Category: NE Ski Blogger Summit

Articles, NE Ski Blogger Summit

Raising Jay or Razing Jay?

Or… The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same.

Tram Haus Lodge

For those keeping score at home, here is a list of the recent developments at Jay Peak:

  • 18 Hole Championship Golf Course
  • Tram Haus Lodge
  • Clubhouse/Nordic Center
  • Ice Haus & Parking Garage
  • RFID
  • New Hotel Jay
  • Waterpark

And that is just getting things started. Within my lifetime (maybe), plans include a new Stateside Lodge, additional Stateside base development, Stateside lift upgrades, and the West Bowl expansion. Jay seems to be reigning in exact plans and time lines until the current dust settles. Regardless, a complete reconstruction of the Tramside base area is just the beginning of changes at Jay Peak.

Old Jay, New Jay

Od Jay and New Jay

At the new Tram Haus Lodge, an original Jay tram car sits in front of the Taiga Fitness & Spa Center. It is a bizarre juxtaposition that epitomizes change at Jay. Within the Tram Haus Lodge, fancy signs and railings incorporate haul rope from the original tram cable. The new Tower Bar’s center piece is a lift tower and sheave setup from the defunct Green Mountain double chair. The Customer Service desk and ticket windows have replaced the pizzeria but you can still grab a slice in the International Room. You don’t have to go downstairs to use the bathroom in the Tram Haus cafeteria but old schoolers still tempt fate. It’s all the same. It’s all different.

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Country Store Series, NE Ski Blogger Summit

Country Store Series: Troy General Store

Troy General Store

The Troy General Store is easily one of my favorite post skiing stops. Sporting a map of Jay Peak on the front of the building, the store unabashedly looks for a connection with the mountain and its associated patrons. It is extremely convenient whether you need something to bring with you to Jay or for the drive home.

Unlike most of my other drive home haunts, the Troy General Store is rather close to the mountain. A stop here does not break up driving monotony. But it does provide a great recharge before the drive home and has everything I could possibly want.

The pizza is excellent and amongst the best of the country stores I have visited. Pizza is almost always available and usually in a variety of toppings. If pizza is not your thing, chicken wings and tenders are also available in addition to a deli for subs and sandwiches. The bakery section is well stocked and the chip selection is impressive. Most importantly, the store spots canned soda and a great craft beer selection. You really can’t beat the variety.

Troy General Store excels in accessibility with side of the road parking at the intersection of Routes 100 and 101. While cars can barely pull off Route 242 for overpriced gas at the tourist trap Jay Country Store, you can always pull up and pull out at Troy General Store without putting the car in reverse. You have to stop for the stop signs, any ways. It only makes sense to come to a complete stop for a bite to eat before the long drive home.

Articles, NE Ski Blogger Summit

Social Media, Blogging, & Skiing

Social media allows for communication between persons, groups, and organizations. These communications are generally either peer to peer or business to consumer (and consumer to business). Facebook has been (willfully and profitably) co-opted for commercial purposes and is a hybrid of these two frameworks: peer to peer communication combined with opt in advertising which is also shared with friends whether they opted in or not. From a marketing perspective, it is the best dodge of the CAN-SPAM Act available. Facebook has become the ultimate buzz generator for business to consumer communications.

Ten years ago, a company or organization was not legit without a web page. Now you are not legit without a Facebook Fan Page. Ski Areas on the cutting edge are blogging and tweeting. Lift status updates, snow conditions, and accumulations are reported real time in text, photos, and video.

Before these impressive communication developments, skiers had to read newspaper updates, call snow phones, or watch Weather Channel Ski Reports (none of which were in depth nor could be trusted). Now skiers and riders read forums, blogs, or social network feeds to see accurate conditions in real time. Ware the resort that fluffs a report which is contradicted by multiple live reports from skiers and riders on the mountain. Total buzz kill.

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NE Ski Blogger Summit

NSBS Behind the Scenes

Alice's Table

The Northeast Ski Blogger Summit had significant difficulty performing our core function: blogging. Despite the Stateside Chalet and Tram Haus Lodge both having wireless connectivity, the Village Condos offer no such luxury. None of us thought to bring an ethernet cord but we managed to bum a pair of short cables from the Tram Haus front desk. That still left six bloggers with only two internet connections split between two different condos. Hilarity ensued.

So we ventured forth to the Tram Haus Lodge for dinner and internet connectivity. It was quite the scene at Alice’s Table. After eating dinner and reveling in the day’s adventures, we pulled out lap tops and began typing. The looks from other tables ranged from incredulous to offended. The next evening at the The Belfry, we spied a little kid at the dinner table with an iPad. Blogging: coming soon to a restaurant near you.

Much of our non-skiing time was spent on lap tops, but not as much as one might expect at a Blogger Summit. I originally envisioned six guys sitting around a table blogging away in silence. But the reality is that group blogging is a social experience: pictures and video were shared, blog posts were read and commented on, and internet memes and personalities were discussed. The actual writing was difficult due to distraction. It became a piecemeal approach of typing quick notes and thoughts, letting them gestate, and then going back to expand.

Harvey Blogs as SBR Looks On

Inserting a notorious deal finding cheapskate day tripper into a spiffy slopeside condo had occasional comic results. I found myself less efficient despite the easier access. Normally I travel light and compact. But staying slopeside for three days required extensive preparation. It required advanced planning for all contingencies instead of calling the shots predawn. It made me want to be lazy in the morning–I can see the appeal. And I can better understand why it’s so easy to score uncontested untracked in the morning on a Jay Peak weekend powder day: everyone lodging on mountain is still farting around their condo.

Condos have appealing aspects in a group. Whether drinking post-powder beers while watching ski porn or mowing down a hearty SBR breakfast, the social aspect is something I sadly don’t get as a day tripper. Jay’s Village Condos were luxurious in my hosteling eyes. Gaping space with ample seating for a dozen despite the beds only servicing a third less bodies. I felt oddly disconnected by not having to pack my gear the night before nor set an early alarm.

Most importantly, had I not stayed in the condos, I would never have rode the Village Double nor skied Racoon Run. Grammy Jay may be the only line at Jay that continues to elude me…

NE Ski Blogger Summit

More from the NSBS at Jay Peak

TheSnowWay.com is writing about the NSBS from a single perspective; and a rather personal one at that. But it is just one of six different takes on the past three days. If you are not already networked to them, check out The Real Jay Peak Snow Report, Harvey Road, Harvey Road Magazine, Ski = MC Squared, and Ski Mad World for more Northeast Ski Blogger Summit trip reports, pictures, video, reflections, and commentary.