Jay Peak
Encyclopedia
Jay Peak Resort is an American ski resort
located on Jay Peak
, outside the village of Jay in the town of Jay
, Vermont
in the Green Mountains
. Its vertical drop of 2153 feet (656 m) is the eighth largest in New England
and the fifth largest in Vermont.
The resort is just 4 miles (6.5 km) south of the Canada–United States border, the province of Quebec
. Jay Peak Resort is owned and operated by a group of investors headed by Bill Stenger.
In 2008 the property was valued by the town of Jay at slightly over $12 million.
Although Jay Peak bears the name and is mostly closely associated with the nearby town of Jay
, the summit of Jay Peak as well as the Jet Triple Chair area and much of the Big Jay backcountry descent is located in Westfield, Vermont
.
The ski trails were carved into the mountain during the 1950s primarily by its first ski school director/general manager, Walter Foeger, an Austrian and former racer who had previously trained the Spanish Olympic ski team. He arrived in 1956. He developed a method of teaching parallel skiing that avoided first having to teach the student snowplow/stem turns. Instead, students were taught to change direction by means of a slight hop keeping the tips of the skis on the snow, and displacing the back of the skis sideways. He called his ski teaching method "Natur Teknik" (natural technique). The Jay Peak ski school offered a "learn to ski in a week" guarantee. The method was adopted by a number of other ski areas.
In 1955 a T-bar and a ski lift
were purchased. In January 1957, the resort was opened for skiing.
In 1968 Weyerhaeuser
invested $300,000 in the predecessor organization, Jay Peak, Inc., and loaned it $2.2 million.
In the mid-1970s, a 48-room hotel was built.
In 1978 Mont Saint-Sauveur International bought the resort.
To encourage Canadian tourism, the resort used to accept Canadian money
at par. As of 2010, this is still true for lift tickets and the cafeteria.
In 2007, the resort agreed to pay the state $105,000 for violating stormwater rules in polluting a stream while building a new golf course.
Despite a drop in skier visits statewide during the 2006-07 season, Jay Peak saw a record year with skier visits up 7%.
In 2006, the resort employed 550 people in the winter, 100 in the summer. In 2008, it was the second biggest employer in the area.
In 2007-8, the resort reported a record 320,000 skiers for the winter.
In 2008, a group headed by Bill Stenger purchased the resort. Stenger's plan was to invest $100 million in capital improvements for the resort over the next few years.
The new management announced plans for capital improvements. A new 57-room hotel would be added in 2008-9. Then the current 48-room hotel would be demolished in 2009-10 and replaced with a 120-room hotel in 2010-11. It would include a spa, conference center, skating facility, and a 33000 square feet (3,066 m²) water park. They projected that employment would be 600 year around instead of just in the winter, as it was in 2008.
Management planned to expand the skiing to a third peak for the 2011-2012 season. The new area would be known as the West Bowl and had been marked on trail maps as a Proposed Ski Expansion Area since the 2002-2003 ski season.
The company raised $250 million for improvements in 2009-10, from 250 investors from 43 companies through the incentive of the federal EB-5 visa
. Under this visa, every $500,000 invested in the U.S. that results in ten new jobs gains the investor permanent residence.
A three-way swap was made with the state in 2010. The state deeded 59.8 acres (24.2 ha) to the resort; the resort relinquished its lease to a 418 acres (169.2 ha) parcel of nearby undeveloped forest back to the state; and the resort sold 166 acres (67.2 ha) to the Green Mountain Club
to ensure that the nearby 3.5 miles (5.6 km) of Long Trail
would have a permanent buffer from ski-area development.
In 2010, $13 million worth of improvements were made including an indoor ice arena, a parking garage, an enclosed beginners lift, and a new RFID ticketing system. The old Hotel Jay was razed and replace with a new 170-room one.
In 2010, Yankee magazine
named Jay as the best ski resort in New England.
In 2011, the resort agreed to pay an $80,000 fine to the United States Environmental Protection Agency
for filing in 2 acre (0.809372 ha) of wetlands to construct a golf course in 2004-6, without a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. This was the same event that the resort paid a fine to the state in 2007.
Offering off-piste skiing, Jay Peak Resort offers 24 tree-skiing areas, or Glades, covering approximately 100 acres (40.5 ha), which have been trimmed of small vegetation to allow off-piste skiing. For every six glades that the resort "thins or trims" only one appears on the trailmap. Jay has 76 trails covering 385 acres (155 ha) of skiable terrain.
, 3 quads ,1 triple and 1 double 1 t-bar, and 1 magic carpet
. These lifts give the mountain an uphill capacity of approximately 12,000 skiers/hour. The oldest of these lifts, the 60-person aerial tramway
, also known as the "tram", is the only one of its type in the state of Vermont. This tramway was originally installed in 1966 by Von Roll, and upgraded in 2000 with new cabins from Swoboda.
