When given the option to change or stand pat, it seems change is always the more difficult option. Standing pat is simple; you just stand around, do nothing, and pat. Change requires thought and done correctly, it requires that you weigh options, balance opinions and act only after you’ve considered the alternatives.
Here in our corner of the world, we’re embracing change with leaps of faith while taking risks that are as well calculated as they are mandatory. In order to meet challenges such as spreading business over 12 months, cracking regional unemployment rates, turning seasonal employees into full timers, and building a future we all get to enjoy, you have to stick your neck out. Or at least that’s the way we feel about it. From the feedback we’ve received from every iteration of Raised Jayer, it seems that’s how the collective feels about it as well.
Read about what author Mike Berard thinks of long-term alteration in his Nature of Change piece on pg.39 and weigh such insight against how things never seem to change sous bois in Leslie Anthony’s Deep. Woods. article on pg.6. The Wild, Wild East by Dean Seguin verbalizes how sometimes it takes commitment to a choice for the opportunity of change to present itself. Berard also gives us a front porch look at locals Jim Judd and Luke Hardy—both architects of a changing Jay Peak future in their own right. Writer Ian Reynolds shows us that contrary to cliché, it’s sometimes the younger generation that has its finger on what’s real and important in the article One. Love. In between these pieces are interesting sidebars, connected marginalia and small touches that will either endear you to us or push you away. Whichever the case, it was probably meant to be.
We are extraordinarily excited about the upcoming season and hope you find plenty contained inside these pages to help prepare you and inspire you. Much has changed and more is coming. Our commitment, though, is that what we add has to feel like it should be here. Like it’s always been here. Hopefully our actions prove that we’ll try and do our best to change for the better and that above all, the more we change, the more we stay the same. Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose. Same snow, same commitment to skier- and rider-focused service, and same belief that those Raised Jay look at life through a different lens.
We look forward to seeing you Move Up this season.