News from Jay

[BigJay]

At last look the new terrain was going to have some HS lifts serving some relatively straight intermediate cruisers. Has that changed?

I'm not sure the terrain can handle HS-lifts... Not much vert... i think they're looking at 1200ft vertical... smalller then the jet area... might be able to squeeze in two lifts in there... But i don't know how they'll be able to afford 2 new lifts...

They need to replace the quad (will be done this year) and the tripple... That's 2 brand new lifts... So the west bowl might have to "recycle" something... A bonnie and tripple with new engine and mech? (recycle the towers and chairs?)

 

[JPTracker]

I'm not sure the terrain can handle HS-lifts... Not much vert... i think they're looking at 1200ft vertical... smalller then the jet area... might be able to squeeze in two lifts in there... But i don't know how they'll be able to afford 2 new lifts...

They need to replace the quad (will be done this year) and the tripple... That's 2 brand new lifts... So the west bowl might have to "recycle" something... A bonnie and tripple with new engine and mech? (recycle the towers and chairs?)

They are talking three lifts stateside, probably two new detachables ~ 5 mil each, and 2 - 3 lifts in the west bowl. In addition they are also replacing the stateside lodge and adding new facilities in the west bowl. Don't forget a lot of this is being done with their EB-5 money and now that they own Stateside anything is possible.

 

[deadheadskier]

been a long time since I've skied Jay, but I know the mountain well. 2 detachables stateside would concern me IF they happened before a west bowl expansion with a decent intermediate trail pod to attract traffic. Really no room Stateside for more trails and would hate to see widening of what's there to accommodate the increased traffic.

Now, if you take 25% of the traffic out of the equation and divert them to another area of the mountain such that the Stateside trail network can remain unchanged AND you get to lap it quicker via detachable lifts; that I get. It would certainly track things out faster on powder days, but having all major pods serviced by detachable lifts is an expectation of the ski 'vacationer' these days.

 

[riverc0il]

Detaches stateside would be a major bummer. On windy days, Jay often only runs with the Jet and Bonnie (along with the lower mountain transfer lifts). Detaches instead of fixed grips could substantially increase the number of wind hold days during which Jay does not operate any upper mountain lifts.

There are two plus sides to this formula. The first is the benefit for turn earners (though I would rather ride the lift and score a dozen powder runs than earn 3-4). The other benefit is for those that get to the mountain early. Even on a powder day, if you get to Jay at opening bell, you can essentially score two hours of completely untracked powder easily enough. High speed lifts would increase the rate at which the fat board powder hounds chew up the untracked before everyone else gets to the mountain.

Overall, I think these two things would be good for select people bad very bad overall for the product. The Jet is such a short vertical trail pod that I would think lines might get even worse with a high speed lift (even if uphill capacity is increased, groomer skiers can quickly zip back down and queue up really quickly on Jet and Haynes). Personally, I would rather see fixed grip replacements. If they have to do a high speeder, the Bonnie is the place to put it. At least then on high wind days they could run the Jet but man would that have long lines on a windy powder day following a storm with all other lifts shut down. The benefit of hiking would be completely off set by half hour lines.

 

[JPTracker]

Right now nothing has been decided. That is why they hired Walter Elander. He is not only looking into the West Bowl but also the rest of the mountain, the effects of new lifts stateside, current trail layout and choke points. Hopefully this does not mean major trail changes.

I do agree that replacing the Bonnie would mean more down time due to wind and possibly icing. I've been at Jay many times when the Flyer goes down due to wind or ice and the Bonnie stays running but the wind is so bad at the top you know that if it were a detachable it would be down.

It would be great if Jay would hold another Forum similar to the one they held before the purchased Jay where they could get feedback from actual skiers at Jay. Also I hope that Walter spends a lot of time on the mountain this season in good weather and bad so he has first hand experience of the problems of both weather and crowds. But I feel that they also need to get feedback from Jay regulars who have skied the mountain for years before they make any drastic changes.

 

[thetrailboss]

I was not aware that there were any lift replacements scheduled for this summer. If so, it is getting late....

 

[JPTracker]

I was not aware that there were any lift replacements scheduled for this summer. If so, it is getting late....

No new lifts this summer. Probably two years out.

 

[thetrailboss]

No new lifts this summer. Probably two years out.

OK that's what I thought until I saw this comment:

They need to replace the quad (will be done this year) and the tripple...)

 

[Tin Woodsman]

At last look the new terrain was going to have some HS lifts serving some relatively straight intermediate cruisers. Has that changed?

FWIW, Jay has publicly repudiated/dismissed those early renderings as simple being conceptual and not reflective of the actual plan. It is likely that if Walter Erlander is being charged with executing this expansion, he'll have a say as well.

 

[thetrailboss]

FWIW, Jay has publicly repudiated/dismissed those early renderings as simple being conceptual and not reflective of the actual plan. It is likely that if Walter Erlander is being charged with executing this expansion, he'll have a say as well.

Where has this happened? I have not seen it. Here is the last AZ Challenge: http://www.alpinezone.com/skiing/articles/challenge/2006/response.htm?resort=jay saying that the plan was going "sideways." The last plan I saw had the intermediate cruising terrain that has been mentioned. Is there a new plan?

 

[BigJay]

No new lifts this summer. Probably two years out.

Well, i've heard from people at the mountain in April that the replacement for the Bonnie was bought already... Didn't they confirm it at the homeowners meeting?

From what i know, both stateside lifts are fried and unreliable. The Jet had major issues and a generator runs the bonnie on weekends...

 

[JPTracker]

Well, i've heard from people at the mountain in April that the replacement for the Bonnie was bought already... Didn't they confirm it at the homeowners meeting?

From what i know, both stateside lifts are fried and unreliable. The Jet had major issues and a generator runs the bonnie on weekends...

No they did not confirm this. They gave us the impression that lift design and financing was still not done and now that they hired Walter Elander, for mountain planning, they want to reexamine everything first. Someone asked Bill if the lifts would be financed with EB-5 money and he said that before when they didn't own the land that was impossible but now they own the land things are different and the land swap deal only happened about a week ago.

 

[Tin Woodsman]

Where has this happened? I have not seen it. Here is the last AZ Challenge: http://www.alpinezone.com/skiing/articles/challenge/2006/response.htm?resort=jay saying that the plan was going "sideways." The last plan I saw had the intermediate cruising terrain that has been mentioned. Is there a new plan?

For the life of me, I can't remember where it was, but I specifically asked Steve Wright about this either on AZ or maybe the Jay forum and he flat out said that those renderings many had seen were conceptual only, at least form a trail lay-out POV.

 

[kcyanks1]

For the life of me, I can't remember where it was, but I specifically asked Steve Wright about this either on AZ or maybe the Jay forum and he flat out said that those renderings many had seen were conceptual only, at least form a trail lay-out POV.

I remember that too. It was on some message board, whether here or FTO. Steve sometimes just posts in normal threads, so it didn't have to be part of the AZ challenge.