Blue Mountain (PA)

[MissJR]

as of right now, we're heading to blue mountain downhill park in pa this weekend. it'll be our first time there (not first time downhilling). because we'll be with some newer riders and i want to work on some skill stuff from this past weekend's camp, i plan on sticking to green and blue trails.

any tips? must ride trails? looking at videos, it looks like happy yummy fun and ewok village trails look really fun. and there's also a pump track i want to hit up (is that included in lift ticket?)

anyway... any help and advice is appreciated! TIA!

 

[gmb3]

This may be dated info since i haven't been there in a couple seasons but i did help build the place originally (Vertical Earth Bike Park) so:
Pump track is free if you hike up the bunny hill to it. It's right at the end of Ewok, by the progression drops. Not sure what condition it's in. Greens/Blues and total trails in general are much more limited than Mtn Creek but the vertical is roughly double. You can hit all trails on the mountain in less than a full day so start with greens and work your way up in difficulty. It will be HOT up there this weekend so be careful. Ewok is a small but legit jump trail with steep lips just FYI. I'd recommend doing all the greens, then Happy, Wild Turkey and King Tut. https://www.skibluemt.com/outdoor/mountain-biking/trail-map/

 

[gmb3]

@MissJR Fun fact that you may like is that the main bike park person and trailbuilder up there for the past few years has been a lady named Kristin (who also rips and podiums at a lot of east coast DH races).

 

[mattybfat]

Have not been in 2 years.

It was a more natural park with no maintaining at that time. Not sure what's up these days, great for a change but if your used to creek highlands or thunder type parks ie. Groomed with many easy outs blue is not that or was not that. More plattekill like then creek like is a better way to describe it. Maybe @Ryan.P has been more recently.

 

[gmb3]

I second Matty's sentiment about not much grooming and more natural, especially in the 2-5 years ago range. Kristin's been using more machines the past couple years though (i follow her and Blue on FB). It's definitely no Creek/Highland but is more maintained than Platty.

 

[Ryan.P]

Always have fun riding blue but I dont know it well enough to give advice. Its small so exploring and finding fun runs to session will be pretty easy .

 

[chemgirl]

I ride Blue quite often. Like Matty said, don't expect Mt Creek! Lots of loose rock so expect your frame to get dinged. The enduro uses every trail there so there is nothing too crazy hard and all features have go arounds. Last time I was there Ewok was in perfect shape, the lips of the jumps haven't been worn down yet. Happy Yummy is a good place to practice drops. There is a progression drop area at the bottom on Ewok, but Happy Yummy allows you to practice in more of a trail situation. The top of Night Train sucks bad (its mostly uphill), so take Jambalaya to Night Train.

 

[Ian F]

I would say every trail at Blue Mtn is sort of a "blue-advanced" level trail. None are particularly crazy steep or have big drops or steep rock gardens like at Creek, but they are mostly natural and loose. It's a good mtn for an enduro/trail bike with beefier tires. A full-on DH bike is almost overkill sometimes, even on the DH race course.

Ewok Village is fun, but the mtn could really use a properly designed Gravity Logic style flow-trail, similar to Gronk at Thunder Mtn or Wilderness Roll at Windham.

 

[MissJR]

Hey guys... Thanks for all the tips!

Just got back... Only got 5 runs in (Steve got 6 but the heat was getting to me)... Stayed on blues and greens.. liked happy yummy with the drops (I only did some tho). Loved the progression drops at the bottom. Wasn't loving the berms and jumps because of all the loose rock.. plus the heat had me riding very conservatively. I think I could have done more on a cooler day. We did, unfortunately, have an injury in the group. Overall, decent place especially to change things up.

 

[DevsAdvocate]

It was a blast!! I was part of the group yesterday (not one of the walking wounded though). Downhill is a ton of fun! But I think next time I might get a DH bike rental instead of subjecting poor midnight to scorching brakes lol.

Hopefully our buddy Pete mends up soon.