Jay Peak Resort

Infobox ski area
name= Jay Peak Resort

nearest_city= Jay, Vermont
lat_degrees= 44
lat_minutes= 55
lat_seconds= 46
lat_direction= N
long_degrees= 72
long_minutes= 31
long_seconds= 56
long_direction= W
top_elevation= 3858 ft (1,176 m)
base_elevation= 1843 ft (553 m)
vertical = convert|2015|ft|m|0
skiable_area= convert|385|acre|km2
number_trails= 76
longest_run= convert|4.828|km|mi|3
liftsystem= 8 (1 Aerial tramway, 5 chairs, 2 surface lifts)
snowfall= convert|9.02|m|ft|2
external_link= [http://www.jaypeakresort.com/ Jay Peak Resort] |

Jay Peak Resort is an American ski resort located on Jay Peak, outside the small village of Jay, Vermont in the Green Mountains. 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.cite book | author = McLean, Dan |title = Investors purchase Jay Peak | publisher = Burlington Free Press | date = July 1, 2008]

In 2008 the property was valued by the town of Jay at slightly over $12 million.cite book | author = Gresser, Joseph |title = Jay expansion projects still on track | publisher = the Chronicle | date = July 2, 2008]

Although Jay Peak bares the name and is mostly closely associated with the nearby town of Jay, the summit of Jay Peak as well as the famous Jet Triple Chair area and much of the celebrated Big Jay backcountry descent is located in Westfield,Vermont.

History

The ski trails were carved into the mountain during the 1950s primarily by its first ski school director/general manager, Walter Foeger [ [http://pages.total.net/~rsoden/article_wfoeger.html Walter Foeger website] ] , an Austrian and former racer who had previously trained the Spanish Olympic ski team. He developed a method of teaching parallel skiing that avoided first having to teach the student snowplow/stem turns. Instead, the student was 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.Fact|date=June 2008

In the mid-1970s, a 48-room hotel was built.cite book | author = McLean, Dan |title = New Jay Peak owners plan $100 million in upgrades | publisher = Burlington Free Press | date = July 2, 2008]

In 1978 Mont Saint-Sauveur International bought the resort.cite book | author = McLean, Dan |title = Investors purchase Jay Peak | publisher = Burlington Free Press | date = July 1, 2008]

To encourage Canadian tourism, the resort used to accept Canadian money at par. As of 2007, 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. [ [http://www.boston.com/news/local/vermont/articles/2007/05/10/jay_peak_to_pay_105000_for_violating_stormwater_rules Jay Peak to pay $105,000 for violating stormwater rules - Boston.com ] ]

Despite a drop statewide during the 2006-07 season, Jay Peak saw a record year with skier visits up 7%. [cite book | author = Wright, Leslie |title = Resorts log worst winder in 12 years | publisher = Burlington Free Press | date = June 7, 2007]

In 2006, the resort employed 550 people in the winter, 100 in the summer. [cite book | author = |title = Voters approve sewer expansion - Jay Peak will pay most of local cost | publisher = the Chronicle | date = August 29, 2007]

In 2007-8, the resort reported a record 320,000 skiers for the winter. [cite book | author = Gresser, Joseph |title = Jay Peak president has big plans | publisher = the Chronicle | date = May 14, 2008]

In 2008, a group headed by Bill Stenger purchased the resort. Stenger had been president of Mont Saint-Sauveur International.cite book | author = McLean, Dan |title = Investors purchase Jay Peak | publisher = Burlington Free Press | date = July 1, 2008]

Trails

Well-known for its off-piste skiing, Jay Peak Resort offers 24 tree-skiing areas, or Glades, covering approximately 100 acres, which have been trimmed of small vegetation to provide enjoyable off-piste skiing. For every six glades that the resort "thins or trims" only one appears on the trailmap. Jay has 76 trailscite book | author = McLean, Dan |title = Investors purchase Jay Peak | publisher = Burlington Free Press | date = July 1, 2008] covering 385 acres (155 ha) of skiable terrain.

nowfall

The summit is at an elevation of 3,858 feet (1,176 m), with a 2,015 foot (656 m) vertical drop.cite book | author = McLean, Dan |title = Investors purchase Jay Peak | publisher = Burlington Free Press | date = July 1, 2008] Jay Peak enjoys 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).cite book | author = Wheeler, Scott |title = The Man Who Helped Electrify the Jay Peak Ski Area | publisher = Northland Journal | month = February | year = 2008] In 2007-8, the resort reported convert|419|in|cm|0 of snowfall.cite book | author = McLean, Dan |title = Investors purchase Jay Peak | publisher = Burlington Free Press | date = July 1, 2008]

Lift Capacity

Jay Peak is currently serviced by 8 lifts, comprised of 1 aerial tramway, 5 chairlifts, 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) [ [http://www.skisnowboard.com/jaypeak/layout.html Guide to Skiing at Jay Peak Resort, Vermont] ] , 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.

The resort offers several on mountain housing options including hotels, condos and townhouses.

In 2006 the resort opened a golf course.

Plans

In 2008, the management announced plans for capital improvements. First, 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 convert|33000|sqft|m2|0 water park. They projected that employment would be 600 year around instead of just in the winter, as it was in 2008.cite book | author = McLean, Dan |title = New Jay Peak owners plan $100 million in upgrades | publisher = Burlington Free Press | date = July 2, 2008]

At least one of the incentives for some of the investors in the projected development was the promise of a federal EB-5 visa under which every $500,000 invested in the U.S. that results in ten new jobs gains the investor permanent residence.cite book | author = Gresser, Joseph |title = Jay expansion projects still on track | publisher = the Chronicle | date = July 2, 2008]

Footnotes

ee also

Jay Peak

External links

* [http://www.jaypeakresort.com Jay Peak Resort]