The 2006 AlpineZone Ski Area Challenge: JAY PEAK RESORT

[thetrailboss]

Steve Wright, The Director of Marketing and Sales at Jay Peak Resort has agreed to take the 2006 Alpine Zone Challenge!!! This is your opportunity to ask questions, offer suggestions, or say some praise to the men and women who are in charge of the Northeast’s Ski Areas. Please post some suggested questions in this thread and we'll select ten to present for official responses.

Also please don't be offended if we edit/change your question for grammar, tone, or some other minor thing. In order to get in all of the questions we MAY merge some questions but we'll do our best to keep the substance of your question. If we don't get your question in, feel free to post a follow up after we get the results...we are encouraging the representatives follow the threads. :wink:

As always, please be respectful of Steve and keep it civil. Also, please refrain from asking specifics about skier visit numbers, financials, demographic information, etc. Jay needs to be discrete about certain information.

We are honored to have Jay join us for their THIRD AZ Challenge!!! :beer: It’s also Steve’s third!!! Please take advantage of this special opportunity!

Ask away!

Jay Peak’s Profile
Jay’s 2004 Alpine Zone Challenge Responses
Jay’s 2005 Alpine Zone Challenge Responses

 

[JPTracker]

1) Lifts:

I understand that you are currently talking to lift manufacturers for new lifts for both the West Bowl and to replace exisiting lifts.

What kind and how many lifts are you looking at for the West Bowl?

One plan I heard is that you will be replacing the Bonaventure Quad with a high speed quad. Then the chairs from the old quad will be rehung on the Jet. The balance of the bonaventure parts will then be used to replace the Quenns T-bar and possibly relocate it for use in the park on Lower Canam. Can you confirm this and elaborate on the plan for the T-bar. Which season is this being planned for?

The old Green Mountain Double is being kept in storage. Are there any plans to reuse it for the west bowl.


2) Base Lodge:

The next step in developing the base area is to build the new lodge building next to the existing base lodge. After this then the hotel will be replaced and then the existing base lodge renovated. When will construction of the new base lodge begin? Where does the West Bowl fit into this sequence? Will is start after the new lodge building is complete or after everything is complete?

3) Trails:

At the end of this past season you had a new policy for closing trails. Instead of closing a trail because there was walking required you left the trail open and posted that walking was required. This was great since it left alot of good trails open which were in great shape except for small areas. Do you intend to keep this policy?

4) Terrain Park:

A small building has been placed near the top of the terain park. What is the purpose of this building? Any significant changes to the park this year?

 

[NHpowderhound]

Steve,

Congradulations on helping to keep Jay a unique skiiing experience. I hope with all this expansion talk you will continue to keep the Jay a simple skiers mountain.

Here are a couple suggestions for the new base lodge.
1. Bathrooms that dont require the use of stairs to get to.
2. Put the lounge in the upper part of the building, not the dungeon/basement.

And now a couple questions.
1. Do you and Bill think with the new border crossing policy requireing a passport starting January 2007 will cut down skier visits from the Canadian market? Any plans to give a heads up about this on the website? Some folks may not know.

2. What is your favorite trail/glade at Jay and why.

Thanks again Steve for taking the time to answer our questions here at Alpine Zone. We have a great community of folks here that share a passion for snow.

((*
*))NHPH

 

[Vortex]

In the past I have found your involvement is discusiion boards fun, and at times a bit crazy. I enjoyed some of the events you hosted in the past, alot of fun.
I have heard your Jay board is not operational. Any interest in getting your past group over here? We would enjoy your posting when possible as well.

 

[SnowRider]

Any plans to put in trees, fences ext. to protect wind swept trails?

Honestly, what is the time frame we are looking at for the west bowl to develope?

Maybe you should put plastic shields over the Green Mountain Flyer. Has any thought gone to how to make the ride up on the Green Mountain Flyer more enjoyable?

Any new park features, snowmaking ext.?

Jay doesn't really have a reputation as an intermidiate mountain. Are you trying to change this?

