Jay Peak Resort
Template:Short description Template:Use American English Template:Use mdy dates Template:Infobox ski area
Jay Peak Resort is an American ski resort located on Jay Peak in the northern Green Mountains, between Jay, Vermont and Montgomery Center, Vermont. Its vertical drop of Template:Convert is the eighth largest in New England and the fifth largest in Vermont.<ref>Accurate Ski Resort Ranking with monthly updates. Verticalfeet.com. Retrieved 2014-04-12.</ref> Although mostly located in the town of Jay, part of the resort, including the summit of Jay Peak, the Jet Triple Chair area, and much of the Big Jay backcountry descent, is located in the town of Westfield, Vermont, to the south. The northernmost part of the resort is located 4 miles (6.5 km) south of the border with Quebec, Canada.
The resort opened for skiing in 1957 and later expanded to year-round activities. The mountain offers 81 trails served by nine lifts. It receives the most snowfall of any ski area in the Northeastern U.S.<ref name=Gresser072008>Template:Cite news</ref> and is known for its gladed skiing.<ref name=Cutts/>
In 2008, Jay Peak Resort was purchased by a group of investors headed by Ariel Quiros and the resort's CEO, Bill Stenger. They raised money from EB5 investors and undertook a major expansion of the resort's facilities, adding, among other things, new hotels, condos, an ice rink and a water park. In 2016, Jay Peak and another Vermont mountain, Burke Mountain Ski Area, were seized by U.S. government officials amid investigations regarding fraudulent offerings of securities.<ref name=Doc2016>Official Case Documents case: 16-21301 from SEC</ref> Quiros and Stenger pleaded guilty and received prison sentences.
The resort was operated under US government receivership for more than six years, and in 2022 it was purchased by Pacific Group Resorts, Inc., with proceeds going to the defrauded EB5 investors.<ref name=Closing>"Utah-based company completes purchase of Jay Peak, their second resort in New England", November 3, 2022</ref>
History
First half century
Jay Peak was incorporated by Harold Haynes in 1955.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> That same year, the resort purchased its first ski lift, a T-bar, and in January 1957 it opened for skiing.<ref name="nj0903">Template:Cite journal</ref> Many ski trails were carved into the mountain during the 1950s by its first ski school director/general manager, Walter Foeger, an Austrian and former racer who had previously trained the Spanish Olympic ski team.<ref name="nj0903" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 1968 Weyerhaeuser invested $300,000 in the predecessor organization, Jay Peak, Inc., and loaned it $2.2 million. A 48-room hotel was built in the mid-1970s.<ref name="McLean">Template:Cite news</ref> In 1978 Mont Saint-Sauveur International, a Canadian firm, bought the resort.<ref name="bfp080701">Template:Cite news</ref>
In 2006, the resort employed 550 people in the winter, 100 in the summer.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The following year, the resort agreed to pay the State of Vermont $105,000 for violating stormwater rules in polluting a stream while building a new golf course.<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Dead link</ref> Despite a drop in skier visits statewide during the 2006–2007 season, Jay Peak saw a record year with skier visits up 7%.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2007–2008, the resort reported a record 320,000 skiers for the winter.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2008, it was the second biggest employer in the area.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2008, the resort was valued by the town of Jay at slightly over $12 million.<ref name=Gresser072008/>
EB-5 fraud; water park, ice arena, hotel and other improvements
By 2008, the resort's owner, Mount Saint-Sauveur, began an EB-5 visa program to finance development.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> That year, a group headed by Miami businessman Ariel Quiros and the resort's CEO, Bill Stenger, purchased the resort.<ref name=Cutts>Cutts, Joe. "Kingdom Come and Gone", Ski Magazine, vol. 86, issue no. 4, January 2022, p. 75</ref> Before the purchase of Jay, Quiros claimed that he needed to verify the existence of the $18 million already raised by Mount Saint-Sauveur through the EB-5 program. He persuaded the sellers to put the funds into an account at Raymond James Financial, which employed his son-in-law, who helped to retitle the accounts in Quiros' name immediately before the closing of the sale of Jay. They transferred the funds to other accounts, misusing the EB-5 funds to pay part of the purchase price; they used more EB-5 funds raised later to complete the payments owed to Mount Saint-Sauveur.<ref name=Cutts/>
The new resort company's plan was to invest $100 million in capital improvements for the resort over the next few years.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The resort company raised $250 million by 2010, for improvements at Jay and other nearby projects and purchases, including Burke Mountain Ski Area, from 250 investors from 43 companies through the incentive of the EB-5 program. Under this visa program, every $500,000 invested in the U.S. that results in ten new jobs gains the investor permanent U.S. residence.<ref name=Gresser072008/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Separately from that program, but as part of its ongoing planning, the resort engaged in a three-way swap with the State of Vermont in 2010. The State deeded Template:Convert to the resort. The resort relinquished its lease to a Template:Convert parcel of nearby undeveloped forest back to the state and sold Template:Convert to the Green Mountain Club to ensure that the nearby Template:Convert of Long Trail would have a permanent buffer from ski-area development.<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Dead link</ref>
