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Ontario resorts

3K views 17 replies 8 participants last post by  poutanen 
#1 ·
I'm considering booking a late season vacation up in Ontario, north of Toronto near Barrie. I can save a few hundred dollars if I go in late March or early April, was wondering if anyone can fill me in on typical closing dates and make a few recommendations for daytripping. I take it Blue Mtn is the place to go. Any vert up there?
 
#3 ·
i'm a Blue Mtn. "local" if you can call me that. It's the closest and largest HILL to me here in Toronto.

don't let the name fool you. it's NOT a mountain by any standards. I think the vertical might be about 900 feet. On a busy weekend you'll stand in line 5 to 10 minutes and your run down the slope (if you're going full tilt), might last 1 minute or less. It's underwhelming to say the least, but it's one of a few that we have in the area.

Not to completely slam Blue. On a week day it's not crowded at all. And if it snows you'll have some good turns. But don't expect a mountain.

Timing wise, late March is a stretch. The last good day up there this year was St. Patricks day, March 23rd and even that was a bit of a shit show. Check out my mini report in this post,

http://www.snowboardingforum.com/eastern-canada/47625-blue-mountain-closing-date.html

They have the best snow after Christmas and up until about late February / early March. Anything before or after that is a gamble.

Day trip wise, Mt. Saint Louis Moonstone is the other local bump/hill that's worth spending any time on. But it's almost the same as Blue, but without the good restuarants and bars at the base of the hill.

If i could make a suggestion.
If you're traveling to come to Ontario, head east and go to Quebec, Mt. Saint Anne or Mt. Tremblant, you won't be disappointed.
Alternatively, Ellicotville NY isn't too bad. A bit bigger than Blue for the same price or less.

PM me if you need more info.
 
#6 ·
Day trip wise, Mt. Saint Louis Moonstone is the other local bump/hill that's worth spending any time on. But it's almost the same as Blue, but without the good restuarants and bars at the base of the hill.
If i could make a suggestion.
If you're traveling to come to Ontario, head east and go to Quebec, Mt. Saint Anne or Mt. Tremblant, you won't be disappointed.
Mt. Tremblant looks good. Is it far from Barrie? I'll be travelling with the wife, so I figure we could hit two local hills, like Blue and maybe Moonstone or Horseshoe, and then take a daytrip and try something bigger in the east. How's Calabogie?
 
#4 ·
if you would consider going up to Quebec, then I'd definitely recomend going to Le Massif de Chalevoix. It has a fraction of the people Mont St. Anne has, and better snow only 45 mins away from there. Although if you want a trick park, then go to Mont St. Anne. but ontario mountains (lol mountains) in april is risky
 
#9 ·
Where are you coming from and why Ontario? I have had seasons passes to Blue Mountain for years, so hopefully I can offer you some more accurate advice than what's been posted. If you're deciding on Ontario, Blue is pretty much the only mountain/hill worth going to. The vert is 720 ft, Searchmont near Sault St. Marie is 700 feet or so. Nothing else anywhere near that in Ontario (other than the private clubs beside Blue Mountain)

1) There are 4 high speed 6 man lifts... I would avoid weekends but week days they pump you up the hill. I'm looking at my GPS tracking now and I averaged about 13-15 km/h at blue (that's uphill and downhill combined) which is the same as any of the big mountains I've hit in Alberta/BC and better than some of those. So for sheer quantity of boarding Blue is great.

2) Again, I'm looking at my GPS records now. I'm a bomber and it's about 1 minute a run at full tilt, not 1 minute or less. Mid-week there are no lift lines so about 5 mins up, minute down, do it all again.

3) I've usually boarded from Mid-December to early April there. I heard this year most of North America was closed early, so can't speak for this year. Most years my last days were in the first week of April. By then it's full on spring conditions. The last "good" snowboarding would usually be mid-march.

4) It does have a decent night life if you stay on the hill. The Blue Mountain Inn is the cheaper route, and if you get the food + hotel package the food is quite good at the Pottery. Staying in the village you get smaller, but more modern rooms, and a nicer hot tub area outside.

Overall, I wouldn't specifically drive to Blue Mountain if I could spend a little more travel time and get to anything in New England, Quebec, or hop on a plane and come to the wild west! But for people in the Toronto area, Blue's pretty decent.
 
#10 ·
Calabogie is 760 ft. But fewer runs than Blue. Again, neither of these are resorts you'd want to set as your destination. If you happened to be in Toronto or Ottawa at that time they'd be worth checking out but not as somewhere you'd want to go specifically, especially at that time of year.
 
#13 ·
I'm coming from New England; it's about a ten hour ride. Part of the appeal is that I've never been to Canada before. I figured we could take a nice road trip, see the falls, check out Toronto and get in a few days of boarding. I believe Quebec is a better fit but there aren't any timeshare slots open in all of Quebec during February and March, at least not with my agency. So I'm seriously considering booking at the Carriage Ridge Resort, on Shanty Bay in the Horseshoe Valley.
 
#14 ·
Yeah if you're coming for the falls and just boarding as a side trip I'd say sounds like fun, although the falls, Niagara on the Lake, etc. are most beautiful in the summer and fall. If you've ever hit any of the larger resorts in New England, I'd strongly advise against boarding at Horseshoe Valley. I learned to ski there when I was around 5 or 6, but it's short, had frequent lift issues, and lots of flat areas. There's also no easy route from there to Blue, so it wouldn't even be a good staging point to board at Blue for a few days.

Any time share days near Banff? :D

I guess what we're all getting at is, I wouldn't go to Ontario to find good snowboarding.
 
#16 ·
in quebec i was finding some great rental properties... some were a bit pricey, but the value was there... anywhere in the laurentians. then you've got a couple smaller places and tremblant to hit up that would be a short drive from your place.

i remember seeing a few places that were like 10 people cottages for 2k a week. personally... i think thats awesome. but all depends how many people you have.
 
#17 ·
After looking around a bit more on the timeshare website, I located a very good deal on a week-long rental at Sugarloaf. I've never been there, but have been to Sunday River. I figure I'll do the board in/board out thing at Sugarloaf, and hit up Sunday River and Saddleback on daytrips. Already got a seven-dayer booked for NH earlier in the season, as well. Can't wait! I do however, hope to make a trip North of the border in the next season or two. It sounds like Quebec is well worth the 12+ hour roadtrip.
 
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