AlpineZone Challenge 2014 - Steve Wright of Jay Peak

Steve Wright, VP of Marketing, Sales and Hospitality at Jay Peak, and a long time participant in the AZ Challenge has agreed to participate again for 2014!

For newer members, the AlpineZone Challenge is your chance to offer up questions, suggestions or praise to the people who run the mountains and ski resorts in the northeast.

We will pick ten of the questions asked here and submit them for review and response, and post them in the Challenge area when complete!

As before, a few caveats: we may edit/change your question for grammar, tone, or similar. Questions may be merged if they are similar. If we don't get to all the questions, we will encourage followup from the representatives directly on the site, but we can't guarantee that.

Please be respectful as well to those answering questions - please refrain from asking specifics about skier visit numbers, financials, demographic information, etc. as these may be confidential to the mountain. General questions are OK about growth, etc. (year over year, percentage changes, and so forth)

Jay Peak Profile

2012 AZ Challenge Results
2011 AZ Challenge Results
2006 AZ Challenge Results
2005 AZ Challenge Results
2004 AZ Challenge Results

Steve, what's the timeline as to the Bonnie upgrade? Other lifts that you are looking to upgrade?

And we've heard a lot about the improvement of base amenities. What can skiers and riders expect for on-mountain improvements this season and the next?

What is the latest status on the west bowl, and where does that fall in terms of the resorts priorities?

What are some of the major hurdles that remain to be cleared before the project can commence?

I have seen a number of articles discussing the Jay Peak Recreation Center and it seems as though this project has stalled a bit, are there plans to begin construction soon?

The topic of the additional trail added on the other side of Timbuktu seems to pop up now and then, however, it still is not in place - is that still in the plans?

Has Jay Peak ever considered a short lift that might serve the close to the summit that might load from Northway and unload on Vermonter.

In the past, MTB has been discussed and to date has not been implemented - is this still a consideration or other concepts like Zip Lines, disc golf etc.?

From our perspective it seems as though EB-5 funding has slowed things down a bit - is this the case and will it change plans or timelines for undeveloped projects?

Stateside lodge is HUGE but it just ain't the same vibe. I miss it. How can we get it back? I think part of the problem is that services are up close to the slopes and all the seating faces the parking lot. Can that be switched around?


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skiNEwhere said:

What is the latest status on the west bowl, and where does that fall in terms of the resorts priorities?

What are some of the major hurdles that remain to be cleared before the project can commence?

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I'd like to cosign the above in hopes it's a submitted question - definitely my #1 interest in terms of "What's going on at Jay Peak"?

Given you're a marketing guy, how do you (you personally, the answer doesnt have to be Jay Peak's official opinion or even an answer specifically relating to Jay Peak, but the ski industry in general) feel "Park" fits into the overall ski equation in 2014?

It seems to me given the terrain it chews up, the added insurance costs, and the relatively limited use (at some areas it seems well-used, at other areas it seems very lightly or barely-used) that we've "jumped the shark" so to speak, in terms of the marketing focus, resources dedicated to, and terrain expansion of "park", but as I'm not in industry, I could be 100% wrong. While I know it's popular among youth, I just have this suspicion that many areas over-extend resources to Park relative to the return it generates. In your opinion, how important is "park" to marketing? Revenue? etc.... and although you dont have a crystal ball, where do you see it going?

dlague said:

Has Jay Peak ever considered a short lift that might serve the close to the summit that might load from Northway and unload on Vermonter.

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Back to the future actually with this one. There used to be a separate chair that went from that area to the summit pre-Tram:





From Chairlift.org

BenedictGomez said:

Given you're a marketing guy, how do you (you personally, the answer doesnt have to be Jay Peak's official opinion or even an answer specifically relating to Jay Peak, but the ski industry in general) feel "Park" fits into the overall ski equation in 2014?

It seems to me given the terrain it chews up, the added insurance costs, and the relatively limited use (at some areas it seems well-used, at other areas it seems very lightly or barely-used) that we've "jumped the shark" so to speak, in terms of the marketing focus, resources dedicated to, and terrain expansion of "park", but as I'm not in industry, I could be 100% wrong. While I know it's popular among youth, I just have this suspicion that many areas over-extend resources to Park relative to the return it generates. In your opinion, how important is "park" to marketing? Revenue? etc.... and although you dont have a crystal ball, where do you see it going?

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That's a good question. Out here, only PCMR has a really good park...and maybe Brighton too.

Abubob said:

Stateside lodge is HUGE but it just ain't the same vibe. I miss it. How can we get it back? I think part of the problem is that services are up close to the slopes and all the seating faces the parking lot. Can that be switched around?


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That seems kind of odd.......

thetrailboss said:

Back to the future actually with this one. There used to be a separate chair that went from that area to the summit pre-Tram:

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That would improve Jay Peak immeasurably. I rarely ever ski that terrain since I'm almost always there on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, and the Tram wait is generally just not worth it.

thetrailboss said:

That's a good question. Out here, only PCMR has a really good park...and maybe Brighton too.

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I envision this scenario where the brass of several eastern mountains are sitting around their planning tables, and some of them want to dramatically reduce park, but they're all afraid too on the belief it might hurt them. Fear of the unknown.

