Recent (2024) experience at Blue Mountain (formerly Little Gap)?

[gittist]

Has anyone have recent info/reviews of Blue Mountain? Some of the Tripadvisor reviews are pretty bad however they're from people who skied on a weekend

 

[Ski2LiveLive2Ski]

Go to https://www.paskiandride.com/forums/ where many Blue pass holders hang out and chat about it in detail

Worth avoiding on weekends after 10am for sure

Most of my high school skiing was at Little Gap as I lived 75 min away

 

[trackbiker]

The bad reviews are likely from two weeks ago when it snowed and every Pocono area was overwhelmed. It didn't help that they have 3 high speed lifts but only one was running to start.
I wouldn't go near Blue on a weekend. It is one of the top three mountains in PA midweek.
What's your interest in Blue? Maybe some can make some other recommendations depending on what and when you looking to ski.

 

[Ski2LiveLive2Ski]

The bad reviews are likely from two weeks ago when it snowed and every Pocono area was overwhelmed. It didn't help that they have 3 high speed lifts but only one was running to start.
I wouldn't go near Blue on a weekend. It is one of the top three mountains in PA midweek.
What's your interest in Blue? Maybe some can make some other recommendations depending on what and when you looking to ski.

I was at JF that snowy Sunday and crowds got large enough that I called it a day at 1030, but nowhere near as bad as Blue.

 

[tnt1234]

Has anyone have recent info/reviews of Blue Mountain? Some of the Tripadvisor reviews are pretty bad however they're from people who skied on a weekend

As far as Pocono area mountains (they are not technically in the Poconos), this the best terrain for sure. Not to say it's anything great, but there's a decent number of trails with sustained pitch (as opposed to say Camelback where the pitch if over in the first 200 vert...) and some variety among the trails.

They made a lot of snow, and the upper lodge has a nice outdoor bar...

It's a fun mountain. I wouldn't drive too far for it, but again, of those in that area, it's the best skiing for sure.

Gets SUPER crowded on the weekend, so beware of that.

 

[danimals]

Blue is always a crap shoot when it snows. a couple years ago there was a two hour line to buy lift tickets. This year is also blue's first year on Ikon, so im sure that didnt help much either.

Skiing in eastern PA always dumbfounded me. Blue and camelback are clogged with beginners from philly that for some reason drive past spring mountain (minutes outside the city) and bear creek which are both incredible options for beginners. Bear even has a hotel on site. spring has really affordable prices and is a fantastic place to learn. Then you have people from further north who drive south past montage to get to blue. Ive never waited more than ten minutes in line on a holiday weekend at montage, and on non-holidays the lifts are ski on. I swear the philly crowd think camelback and blue are the only ski areas in the state. To me, the only thing blue has going for it is the switchback trail, which is arguably the best trail in eastern PA.

 

[Ski2LiveLive2Ski]

I will definitely take Montage over blue on a weekday. Bear Creek and Spring have less than half the vertical and not much challenge.

 

[gittist]

Thank you for the info. I don't do weekends or holidays, even b4 I retired.

 

[PAabe]

Agree in that Blue Mountain is mostest that is closest to the urban areas of PA/NJ/DE and has some of the more interesting trails with sustained slope and nice views in the state and has a lot of high speed lifts. Recently the daughter of the founder retired and sold it to KSL who also runs Camelback and is somehow related to Aspen and the Ikon pass. General sentiment is that it is going the way of Camelback and the Vail areas a la paid parking, outrageous lift ticket prices, questionable operational decisions. Which is not to say it was not crowded before, but it was always operated then as a well-oiled machine. New lift that KSL put in also somewhat controversial in dumping even more traffic into the runout gaunlet at the base and seemingly being less reliable than the hall doubles it replaced while not covering the core vertical really any faster considering the reroute.

