Jay Peak March 12th,2016

Anthony

New member
Skied Jay yesterday (March 12th) and it felt like the end of April. Only 30/78 trails were listed as open and even this was stretching it. Clear skies enabled the sun to soften up the the lower elevation snow but a persistent N/W wind prevented the temps to soar and soften up the higher elevation areas. Coverage , overall is thin with limited options. Would be hard pressed to find a year with this little snow coverage and this time to compare with. Limited options to ski caused crowding on the terrain that was open . The UN for example had one line down skiers left that was skiable causing a bottle neck with skiers /boarders sprawled out on the trail.
 

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I would guess the worst Winter (in terms of natural snow and cold weather) in the last 50 years in the Northeast. Plus, we had several heavy rain storms where the rain went all the way up into Canada and Northern Maine. A truly bizarre Winter (or lack of Winter). I hope the Northeast ski areas have sufficient financial reserves to get past this Winter and into the next ski season. It had to be a tough year for almost all the ski areas.
 
Curious to see if the VT 2015/16 snow totals were the lowest on record since the start of the ski business.
 
Anthony":2mhonzu1 said:
Curious to see if the VT 2015/16 snow totals were the lowest on record since the start of the ski business.
Some of them will be, barring a massive April. Killington in particular has had 57 inches snowfall so far and the record low since 1967 is 138 inches in 1979-80.
 
berkshireskier":1y23u73a said:
I would guess the worst Winter (in terms of natural snow and cold weather) in the last 50 years in the Northeast. Plus, we had several heavy rain storms where the rain went all the way up into Canada and Northern Maine. A truly bizarre Winter (or lack of Winter). I hope the Northeast ski areas have sufficient financial reserves to get past this Winter and into the next ski season. It had to be a tough year for almost all the ski areas.
MRG sent a letter to their pass and share holders and posted it on their site in which they do discuss the financial situation a bit. The letter is copy/pasted below:

MRG":1y23u73a said:
A Letter from Mad River Glen's President & Co-op Board

Greetings Mad River Glen Skiers,
The 2016 ski season has turned out to be a bust of historic proportions, the worst in the past 35 years in fact. We received just a bit over 100" of snow for the season, well below our 225" average, made worse by the fact that whenever we did get snow it was followed up with rain, a thaw or both. Normally we budget for about 100 days of operation each season. This year we only ran for 45 mostly unspectacular days.

Beyond the less than stellar skiing, the season has had a major impact on our entire community:

Our pass holders had a tough time getting the value out of their purchases.
Mad Card skiers had a hard time using up their tickets.
Our seasonal staff members saw significantly diminished hours and were laid off very early.
Our full time employees are looking at unpaid furloughs this off-season.
The mountain finds itself in the most challenging financial situation it has seen since the founding of the Co-op in 1995.
Other regional ski areas are experiencing similar or even worse financial challenges.
Many of our friends and neighbors in the Mad River Valley have had a rough time of things this winter too.

We very much wish that there was something that we could do for all the folks who felt the force of "El Nino's" punch. We wish that we could allow Season Passes and Mad Cards to be used next season. We would also love to be able to compensate our loyal staff for lost hours of work. Unfortunately, the Co-op is not in a position to do that from a fiscal perspective: To do so would simply be guaranteeing another bad financial year next season and would threaten the long-term financial health of Mad River Glen. Our entire community, our skiers, employees, neighbors, local business owners and our families feel the pain. While we know that the situation impacted you, we ask that you take the longer view, chalk it up to a bad season and look forward to lots of snow next year.

The strength of the Mad River Glen Cooperative is in our community, our resiliency and our unique business model. The 2016 season was the 20th year under skier-ownership and while it was our worst financial one to date, it is important to keep in mind that we finished in the black 15 of the past 20 years. We also have many other positives to dwell on:

Our kids ski school and race programs were our anchor this year.
Our various departments did better financially than we ever could have hoped.
Ticket sales actually performed better than expected given the weather.
We continued to receive tremendous positive press attention.
We partnered with our neighbors at Sugarbush to help provide skiing for MRG skiers.
The spirit of the community remained steadfast.

As we look forward to the next ski season we are well aware that you have options on where you ski and that there are many factors to consider when making that choice. Mad River Glen offers a ski experience that is unavailable elsewhere. When it is good it is world-class, and even when conditions aren't outstanding it provides memories that will last a lifetime. Our dedicated staff is committed to providing you this exceptional experience and sense of place that is so rare to find in today's world. Please know that we will all be working hard to ensure that this special place is here for you and your family for years to come. Thanks for your continued support,

Sincerely,
Jamey Wimble - President
John Stetson - Co-op Board Chair
 
Thanks for posting ! Does not surprise me at all. I'm sure it was a very tough Winter (financially and otherwise) for almost ALL of the ski areas in the Northeast. Truly horrific weather (if you like snow and cold). Let's hope this was a totally flukey season, because back-to-back seasons like this one, or even a couple in 3 or 4 years would wipe out many ski areas. It would not surprise me if many ski areas in the NE will see reduced pre-season season ticket sales (and other pre-season sales) than normal for next ski season, after a Winter like this one. It's irrational but human nature.
 
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