Blue Mountain Resort
Overview
Blue Mountain Resort in Palmerton, Pennsylvania started life under a different name entirely: Ray Tuthill opened it as Little Gap Ski Area in 1977, and it wasn’t rebranded Blue Mountain until 1989. Tuthill’s daughter, Barbara Green, became president and CEO in 2007, keeping the operation in family hands for three decades before Denver-based KSL Resorts took over day-to-day management in May 2021. That ownership history is fairly typical for a Pennsylvania day-trip mountain, but the terrain underneath it is not: Blue Mountain’s 328.2m vertical drop, rising from a 140.8m base to a 469.0m summit, is the largest of any ski area in the state.
The resort spreads that vertical across 44 runs and 18.19km, with a genuinely full spread of difficulty — 5.97km easy and 0.97km novice at one end, 3.45km advanced and 2.43km expert at the other, and 5.37km intermediate holding the middle. Fifteen lifts keep it moving, a mix skewed heavily toward beginner infrastructure with nine magic carpets alongside five chairlifts and a single drag lift, and both snowmaking and night skiing run at 100% coverage, a near-necessity in a region that only sees about 33 inches of natural snow most winters. The resort also runs a USSA-affiliated alpine race team with more than 125 competitors and has hosted evaluation sessions for the US Luge Association, and its ski patrol was the subject of a truTV reality series, Ski Patrol, during the 2008-2009 season.
Blue Mountain sits on the Ikon Pass network, with the full Ikon Pass covering 7 days at no blackout and the Ikon Base Pass covering 5 days with blackout dates. It’s well placed for the Lehigh Valley and greater Philadelphia market: Lehigh Valley International Airport is closest at about 19.3km, Allentown itself sits 23.2km away, and Philadelphia — both the city, 100.5km out, and its international airport, 107.5km — anchors the resort’s largest nearby population base.
Nine of the resort’s 15 lifts are magic carpets, more than half the fleet, which says something about how deliberately Blue Mountain has built around beginners and families rather than treating that terrain as an afterthought next to five chairlifts and a single drag lift for everyone else. Combined with a trail count skewed toward easy and novice terrain and the full-mountain snowmaking and lighting, it’s a layout that prioritizes consistent, learn-to-ski conditions over marquee steep terrain, even with a state-record vertical drop and a legitimate expert section at the top of the mountain for skiers who want it.
Across its 44 trails, Blue Mountain averages a little over 0.4km per run, and with 15 lifts in total the mountain works out to fewer than three runs per lift — a dense, well-served layout that keeps queues manageable across a resort that draws heavily on weekend and holiday crowds from the Lehigh Valley, New York, and Philadelphia metro areas. That density is part of what makes the mountain function as both a genuine race-training venue and a high-volume family destination on the same terrain, often on the same weekend.
Key stats
Official website — Last checked 2026-09-13
Lifts by type
| Type | Count |
|---|---|
| drag lift | 1 |
| chair lift | 5 |
| magic carpet | 9 |
Runs by difficulty
| Difficulty | Distance |
|---|---|
| easy | 5.97 km |
| expert | 2.43 km |
| novice | 0.97 km |
| advanced | 3.45 km |
| intermediate | 5.37 km |
Maps
View official Blue Mountain Resort trail map (PDF) →
Run & lift overview
Blue Mountain Resort: 81 runs, 15 lifts. Drawn from OpenStreetMap run and lift data — not the official Blue Mountain Resort trail map. © OpenStreetMap contributors, OpenSkiMap (ODbL).
Typical conditions by month
Monthly conditions data for Blue Mountain Resort is not yet available.
Lift tickets & passes
- Ikon Pass — 7 days, no blackout
- Ikon Base Pass — 5 days, blackout dates apply
Getting there
Nearest airports
- Lehigh Valley International Airport (ABE) — 19.3 km straight-line
- Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport (AVP) — 60.5 km straight-line
- Trenton Mercer Airport (TTN) — 84.2 km straight-line
Nearest cities
- Allentown, Pennsylvania — 23.2 km straight-line
- Edison, New Jersey — 98.5 km straight-line
- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania — 100.5 km straight-line
Also covered by
Where to stay
A dedicated lodging guide for Blue Mountain Resort is not yet available.
Nearby resorts
- Camelback Mountain Resort — 29 km straight-line, 245 m vertical
- Shawnee Mountain — 44 km straight-line, 204 m vertical
- Montage Mountain Ski Area — 61 km straight-line, 304.6 m vertical
- Mountain Creek — 93 km straight-line, 305 m vertical
- Elk Mountain Ski Resort — 101 km straight-line, 276.8 m vertical
FAQ
- How big is Blue Mountain Resort (Pennsylvania)?
- Blue Mountain rises 328.2m from a 140.8m base to a 469.0m summit — the largest vertical drop in Pennsylvania — across 44 runs and 18.19km of terrain, served by 15 lifts including 5 chairlifts and 9 magic carpets.
- Is Blue Mountain good for beginners and families?
- It's set up for a full range: 5.97km is rated easy and 0.97km novice, with nine magic carpets clustered around the beginner zones, while 3.45km advanced and 2.43km expert terrain sit at the other end for more aggressive skiers.
- How old is Blue Mountain Resort?
- Ray Tuthill opened it in 1977 as Little Gap Ski Area, renaming it Blue Mountain in 1989. His daughter, Barbara Green, took over as president and CEO in 2007, and Denver-based KSL Resorts took over management in May 2021.
- Which pass covers Blue Mountain Resort?
- The Ikon Pass includes 7 days at Blue Mountain with no blackout dates, while the Ikon Base Pass covers 5 days with blackout dates in effect.
- Does Blue Mountain have night skiing?
- Yes, the resort runs 100% night skiing across its trail network alongside 100% snowmaking coverage, which matters given the Lehigh Valley's modest natural snowfall.
- What's the nearest airport to Blue Mountain Resort?
- Lehigh Valley International Airport (ABE) is closest at about 19.3km, with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International (AVP) at 60.5km and Trenton Mercer (TTN) at 84.2km. The larger gateway, Philadelphia International, is roughly 107.5km away.
- Is Blue Mountain Resort good for racers?
- It has an active USSA-affiliated alpine race program with more than 125 competitors, plus a history of hosting evaluation events for US Luge and being featured on the truTV series Ski Patrol during the 2008-2009 season.
- How many magic carpets does Blue Mountain Resort have?
- Nine — more than half of the resort's 15 lifts are magic carpets, a beginner-loading ratio that's unusually high even among East Coast resorts built around lesson programs and family traffic.
Data sources
Last verified: 2026-09-15
Base facts from OpenSkiMap (ODbL), OpenStreetMap contributors, Wikidata (CC0), OurAirports (public domain) and GeoNames (CC BY 4.0). See /data-sources/.