In 2010, $13 million worth of improvements at Jay were completed including an indoor ice arena, a parking garage, an enclosed beginners surface lift, and a new RFID ticketing system. The old Hotel Jay was razed and replaced with a new 170-room hotel.<ref name=c100901>Template:Cite news</ref> The new facilities also include a spa, conference center, movie theatre and Template:Convert water park.<ref name=McLean/><ref>"Pump House Indoor Waterpark", Jay Peak Resort, accessed March 11, 2013</ref> Also in 2010, Yankee magazine named Jay as the best ski resort in New England.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2011, the resort agreed to pay an $80,000 fine to the United States Environmental Protection Agency for filling in Template:Convert of wetlands to construct a golf course in 2004–2006, without a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. This was the same event for which the resort had paid a fine to the state in 2007.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Over the ensuing years, the resort repeatedly postponed plans to expand its skiing terrain to a new area to be known as the West Bowl; it is not clear whether the resort ever obtained the support of the state to conduct the necessary cutting and construction in the forest.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
By 2014, some EB-5 investors had complained to the Vermont Department of Financial Regulation (DFR) and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that the resort company had abruptly reclassified their investments. The investigators found the resort company's answers to their questions about the use of the funds to be evasive. They eventually found that Quiros had diverted millions of the dollars raised for his personal use and that Stenger had lied to investors and the SEC about, among other things, the status of some of the construction projects, some of which were never built, including a biotechnology plant in Newport, Vermont.<ref name=Cutts/><ref name=Globe422>Rathke, Lisa. "Ex-ski resort executive gets 18 months in failed visa plan case", Boston Globe, April 14, 2022</ref>
On April 14, 2016, Jay Peak and Burke Mountain were seized by U.S. government officials.<ref name=Doc2016/><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> The resort remained operational under management of an SEC-designated receiver, Michael Goldberg, and acting CEO Steve Wright, who was previously Jay Peak's marketing director.<ref name=Cutts/> On January 15, 2019, Goldberg announced that the resort had been offered for sale.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The SEC recovered $81 million from Quiros (including the ski area assets), who pleaded guilty in 2020 to federal crimes including wire fraud, money laundering and obstructing investigators.<ref name=Cutts/> He was sentenced to five years in prison.<ref name=Ratke2>Rathke, Lisa. "Former Jay Peak, Burke owner Ariel Quiros sentenced to 5 years in Vermont's largest fraud", Burlington Free Press, April 29, 2022</ref> Stenger cooperated with the investigation and pleaded guilty in 2021 to supplying false statements to federal investigators.<ref name=Cutts/> He was sentenced to 18 months in prison (but served 10 months) and a further 3 years of home confinement,<ref>McQuiston, Timothy. "Bill Stenger back home after release from prison", Vermont Business Magazine, March 22, 22023</ref> and he was fined $250,000.<ref name=Globe422/><ref>Stenger claimed that the State of Vermont had culpability in the fraud. See Guessferd, Christina. "Ex-Jay Peak president claims the State of Vermont 'covered up' Kingdom Con", WCAX, February 3, 2023; and Galloway, Anne. "Bill Stenger: SEC gave state regulators advance warning about Jay Peak fraud", VT Digger, April 17, 2023</ref> A third conspirator, William Kelly, also received fines and a prison sentence.<ref name=Ratke2/> Raymond James Financial paid a $150 million settlement for its part in the fraud.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
2022–present; purchase by Pacific Group Resorts
As of 2022, Jay Peak employed more than 1,200 people in the winter and about half that number year-round; profits increased, during the receivership, from $2 million to $10 million annually.<ref name=Cutts/>
In September 2022, after operating the resort for more than six years, Goldberg conducted an auction of the resort in which the winner was Pacific Group Resorts, Inc. of Park City, Utah, with a bid of $76 million.<ref>Rathke, Lisa. "Winner of auction to buy Vermont's Jay Peak Resort announced", WMUR-TV, September 8, 2022</ref><ref name=VBM>"Jay Peak Resort sold at auction for $76 million", Vermont Business Magazine, September 8, 2022</ref> The sale was approved by the federal court, which ordered that approximately $70 million of the purchase funds were to be distributed to the defrauded EB-5 investors, representing about 40% of their original investments.<ref name=approved>Keays, Alan J. "As judge OKs $76 million sale of Jay Peak Resort, receiver says Burke Mountain Resort could soon be sold", VTDigger.org, September 16, 2022</ref> The transaction was completed in November 2022.<ref name=Closing/> Pacific stated that it had no plans to make "major changes" to winter operations at the resort.<ref name=VBM/>
