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There seemed to be an unrealistic attitude about how much Jay is worth on the market. I'm assuming the value of an all season resort that, let's face it, is hard to get to, has dropped dramatically in these times of Covid. Just ask the Trumps about that. The border won't be closed forever, but, still, after losing revenue from last March and now looking at at least a 70% drop in traffic this winter (who knows with the new Vermont restrictions), one wonders if the "owners", or the lawyers trying to get rid of the place, will be able to keep it alive. There must be some hard bargaining going on right now. Who knows, get the place cheap, and you could make a killing when life comes back to normal.
Nice episode! One thing I am curious is when the Indy Pass is forming agreements with ski areas is if they proactively address ski area's concerns (particularly the concerns mentioned by the
Plattekill Mountain owners on an earlier episode) that if they sign up too many ski areas in too small an area, the revenue per ski visit could drop too low. Hypothetical situation: let's say there is an isolated state where the Indy Pass signs on ski area's A, B, C, and D. Let's say the average number of ski area visits per passholder is 6. So $199 divided by 6 = $33 revenue per visit. Everyone is happy. But then the following season, Indy Pass signs up ski areas E, F, G, and H for a total of 8 ski areas. The average number of ski visits per passholder jumps to 11. Revenue to the ski areas per skier visit is $18. Okay for some ski areas, but too much of a discount for others. Some people just buy an Indy Pass (or 2) instead of a season pass. Some ski areas balk the following season.
My question would be where or not Indy Pass (i.e. Doug Fish) assures ski areas as part of negotiations that he won't add too many neighboring resorts. It's possible I am wrong too, and it isn't a big concern for most ski areas. I'm sure there are a lot of people who travel a lot less and are content skiing only the 3 Indy mountains less than 1.5 hours away, whatever they may be. But based on the willingness of many people to travel long distances to ski in New England and New York, it seems like it might be a factor.
Great podcast as always. An interesting history tidbit on Jay Peak is that they actually had a double chairlift going up from the top of the Bonnaventure lift to the summit, right next to where the tram building is. (It was called the Skyline Chair). Apparently, it only lasted a few years after the tram was built, and removed a few years later. If you scroll to the bottom of this webpage, you can see a few pictures of the old Skyline chair, and the "new" top deck of the tram being built.
There seemed to be an unrealistic attitude about how much Jay is worth on the market. I'm assuming the value of an all season resort that, let's face it, is hard to get to, has dropped dramatically in these times of Covid. Just ask the Trumps about that. The border won't be closed forever, but, still, after losing revenue from last March and now looking at at least a 70% drop in traffic this winter (who knows with the new Vermont restrictions), one wonders if the "owners", or the lawyers trying to get rid of the place, will be able to keep it alive. There must be some hard bargaining going on right now. Who knows, get the place cheap, and you could make a killing when life comes back to normal.
Nice episode! One thing I am curious is when the Indy Pass is forming agreements with ski areas is if they proactively address ski area's concerns (particularly the concerns mentioned by the
Plattekill Mountain owners on an earlier episode) that if they sign up too many ski areas in too small an area, the revenue per ski visit could drop too low. Hypothetical situation: let's say there is an isolated state where the Indy Pass signs on ski area's A, B, C, and D. Let's say the average number of ski area visits per passholder is 6. So $199 divided by 6 = $33 revenue per visit. Everyone is happy. But then the following season, Indy Pass signs up ski areas E, F, G, and H for a total of 8 ski areas. The average number of ski visits per passholder jumps to 11. Revenue to the ski areas per skier visit is $18. Okay for some ski areas, but too much of a discount for others. Some people just buy an Indy Pass (or 2) instead of a season pass. Some ski areas balk the following season.
My question would be where or not Indy Pass (i.e. Doug Fish) assures ski areas as part of negotiations that he won't add too many neighboring resorts. It's possible I am wrong too, and it isn't a big concern for most ski areas. I'm sure there are a lot of people who travel a lot less and are content skiing only the 3 Indy mountains less than 1.5 hours away, whatever they may be. But based on the willingness of many people to travel long distances to ski in New England and New York, it seems like it might be a factor.
Hey Stuart,
Great podcast as always. An interesting history tidbit on Jay Peak is that they actually had a double chairlift going up from the top of the Bonnaventure lift to the summit, right next to where the tram building is. (It was called the Skyline Chair). Apparently, it only lasted a few years after the tram was built, and removed a few years later. If you scroll to the bottom of this webpage, you can see a few pictures of the old Skyline chair, and the "new" top deck of the tram being built.
http://www.chairlift.org/jay.html
Oh wow, that’s awesome. Thanks for sharing!
And another website here with more information and photos of the short-lived Skyline double. https://newenglandskihistory.com/lifts/viewlift.php?id=285
Check this out: you can still see it noted on the 1971 trailmap: https://skimap.org/data/202/97/1262371537.jpg
It is too bad Jay removed it, as it would provide a great alternate route up to the summit (much like Cannon Mtn's Cannonball quad), but oh well.