mountain creek vs. blue mt. vs. camelback vs. shawnee

[Ski2LiveLive2Ski]

Wow I surprised by that price for Blue. Typically it's one of the more reasonably priced places around for weekday and for night skiing. Usually it's Camelback and Roundtop that keep me away with their prices. It must be the demand pricing Blue is using this year - if you purchase in advance night tickets for Blue are as low as $18. Similarly Montage has $40 9am-9pm ticket+rental+(lesson in regular years) on weekdays but is $89 just for the ticket on weekends.

It seems that Blue gets more of the SE Pennsylvania crowd (Philly, Allentown, Reading, Lancaster) and Camelback gets NJ.

I was kind of surprised about the opinion the crowds are more manageable at Camelback - Blue has the double-doubles too which typically don't get long lines, although you can't access the east side from them. My biggest complaint about Blue is the stupid runout at the bottom by the detachables, usually they are dumping everybody on the whole hill into into one skinny little run there - kind of lame that Blue Mountain is able to claim highest vertical in PA over Elk and Blue Knob just because of that skinny little runout at the bottom.

The slower lifts at CB are a bit more under the radar than the doubles at Blue

 

[Not Sure]

. My biggest complaint about Blue is the stupid runout at the bottom by the detachables, usually they are dumping everybody on the whole hill into into one skinny little run there - kind of lame that Blue Mountain is able to claim highest vertical in PA over Elk and Blue Knob just because of that skinny little runout at the bottom.

Yep ,a safety issue for an extra 100' of vert. Elk is perfect for keeping all of the different abilities separated .

 

[Not Sure]

The slower lifts at CB are a bit more under the radar than the doubles at Blue

I've timed a bunch of under 6 minute top to bottoms on Sullivan ,their lifts don't seem all that slow unless they run them at different speeds sometime?

 

[Ski2LiveLive2Ski]

I've timed a bunch of under 6 minute top to bottoms on Sullivan ,their lifts don't seem all that slow unless they run them at different speeds sometime?

I'm not saying all the lifts at Camelback are slow. I'm saying the non-detachable (aka "slower") lifts there are enough "off the beaten track" that they provide a good way to ski without waiting in the big lines the detachable ones get on weekends. Blue on weekends there is no way to avoid big lines after 10.

 

[Domeskier]

No VIP lines at Camelback? I can’t imagine skiing Blue on weekends in January or February without them.

 

[Ski2LiveLive2Ski]

No VIP lines at Camelback? I can’t imagine skiing Blue on weekends in January or February without them.

Blue is the only place among these that has them, and the one that needs them most. But even they get out of hand on busy days.

 

[PAabe]

Blue Knob needs to raise or lower one of their lifts 11 ft so that they can rightly claim highest AND tallest ski area in PA.

 

[Killingtime]

Not sure if this will show up on an Ikon thread or not but it looks like Blue Mtn PA is going with Alterra according to the Storm Skiing Journal:

"KSL Resorts, which began managing Pennsylvania’s Camelback ski area two years ago, will take over operations at nearby Blue Mountain ski area. The company has not provided a clear timeline on when the transition will take place, and did not clarify whether KSL Resorts is purchasing the mountain or partnering with it.
The move puts the California-based company in command of two of the Poconos’ largest mountains, both roughly equidistant from New York City and Philadelphia. In a Pennsylvania ski landscape currently dominated by Vail’s Epic Pass and its five mountains, the bundling of Blue Mountain and Camelback under common management could create a compelling addition to Alterra’s Ikon Pass."

 

[PAabe]

Not sure I'm too excited about this but this had been rumored for a bit
It seems like current owner Barb still owns the land and it is now being managed by KSL - with no real changes next season at least.
Long term might be looking at building the upper mountain hotel which had been planned for a while or the waterpark (this does not excite me)
Their two detachable lifts are getting up there in age as well and maybe could use some investment.
"Coming Soon" trail also has yet to receive lights or snowmaking

The investment that would make me happiest would be putting out a better quality snow product but I would be surprised if that is a priority

It is interesting what the pass situation will be - Blue/Camelback pass, if Blue will get a cheap off-peak pass like camelback, if Camelback will join ikon pass as rumored with Blue as well.