The bad google reviews as mentioned are from two weeks back when it snowed and the new Blue Mountain management sold advance tickets reaching up to $165 in surge pricing to thousands of Pennsylvanians who suddenly remembered that skiing is a thing, proceded to only open one of their three parallel main lifts with no maze or crowd control whatsoever, and only halted ticket sales when the lift line reached several hours long

Montage and Elk far more enjoyable to ski on a weekend and have just as if not more interesting expert terrain but dont have the flashy new lifts

Agree too in that Shawnee, Bear Creek, and Spring Mountain do beginners much better in being less of a zoo, closer, and more affordable

The place to be this weekend in PA will be poor old Blue Knob which is fully open for the first time in years after receiving a good helping of snow and cold the past few weeks even while it rained everywhere else. It is the the highest in the state with more sustained vertical, glades, terrain variety- even than Blue Mountain... but nobody will be there because nobody is even aware the place exists anymore

 

[Internet Ski Pro]

Has anyone have recent info/reviews of Blue Mountain? Some of the Tripadvisor reviews are pretty bad however they're from people who skied on a weekend

As others have mentioned, they screwed the pouch last Sunday. I skied a few runs pretty early, after the first run, there was a significant line already. More were piling in as i left, i kinda think it might have been the most crowded day ever at Blue. It wasnt even a "powder" day. it was groomed in fresh snow, but anytime it snows, the flocks roll in. If the roads are bad, crowds will be lighter. I think they learned a lesson, as i have seen them running all three lifts most of the time, and they have better crowd management with some longer corrals. One might say the race team runs the mountain as well.
Every mountain has its plus's and minus's. crowds are one at Blue, but its been better with the new lift they installed. Im not sure any one can argue that Blue has the best terrain, of, lets say NE-ish PA. and Elk is a close second. Blue gets a nod for some off trail stuff, that they wont really bother you about skiing most times, where as at Elk you should make that your last run as the cops will seize your ticket.
Frost usually has better snow, but oh my god the runs there are so short, and there are only like 2 headwalls with some pitch, and a short steep run down floyds with a huge flat run out. God bless you if you can ski there for more than 2 hrs, which isnt that many runs since the lifts are slow. The place gets boooooring quick. If there is some good natural snow base, the place used to be super fun off trail, and there is a good bit there, but Vail isnt keeping up on that stuff like Peak did. there are some nice views off East Mountain to make up for the lack luster trails.
I like Montage. However, the steeper stuff is short. Longer than Frost, but still kinda short. When they leave white lightning or whatever trail it is to bump up, its crazy fun. Still, cant spend that much time there.
Elk is like Blue, except its not as messed up management wise, but i feel like its a little military if that makes sense. i like skiing places that are less than perfect in that aspect. The stupid things that go on at Blue are sometimes entertaining.

 

[danimals]

I agree. I would have to think that montage will be replacing that long haul triple with a high speed at some point. Back when the previous owners bought it, they had plans for another trail and a high speed. Montage does seem to be getting more popular lately and crowding at the bottom can become an issue. It would change the way that side of the mountain rides for the better. Upper fast track (and snake when conditions are good) to lower fast track is a fantastic cruiser that I could lap all day if the long haul wasn’t at 10 minute ride.

but honestly, blue may have the best terrain, but they push out their snowmaking piles too fast leaving entire trails of death cookies. The trails aren’t that much better that I would ever go back unless I ended up on ikon somehow.

 

[Ski2LiveLive2Ski]

I will take Montage or Elk's terrain over Blue's. And though they have slower lifts, on weekends you get more runs in due to lesser crowds.

Doubt I will ever make it to Blue Knob, as it is further from me (central NJ) than anywhere in the Catskills and only an hour closer than S.Vt areas.

Blue has proximity going for it - there is nothing equally interesting closer to Philly, NYC, NJ - but that's why it is often a zoo.

 

[trackbiker]

Elk has much better terrain than Blue and is also much, much better at grooming. Blue never lets the whales dry out before spreading them out. They make more cookies than Nabisco.
I'd rather ski right onto an 8 minute lift than stand in line for 15 minutes to get on a 5 minute high speed lift.

 

[danimals]

Elk has much better terrain than Blue and is also much, much better at grooming. Blue never lets the whales dry out before spreading them out. They make more cookies than Nabisco.
I'd rather ski right onto an 8 minute lift than stand in line for 15 minutes to get on a 5 minute high speed lift.

