Break Open the Bottle – Not Your Leg.

It’s lodging season, and as of this weekend, the hills are alive and open for business.

Courtesy of the UK Telegraph

For those unaware of the term, lodging is quite simply the aprés ski – all day long. If you like to do one run (if that), then spend the rest of the day sipping on Baileys while scanning the crowd for a cute looking coach, then you are a lodger. If you’d rather shop for the perfect pair of goggles and matching mittens, only to wear them outside posing by the ski racks, then you are a lodger. If you enjoy riding the chairlift around several times while sipping on a bottle of champagne with your friends, then yes, again you are a lodger. So here’s the scoop on the various lodging facilities near Toronto (both public and private) for all of your fabulous weekends away.

PUBLIC (and closest to Toronto):

Blue Mountain:
Awesome lodging for a public resort. They’ve got a small village of shops around them as well as several bars and restaurants. Cue the drunken shopping! And after that you can head over to their spa for some much needed R&R. Oh ya, and the skiing’s not bad either.

Hidden Valley:
Muskoka is great, but not in the winter. Their website looked sketchy (i.e. no photos of people lodging whatsoever) so we’d advise against for now.

Horseshoe Resort:
You know the lodging won’t be fantastic when their list of amenities starts off with “ceramic tile foyer”. Anyways, if you can’t muster up the drive all the way to Collingwood, this place is a nice half-way mark from Toronto – just don’t be surprised by the lack of shops around you.

St. Louis Moonstone:
Come here if you don’t care at all about the skiing. The hills are flat as a pancake. But that being said, they do have a bar, a restaurant, and a shop. That’s really all you need anyways.

PRIVATE (In Collingwood but with better skiing):

Osler Bluff:
The founders lodge has a massive double fireplace as well as big black leather chairs to sink into. Also, the slopes are a significant upgrade from the public hills, so if you know a friend who’s a member here – tag along!

Craigleith:
“They’ve doubled their amount of beer taps this year,” says one enthusiastic coach, “plus their lodges are way nicer than at [Georgian] Peaks.” You know the lodging will be good when there are multiple lodges to lodge at. Don’t expect to shop here though, their store is small and sad.

Georgian Peaks:
The lodge isn’t as pretty as Osler’s or Craigleith, but they make up for it with the shopping. Their general store is almost twice the size and the gear inside it makes you want to go on a spree.

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If you find yourself in Collingwood generally, make your way over to the Alphorn for some schnitzel and beer. This restaurant serves as the headquarters for all the private clubs’ aprés. And hangover breakfasts? Turn towards Thornbury and you’ll find The Wild Orchid for your $3 egg and bacon meals alongside limitless amounts of coffee. Now that’s how you ski.

XoXo
– The Cowgirls