On Saturday, we hopped on a bus and headed straight for the slopes of Blue Mountain for a day of skiing, eating, and napping!
Blue Mountain
Blue Mountain is a ski resort near Collingwood, 2+ hours north of Toronto. As we sold our car before we moved to Toronto, we opted to take a 9:15 am bus to Blue Mountain with AUC Tours. The bus ride to Blue Mountain was pleasant, with Luke sleeping and Elizabeth knitting most of the way… we swear we’re less than 80 years old.
By the time we arrived at Blue Mountain, we were hungry for lunch and eager to hit the slopes. So after a quick stop at Pita Pit, we wandered through part of the village and found Guest Services where we went through the slightly lengthy process of picking up our passes and rentals.
Since Luke has lots of skiing experience but this trip was only Elizabeth’s second day skiing (ever!), we started off on the beginner runs. After quickly progressing through the Easy Rider and Undergraduate runs, we ventured to the Graduate slope. Then after a few attempts on that run, Elizabeth was ready for the big leagues! ... ish.
By the time we arrived at Blue Mountain, we were hungry for lunch and eager to hit the slopes. So after a quick stop at Pita Pit, we wandered through part of the village and found Guest Services where we went through the slightly lengthy process of picking up our passes and rentals.
Since Luke has lots of skiing experience but this trip was only Elizabeth’s second day skiing (ever!), we started off on the beginner runs. After quickly progressing through the Easy Rider and Undergraduate runs, we ventured to the Graduate slope. Then after a few attempts on that run, Elizabeth was ready for the big leagues! ... ish.
What a view from the top
Blue Mountain has 42 runs, a couple of terrain parks, one superpipe, and 13 lifts, so we had to consult our trail map a few times to figure out where to go. We opted to grab a chair lift to the top of the mountain and take Happy Valley, a slow Green run, back down. The views of Nottawasaga Bay, a bay of Lake Huron, from the top of the hill were spectacular, but between the people zooming down the hill and the sheer number of bodies, the run itself was a bit crazy for a newbie.
After (somehow) making it all the way down, we stopped for a snack and Elizabeth decided to demote herself back to the Graduate slope to fine-tune her skills on a run where people are incapable of going fast and snowboarders mostly just sit on the hill.
After (somehow) making it all the way down, we stopped for a snack and Elizabeth decided to demote herself back to the Graduate slope to fine-tune her skills on a run where people are incapable of going fast and snowboarders mostly just sit on the hill.
A super nerd having fun on the Graduate run
Luke took this opportunity as a sign to go wild and after testing out a couple of Blue runs, immediately tried out a couple of Double Black Diamond runs to show his skills. Unfortunately, the slopes had gotten icy over the course of the day and Luke ended up sliding down the hill on his bum wearing only one ski. Kind of epic / dumb. Luke blames it on the skis.
We finished off our day at Blue Mountain with a burger and a BeaverTail - not a real one, an Oreo crumb-covered pastry one - before hopping back on the bus and heading back to the big city, napping all the way, of course.
We had a fun day at Blue Mountain but it was busier than anticipated, although that shouldn’t be surprising as it is reasonably close to Toronto and is apparently the third busiest ski resort in Canada!
Here are some more pictures from our Something Saturday, and a big thank you to Peter and Emily, for giving us the lift passes for Christmas:
We finished off our day at Blue Mountain with a burger and a BeaverTail - not a real one, an Oreo crumb-covered pastry one - before hopping back on the bus and heading back to the big city, napping all the way, of course.
We had a fun day at Blue Mountain but it was busier than anticipated, although that shouldn’t be surprising as it is reasonably close to Toronto and is apparently the third busiest ski resort in Canada!
Here are some more pictures from our Something Saturday, and a big thank you to Peter and Emily, for giving us the lift passes for Christmas:
(SLIDESHOW)
Curious about some of our previous Something Saturdays? Well, we seem to try to squeeze in winter activities when March rolls around because this time last year we were learning how to skate ski on cross-country skis, and in 2014 we went sliding/sledding/tobogganing!
