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By Maria Brunori
When thinking about a great place for skiing and snowboarding, some things that pop into many peoples’ minds are big mountains, fresh powder, gondolas, and more. Unfortunately, not everyone has the privilege to live in these dream places. However, less elevation is not necessarily less fun! In this Shred Spot, we are going to focus in on a small town mountain that has a big personality in both the winter and summer months.
Blue Mountain Resort is located in Palmerton, Pennsylvania, and sits along the Kittatinny Ridge of the Appalachian Mountains, is a small, family-owned resort with huge offerings. Blue Mountain sits at 1543 feet above sea level and its vertical drop is 1083 feet. During the winter months, the resort offers 39 trails and 16 chair lifts to skiers and snowboarders. For the non-riders, snowtubing is available with 22 lanes of fun for all ages.
We got a hold of one of our SheShreds.co ambassadors, Jenny Christman, who has made Blue Mountain her home mountain since she began snowboarding there in 2004. Jenny gave us insight into the mountain from a local’s perspective-
Jenny had this to say about the winter terrain:
"Even though it's the "Ice Coast," I think Blue does a good job providing all types of trails for snowboarders and skiers. The park crew is always on top of the park set ups, the mountain just recently expanded to include some glade trails near the top of the mountain, but you have to wait for good snow to really enjoy those. They have a ton of groomed trails too, plenty for the beginner and the expert."
Along with the trail information, Jenny told us that she has always had a good experience with the people who make the mountain run- its employees that interact with the public firsthand. According to Jenny,
“...from the liftys and the park manager, to the social media advisors, it seems as though they listen to the people’s ideas and actually take them into consideration and are also sure to try and answer questions and requests people may have associated with the resort.”
Having a strong staff who deals with the customer is a big turn on when it comes to mountain, so kudos! to you, Blue Mountain!
Now, for those of you who aren’t about snow but are ready for an adventure, let’s get into some of the summer activities that Blue has to offer, from Disc Golf to Scenic Lift Rides to a Ropes Course and Kids Adventure Camp!
In addition to all of the summer activities, I want to zoom in on one more that Jenny has some experience with and is unique for Pennsylvania- the Blue Mountain Bike Park. This is one of only two downhill bike parks in Pennsylvania and it is has something for beginners to expert bikers. There are 21 trails with a high-speed lift at the bottom, waiting to bring you back to the top for more. When asked about her favorite aspects of the bike park, Jenny had a lot to say-
“I've been downhill mountain biking at Blue now for 2 years. The summer downhill is AMAZING! It has got to be one of the gnarliest and most fun on the East Coast. There are so many rocky, technical trails that it challenges even the most experienced riders. They also have been working a lot this summer to clear out some of the trails to make them more flowy, fun, and progressive for speed. I'd say my favorites are the more difficult trails that have jumps and wooden features on them. It's almost like a terrain park in the winter- they have great flow and you can work on progressing up to each feature. Plus, the staff is great and is always out on the trails dialing them in for the riders.”
As you can see, from summer to winter, the small family owned, Blue Mountain Resort has a lot to offer. To some, 1083 vertical feet may not be their “dream mountain,” but if you open your eyes, and your mind, you may just see that “small mountain” doesn’t mean “small opportunity.”
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