Hopefully they do not introduce the $10 parking scam like at Camelback or increase lift ticket prices or crowds significantly, or introduce the overall Camelback bad customer service and amusement park atmosphere

 

[PAabe]

everybody's getting hotels around here, Montage announced plans to go ahead with a hotel also - over top of an existing trail at the top of the lower mountain lift (expert lift) to make it ski-through.

The views from the completed Montage and Blue hotels would be very nice but not sure I'm too excited about them being directly on the upper mountain ski slopes. Kind of kills the vibe to an extent. The Appalachian trail goes along the top of Blue Mountain as well. And with a hotel will attract more NY/NJ crowd that normally might go to Camelback, Mountain Creek, Hunter

 

[Killingtime]

everybody's getting hotels around here, Montage announced plans to go ahead with a hotel also - over top of an existing trail at the top of the lower mountain lift (expert lift) to make it ski-through.

The views from the completed Montage and Blue hotels would be very nice but not sure I'm too excited about them being directly on the upper mountain ski slopes. Kind of kills the vibe to an extent. The Appalachian trail goes along the top of Blue Mountain as well. And with a hotel will attract more NY/NJ crowd that normally might go to Camelback, Mountain Creek, Hunter

You may be onto something there Abe. I skied there in January and the place was jamming. I tag teamed it with a trip to Elk (my favorite place in PA btw). I also turned a few Mountain Creek regulars into Blue fans after they asked me for trip advice. Blue is day trip-able from LI, NJ, NYC but if they had a hotel there I might be tempted to stay if the price was right. Loved the bar at Blue also. Some really good local brews. I'm Epic this coming year so I don't think I will be going back but I will probably pick up a day pass to Elk at least one time.

 

[Ski2LiveLive2Ski]

Can't imagine ever staying at a hotel at Blue. It doesn't have enough variety to warrant skiing two days in a row there. If I am springing for a hotel room I am going at least to Catskills (spend 1 night to ski 2 days) - or VT if I have time to spend more than 1 night.

 

[gladerider]

great news. i would hit blue mt. over mountain creek

 

[Domeskier]

Can't imagine ever staying at a hotel at Blue. It doesn't have enough variety to warrant skiing two days in a row there. If I am springing for a hotel room I am going at least to Catskills (spend 1 night to ski 2 days) - or VT if I have time to spend more than 1 night.

I would stay there for a week to ski a bumped up Razors. Variety is not very high on my list of skiing priorities.

 

[Not Sure]

I would stay there for a week to ski a bumped up Razors. Variety is not very high on my list of skiing priorities.

I can appreciate your passion but Blue doesn't suffer from lack of hotels within short driving distance but there's a vibe in staying at the resort and walking to bar/hotel .
I just hope it's not like the Camelback eye sore (sandcrawler ) with the changing LED lights on the roof . Hopefully it's designed to blend in with the ridge.

 

[Domeskier]

I can appreciate your passion but Blue doesn't suffer from lack of hotels within short driving distance but there's a vibe in staying at the resort and walking to bar/hotel .
I just hope it's not like the Camelback eye sore (sandcrawler ) with the changing LED lights on the roof . Hopefully it's designed to blend in with the ridge.

View attachment 51687

Ha! I thought that monstrosity was the waterpark. I tried to book a room at the Camelback hotel this season but it was over $1,000 a night. It did come with 4 passes to the waterpark, so there's that.

 

[BenedictGomez]

the bundling of Blue Mountain and Camelback under common management could create a compelling addition to Alterra’s Ikon Pass."

The bundling of Blue Mountain and Camelback to the Ikon pass will give me a compelling reason to ski Shawnee.