Jay Peak

[kingdom-tele]

no sweat meat, i agree, jay is special, thats why i live here, we are lucky to have both mountains so close, both offer different atmospheres, maybe we should trade on good storm days

-KT

 

[riverc0il]

I believe we are looking at the village condos. Also just wondering peoples standpoint on Burke. Is it a better all around mountain? And does it get enough snow to please the tree skiiers in the family. Just a question.

SnowRider

Burke has more terrain for everyone if you that is what you mean by "all around." Jay is great for powder and for trees, other than that, Jay is not so great. I don't know how folks would rank Jay's beginner terrain, but I think Burke has ideal Beginner learning area and some of the best groomed cruisers around.

Burke gets far less snow than Jay and is still working on bringing their snow making up as wel noticed this past season which was far from stellar. So in a bad snow year, you can still rock and roll at Jay whereas a bad snow year at Burke isn't so hot. But that will change as Ginn continues to develop the place. Jay has established long term stability but with Burke you would also have to consider whether Ginn might have bit off more than it could chew. Burke has a long history of new developers buying the ski area and promising big but then leaving with little. I think Ginn is going to rock and roll the place, but that should be a factor to consider when buying into condos in regards to long term investment.

Burke has some great tree runs. How do they compare with Jay? The trees are generally a little tighter and not quite as natural and open as Jay. I feel more challenged generally in most of Burke's tree runs. But Burke gets far less natural snow and has far fewer total acres of glade (including what is not on the map at Jay, more than 50% less at least if not more). But Burke has less competition for the powder when it actually falls. Several long time Jay skiers I know bemoan Jay's recent surge in popularity these past half dozen years as "the" place to go for a powder day.

To sum up the terrain, if you have skiers in the family mainly looking for great crusing then Burke is far superior. The mountain has some great glades that will keep any tree skier happy (when it snows), but is less reliable with the snow than Jay, so the tree skiing is not ideal.

 

[riverc0il]

Never been to saddleback, but i've heard good things, like to get there some day, seems like it would be like burke in a way. However its hard to make a 3 hour ride through moose country when i've got the goods in my backyard.

don't mean to hyjack the thread, but saddleback is very comparable to burke but even more of a retro feel, especially with the tbar. great glades, more challenging than burke (intimidator and black wizard are by far the tightest tree runs i have ever skied, and i have skied a quite a few). just want to note that i have driven the 3 hour drive from VT to ski saddleback and will definitely be repeating at least once a year if possible. likely when ME gets some snow that VT doesn't which happens at least once or two a season.