BenedictGomez said:

That would improve Jay Peak immeasurably. I rarely ever ski that terrain since I'm almost always there on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday, and the Tram wait is generally just not worth it.

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I know we have suggested to Steve that a Poma lift or other surface lift would be inexpensive and suffice. I know that Bretton Woods, which previously dumped tons of money into new HS lifts, just installed a nice and relatively inexpensive surface lift to complete their long-awaited expansion on the east side. None of us diehards complained about the idea:



Personally, I'm all for a decent surface lift. They do the job, are windproof, and keep ticket prices lower

I envision this scenario where the brass of several eastern mountains are sitting around their planning tables, and some of them want to dramatically reduce park, but they're all afraid too on the belief it might hurt them. Fear of the unknown.

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I've noticed out here that parks are not that big of a deal.....folks say because the "whole mountain is a park." I think that a big reason is that resorts out here (generally) do not rely quite as much on snowmaking. Using eastern standards, Snowbird's "park" is pathetic. But as I ski by on Big Emma or ride on Gadzoom I rarely see anyone use it. Most of the 'bird's regular clientele come for the "natural" terrain offerings. Alta doesn't have a park (same reason). I heard from folks at Snowbird that it was cost and liability issues. If anything, I think they make a small one to throw a bone to the few out of towners who want some kind of park.

Brighton, on the other hand, has some decent parks and night skiing and riding. Their main crowd is into the park scene.

PCMR has killer parks but they do it because they get lots of out-of-towners who want it, they host big events, and they have a lot of athletes who need the parks for training.

As to cost, it is amazing. I recall when Burke dedicated a trail and some snowmaking money to a half-pipe. When Northern Star went out of business, I talked to someone in the know who was part of the new ownership about that half pipe and asked "why not do it?" He told me that it cost the resort $50-75k annually in snowmaking, etc. and netted few users and no revenue. That said, Burke has dedicated a lot of resources to a serious park and I think it has worked well at keeping a niche crowd that would have otherwise gone elsewhere. But is it making a lot of money? Probably not. That demographic does not really have a lot of disposable income. Mommy and Daddy sometimes do though...at least enough to get their kid a season pass.

What infrastructure improvements, other than the West Bowl expansion, does Jay have planned for the mountain itself now that we have seen all sorts of improvements at the base of the hill? If anything is planned, what is the timeline?

Does the Pump House operate at a profit or a loss on an annual basis?

What percentage of Jay's revenues are attributable to Canadians? How does this compare to a place like Stowe or Sugarbush? How does it compare to Whiteface?

What are the biggest challenges you see facing Jay Peak?

thetrailboss said:

Personally, I'm all for a decent surface lift. They do the job, are windproof, and keep ticket prices lower

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+1. In certain situations they still make a lot of sense. I'd love to see surface lifts considered for lateral movement and not just vertical movement. Burke's East Bowl comes to mind.

thetrailboss said:

Back to the future actually with this one. There used to be a separate chair that went from that area to the summit pre-Tram:

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One of the reasons I was asking. I was speaking to some people last winter while at Jay Peak regarding this idea while in the tram line. They mentioned that old lift. I bet many summit goers would skip the tram and lap that lift instead and access to higher terrain would not be limited by high winds.

How long before Jay Peak goes belly up?

steamboat1 said:

How long before Jay Peak goes belly up?

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Ok I think that will not make the cut! haha

Can you reopen Bearpen please lol?

thetrailboss said:

I know we have suggested to Steve that a Poma lift or other surface lift would be inexpensive and suffice. I know that Bretton Woods, which previously dumped tons of money into new HS lifts, just installed a nice and relatively inexpensive surface lift to complete their long-awaited expansion on the east side.

Click to expand...

This would be awesome. Efficient too. The tram dumps a bunch of people at the top and it's a decent wait for the second tram. So the top of the mountain goes basically "unused" for significant stretches of time. A slow-moving surface lift has limited capacity to begin with, so it would make skiing the summit trails so much more efficient (or in my case, doable). And yes, lapping Valhalla would be awesome.

thetrailboss said:

As to cost, it is amazing. I recall when Burke dedicated a trail and some snowmaking money to a half-pipe. When Northern Star went out of business, I talked to someone in the know who was part of the new ownership about that half pipe and asked "why not do it?" He told me that it cost the resort $50-75k annually in snowmaking, etc. and netted few users and no revenue.

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I think once a few mountains grow a set and remove theirs, a trend will occur. I dont think park will go the way of the dodo bird, I just think fewer mountains will offer it eventually, rather than the current, "everyone must have park....uhhh....well....just because" mentality. The aging skier demographics, low-return, limited use, and high cost doesn't make much sense IMO. And at the end of the day, 13 year olds aren't driving the vacation area decision.

ScottySkis said:

Can you reopen Bearpen please lol?

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I think Scotty started early this Friday.

The parks question is interesting. Not sure why they are not being used as much up in New England, when down here in PA they are still really popular. Hell, we've got Big Boulder ski area that has seven different parks on a tiny little hill and Mount Snow has a whole are dedicated to park riders.

mbedle said:

The parks question is interesting. Not sure why they are not being used as much up in New England, when down here in PA they are still really popular. Hell, we've got Big Boulder ski area that has seven different parks on a tiny little hill and Mount Snow has a whole are dedicated to park riders.

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Could be the focus on glades?