User Reviews

It's not Jackson Hole or La Grave, but compared to neighboring ski areas Blue Knob, PA is notable for expert level terrain and belongs on the radar screen of all serious mid-Atlantic snow riders. Several of the lower-mountain black diamond trails at Blue Knob represent some of the most challenging ski slopes south of New York State. This section of the mountain features approximately 700 vertical feet of sustained steeps on a variety of groomed and ungroomed trails. Some are wide and exposed with variable Eastern manmade snow conditions (Extrovert), others are narrow, all natural, and never groomed (Lower Shortway). During midseason there should be opportunities to ski challenging mogul runs at Blue Knob, not always a given in the mid-Atlantic. Additionally, it is one of the few Eastern ski areas south of New England with extensive lift served glade skiing. The opening of the glades requires cooperation from Mother Nature and the best chance is usually from late January to late February.
 

The approximately three dozen designated trails also include an assortment of intermediate to advanced groomers (Deer Run, Jack Rabbit, High Hopes, Expressway) providing a nice ride over the full 1000 feet of vertical. While the regularly maintained trail network is exceptionally challenging by mid-Atlantic standards, to really appreciate the advanced skiing at Blue Knob you should visit when natural snow conditions allow for the opening of the glades (there are about six or seven) and all natural trails.
 

The lodge and accommodations at Blue Knob are serviceable, but might be described as Spartan. The positive flip side of this is that lift and lodging costs are less than average for the region. Several taglines promoted by Blue Knob over the years offer a clue that the focus is on serious skiing/riding, not upscale amenities or elaborate apres ski: "Altitude with Attitude", "The Skier’s Mountain", and "Ski Good or Eat Wood". The summit is very exposed and can be one of the coldest places in PA. Here's a trip report with photos from a good weekend at Blue Knob in Feb 2007:

http://www.dcski.com/articles/view_article.php?article_id=988&mode=headlines

Try to go here every year

 I went there on MLK day January 2010. We got there early figuring it would be crowded...it wasn't. They only ran one lift from the bottom all morning. The longest lift wait I had was to wait for 2 chairs to be loaded. Usually no grooming can be a good thing. When you're going through a freeze thaw cycle in PA, you need to groom. Nothing was groomed, and anything that wasn't a designated mogul trail was icy all morning. Once it warmed up the ice melted but it was slushy. They have the highest elevation of any resort in PA, but they still had thin cover at the bottom. They had to shut down most of the bottom 1/4 of the mountain because they couldn't get their snow making system working.
Part of the reason it doesn't get crowded is that it is literally in the middle of nowhere. To get there you drive 5 miles off the highway to get to a dirt road. From there you drive another 4 miles on a dirt road up the mountain to get to the lodge, since their lodge is at the very top. The lodge is old, but has plenty of room considering how empty it is. 
Extrovert was nice and steep and is definitely a high point of the mountain, particularly as they have a mid-mountain drop-off for the chair so you can ski that all day and not be stuck on the long chair ride. Which brings me to one of the biggest cons: the chair lift. The chair takes about 10-12 minutes by my estimation to go top to bottom, about 1200 foot vertical. Another con is that their website is never accurate in terms of what is actually open. When I got there about 10 trails listed as open on the website were closed. One of the locals I rode the chairlift said to not even bother checking the website, because its never accurate.

Went with my husband and he was just beginning to master greens at 7 springs, it was very very icy the day we went,

Not much to do after and icy up and down the one time I went.

Real Side Country in the Allegheny Maountains. Its  a fun place to ski. Underrated by the DC crowd. Good terrain in Bounds. Hit it after a nice storm and its great for a weekend.