Being that I have been exploring Jay Peak since I was 15 , (and i have afree place to stay) I have never been to Stowe. I stumbled on this film this AM.
Pretty cool:
http://www.stowked.com/
It's funny, just flip Stowe and Jay and that's the same for me - although I think I was 19 when I started riding Stowe in college.
That film was done by Meathead which have put out some really great movies (the only bummer is they are ski only

). My college buddy was in Schooled years ago tearing it on telli skis. Epoch is an absolute joy to watch and is a must for any New England based skier/rider as it has so much great info with some incredible old footage. I'm guessing you've heard of them but if not:
http://www.meatheadfilms.com/
I've heard real good things about Jay from guys where I know that they know what they are talking about snow/ski wise.
For me, Stowe just works really well. With my kids - there are a lot of solid blues that don't have any crossover trails and the mtn just flows well. For me as a snowboarder - I hardly ever come on a flat section. When there is new snow the runs off the main quad have a ton of great terrain with great pitch. Then there are the runs in the in-bounds woods and then the side and back country stuff. I would really love to take a winter off and live up there and just learn and ride everything at that place. I am sure Jay has the same scenerio.
Then there is the extra snow being a little further up north - Jay gets that effect even more so from what I've heard. And the lower kook and crowd factor.
And this is just the snow part of it. I could ramble even longer on the mtn biking up there
