Jay Peak is not an IntraWest destination resort running with Swiss precision, but it almost always has snow. Among Vermonters it has a reputation for having snow when other resorts don t and when other mountains have snow, Jay Peak usually has more snow than any other resort in the state. Jay Peak is big. It exhilarates and exhausts the best skiers while still catering to the less accomplished. The challenging terrain includes more than a dozen blacks and a host of glade areas.
Glades are wooded areas that have been thinned and cleared of underbrush.
At Jay the glades have made it possible to expand the mountain s skiing terrain without actually cutting new conventional trails and running afoul of Vermont s tough development and environmental regulations. The glades and the need to introduce visitors to the northern side of the mountain seems to have been the motivation for the construction several years ago of the Green Mountain Flyer , a high speed quad that whisks up to 2,600 skiers per hour to an area of the mountain that almost always has plenty of natural snow. Still, the chair is the only quick way to Ullr's Dream, JFK, the Beaver Pond Glade and Beyond Beaver Bond Glade. Jay is also the fiefdom of Bill Stenger, mountain manager and part owner. In being a true Vermont mountain czar, Mr. Stenger has imprinted himself into Jay Peak and Vermont s Northeast Kingdom.