Jay was named the fastest growing town in Vermont for the past year. Much going on...read more about it here.
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Jay Peak Area Experiences Development Explosion
- Thread starter thetrailboss
- Start date
SnowRider
New member
That is a major dissapointment. I went to jay last year and really loved the uncrowded mountain and "old" vermont feeling. I hope they control the growth in the town. Large amounts of housing will affect ski conditions, lift lines, and the entire skiing atmosphere. You don't want the mountain to develope into a over populated mountain and take over jay's layed back hardcore skiiers and riders only atmosphere. You also must remember jay only has 76 trails. Out of all of those a lot are either glades or very steep trails. Imagine how crowded regular trails will be. The tram already has super long waits at time. A lot of this is people not wanting to ride the Green Mountain "Freezer." Jay will need to improve current lifts within the next 2 seasons or lines will be a problem. Anyone in favor of the west bowl exspansion should like the idea. More people, more money. More money means that they will be able to proceed with the west bowl and other upgrades in the near future. All I have to say is Jay must open more terrain, and better lifts to accompany the growing size. Even then Jay is still losing a lot of its legendary atmosphere. It's to bad to see a mountain so great becoming over populated.
SnowRider
SnowRider
riverc0il
New member
i saw this in the wreck this morning, and i think the numbers and headline are a bit misleading. here is a quote from the article:
while 7% sounds like a huge increase, jay put in a golf course and announced plans for a major redesign of the base area and expansion of skiing terrain. it may actually be surprising that jay only has an additional 32 homes considering the news. we will see what the trend is, trends are more important than one year numbers. where ever the development is, i haven't noticed anything coming in on 242 from the east.
snowrider, you must have either skied jay mid-week or on a non-powder day, lol. standing in line at the jet for 15 minutes early season for a foot and a half was more than worth it, but jay is only uncrowded when there is no reason for people to drive four hours. on non-powder days though, only the tram has much of a wait from my experience, and the only reason to ride the tram is to ski vallhala, green beret, or something off the face. best done first thing in the morning to avoid the wait.
while 7% sounds like a huge increase, jay put in a golf course and announced plans for a major redesign of the base area and expansion of skiing terrain. it may actually be surprising that jay only has an additional 32 homes considering the news. we will see what the trend is, trends are more important than one year numbers. where ever the development is, i haven't noticed anything coming in on 242 from the east.
snowrider, you must have either skied jay mid-week or on a non-powder day, lol. standing in line at the jet for 15 minutes early season for a foot and a half was more than worth it, but jay is only uncrowded when there is no reason for people to drive four hours. on non-powder days though, only the tram has much of a wait from my experience, and the only reason to ride the tram is to ski vallhala, green beret, or something off the face. best done first thing in the morning to avoid the wait.
Newpylong
Well-known member
Do not fear, due to its location, I don't think this stuff is ever going to become an issue.
Newpylong said:
Well, we say that but folks keep coming. I was talking to a guy from NJ this weekend, a "big talker," and he was raving about how cheap land was and how cheap houses were....maybe they are for him but not us locals :roll: He wanted to buy a place just to have it and rent it out. When people can't get land or houses near Loon, WV, North Conway, or Stowe, they go to Jay. And then you have to factor in the folks who really want to be there.
loafer89
New member
I agree that Jay is far enough off the beaten path to avoid mega crowds and expansion, when there are so many other resorts for people to go to on the way up north to Jay. I really do not understand why people avoid the Green Mountain Flyer so much, yeah the lift can be cold, but so is Eastern skiing. I rode the lift with high single number temperatures, and if you are dressed properly it's not a big deal.
loafer89 said:
If the Freezer is closed, then the mtn is pretty much closed...it is amazing how people bit$%ed when there was no HSQ and now are bit%^ing because there is one.
SkiDog
New member
thetrailboss said:
damned if you do, damned if you dont right???
Dress correctly there is NO lift thats cold.....its supposed to be cold...its winter and you're recreating OUTSIDE...DUH....
M
SkiDog said:
You got it, brotha.
loafer89
New member
The cold temperatures and windchill on the Flyer felt good last March, far better than the 99.1F outside my house right now. If you really want a cold lift, ride the Timberline Quad at Sugarloaf on a January day.
riverc0il
New member
i beg to differ. when the freezer and the tram are closed, it's the best time to visit the mountain. the best stuff is off the jet/bon chairs any ways. i avoid the freezer due to terrain choices and the wind, i don't mind the cold.thetrailboss said:
riverc0il said:
Well, honestly when both the Freezer and Tram are closed due to wind and weather, the Bonaventure is closed as well. Jet does allow access to a fair amount of the mountain, but you lose the Beaver Pond area as well as the areas off the ridge where GMF and Bonaventure terminate.
That said, there is some good stuff off of Jet and they have it set up so that you can get a lot of stuff off that one lift.
riverc0il
New member
well, if you factor in the bonaventure being closed too, it does limit your options quite a bit. but wind hold are my two favorite words when it has just recently or is currently snowing. jet by itself really isn't worth full priced admission, do they drop prices if they have three major lifts closed?
from_the_NEK
Active member
My best powder day of the year occured at Jay when the Tram and Flyer were closed. A short hike brought me to AMAZING untracked powder. 8) 8) However, the traverse back to the Bonny to go back up was no fun.:evil:
riverc0il said:
I think they may now...especially on weekends.
When I went there on a day in 2000, they had this scenario and I paid the VTer rate. Great pow, but no GMF or tram.
awf170
New member
The Freezer, i mean flyer is to cold for me, I'll admit it. No other lift even comes close to how cold that thing is. If I have to have 4 layers on and my face fully covered it is not my idea of fun. Plus is you have to wear that much for the ride up you will boil on the way down.
kcyanks1
New member
The triple chair at Gore Mountain gets pretty cold too for a stretch near the end of the lift. I think the Freezer is probably a little worse, or cold for longer, but Gore's chair deserves mention. I actually seem to recall a thread on this once.
Tin Woodsman
Well-known member
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the problem with the Freezer isn't its existance, it's the location. Jay could have run the quad up the River Quai trail and had it terminate close to the #2 tram tower. Instead, in order to facilitate access to all of Ullr's Dream, they terminated it on the shoulder.thetrailboss said:
So to sum it up, they:
1) Increased the ride time by close to a minute
2) Dramatically increased the % of the ride time spent sitting in the teeth of the prevailing NW winds
3) Destroyed the entrance to Staircase
All in order to facilitate access to the top 10% of Ullr's Dream (they could have cut a small cat walk to access the bottom 90% from tower 2). Well done Jay Peak!
loafer89
New member
The long side of Spillway at Sugarloaf can also be VERY cold and windy near the top.
Oh how I miss the -20F weather on such a disgustingly hot day.
Oh how I miss the -20F weather on such a disgustingly hot day.
Tin Woodsman said:
Yes, the location is problematic. But they did it there to access not just Ullr's, but those trails which were all underused. IIRC they also intended to be able to get access to that side of the mountain if the tram was down, but when they built the liftline, they took out WAY too many trees and it is very exposed as a result. So they shot themselves in the foot. I'm not sure running it to near Bonaventure would have helped...in fact it would have made things much worse in the middle part of the mountain there. But then again, what good does it do if it is not operating???
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