In the mid 1980s the resort began to upgrade its lift capacity. In 1985 it purchased the Jet Triple chair from Doppelmayr
to replace the Jet T-Bar. This was followed in 1987 with the purchase of the Bonaventure Quad which replaced the old Bonaventure Double. In 1999 the resort removed the Green Mountain Double chair, which had serviced the north side of the mountain for 30 years, and replaced it with the Green Mountain Flyer (dubbed the "Green Mountain Freezer" by skiers because of its notoriously cold ride due to the strong winds blowing on it), the mountain's first high-speed detachable chairlift
.
Other lifts that currently serve the mountain are the Metro Quad, the Village Double, the Queen's Highway T-Bar and the Magic Carpet.
To gain access to the lifts, an RFID system scans a chip embedded in a plastic card which is typically held in the skier's pocket.
80% of the slots are covered.
An 18-hole golf course was constructed in 2011 near the ski area.
Ski resort
A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing and other winter sports. In Europe a ski resort is a town or village in a ski area - a mountainous area, where there are ski trails and supporting services such as hotels and other accommodation, restaurants, equipment rental and a ski lift system...
located on Jay Peak
Jay Peak (Vermont)
Jay Peak is a mountain located about 5 mi. south of the United States-Canada border, in Jay and Westfield, Orleans County, Vermont, of which it is the highest point.Most of the mountain is in Jay Peak State Forest....
, outside the village of Jay in the town of Jay
Jay, Vermont
Jay is one of the northernmost towns in Orleans County, Vermont, United States, located on the Canadian border. The population was 426 at the 2000 census. Jay is named for John Jay, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. The US Census Bureau estimated that the town's population had...
, Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
in the Green Mountains
Green Mountains
The Green Mountains are a mountain range in the U.S. state of Vermont. The range extends approximately .-Peaks:The most notable mountains in the range include:*Mount Mansfield, , the highest point in Vermont*Killington Peak, *Mount Ellen,...
. Its vertical drop of 2153 feet (656 m) is the eighth largest in New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
and the fifth largest in Vermont.
The resort is just 4 miles (6.5 km) south of the Canada–United States border, the province of Quebec
Quebec
Quebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
. Jay Peak Resort is owned and operated by a group of investors headed by Bill Stenger.
In 2008 the property was valued by the town of Jay at slightly over $12 million.
Although Jay Peak bears the name and is mostly closely associated with the nearby town of Jay
Jay, Vermont
Jay is one of the northernmost towns in Orleans County, Vermont, United States, located on the Canadian border. The population was 426 at the 2000 census. Jay is named for John Jay, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. The US Census Bureau estimated that the town's population had...
, the summit of Jay Peak as well as the Jet Triple Chair area and much of the Big Jay backcountry descent is located in Westfield, Vermont
Westfield, Vermont
Westfield is a town in Orleans County, Vermont in the United States. The population was 503 at the 2000 census. It is the least densely populated town in the county...
.
History
In 1955 a T-bar and a ski lift
Ski lift
The term ski lift generally refers to any transport device that carries skiers up a hill. A ski lift may fall into one of the following three main classes:-Lift systems and networks:...
were purchased. In January 1957, the resort was opened for skiing.
In 1968 Weyerhaeuser
Weyerhaeuser
Weyerhaeuser is one of the largest pulp and paper companies in the world. It is the world's largest private sector owner of softwood timberland; and the second largest owner of United States timberland, behind Plum Creek Timber...
invested $300,000 in the predecessor organization, Jay Peak, Inc., and loaned it $2.2 million.
In the mid-1970s, a 48-room hotel was built.
In 1978 Mont Saint-Sauveur International bought the resort.
To encourage Canadian tourism, the resort used to accept Canadian money
Canadian dollar
The Canadian dollar is the currency of Canada. As of 2007, the Canadian dollar is the 7th most traded currency in the world. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, or C$ to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies...
at par. As of 2010, this is still true for lift tickets and the cafeteria.
In 2007, the resort agreed to pay the state $105,000 for violating stormwater rules in polluting a stream while building a new golf course.
Despite a drop in skier visits statewide during the 2006-07 season, Jay Peak saw a record year with skier visits up 7%.
In 2006, the resort employed 550 people in the winter, 100 in the summer. In 2008, it was the second biggest employer in the area.
In 2007-8, the resort reported a record 320,000 skiers for the winter.
In 2008, a group headed by Bill Stenger purchased the resort. Stenger's plan was to invest $100 million in capital improvements for the resort over the next few years.
The new management announced plans for capital improvements. A new 57-room hotel would be added in 2008-9. Then the current 48-room hotel would be demolished in 2009-10 and replaced with a 120-room hotel in 2010-11. It would include a spa, conference center, skating facility, and a 33000 square feet (3,066 m²) water park. They projected that employment would be 600 year around instead of just in the winter, as it was in 2008.
Management planned to expand the skiing to a third peak for the 2011-2012 season. The new area would be known as the West Bowl and had been marked on trail maps as a Proposed Ski Expansion Area since the 2002-2003 ski season.
The company raised $250 million for improvements in 2009-10, from 250 investors from 43 companies through the incentive of the federal EB-5 visa
EB-5 visa
The EB-5 visa for Immigrant Investors is a United States visa created by the Immigration Act of 1990. This visa provides a method of obtaining a green card for foreign nationals who invest money in the United States. To obtain the visa, individuals must invest $1,000,000 , creating or preserving...