Will more grooming take place this season?

Any new event sceduled?

What is new this season?

Thank you,
SnowRider

P.S. The sledding and fireworks are an awsome idea! A great display of fireworks too!

 

[awf170]

Maybe you should put plastic shields over the Green Mountain Flyer. Has any thought gone to how to make the ride up on the Green Mountain Flyer more enjoyable?

That will make it closed even more often. Wind shields catch way more wind then just a regular chair. I bet with wind shields it would be closed 2 out 3 days. They should put wind shields and huge counter weights hanging from the bottom. :razz:

 

[maplevalleymaster]

On your trail map it has had proposed expansion for a long time. Any word on this?

 

[thetrailboss]

I'm curious as to why Jay is now selling joint student passes with Bolton when it cancelled the same promotion with Burke last season. Why Bolton and not Burke? One rumor I had heard was that Jay was, "sick of Burke College Passholders skiing at Jay," and that there were revenue reasons. Well, isn't having a pass with Bolton, who is closer to more colleges and universities going to result in the same thing and ergo leaving you to cancel that promotion as well?

 

[riverc0il]

2. What is your favorite trail/glade at Jay and why.

that is a cool question.

regarding the jay/burke thing, i don't recall the mountains doing a combo promotion last season. i thought last season the passes were not good at both mountains. i do recall heavy promotion on campus to get students to sign up for a pass at both burke and jay, but all the promos were seperate. i think the jay/bolton thing makes a lot of sense because it gives students with classes all day the option to night ski at bolton.

i have no questions, but wanted to comment that steve wright has answered some questions i have asked in the past and responded to feedback in a very candid manner. great service and very straight forward and i am sure you guys will get some great answers on this challenge.

 

[BeanoNYC]

What's the update with you're recent battle with local police over speed traps? Has the rift led to any other problems with the local authorities?

 

[eatskisleep]

Maybe you should put plastic shields over the Green Mountain Flyer. Has any thought gone to how to make the ride up on the Green Mountain Flyer more enjoyable?

Anyone who's ever visited Jay during a cold January day knows that the worst part of the resort is the Green Mountain Flyer (Freezer). After the lift crosses Goat Run (the first time) the wind can become unbearable. Are there any plans to enclose the lift (maybe a shield)? In that same regard, are there any plans to build fences/plant trees to help stop the wind that can scrape snow off the trails and leave resembling more of an ice rink rather than a ski slope? Some locations that can be particularly bad are the top of Exhibition (which is almost always unskiable), the top/middle part of Northwest Passage (which is always closed), and Upper Can Am. How about adding a surface lift that accesses the Upper Mountain and could be used during windy days? Jay has enough of a die hard cult that would still use an exposed surface lift to get into the trees on a brutal day. Steve Wright :There are no plans to enclose the Flyer with a shield as, largely, it'd create the potential for dangerous situations w/respect to swinging, wind-propelled chairs. Planting trees would be a costly, high maintenance project that, given the wind speed, probably would net much in terms of results. Without years of grow-in, there just isn't much hope for trees, even big ones, to be able to withstand the wind throttle that buffets that area. Fences, on the other hand, may provide some protection and it's actually something that's presently being considered. I would suspect that there is a limited chance that you'd see some development for this season (3 in 10), and a better chance for FY07 (7 in 10). A surface lift may be an alternative, but will be a consideration only after you've/we've seen measurable progress out in The West Bowl.

 

[thetrailboss]

that is a cool question.

regarding the jay/burke thing, i don't recall the mountains doing a combo promotion last season. i thought last season the passes were not good at both mountains. i do recall heavy promotion on campus to get students to sign up for a pass at both burke and jay, but all the promos were seperate. i think the jay/bolton thing makes a lot of sense because it gives students with classes all day the option to night ski at bolton.

i have no questions, but wanted to comment that steve wright has answered some questions i have asked in the past and responded to feedback in a very candid manner. great service and very straight forward and i am sure you guys will get some great answers on this challenge.

