Jay Price - Boreal founder, NSAA president

Jay Price, a founder of Boreal Ridge Ski Area and longtime president of the National Ski Areas Association, died Oct. 30 after a four-year struggle with laryngeal cancer. He was 88 years old.

Jay Edwin Price grew up in Pioche, Nevada and Eureka, Utah. He attended high school in Provo, Utah, where he discovered his lifelong vocation in skiing. While serving in the Navy he met first wife, Joan Reed, and together they had three daughters.

Back in Provo, in 1961Jay graduated from BYU and worked at Timp Haven (now Sundance). As ski school director, he launched the first busing program (SCERA Ski Program) to bring school aged children to the slopes to learn the sport.

In 1965, Jay was given the opportunity to move to Truckee, California to help build a new ski resort, Boreal Ridge on Donner Summit. During his more than 20 years as General Manager of Boreal, he implemented the Alpine Junior Skiers Program for children, the Winterset Ski Program for women, and the California Ski Teachers Clinics (CSTC). He was also the first to bring night skiing and snow making to Northern California! Jay served as president of the National Ski Areas Association for many years and was also a founder of the Sierra Ski Areas Association in 1969. During this time, Jay and his first wife divorced and he remarried twice; first to Louise Katzenbach and finally to Paula Stahl.

After retiring from Boreal, Jay made his summer home at Donner Lake, and wintered at Canebrake, near San Diego.