interest and training supplied to them by their supervisors and managers. We have noticed a decided decline in the level of customer service/appreciation since the arrival of INTRAWEST. It is also interesting to note that Blue Mountain is one of the only resorts in North America that we have visited which will not guarantee your accommodation location. In other words, you may want, and indeed be prepared to pay for slope-side accomodation, but when you get there, you take what you get. Think twice before spending your hard earned money at this over-priced, underserviced excuse for a resort.

Overhyped and overpriced. Crowds are too large you spend more time waiting for lifts than you do skiing. The mountain despite it's posting has no expert or advanced runs. Any intermediate can ski any runs at Blue.

Intrawest does such a great job drawing crowds into the area that it over loads all the services and eateries afterwards. The accomodations are very good but too pricy for the type of experience you get at Blue.

The cost of everything in the village is exorbidant so don't lose or break anything or you will have to take a bank loan to get replacement equiptment or clothing.

My suggestion for the same price but a real hill is Tremblant. But explore Holliday Valley New York Ellicottville 53 runs with some great drops. Forget Blue. 1000 more vertical feet and it maybe worth it.

In few words>>not that great anymore..way too many people on those hills after the massive advertisement campaigns to fill their ever growing hotels and chalets !!!!

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!!!????

LACK OF A BETTER OPTION

This is how Blue Mountain is best described. Offering one of the few ski experiences in Ontario that doesn't resemble a tobogganing run. However it goes downhill from there.

Let me start with the crowds, there are more then 4 million (and growing fast) people in the vicinity and they all seem to flock to Blue Mountain on weekends, snow days, weekdays and of course nights. That means there are crowds pretty much anytime its a good time to go skiing. Exceptions to this rule are ice storms, rain, and the first week of the season, other than that, expect to wait and groan and wait some more in the lift lines.

Not only does this mean you spend far more time waiting for the lifts, then you do riding the lifts and skiing the hill, but it also means that the hills themselves are crowded and act like mine fields scattered with yard sales, groups of groms and elderly folk. Not that there is a problem with any of those groups, but combined it makes for hazardous and very tense runs.

By the way these crowds are due mainly to Blue Mountains low cost (and value) hugely popular 5 X 7 Passes. These passes are a seemingly good deal yet repeat customers aren't the norm. Basically what you get is a pass that lets you ski off hours which become peak hours because thats when everyone with a 5 X 7 pass (more than 50,000 passholders last year) go skiing. So you get chopped up snow (ungroomed but we'll get to that) huge lines, no parking spots combined with the bitter cold and poor lighting conditions of the night skiing. That is of course if you don't work Monday to Friday and can get up for weekdays (or a local, then the 5 X 7 is actually worthwhile).

Okay enough about crowds and pass conspiracies, the OPERATIONS AT BLUE ARE BAD.
Just plain awful at times, I have had more WOW moments at Blue Mountain then any other of the 42 ski resorts I have visited. Blue Mountain sure has the WOW Factor down pat, example:

"Wow, I can't believe it took 14 minutes for the lifties at the North "High Speed" Quad to shovel the lift loading area. Yah, it didn't even need smoothing."

All the while the lines piled up to record lengths. It took 3 runs for the lift lines to cut down to normal (still too long). I later met up with a group who had been in the back of that line. They said that they waited 31 minutes to get onto the chairlift, not because of any mechanical problem or fallen skier, because the lifties decided to do some unnecessary lift maintenance at a snails pace. It turns out that is an all-time record for lift wait time in that category and has stood since that incident 2 years ago. Please respond if you have one longer, but I doubt you do.

Sorry Im carrying on.

IN SUMMARY!

DO NOT GO TO BLUE MOUNTAIN UNLESS YOU HAVE TIME TO WASTE OR YOU LIVE IN COLLINGWOOD. MT ST. LOUIS MOONSTONE HAS A NICE PARK AND GOOD RUNS, AND SEVERAL OTHERS IN BARRIE. TRY HOLIDAY VALLEY IN ELLICOTTVILLE AND EXPLORE NEW YORK, VERMONT AND QUEBEC. AND PLEASE PLAN A WESTERN TRIP OR A WEEK IN EUROPE, DON'T BE A TYPICAL ONTARIO SKIER STUCK IN THE BLUE MOUNTAIN MONOTONY STRANGLEHOLD.