Toronto to Blue Mountain and Collingwood: ski weekends and summer villages

Toronto to Blue Mountain, in one paragraph

Blue Mountain is Ontario's largest ski resort and the closest to the city that is worth the drive, and the drive is the problem — the 400 at 6 a.m. on a January Saturday with a thousand other ski families, the 26's snowbelt through Stayner where the lake-effect drops ten centimetres in an hour, the hill's lots filling by 9 and the walk from lot 5 in ski boots, and the return in the dark with the children asleep and the driver not. The black car solves all of it, and in summer the same run goes to a village, a bay and an escarpment that are Ontario's best warm-weather weekend. This guide covers the two routes, the ski season and its logistics, the Village and the hotels, Collingwood, the summer's attractions, the caves and the valley, the chalets and the escarpment's roads, the winter driving, the multi-day hire, the airport run, the vehicle by the group, the rate, and a worked ski Saturday.

The two routes

The 400 route: the 400 north to Barrie (the Barrie article's stretch), Highway 26 west through Midhurst and Stayner to Collingwood, and Blue Mountain Road (Grey Road 19) south-west to the hill — 150 kilometres, two hours, four lanes to Barrie and two after, the snowbelt from Stayner. The 10 route: the 410 north through Brampton to Highway 10, the 10 through Orangeville and the Hockley Valley's hills, the 124 through Singhampton and Duntroon to the escarpment's top, and Grey Road 19 down the hill's back to the Village — 160 kilometres, two hours and ten minutes, two lanes most of the way, the scenic route with the escarpment's views and the Hockley's fall colours (the fall colours article), and the one the chauffeur takes when the 400 is stopped on a Friday afternoon. The rush hour article's 400 at 5 p.m. and the long weekends article's Family Day Friday are the 400 route's bad hours.

The ski season

December to late March (the hill opens in early December with the snowmaking and closes when the base goes — the Blue Mountain Resort's site has the day's conditions); the Saturday 6 a.m. departure for the 8:30 first chair (the day-trippers' rush is 7 to 9 on the 400 and the lots fill by 9:30), or the Friday evening for the weekend (the 400 at 5 is the exodus and the 10 route is the alternative); the drop: the Village's drop-off circle at the base of the Silver Bullet lift (the chauffeur unloads the skis, the boots and the bags to the rack and the passengers walk fifty metres to the lift — no lot, no walk), or the base lodge's drop for the South Base and the Orchard, or the hotel's porte-cochère; the pickup at the same circle on a text at 4 (the last chair) or after dinner; the ski bags and the boot bags (the luggage capacity article — a double ski bag needs 190 centimetres and the ESV's or the Navigator L's folded third row, a Sprinter's cage, or the roof box the fleet's SUVs carry on request; four ski bags and four boot bags is a Sprinter or an ESV with the box), the child seats article's boosters for the ski-school children, the wet gear on the floor mats after; the day trip (6 a.m. out, 5 p.m. back, home by 7:30 with everyone asleep — the hourly or the flat Blue day rate) or the weekend (the Friday drop, the Sunday pickup, or the multi-day hire); and the Scandinave Spa (the Nordic baths in the forest ten minutes from the Village — the après-ski of choice, the chauffeur's drop and the two-hour soak). The winter tires article's tires and the defensive driving article's snowbelt protocol are the drive.

The Village at Blue

The pedestrian village at the base — the shops, the restaurants (Oliver & Bonacini's, the Pottery, Firehall Pizza, Copper Blues, the Twist), the Plunge aquatic centre, the outdoor rink, the events stage, the Ridge Runner coaster's base, the Open-Air Gondola's — and the hotels: the Westin Trillium House (the Village's flagship — the porte-cochère on Jozo Weider Boulevard, the ski valet, the pool), the Mosaic and the Grand Georgian and the Weider Lodge (the Village's condo-hotels, the drop at each lobby), the Blue Mountain Inn (the original, at the Inn Base), the Silver Creek and the Rivergrass condos (the drop at the building), and the private chalets and condos on the hill's roads; the chauffeur knows every lobby and the Village's one-way loop, and the wedding venues article's Blue Mountain weddings are at the Westin and the Village's event spaces.

Collingwood

Ten minutes north-east of the hill on Highway 26 — the historic downtown (Hurontario Street's Victorian brick, the shops, the Collingwood Farmers' Market on summer Saturdays), the harbour and the grain elevators (the Georgian Bay waterfront, the marina, the Sunset Point beach), the Georgian Trail (the rail trail to Thornbury — bicycles from the rental shops), the restaurants (the Tremont, the Huron Club, the Iron Skillet, the Smart Alec's), the Collingwood Downhill Ski Club (the private club whose members' cars are the black car's Saturday competition), the Craigleith and Alpine and Osler private clubs on the 26 towards Thornbury, the Collingwood General and Marine Hospital (the ski injury's destination — the chauffeur knows the emergency entrance), and the Blue Mountain Village's alternative for a dinner without the Village's prices.

The summer

June to September: the mountain's summer (the Open-Air Gondola to the summit and the view of the bay, the Ridge Runner mountain coaster, the bike park's downhill trails and the rentals, the Woodlot Low Ropes, the Cascade Putting Course, the Plunge), Wasaga Beach (the world's longest freshwater beach, twenty minutes east — the Beach Area 1 drop, the Toronto Islands article's sand in the car afterwards), Thornbury and Clarksburg (fifteen minutes west on the 26 — the Thornbury harbour and the fish ladder, the Clarksburg galleries, the Apple Pie Trail's orchards and bakeries — the T&K Ferri, the Grandma Lambe's), the Beaver Valley (the escarpment's valley south of Thornbury — the Georgian Hills Vineyards and Coffin Ridge wineries, the Kimberley general store, the Eugenia Falls, the Beaver Valley Ski Club's summer quiet — the Niagara wine tour article's logic at a smaller scale), the Scenic Caves (the escarpment's caves and the suspension bridge with the bay view, five minutes from the Village), the Georgian Trail by bicycle, the Craigleith Provincial Park and the shale beach, the Northwinds Beach at Craigleith, the golf (the Monterra at the Village, the Georgian Bay Club, the Osler Brook), and the summer's Village events; the hourly's day with stops or the multi-day hire's weekend at a Village condo.

