Jay Peak Trip October 20, 2011

On Thursday October 20th, our class took at trip to Jay Peak to learn about their Master Plan and their current construction and improvements to the mountain.  It was a fun trip and was filled with very informative information.  When we first got there, I was amazed to see how close the new hotel was to being complete.  I skied late season at Jay Peak last year, and the hotel was still in very early stages of development.
The first thing we did was learn about Jay Peak's Master Plan.  We learned about the need to be aware of natural communities and wildlife before being able to expand a resort and put in new chair lifts and trails.  I was excited to see that Jay Peak was looking to expand the amount of ski-able terrain at their mountain and I hope that it eventually does happen.
After learning about their master plan, we were able to take a hardhat tour through the hotel that was still under construction.  The most amazing part of the trip was undoubtedly the water park that Jay is going to be operational this season.  I was able to take a great picture of it for the blog:

The coolest parts of the water park were definitely the looping water slide and the Flowrider artificial wave maker that allows people to surf on it.  They both look really cool and I can't wait to try them sometime.
After we were done with our tour, we were also able to take a look at the Ice Rink that Jay Peak has put in on the side of the new hotel.  All of these improvements have many of us believing that Jay Peak is one of the top East Coast Resorts that are taking large steps into becoming four-season resorts instead of just a winter mountain.  I think that Jay Peak has a lot of hype running with them right now, and it will be very interesting to see how the mountain does this season with all of their new attractions.