Recent Developments
In 1999, Intrawest Corporation purchased a 50% interest in the ownership of Blue Mountain, sparking off a major expansion process. Drawing development to the middle area again, four high speed six-passenger chairlifts have been installed, one of these replacing the original Silver Bullet, and the other three spread out over the hill. Uphill capacity was dramatically increased with these expansions, and congestion in the lift lines has been greatly reduced.
More dramatic is the development of the Blue Mountain Village area at the Base Lodge. Once again drawing the focus of the hill southward, the Village contains a number of condominiums, hotels, a conference centre, restaurants and other shops and services. Based on a European ski resort theme, the Village is similar to the expansions Intrawest has carried out at its other ski destinations, modelled on the original development at Whistler-Blackcomb.
Blue Mountain also offers downhill mountain biking in the summer months, with bikes and riders taken up hill in gondolas and racks mounted on the Silver Bullet Express. The riders can then choose from 15 different trails which will take them back down to the base of the hill. In the summer months Blue Mountain also maintains a climbing wall, hiking trails, a private beach, a small water park and has also begun construction on a miniature golf course at the base of the hill scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2011.
In 2009, Blue Mountain started construction on the Ridge Runner Mountain Coaster, Ontario's first Alpine Coaster and the latest year-round addition to the Resort's seasonal attraction plan. The coaster is located in the central area of the resort, near the Silver Bullet Express chairlift. The Ridge Runner officially opened on weekends beginning March 18, 2011 after months of anticipation from resort guests, staff and management. Members of the media and the first 200 guests to arrive were invited to ride the Ridge Runner for free at the Grand Opening on June 10, 2011.
Capable of achieving speeds up to 42 km/h, the 1,085m Alpine Coaster track slides over bumps, twists through corkscrews and zigzags through the trees of the Niagara Escarpment covering 475 vertical metres. The carts are capable of holding two people at a time, and riders can use a manual brake to control their speed as they descend the track.
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