The chalets and the escarpment's roads

The private chalets — on the hill's own roads (the Blue Mountain Drive, the Arlberg, the Craigleith Road), on the escarpment's top (the Swiss Meadows, the Nipissing Ridge), in the valley towards Thornbury and in the Kolapore hills — are reached by roads that are paved and steep or gravel and steeper, ploughed by the township on its schedule and by the chalet owners' contractors on theirs; the chauffeur asks the address and the road's condition, the SUV's clearance and all-wheel drive are the vehicle (the sedan vs SUV article — a sedan does not climb the Arlberg in January), the last hundred metres of an unploughed drive are walked with the chauffeur carrying the bags, and the Muskoka article's fire-number logic applies to the Grey County addresses.

The winter driving

The 26 from Stayner to Collingwood is Ontario's snowbelt — the lake-effect off Georgian Bay drops ten to twenty centimetres in an hour on a north-west wind and the road is white from Stayner to the hill while Barrie is dry; the escarpment's grade on Grey Road 19 up to the Village's back and on Blue Mountain Road to the front; the winter driving article's and the defensive driving article's whiteout protocol (the hazards, the speed to the visibility, the 26's shoulder), the winter tires, the all-wheel drive, the Ontario 511 camera at Stayner the chauffeur checks at 5 a.m., the dispatcher's re-timing, and the 10 route's alternative when the 26 is closed (it is, a few days a winter); the Pearson winter storm article's buffers doubled.

The multi-day hire

A ski week (the March Break — the Pearson holiday travel peaks article's week, the hill's busiest) or a weekend on the multi-day hire article's terms: the chauffeur at a Collingwood motel, the vehicle for the daily lift drop and pickup, the Scandinave run, the Collingwood dinner, the Thornbury lunch, the ski-school pickup for the children while the parents ski the afternoon, the Pearson run for the guests who join on the Wednesday, and the daily rate plus the accommodation; the alternative is the Friday drop and the Sunday pickup on the flat rate.

The airport run

The Pearson-to-Blue run for the visitors who fly in for the skiing (the 409 to the 401 to the 400 — two hours and fifteen minutes; the 427 to the 407 to the 400 in the afternoon), the international arrivals article's ski bags on the carousel (the oversize belt) and the meet and greet, the Billy Bishop version for the Montreal skiers, and the long-distance article's comparison with the resort's own shuttle (the shuttle is cheaper for a solo skier and the black car wins for a family with the gear and the schedule).

The vehicle by the group

A couple with skis: an SUV (the standard Escalade with the third row folded takes two ski bags across). A family of four with skis: an ESV or a Navigator L with the third row folded and the roof box, or a Sprinter. Six to fourteen: the Sprinter (the executive layout's forward seats for the 6 a.m. sleep, the cage for the gear, the 4x4 variant for the snowbelt — the Sprinter guide). A ski club's twenty: the limo bus article's mini-coach with the bays. Summer: the same by headcount with the bicycles on the rack. A sedan is for the summer Village weekend with two bags and no gear.

The rate

The fleet's flat Blue Mountain rate (the engine shows it — the one-way transfer with the return leg built in), the hourly for the day trip with the wait (the chauffeur skis or reads in Collingwood — the day rate is the norm), the multi-day hire article's daily rate, the roof box and the child seats free, the gratuity guide, and the how much does a black car cost article's comparison with the family's own gas, parking and the driver's day; a January Saturday's ESV books two weeks ahead and the March Break a month.

A worked ski Saturday

A Forest Hill family of four (the children ten and thirteen, both in ski school), a Saturday in late January, an ESV with the roof box. Friday: the two ski bags in the box, two in the cargo with the third row folded, the boot bags and the day bags on the floor; the booster for the ten-year-old. Saturday 5:50 a.m.: the pickup — the children asleep by the 401; the 400 at 6:05 moving at 100 in the pre-dawn (the rush is behind); the 26 at Barrie by 6:50 — the snowbelt has left five centimetres overnight and the road is ploughed but white from Stayner; the chauffeur at 70 with the four-second gap; 7:45 the Village's drop-off circle — the skis and the boots to the rack, the children to the ski-school meeting point at 8:15, the parents to the Silver Bullet at 8:30. The chauffeur: the Collingwood Tim Hortons, the a day in the life article's reset in the Village lot, a text at noon offering the Scandinave run (declined — the children), a walk on the harbour. 3:30: the pickup circle; the wet gear on the mats; the Village's Firehall Pizza for an early dinner at 4 (the chauffeur waits); 5:15 the 26 east in the dark (dry now); the 400 south clear; 7:20 the Forest Hill door with all four asleep and the chauffeur carrying the ski bags to the garage. Thirteen and a half hours on the day rate, sixty runs between the four of them, a father who skied instead of drove.

Blue Mountain quick reference

Booking the run

The engine shows the Blue Mountain rate; the hourly chauffeur page books the ski day; the multi-day hire article the week; the Pearson page the visitors' arrivals. Tell dispatch the ski bags and the chalet's road; the box and the SUV are the answer.

Book Toronto to Blue Mountain