• Welcome to AlpineZone, the largest online community of skiers and snowboarders in the Northeast!

    You may have to REGISTER before you can post. Registering is FREE, gets rid of the majority of advertisements, and lets you participate in giveaways and other AlpineZone events!

AlpineZone Challenge 2012: Steve Wright of Jay Peak

Status
Not open for further replies.

Nick

Administrator
Staff member
Administrator
Joined
Nov 12, 2010
Messages
13,176
Points
48
Location
Bradenton, FL
Website
www.alpinezone.com
Hey Everyone! We are bringing back the AlpineZone Challenge for the season. Our first participant for 2012/2013 is Steve Wright, VP of Marketing, Sales and Hospitality at Jay Peak, and a long time participant in the AZ Challenge.

There has been a lot of talk on the forums about Jay Peak, including discussion with regard to the purchase of Burke, so it makes good sense for Jay Peak to be at the top of the list!

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

2011 AZ Challenge Results

2006 AZ Challenge Results

2005 AZ Challenge Results
2004 AZ Challenge Results
 

from_the_NEK

Active member
Joined
Jun 5, 2006
Messages
4,575
Points
36
Location
Lyndonville, VT
Website
fineartamerica.com
Jay has been really forthcoming with information about their growth and development so coming up with questions is a bit difficult this year.
With that said:
1. How is Jay's marketing going to overlap with Burke's? Are you (Steve), now the head of a combined marketing team?

2. Are there any plans for a Hockey/Golf or a Hockey/Ski race tournament at the ice arena this year?

3. Why in the world would the planners of new trails at Jay ever consider cutting a trail around Timbuktu?
 

fbrissette

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 19, 2012
Messages
1,672
Points
48
Location
Montreal/Jay Peak
3. Why in the world would the planners of new trails at Jay ever consider cutting a trail around Timbuktu?

This above has got to be on the list. Let me put this into perspective: At the Home-owner meeting 2 months ago, Steve presented some of the new marketing material for the upcoming season. One TV add features skiers hitchhiking on the side of the road, skis on the shoulder, on 242 on Jay side (a clear dip run, and not big Jay). It is beyond me why they would on one hand, blatantly market this 'out of bound' skiing area', while on the other hand planning to slaughter it with this stupid run.

I asked Walter Elander (responsible for mountain development): Why ??? Why ??? and his answer was: we need more intermediate terrain, and you will still be able to ski to the dip from that run.... Wrong answer... especially the second part... If they want to cater more to the newbies and intermediate skiers fine. But they should have the decency of not pretending that Jay's out-of-bound spirit still lives. The orchard is a special area beloved by all Jay Peak regulars I know. I see no good coming out of this. Lots of pissed season pass holder. This trail will effectively destroy most of Jay Peak true out of bound terrain (not counting Big Jay that sees minimal traffic). What's next ? Levelling pumphouse chute to make it more appealing to intermediate skiers ?

Just thinking about putting a run there tells me that the mountain developers do not get it. Not the least bit. There are tons of boring mountains out there. This run will make Jay Peak a little bit more like the others: boring.

Francois
 

thetrailboss

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Jun 4, 2004
Messages
32,337
Points
113
Location
NEK by Birth
1.We are teaching our child to ski at Burke. In the past sunday afternoons have been at a discounted rate. Will the same ticketing be available? It has been a relief to not have to pay over a hundred dollars to go skiing as a family for a few hours with a child under 5, hoping this policy survives the transition.


thank you

On that note, Jay has run Vermonter rates for locals and folks from nearby counties in New York. Will Jay continue to run these discount day tickets, in light of the expansion work?

With the increase in development at Jay, and more folks, does Jay limit ski ticket sales? If it doesn't, is that something that will be considered in the future? (This might have been asked already...)
 

deadheadskier

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Mar 6, 2005
Messages
27,921
Points
113
Location
Southeast NH
Can Jay Peak utilize some of it's EB-5 Visa investment monies into Burke or would that require a separate application?
 

fbrissette

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 19, 2012
Messages
1,672
Points
48
Location
Montreal/Jay Peak
Here's a couple more:

1- update on the west bowl development - IS 'trail cutting in summer 2013 and lifts in summer 2014' still the plan ? I would suggest that tree cutting in the west bowl glades be done as quickly as possible. This could become an incredible back country area to those willing to earn their turns while awaiting lifts.

