By Corey LaQuay
Photography Editor

With the first snowflakes beginning to fall from the sky, skiers and snowboarders are starting to awaken from their summer hibernation. The 2013-2014 skiing and snowboarding season is right around the corner. With the season fast-approaching, skiers and riders’ two favorite and most popular Pocono mountain resorts are beginning to make preparations for another successful season.
Jack Frost/Big Boulder:

Jack Frost Mountain is a ski resort in Harmony, Pennsylvania that is further divided into two separate resorts. Jack Frost offers 9 lifts servicing 21 trails, with a base elevation of 1400 feet and a summit of 2000 feet. The vertical is estimated at 600 feet. The longest trail is approximately a half-mile long, at 2,900 feet. Jack Frost is known for being a smaller resort that is generally catered to beginners. It does, however, have eight expert-level trails and two terrain parks out of the 21 trails for the more adventurous. Jack Frost offers lessons, rentals, tubing, and night skiing every night.

Big Boulder Park in Blakeslee, Pennsylvania is the other half of Jack Frost Mountain. While Jack Frost is mostly concentrated on all-mountain riding, Big Boulder places its focus on its terrain parks. This skiing and snowboarding resort boasts one of the most innovative and aggressive terrain parks on the east coast. Over 50 percent of Big Boulder is dedicated to its freestyle terrain. It has 15 trails with four beginner slopes, and five terrain parks.

The terrain parks offer an array of obstacles for every skill level. These obstacles include rails, jumps, kickers, boxes, and many other unique features. The evolution of these parks is always a main focal point. The layout is always changing and is unique to previous years. Big Boulder Park has been recognized by Snowboarder Magazine as having one of the east coast’s premier terrain parks. For riders looking to improve their abilities in the park, Big Boulder is the place to be.

Senior Alex Welhaf has been snowboarding for two years, and says that Big Boulder is his favorite ski resort. “All season long they have different setups and I look forward to going every time,” said Welhaf. “Something that sticks out at every resort I go to is the terrain parks and how nicely setup and groomed it is. Big Boulder accomplishes this every time.”
Blue Mountain Ski Area:

Located only about an hour away from Philadelphia, Blue Mountain Ski Area is known for great skiing close to home. This mountain offers 13 lifts that service 39 trails; the most out of any other Pennsylvania ski resort. Their longest trail, Lazy Mile, is over a mile and a half long. The lifts notably include a high-speed six-pack chairlift and a high-speed quad lift which allow for a quick ride up to the top and a long ride down while also cutting down on lift lines. Blue Mountain has the highest vertical in Pennsylvania at 1,082 feet and occupies 164 acres of land with snowmaking coverage on almost the entire mountain.

Blue Mountain has both a valley and a summit lodge with facilities and various food options to fit everyone’s taste. Both lodges offer free parking, ticket windows, rentals, lessons and a ski shop, as well as a cafeteria-style dining hall. The summit lodge has a pizzeria and a full-size ballroom complete with all the amenities and views overlooking the Pocono Mountains. A tubing park is located at the valley lodge.

In terms of trails, Blue Mountain possesses a wide variety of terrain. From the bunny slopes, all the way up to the intimidating black diamonds, Blue has it all. Blue Mountain has three terrain parks: Sidewinder Park, Central Park, and Terrain Run. Each of these parks has unique features that are catered to every rider and skill level. Sidewinder Park is an intermediate to expert level park, Central Park consists of urban obstacles for intermediate riders, and Terrain Run is the perfect terrain park for beginners.

For the most variety close to home, Blue Mountain is the mountain of choice for riders of all skill levels. Seniors Dan Fox and Emily Kneiss both agree that Blue Mountain is their favorite Pocono mountain ski area.

“The plentiful lifts keep things less crowded,” said Kneiss. “It’s always a good time. It was the first mountain I’ve ever been on and it’s always a good time,” said Fox. Kneiss has been an avid skier for eight years, attending multiple trips with the Neshaminy ski club, and Fox has been snowboarding for four years.

Skier and Neshaminy Senior Will Dean has done his fair share of skiing during the past eight years. He has traveled to Park City, Utah as well as Vermont. Despite the inability to compare the quality of Pennsylvania resorts to the quality of the resorts in these other locations, Dean still chooses Blue Mountain as his favorite Pennsylvania ski resort.

“Even though the artificial snow doesn’t quite compare to the quality of real snow, I still enjoy Blue Mountain’s variety of trails,” said Dean.