Blue Mountain is already Ontario's biggest ski resort, and today it just got bigger.   

The resort officially opened a new series of runs.

Early this morning, if you were driving by Blue Mountain, you’d have seen something you wouldn’t normally: The night skiing lights were turned on before sunrise, the resort’s new chair lift was running, and the slopes were groomed.

The resort was ready and waiting just for Amelia Robertson and her friends. She won the prize as part of the official opening of the major new expansion. She got the hill to herself and her friends for an hour: something she loved even though she's still learning to snow board.

“It's very difficult to learn how to snowboard but it's hugely rewarding so it makes it enjoyable,” the Caledon resident says.

Locals know this area as “The Orchard” because that’s what it was when Jozo Weider, the founder of the resort, first purchased the property in 1969 with the vision that it would be home to ski slopes one day. 

Gord Canning at Blue Mountain Resort says the expansion was scaled back from the original plans, which included a new lodge. But that will come.

“Recently we decided that we would do it incrementally, put the chair lift in that cost 7 million and come back to the lodge and some of the other facilities at a later date when we can feel what is appropriate,” Canning says.

The seven new slopes represent a 20 per cent increase in the overall size of the resort and all of it is designed for beginners to intermediate skiers and snowboarders because the ski industry as whole is always trying to attract new people to alpine sports.

According to the resort, the hills now boast the longest beginner run in Ontario – the perfect place for Debbie Nixon to overcome her initial fear to take it from the top.

“Kind of nervous, kind of shaking in the legs because I didn't know what to do exactly,” says the Bolton resident. “All I learned is heels and toes, heels and toes.”

Jim Dawson is a regular at Blue. He likes the added elbow room on the new runs.

“I like them particularly because they are cruising, if you just want to cruise and be gentle they are good for that and if you want to pick up the speed and ski more aggressive you can do that as well,” he says.

The new terrain is now part of the resort’s daily operations and is open to skiers of all ages and abilities.