Riv--

The deal "mysteriously" ended last season....in fact, it was hinted at in here. It was in effect from 2000-2005. Full reciprocity. One reason put forward was that Jay complained that "too many LSC students were coming on Burke passes," which is interesting because in 2002 Jay was selling the same pass as Burke and undercutting them on price.

 

[riverc0il]

Riv--

The deal "mysteriously" ended last season....in fact, it was hinted at in here. It was in effect from 2000-2005. Full reciprocity. One reason put forward was that Jay complained that "too many LSC students were coming on Burke passes," which is interesting because in 2002 Jay was selling the same pass as Burke and undercutting them on price.

gotcha. they also made recipricole midweek only for the adult pass. i suspect that the recipricol deal works out much better for burke pass holders than jay pass holders. though i am getting the jay pass this year and the burke recipricol midweek was an important factor, else i might have winged it without a pass. you gotta wonder if the bolton has been more amiable towards jay than ginn? though i still see the add on of bolton as a night skiing only option for the college crowd in an effort to swing them towards a jay pass. burlington college kids would most likely be looking at the stowe pass option which would include night skiing, so it levels the playing field a bit for jay. this probably has more benefits than partnering with burke as burke really has nothing to add to a college combo pass, at least from a marketing/business/financial POV.

 

[thetrailboss]

gotcha. they also made recipricole midweek only for the adult pass. i suspect that the recipricol deal works out much better for burke pass holders than jay pass holders. though i am getting the jay pass this year and the burke recipricol midweek was an important factor, else i might have winged it without a pass. you gotta wonder if the bolton has been more amiable towards jay than ginn? though i still see the add on of bolton as a night skiing only option for the college crowd in an effort to swing them towards a jay pass. burlington college kids would most likely be looking at the stowe pass option which would include night skiing, so it levels the playing field a bit for jay. this probably has more benefits than partnering with burke as burke really has nothing to add to a college combo pass, at least from a marketing/business/financial POV.

Riv--

I think you hit the nail on the head. Twice.

First, Jay was probably not as motivated to help Burke once a multimillion (or billion) company bought it. The point of the deal was to boost Burke pass sales when the mountain was owned and operated by Burke 2000. It was to be a nice gesture. But once the mountain was stablized, it became a competitor. I had heard the LSC College rumor on the mountain from reliable sources, but I think it is a combo of both reasons.

And I think you're right that the plan is to compete with Stowe. ASC's pass is now the same price as the Stowe Pass, so the Stowe Product has in essence stayed the same price or come down. Maybe Stowe dropped their blackouts. At any rate, those who really want a Stowe Pass will get it. Now with the OB options and snow of Bolton AND Jay, along with the night skiing, you have a better deal at a better price.

 

[thetrailboss]

And on a note, re: the challenge. We've had questions about chair covers and replanting trees and these are not going to be asked again for this Challenge. In fairness, the Burke Pass question will probably not be submitted again.

 

[smootharc]

Snowfall totals....

We all know Jay gets that extra bit (or more) of frosting than it's neighbors....

But there's also some who grumble that Jay really lays it on thick with "exaggerated" snowfall totals. Or at least more exaggeration than is "normal" for ski areas. Please comment.

How & where are Jay's snowfall totals calculated ? Who takes the measurements & when are they taken ?

Thanks.

 

[JPTracker]

The Glade & Chute Bash was held once a few years ago but seems to get cancelled every year since due to weather. Do you plan to try it again this year. What other events do you have planned? Powder Eight? UN bump competition (Not sure of the name)? Pond Skimming? Competitions in the terrain park?

 

[eatskisleep]

Add any extreme skiing competition off of the ridge to that list.

 

[JPTracker]

Add any extreme skiing competition off of the ridge to that list.

The Glade & Chute Bash started with elimination runs on the Face and ended with runs off the Saddle (the ridge).

 

[eatskisleep]

The Glade & Chute Bash started with elimination runs on the Face and ended with runs off the Saddle (the ridge).

;-) Okay I see... Sounds pretty cool.