May 24th 2012

Owners of Jay Peak Purchase Burke Mountain

Longtime competitors to be brought under same ownership - UPDATED

Words by Alex Kaufman l STE Online Editor

Developing story:

WCAX reports that Bill Stenger and the owners of Jay Peak Resort are underway in purchasing nearby Burke Mountain. More information is expected to be released later today. 

Questions surrounding joint season passes are sure to follow as Jay Peak and Burke Mountain are located about an hour from one another in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. 

Jay Peak has made headlines this season with the opening of an indoor waterpark and extensive lodging. Burke Mountain installed a new high speed quad in 2011.


NOON EXCLUSIVE UPDATE
 

Just got off the horn with Steve Wright, Jay Peak's VP of Marketing and Sales.

There are plans for a formal announcement later today as well as some live TV coverage. Until then Ski The East.net has been the only chat outlet.

Wright confirmed the news that this transaction is occuring. It's not quite as simple as Jay Peak buying Burke Mountain, but rather an umbrella company named QBurke which is owned by both Bill Stenger (Jay Peak President) and Ariel Quiros (Jay Peak homeowner). This is the same people that purchased Jay Peak in 2008 to bring it under local ownership under the QResorts title. 

Wright made clear that the recent upgrades at Jay Peak were not an automatic indication of what is likely at Burke Mountain, though he did feel that having ownership rooted in the Northeast Kingdom would be a win for the region. Ginn Company was the seller.

"We have a lot of fact finding to do. Clearly we have similarities in audience and location which will work well for cross promotions and products, but operationally we plan to listen and learn. There's a lot of history at Burke and there's been many master plans that did not roll out. We're about delivering on our promises, which means we're not making many on day one."

Without getting into specifics, Wright noted that the purchase is free of debt assumption and that Burke Mountain is in possesion of build out permits. He estimated Burke's recent skier visitation at about 60,000 visits.

"The location of being immediately off of the interstate and the similarities in terrain, audience and geography will present some interesting options for the public," said Wright.

Stay tuned for further updates and tune into WCAX tonight for live coverage.

At 1pm this press release was being circulated regarding the sale.


Burke Mountain in East Burke, Vermont


30 seconds of pleasure from Jay Peak 2012.