2- there were plans on mountain biking trails at the base of Stateside. Has this changes with the acquisition of Burke Mountain ?
 

St. Bear

New member
Joined
Dec 22, 2008
Messages
2,946
Points
0
Location
Washington, NJ
Website
twitter.com
I'll put the same question I asked Sugarloaf last year.

I love your mountain, any plans to move it closer to where I live? Or at the very least, where my family lives?
 
Joined
Sep 22, 2010
Messages
161
Points
16
Location
The Hinterlands
Planning on shutting this thread down soon, get those questions in!

Uhh, Nick, can you be more specific: when is "soon?" Could be today at midnight or sometime in the next six months for all we know.

I'm particularly interested in the answers to NEK and fbrissettes' queries. I'll add the age-old (now) question: what is the current timeline for the construction of the Bonnie six-pack and the quadrification of the Jet?
 

Nick

Administrator
Staff member
Administrator
Joined
Nov 12, 2010
Messages
13,176
Points
48
Location
Bradenton, FL
Website
www.alpinezone.com
When j feel we get enough questions, then I will send them along to Steve

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
 

JPTracker

Member
Joined
Apr 10, 2006
Messages
428
Points
18
Location
MA
Jay used to host a Fall Arts and Crafts Festival every year on Columbus Day weekend. It stopped due to construction on the hotel. Now that construction is almost complete are there any plans to bring it back?

Recently a lot of tress were taken down at the entrance to the resort. What is the purpose of this? It does not seem to fit in with any of the ongoing construction projects.
 

Blizzard of Wahhs

New member
Joined
Sep 15, 2012
Messages
114
Points
0
I've heard several times that Jay Peak fluffs their snow numbers by measuring with a short stick and/or sending inebriated folks to account for measurements.

Is there any truth to this? Also, another question: If it snows 7 meters in a remote corner of the northeast, does anyone give a shit?

Thanks.
 

ScottySkis

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 16, 2011
Messages
12,294
Points
48
Location
Middletown NY
I've heard several times that Jay Peak fluffs their snow numbers by measuring with a short stick and/or sending inebriated folks to account for measurements.

Is there any truth to this? Also, another question: If it snows 7 meters in a remote corner of the northeast, does anyone give a shit?

Thanks.



Yes do not go their they get less snow then Mountain Creek in NJ.
 

Blizzard of Wahhs

New member
Joined
Sep 15, 2012
Messages
114
Points
0
Yes do not go their they get less snow then Mountain Creek in NJ.

I like your avatar bc it captures the expression each one of your posts puts on my face. Now let the grownups speak. And yes, I get your joke about Florida snow. Because it doesn't snow there! haahahah!!

Seriously though I think Steve Wright should speak to fluffing in Jay Peak's mtn stats, because I simply don't believe the 376" figure. Now, some sort of NWS reference or at least endorsement (un-compensated of course) should accompany such an outlier.
 

fbrissette

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 19, 2012
Messages
1,672
Points
48
Location
Montreal/Jay Peak
I like your avatar bc it captures the expression each one of your posts puts on my face. Now let the grownups speak. And yes, I get your joke about Florida snow. Because it doesn't snow there! haahahah!!

Seriously though I think Steve Wright should speak to fluffing in Jay Peak's mtn stats, because I simply don't believe the 376" figure. Now, some sort of NWS reference or at least endorsement (un-compensated of course) should accompany such an outlier.

You will not get any endorsement of the sort because snow is extremely difficult to measure to begin with. By design, certified weather stations are in open areas, subject to winds. Not so bad for rainfall that has relatively high inertia and terminal velocity, but snow and wind results in an underestimation by gauges. Gamma sensors and snow pillows (measure snow height and mass respectively) suffer from biases. Stick them in an open area (near the station so you can use power and data loggers) and snow is blown away, put them in the woods and you get extra accumulation. IOW, automatic snow measurement is very difficult, even more so in mountainous areas.

Having said that, I take any snow measurements by ski resorts with a healthy doe of skepticism. At Jay the amount of snow can vary tremendously between the base and top of the mountain, on the trails vs the woods. Yes, It's like that everywhere but even more so at Jay. I'm a long time Jay skier (and 3 years home owner on the mountain), and I would say that from my observations, smaller amounts (<10 cm) tend to be overestimated by the Jay ski report, whereas higher amounts tend to be pretty accurate. High resolution mapping of annual snowfall (interpolation from stations using elevation and slope aspect - google 'prism climate' for example) show a precipitation anomaly in northern Vermont, and, to me, that's the important point. This area gets, on average, the most snow. Relative amounts are more important than absolute values. I want to be where there is the most snow.
 

