Skiing near Philly

G

G_Adams

Member
So I'm from Denver but go to school out in Philly and really not looking to cut the skiing down too much. What would be the best place to get a pass to near Philly. Looking mainly for park considering the poconoes don't have much else to offer...no offense to any poconoe skiers. K+ for any help
 
I want to go to Penn if I get in and I was thinking that Big Boulder seemed like one of the better parks near philadelphia but others may be able to provide more insight.
 
Big Boulder and Roundtop are your best bet. Both put together a nice park and are about 2 hours give or take from Philly area
 
There is a Pocono's regional thread that has discussion on this. I'll copy my posts from over there.

I just graduated from Villanova. Bear Creek is a 45-60 minute drive up 476 depending on the traffic (40 miles away). Big Boulder is 90 miles but only 90 minutes away. Straight shot up 476 as well. Big Boulder does College Nights on Wednesday nights, passes are only $15. Blue Mountain is about 65 miles away but takes about 90 minutes to get there as well.

Big Boulder gets the best snow coverage and has the best parks overall. If you want something quick and pretty fun, Bear Creek has really nice parks as well.

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It depends on how many times you plan on going out during the year. Bear Creek's season pass is pretty expensive especially considering their mountain isn't that good and the season is short. Bear Creek closed on 3/16 this year while Big Boulder was open until 4/20. I've never ridden a single trail at Bear, only their terrain park because the "mountain" aka hill is so tiny.

Instead of getting a season pass I just tried to ski on the cheap. I had Wednesdays and Fridays off so I went on weekdays instead of weekends. Bear Creek is like $20 for 4-10 weekday or weekend but their all-day weekend rate is $60 which is a rip off for that mountain. Monday is college night at BC only $15 I think.

Big Boulder is only $25 I think for night skiing 3-9pm and only $15 on Wednesdays for college night. I got about 15 days in this year and probably spent around $300-350 on lift tickets but I also got to go to 3 different mountains (Bear Creek, Blue and Big Boulder).

It's all personal preference but I think you would get bored with a season pass to Bear. I'd recommend just skiing on the cheap like I did and experiencing all the mountains.
 
I'm from philly and i think the best mountain around is blue. They have a decent park and the most vertical your gonna find. Plus its only an hour and a half away.

Besides that Big boulder jack frost has some really good parks, but the vertical is next to nothing.
 
The problem with Blue is they open almost a month later than Big Boulder and didn't have their terrain park open until late January this year. They also closed much earlier than BB. If all you care about is skiing park, BB is the mountain to go to.
 
Big boulder is by far the best, Roundtop would be in second. Blue's park is really long, but the park crew kinda sucks at maintaining the features. I ride bear creek, i would say its better than blue, but not nearly as long.
 
This is true, I was over in the regional forums spazzing last year because they opened the park in like February.
 
I would agree with that. Bear Creek has a really nice park crew it's just the hill is pretty tiny and the weekend rate is a rip off.
 
Big Boulder is the undisputed park champ of the area, no doubt. Blue is cool though because they have a decent bit of vertical and longer laps. When it's on point, they build some pretty fun features also, but I've not skied there in a few years.
 
I agree. There are a few shops that sell tickets for afternoon for around 20$ tho. Wicks in exton does, and i think ski bum does as well.
 
Big boulder is easily the best park, go north for better vertical, go south for more convenience. Boulder/Frost are right in the middle of the pocono ski resorts and have some great deals

and word I'm looking at Penn too, haha maybe I'll see you there some day
 
Thanks guys, thats real helpful. I was looking at buying a season pass to bb because it looks like for students its only like 300 but if I can go for 15 bucks thats way better. Ill be really lucky to get 20 days in.
 
1. JFBB - Great parks/Mountain

2. Blue - Airbag/Great park

3. Ski Roundtop - Great park/King of Jib competition
 
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