. Under this visa, every $500,000 invested in the U.S. that results in ten new jobs gains the investor permanent residence.
A three-way swap was made with the state in 2010. The state deeded 59.8 acres (24.2 ha) to the resort; the resort relinquished its lease to a 418 acres (169.2 ha) parcel of nearby undeveloped forest back to the state; and the resort sold 166 acres (67.2 ha) to the Green Mountain Club
Green Mountain Club
The Green Mountain Club is a non-profit membership organization dedicated to preserving and protecting Vermont's Long Trail - America's first long-distance hiking trail which stretches from Massachusetts to the Canadian border along Vermont's high ridgeline...
to ensure that the nearby 3.5 miles (5.6 km) of Long Trail
Long Trail
The Long Trail is a hiking trail located in Vermont, running the length of the state. It is the oldest long-distance trail in the United States, constructed between 1910 and 1930 by the Green Mountain Club...
would have a permanent buffer from ski-area development.
In 2010, $13 million worth of improvements were made including an indoor ice arena, a parking garage, an enclosed beginners lift, and a new RFID ticketing system. The old Hotel Jay was razed and replace with a new 170-room one.
In 2010, Yankee magazine
Yankee (magazine)
Yankee Magazine was founded in 1935 and is based in Dublin, New Hampshire. It is the only magazine devoted to New England through its coverage of travel, home, food, and features...
named Jay as the best ski resort in New England.
In 2011, the resort agreed to pay an $80,000 fine to the United States Environmental Protection Agency
United States Environmental Protection Agency
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged with protecting human health and the environment, by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress...
for filing in 2 acre (0.809372 ha) of wetlands to construct a golf course in 2004-6, without a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. This was the same event that the resort paid a fine to the state in 2007.
Trails
Snowfall
The summit is at an elevation of 3,858 feet (1,176 m), with a 2,015 foot (614 m) vertical drop. Jay Peak has the largest average annual snowfall (355 inches or 9 metres) of any ski area in Eastern North America, including Mount Washington (which averages 645 cm / 253.9 inches annually on the summit). In 2007-8, the resort reported 419 inches (1,064 cm) of snowfall.Lift Capacity
Jay Peak is currently serviced by eight lifts: 1 aerial tramwayAerial tramway
An aerial tramway , cable car , ropeway or aerial tram is a type of aerial lift which uses one or two stationary ropes for support while a third moving rope provides propulsion...
, 3 quads ,1 triple and 1 double 1 t-bar, and 1 magic carpet
Magic carpet (ski lift)
A magic carpet is a type of surface lift installed at ski areas to transport skiers and snowboarders up the hill...
. These lifts give the mountain an uphill capacity of approximately 12,000 skiers/hour. The oldest of these lifts, the 60-person aerial tramway
Aerial tramway
An aerial tramway , cable car , ropeway or aerial tram is a type of aerial lift which uses one or two stationary ropes for support while a third moving rope provides propulsion...
, also known as the "tram", is the only one of its type in the state of Vermont. This tramway was originally installed in 1966 by Von Roll, and upgraded in 2000 with new cabins from Swoboda.
In the mid 1980s the resort began to upgrade its lift capacity. In 1985 it purchased the Jet Triple chair from Doppelmayr
Doppelmayr
The Doppelmayr Garaventa Group is an Austrian-Swiss company that manufactures chairlifts, cable cars, gondolas, surface tows for ski and amusement parks as well as urban people movers and material handling systems. To date, Doppelmayr and Garaventa have produced over 13,700 installations in 78...
to replace the Jet T-Bar. This was followed in 1987 with the purchase of the Bonaventure Quad which replaced the old Bonaventure Double. In 1999 the resort removed the Green Mountain Double chair, which had serviced the north side of the mountain for 30 years, and replaced it with the Green Mountain Flyer (dubbed the "Green Mountain Freezer" by skiers because of its notoriously cold ride due to the strong winds blowing on it), the mountain's first high-speed detachable chairlift
Detachable chairlift
A detachable chairlift or high-speed chairlift is a type of passenger aerial lift, which, like a fixed-grip chairlift, consists of numerous chairs attached to a constantly moving wire rope that is strung between two terminals over intermediate towers. They are now commonplace at all but the...
.
Other lifts that currently serve the mountain are the Metro Quad, the Village Double, the Queen's Highway T-Bar and the Magic Carpet.
To gain access to the lifts, an RFID system scans a chip embedded in a plastic card which is typically held in the skier's pocket.
Other facilities
There is a league-sized hockey rink, the Ice Haus, with room for 700 spectators, Next to it is a 220 space parking garage, the first in the Northeast KingdomNortheast Kingdom
The Northeast Kingdom is a term used to describe the northeast corner of the U.S. state of Vermont, comprising Essex, Orleans and Caledonia Counties and having a population of 62,438. In Vermont, the written term "NEK" is often used. The term is attributed to the late George D. Aiken, former...
80% of the slots are covered.
An 18-hole golf course was constructed in 2011 near the ski area.