Steve Wright of Jay Peak Resort

Steve Wright Jay Peak Resort.I first ran into Steve Wright in cyberspace on the First Tracks Online eastern forum a few years ago. As Jay Peak’s Vice-President of Sales and Marketing, he occasionally popped into discussions to add a comment or two. But instead of coming off as a ski-resort salesman — there only to perform damage control or to publicize something — Steve took us behind the curtain to explain how and why things happen at ski-area marketing departments, both at Jay Peak and industry-wide.

As Jay transforms itself from a no-frills mountain with the deepest lift-served snow east of the Rockies into one with a fair amount of destination resort accoutrements, we thought that it’d be interesting to hear his thoughts on a variety of marketing-related topics.

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Jay Peak, VT: 4/22/11

We walked onto the slopes just in time to snap a picture of the first tram loaded with powder-chasers after what could be the last powder day of the season. We loaded Tram 2 — it was full before we departed.

first tram

We skied powder all day, run after run, trees upon trees, and the bottoms of our skis were still perfect at the end of the day. Not a rock to be found.

The only danger was the occasional sink hole in the woods where the running water had melted through the 3-4′ base. We almost landed in one, but both Matthew and I managed to jump over it, even though my eight-year-old is only three feet tall. He skied everything I did and loved every minute.

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Jay Peak, VT: 4/21/11

The kids were up at 6, ready to go. You’d think that with a season of real early mornings and real late nights, a guy in the ski industry could sleep in because someone else is taking care of everything, but not in this family — it was time for first tracks.

Midwinter conditions and snow at Jay today. Very windy, all high-speed lifts were closed including the tram. We all stepped out of the condo and yarned back on the bridal as the sub freezing temps hit us like a ton of bricks. We layered up and prepared ourselves for a mid-winter day. We skied down to the base lodge alongside the magic carpet.

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