BigJay

New member
Joined
Mar 9, 2006
Messages
487
Points
0
Location
Jay Peak, VT
Hey Steve,

If Burke is to copy what Jay has done in order to get more activities during the winter months, is Jay Peak looking at doing the same in order to bring more visitors in the area during the summer?

Between Kingdom Trails bringing 5M$ from mountain biking in the small village of East Burke, Stowe that has a great network of trails and building the "Vermont Ride Center" based on the IMBA model and it's neighbours to the north (Owl's Head is holding the provincial DH championships in a few weeks, Sutton is moving slowly and Bromont is already a hot spot!), i think Jay Peak would fit in nicely with trails for all level all located below the higher elevation...

Thanks for the info!

PS: I need to throw in a winter question... damn... Euh... Will we get lots of snow this year?
 

thetrailboss

Moderator
Staff member
Moderator
Joined
Jun 4, 2004
Messages
32,337
Points
113
Location
NEK by Birth
Steve, you've been in the industry for quite some time having worked for both Jay Peak and Killington before that. Just speaking for yourself, and not JPR, what trends do you see happening in the Northeast Ski Industry? Things that you like? Trends that you think are disturbing? And thanks to you and JPR for being involved in the leadership of the Vermont Ski Industry (through Ski Vermont and other trade groups).
 

BenedictGomez

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 26, 2011
Messages
12,127
Points
113
Location
Wasatch Back
I'm a long time Jay skier (and 3 years home owner on the mountain), and I would say that from my observations, smaller amounts (<10 cm) tend to be overestimated by the Jay ski report, whereas higher amounts tend to be pretty accurate.

Agree with you 100%, and it's dumb. You know why? Because it's not 1992 anymore.

I dont know who resorts think they're fooling, but between Facebook, Blogs, Twitter, Web Forums (like this one) etc...., the connectivity of people on this planet is amazing. As a recent example, I know what's going on with the middle east riots from Twitter long before I see it on CNN for heaven's sake. More often than not, I have an idea of the snow total on the mountain from independent reports by people posting that are either staying on site or are XYZ locals living in Jeffersonville or Lake Placid or Stowe etc.... IMO, all lying on the snow report does (especially in the internet age) is pizz customers off.
 

DJAK

Industry Rep
Industry Rep
Joined
Nov 23, 2004
Messages
203
Points
0
Location
Waterbury Center, VT
Website
skitheeast.net
Agree with you 100%, and it's dumb. You know why? Because it's not 1992 anymore.

I dont know who resorts think they're fooling, but between Facebook, Blogs, Twitter, Web Forums (like this one) etc...., the connectivity of people on this planet is amazing. As a recent example, I know what's going on with the middle east riots from Twitter long before I see it on CNN for heaven's sake. More often than not, I have an idea of the snow total on the mountain from independent reports by people posting that are either staying on site or are XYZ locals living in Jeffersonville or Lake Placid or Stowe etc.... IMO, all lying on the snow report does (especially in the internet age) is pizz customers off.

This issue ended 2005-2008 (thanks to aforementioned internet). However, folks still like to bitch about it. Now, they are bitching about 4" on Wednesday that seems different on Thursday, and need someone to blame for what passage of time does to snow.

Fibbing about current conditions as "passing showers" when it's "buckets" still does happen at certain places, but is a different issue.
 

luvinjaycloud

Member
Joined
Feb 11, 2008
Messages
41
Points
6
I'm wondering if Jay peak has any plans to post a web cam somewhere on the mountain. Seems like everything else they do is on the front edge of technology. I would love to know real time , or close to it, when the snow is starting to fly or if the droplets have turned to flakes.

On the boasting of snowfall, i'd honestly say the reports are pretty accurate. I spend most weekends at the resort and have read many times the early snow report and then walked out my front door and be surprised at what i think is a better snowfall than i just read online. Go up mountain and I sometimes find Timbuktu has way more snow than they reported online. They have no reason or needs to sully their reputation of the best snow in the east. they do sometimes get a little aggressive but i think it's all within the standard deviation.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top