In February 2024, five Jay Peak Resort employees working in the water park under the J-1 visa program were fired by the resort after posting a photo of themselves on social media wearing home-made Swastika armbands and giving a Nazi salute.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Trails and lifts
As of 2024, the mountain offers 81 trails covering nearly Template:Convert of skiable terrain.<ref name=TM>Template:Cite web</ref> About two dozen of these are off-piste tree-skiing areas, or glades, covering approximately Template:Convert.<ref>"Jay Peak 2012–2013 Trail Guide" Template:Webarchive, Jay Peak Resort, accessed March 11, 2013</ref> Jay Peak is home to the "Face Chutes," arguably the most challenging and steepest marked terrain in the east with an average slope of 56.5 percent (almost 30°) and a maximum slope of 73.9 percent (37°).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The "Face Chutes" consist of four skiable lines, the most challenging being the 3 lines to skier's right, all of which are extremely narrow and include a mandatory cliff drop. The ski area is known for its gladed skiing.<ref name=Cutts/>
Jay Peak has a lift fleet consisting of an aerial tram, six chairlifts<ref name=liftblog>Template:Cite web</ref> and two magic carpet surface lifts. It is one of two ski resorts on the east coast that has and aerial tram, the other being Cannon Mountain in New Hampshire.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
| Lift Name | Type | Manufacturer | Built | Vertical Template:Small |
Length Template:Small |
Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aerial Tram | Tram 60 | VonRoll / Garaventa | 1966 | 1,969 | 7,779 | Cabins were replaced in 2000; it was retrofitted in 2017.<ref name=liftblog/> |
| Flyer Express Quad | High Speed Quad | Leitner | 1999 | 1,620 | 7,350 | The Flyer is the only detachable quad on the mountain.<ref name=liftblog/> |
| Bonaventure | Quad | Doppelmayr USA | 1987 | 1,340 | 4,650 | <ref name=liftblog/> |
| Metro | 2002 | 486 | 2,855 | Relocated from Sugarbush Resort in 2002.<ref name=liftblog/> | ||
| Taxi | 2012 | 325 | 1,756 | <ref name=liftblog/> | ||
| Jet | Triple | 1985 | 1,160 | 3,500 | <ref name=liftblog/> | |
| Village | Double | Hall / Borvig | 1995 | 331 | 2,371 | Relocated from Camelback Mountain in Pennsylvania.<ref name=liftblog/> |
The mountain has a total uphill capacity of approximately 12,820 skiers/hour.Template:Citation needed The oldest of the lifts, the 60-person aerial tramway, also known as the "tram", is the only one of its type in the State of Vermont.Template:Citation needed This tramway was originally installed in 1966 by Von Roll and upgraded in 2000 with new cabins from Garaventa.Template:Citation needed
In 1985, the resort purchased the Jet Triple chair from Doppelmayr to replace a T-Bar. This was followed in 1987 with the purchase of the Bonaventure Quad which replaced a double chairlift.<ref name=liftblog/> 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<ref name=liftblog/> (dubbed the "Green Mountain Freezer" by skiers because of its notoriously cold ride due to the strong winds blowing on it),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the mountain's first high-speed detachable chairlift. The other five lifts serve the lower mountain terrain.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In May 2016 the state raised concerns over the safety of the aerial tramway, which resulted in $4.5 million worth of electronic upgrades and carriage overhauls. The capacity of the two tram cars was reduced from 60 to 45 at this time.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
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.<ref name=c100901/>
Snowfall
The summit is at an elevation of 3,862 feet (1,177 m),<ref name="ngs" /> with a 2,153 foot (656 m) vertical drop. Jay Peak has the largest average annual snowfall of any ski area in Eastern North America. The resort states its annual snowfall at 359 inches (9.1 metres),<ref name=TM/> while the Zrankings ski resort data site calculates it at 322 inches, excluding October and May snow, writing: "Jay Peak's location near the northern tip of the Green Mountains and its proximity to large bodies of water means it often catches moist air. As this moist air is forced upwards by the mountain's topography, it cools and condenses, leading to snowfall, a process known as orographic lift.<ref>Steiner, Christopher. "Best Snow in Vermont – Right Now and Historically" "Snow Ranking Calculus", Zrankings, November 13, 2023</ref>
The resort's record total for snowfall occurred in the 2016–2017 season, amounting to 491 inches,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> which was nearly equaled in the 2024–25 season, with 475 inches of snowfall.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Other facilities
The resort has two base lodges and a small lodge at the summit where the aerial tram terminates. There are also hotel facilities and a large number of ski-in/ski-out condominium units on the lower part of the mountain.<ref name=McLean/><ref name="c100901" />
Features at Jay include a league-sized hockey rink, the Ice Haus, with room for 700 spectators. Next to it is a 220 space parking garage, where 80% of the slots are covered.<ref name="c100901" /> In 2011, an indoor water park named The Pump House opened. It features the longest "lazy river" in Vermont.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The resort also has a cross-country ski center, a recreation center with climbing walls and a movie theatre, athletic fields, and an 18-hole golf course.<ref name=VBM/>