Yep. This is why I’m most likely getting a montage pass next season, with Shawnee being a close second option (I just got a splitboard and they have uphill as part of their season pass, and three days at plattekill om their pass as well).

 

[Ski2LiveLive2Ski]

Yep. This is why I’m most likely getting a montage pass next season, with Shawnee being a close second option (I just got a splitboard and they have uphill as part of their season pass, and three days at plattekill om their pass as well).

Both are on IndyPass, and you could also consider getting the Montage pass (cheaper than Shawnee) with the Indy add on

 

[gittist]

Thanks for all of the comments.

I fully agree with the comments about Jack Frost. I go there because it’s the easiest and closest place to me, and it’s on my cheap pass. However my butt gets tired long before my legs give out and yes it’s pretty boring. The left side is full of beginners up to the ‘park’. East mountain has a few steeps but if you don’t carry enough speed it ends up like X-country so I end up skiing the few trails in between.

I went to BM Jan 18th and it was pretty good. The longest line might have been 6 or 7 deep and they were blowing snow. I tend to gravitate to blue trails and some black that have few people on them. I noticed that hardly anyone was skiing the ‘cabin’ trail that’s just to the right of the Main Street Express drop off so I decided to try it and found out why no one was using it; chunks of ice the size of golf balls with some baseballs thrown in! Are those called cookies?

My legs got tired before my butt

Whatever the summit lodge was cooking smelled awfully good so we stopped on the way out just to check the lodge out. I don’t think I saw anyone camped out there. Do they throw you out if a non-skier stays there while others ski? Or do people just tend to go to the lodge at the bottom?

 

[Ski2LiveLive2Ski]

Nicest thing about JF other than East mountain (love the view off River Shot) are the glades off Challenge and Thunderbolt when they are in play - and snow making often does make it in there.

My fav PA alternative to JF on Epic is Roundtop - particularly when they have Ramrod and Gunbarrel open - more challenge and vertical and smaller lines than anything at JF. And typically warmer on cold days.

 

[trackbiker]

Are those called cookies?

Yes. Blue is famous for them. Famous like Amos.
On a weekday with good conditions it's great. On a weekend after 10:00 not so much.

 

[Internet Ski Pro]

Thanks for all of the comments.

I fully agree with the comments about Jack Frost. I go there because it’s the easiest and closest place to me, and it’s on my cheap pass. However my butt gets tired long before my legs give out and yes it’s pretty boring. The left side is full of beginners up to the ‘park’. East mountain has a few steeps but if you don’t carry enough speed it ends up like X-country so I end up skiing the few trails in between.

I went to BM Jan 18th and it was pretty good. The longest line might have been 6 or 7 deep and they were blowing snow. I tend to gravitate to blue trails and some black that have few people on them. I noticed that hardly anyone was skiing the ‘cabin’ trail that’s just to the right of the Main Street Express drop off so I decided to try it and found out why no one was using it; chunks of ice the size of golf balls with some baseballs thrown in! Are those called cookies?

My legs got tired before my butt

Whatever the summit lodge was cooking smelled awfully good so we stopped on the way out just to check the lodge out. I don’t think I saw anyone camped out there. Do they throw you out if a non-skier stays there while others ski? Or do people just tend to go to the lodge at the bottom?

The "cabin" trail opened yesterday, so yeah, thats kind of typical for Blue. Grooming on that trail will be good tomorrow or Sunday. Thats a pretty good trail, yeah its straight and kinda short, but doesnt get that much traffic, and with the speed from it, theres a fun transition to Midway, then lower main. Its likely some people making comments here havent skied Blue since the new 6 went in.

They wont throw you out of either lodge unless you bring a crockpot in with you looking for an outlet. Food is kinda Francy at the summit, and then transitions to food in a tent at the Valley.

 

[BenedictGomez]

Yes. Blue is famous for them. Famous like Amos.

In Pennsylvania the best ski resort cookies are the chocholate chip ones Shawnee hands when you arrive off the pedestrian bridge. Much tastier than death cookies.