The skiing at Jay Peak is enjoyable and challenging. However, for the expense, the facilities fell far short of expectations. You are forced to purchase more lift tickets than you actually want and they charge you a $22/day "resort fee" that isn't listed on the confirm. They claim this fee gets you into the ice arena, even if you aren't interested in skating, and also pays for the wi-fi, which only worked for a few minutes at a time.
Starting with the skiing. The trails were challenging and fun. Despite going on a school vacation week, the lift lines weren't bad at all. We did encounter a lot of intersecting trails on the Tramside that created a few traffic jams. We didn't get as much fresh snow as we expected considering the "Jay Cloud" boasting on the website, but we certainly can't expect Jay Peak to control the weather. Some days we found the trails to be quite icy, boilerplate hard and skied off. Other days, the snow was a bit nicer. If you like steeper trails, head over to State Side. There are slightly fewer people there and certainly fewer intersections of busy trails. The really great features though are the glades. They have several glades for varying skill levels. If you want to give tree skiing a try, you'll find a glade to learn in. If you are an expert tree skier, you'll find a glade with a challenge. Just be aware, despite paying for 6 days of lift tickets, the upper mountain lifts only ran on 4 of those due to wind holds. So, 5 of us paid $120 each for these unusable lift tickets. Also, we really only wanted to buy 5 days of lift tickets, but with the ski and stay package we are forced to buy tickets for each day of our stay. This includes the day you check-in, even though the lifts close at 4 and check in is after 5.
One more thing. The tram is a bit of a time-suck. The wait is a bit long and most trails are accessible via the quad chair. However, it is worth at least one ride for the view and the Sky Haus Deli. I had a great pulled pork sandwich up there. Yummy.
Okay, here's the part about the dissapointing accommodations.
We checked in at 5, but were told our unit wasn't ready because housekeeping needed to finish in it. After a short wait in the bar, they notified us that the condo was ready. We found our unit, but the stairs were completely buried in snow. No footprints, so I'm guessing housekeeping wasn't there after all. Two people in our group shoveled the steps while we brought our things inside.
The condo itself was passable, but it was a bit smelly. There was trash on the porch. The hall closet was occupied by an old TV. Some furniture was broken and/or dirty. However, we were happy to find a gas range. The beds, though a bit saggy, were comfortable enough. There were plenty of clean towels and with the exception of the dining and living room furniture, the unit was quite clean.
The ski-in/out access was actually a walk up and down a ditch. Other buildings had actual ski-in/out access where guests could step out of their units, put on their skis and slide to the trail. For some reason, our building wasn't landscaped properly to allow this. We had to walk across a narrow foot bridge and carry our gear up an enbankment to put our skis on at the trail.
Two things are important here. 1) Jay Peak is located very far north. This means you are skiing in some very cold conditions. 2) Because Jay Peak is a bit remote, there is little cell service. Which leads me to this, after skiing in the cold all day, what I wanted most was a nice hot shower. On our first full day there, I stepped into the shower and about a minute and a half into it, just as I started getting soapy, the water went cold. Since I was already soapy, and therefor at the point of no return as showers go. I had to do my best to get that soap off with the very cold water. The following day, I had another shower go cold on me. Thankfully I was almost done that time.
Having no cell service, we relied upon the wi-fi that was part of our $22/day resort fee. Unfortunately, the wi-fi only worked for a minute or two at a time. Throughout our stay, the wi-fi only worked sporadically.
Any of these issues on their own wouldn't have been a big deal. But combine them together and consider the expense. We paid more for our accommodations at Jay Peak than we have at other resorts with similar offerings. However despite the fact that we paid considerably more to stay at Jay Peak, we received less for our money. Jay Peak described the Village Condos as "The most luxurious, yet affordable, ski-in,ski-out lodging anywhere." While the condo wasn't terrible, we certainly didn't get what we paid for.
Upon check-out, I asked if they could do something for us. He referred me to his manager, who then told me to call his manager. So, basically, they didn't want to deal with us. I reached out to the manager's manager and got no response.
Overall, I say check it out for the skiing, but the accommodations are overpriced read more