Located in northern Ontario, Blue Mountain is the province’s largest and most popular ski resort. Its extensive ski trail and terrain offerings across its 365 skiable acres make it a popular destination for Canadians looking to spend a day on the snow. And this season, things are getting even better.
The resort is celebrating its 85th birthday this season. To go along with the festivities, Blue Mountain announced a batch of upgrades across the mountain for its skiers to enjoy this season. From snowmaking upgrades to safety improvements to new terrain park offerings, Blue Mountain took a deep look at all resort operations this summer and made upgrades wherever necessary. When the resort opens for the 2026-27 season in mid-December,
Here’s what’s new at Blue Mountain for the 2026-27 ski season.
Plenty of Snowmaking Upgrades
Snowmaking upgrades were the biggest story of the offseason at Blue. From adding snowmaking guns to connecting flood lines, multiple areas of the resort received significant snowmaking upgrades.
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The Schuss trail received the biggest single upgrade on the mountain this year. Blue Mountain doubled the snowmaking density on two-thirds of the trail, as well as upgraded its on-hill communication system. The increased snowmaking density will help the resort blow more snow onto the trail, and upgrading the communication system helps support automation. Snowmaking crews can better capitalize on ideal temperatures when they drop, and a modernized communication system can help crews react to weather changes more quickly
Apple Bowl and Calamity Lane also received snowmaking upgrades. The resort’s snowmaking teams finished connecting the flood lines that service the trails, adding more capacity and pushing snowmaking higher up the slope. This will bring better coverage to the runs, helping them to open earlier in the season.
The final snowmaking improvements come on the Butternut and Badlands trails. The resort doubled the density of snowmaking guns on Butternut and installed nearly 9,000 feet of new snowmaking pipe. These upgrades will allow more coverage in the Orchard area of the mountain when snowmaking temperatures arrive.
In total, teams installed 11 miles of new snowmaking pipe across the resort this off-season. The resort finished its snowmaking upgrades with new valve huts built for more efficient maintenance.
Safety Improvements
Safety work began at the Silver Bullet, where the Lift Operations team installed a state-of-the-art chairlift safety system. The system monitors the loading area and detects when a safety bar isn’t lowered or a rider isn’t seated properly. The system also alerts lift operators before the chair reaches the first tower, allowing resort employees to quickly catch any issues.
Safety bars are heavily regulated across Canada. In Ontario specifically, chairlifts are regulated by the Technical Standards and Safety Authority (TSSA), which makes sure resorts follow specific regional codes and resort rule mandates. The automated bar detection system ensures Blue Mountain meets these regulations while keeping its guests as safe as possible.
Alongside safety detection systems, the resort installed additional on-hill safety padding across the mountain. Thick padding wrapped around hard, immovable objects — like lift towers or light poles — reduces impact if a skier or snowboarder were to crash into them.
New Terrain Park Features
Blue Mountain is known for its terrain parks with big, challenging rails and jumps. To make its parks more beginner-friendly, the park crew spent the summer building more beginner box features. Crews also recycled several older features, cutting them apart and molding them into new ones. Now, every level of park skier or snowboarder will have a comfortable line to ride this season.
New Kids Programs
Families who want to get their kids on the slopes will have two new ways this winter. The Night Ski Club is a Monday night social ski for intermediate skiers ages 8 to 11. The program runs for four weeks and uses different focuses — like freeriding or fun nights — to keep kids entertained. Learning skiers can also choose the Blue’s Learn to Ski Guarantee. The program is catered to teens and adults, helping them ski top to bottom “in as few as 3 steps.”
Rental Shop Upgrades and Other New Equipment
Blue Mountain’s summer upgrades finish off with a bunch of new equipment across the mountain. In the rental shop, the resort received a new robotic tuning machine to ensure a consistent tune on every set of equipment. On the hill, the resort added new snowmobiles, a tractor loader, a snowplow and sander, and a side-by-side to its fleet, improving on-mountain operations.
With dozens of upgrades across the resort, Blue Mountain skiers and snowboarders will have plenty to enjoy this season. Snowmaking improvements will greatly help early-season operations, and new chairlift monitoring systems will help keep guests safe. Other upgrades, like new park features and beginner programs, will help all skiers and snowboarders find a place on the mountain. As the temperatures continue to drop, the stoke for the season could not be higher at Blue Mountain.
