Ragged Mtn. - 1/20/10

[speden]

Today seemed like a good day to try out Ragged. They've gotten some new snow this week, so I thought maybe conditions would be pretty good there.

Had a little fun driving there. My GPS took me on a strange route, then it wanted me to take that New Canada Road, but I bypassed that and it re-routed me on to some other one lane backroads which were snow covered, but sanded. At one point I came over a hill to see a plow truck blocking the road. Went to brake and started sliding toward it, but luckily the car stopped in time (but got my heart rate up). Later I talked to some guys on the lift that said they took the Canada road that morning and slid off the road and needed a tow truck to get out.

I wanted to warm up on the Village Green double, but apparently that lift does not spin on weekdays. So cruised over the the Barnyard double instead just to check it out. It's not bad for a bunny hill, but is on the short side, and not enough pitch to give any warm up for me. But I was glad to see they hadn't groomed the fresh snow that had fallen overnight. It seemed like an inch or two on top of the cord.

Then I tried the Spear Triple and went down Cardigan. Unfortunately they had groomed out all the fresh snow, so it was frozen cord. That's kind of a nice trail though, with some hills and curves that make it interesting. Since it was completely deserted, I could rip it as fast as I wanted. Later in the day I tried Flying Yankee, which has a little more pitch, but maybe isn't quite as interesting as Cardigan.

On the main mountain the trails were much nicer, since like the bunny hill, they hadn't groomed out the fresh, so it was soft snow all day. Spent most of the morning just learning my way around. There's a confusing section near the top on skier's right of little short trails, like Headwall, Upper Ridge, etc. I didn't find the trail signs all that clear, so wasn't always sure what trail I was turning on.

They still have a lot of closed trails unfortunately. They seem to have enough snow to open pretty much everything, so I'm wondering if it's just a shortage of staff to get all the trails open.

All in all a pretty nice mountain. Should be a lot better once they replace the Spear mountain triple. It's a real buzz kill to ride that thing.

Some pics:

The base area

Barnyard Triple

Showboat - I don't think it was open yet, but they were setting up guns on it.

Spear Triple - comically slow

Some nice boulders on Showboat. Looks gnarly.

Cardigan - Guess I was first tracks today

Top of the six pack

Headwall Trail

Exhibition

Lower Ridge

Wild Ride Park

They have a nice lodge. It's pretty cozy and rustic. Only complaint is the men's john stinks (waterless urinals, WTF)

Raggae Glades - Nice and soft, some bumps are forming on the top half

Village Green - Kind of fun to rip it since it's so wide

 

[hiroto]

Only complaint is the men's john stinks (waterless urinals, WTF)

Despite their claim of being odorless, it doesn't seems to be so. I'm all for eco technologies but yeah, that one stinks big time.

 

[billski]

Odd that not all trails are open. Maybe they want to cater to mainstream, pampered set? Stick a sign in that says "ungroomed or caution rocks!" Where's the duct tape???

 

[billski]

Despite their claim of being odorless, it doesn't seems to be so. I'm all for eco technologies but yeah, that one stinks big time.

anything that does not flush will smell.

 

[speden]

Odd that not all trails are open. Maybe they want to cater to mainstream, pampered set? Stick a sign in that says "ungroomed or caution rocks!" Where's the duct tape???

Yeah, I was thinking if they can't get all their trails open with the very favorable weather conditions we've had this year, then something is just not right.

I rode up the lift with a guy that said he worked there. He said he didn't think they were opening some of the glades because they didn't have enough patrollers. It seemed like there was enough cover to open the glades, so not sure what the deal is.

When I was wrapping up for the day, I would have liked to try the long green trail they have called Easy Winder, but the trails over there are all closed even though they looked to have a lot of snow on them.

Seems like Ragged's snowmaking is a little behind the times. It's not a push button operation with fixed guns. Each trail appears to have water and air outlets, and then they have to schlepp the guns around and hook them up.

 

[deadheadskier]

Odd that not all trails are open. Maybe they want to cater to mainstream, pampered set? Stick a sign in that says "ungroomed or caution rocks!" Where's the duct tape???

The main reason would be that all of the Ravine Glades lead into Showboat and Showboat can't open short of a 3 foot dump. The top of it is the most windswept area on the mountain and is very rocky / stumpy and requires significant snow making to open. There also is a fairly significant stream that runs right across it just before where the glades dump out. This really should be addressed with a culvert and regrading in the off season as places will require 6 to 8 feet of base to cover up the stream and rocks associated with it. There is a similar situation at the bottom of Yankee that requires an equally aggressive snowmaking effort to cover up. You wouldn't know it, but looking up Yankee where it enters show boat at the bottom, the base is probably close to 10 feet deep in one section.

Two weeks ago Ski Patrol said the woods would require 8-10 more inches of snow to be able to handle significant traffic. They also said that there was a lot of blow down from summer storms that wasn't cleaned up this summer. I'd imagine they're still quite skiable, but their being extra cautious.

No idea why Easy Winder, and Cabin Fever wouldn't be open though.

 

[2knees]

that doesnt look like last sunday! :lol:

where are all the people.

and you gotta go through the barn on the barnyard trail. i carried two kids through that, one in each arm.

 

[2knees]

Odd that not all trails are open. Maybe they want to cater to mainstream, pampered set? Stick a sign in that says "ungroomed or caution rocks!" Where's the duct tape???

bill, i'm really not trying to flame here, but why do so many of your comments basically come back to this sentiment? there are reasons beyond clientele that a resort may or may not open trails and glades. i would think at this point, you'd rather see them remain closed, or reserved, for your own personal pleasure.

 

[speden]

The main reason would be that all of the Ravine Glades lead into Showboat and Showboat can't open short of a 3 foot dump. The top of it is the most windswept area on the mountain and is very rocky / stumpy and requires significant snow making to open. There also is a fairly significant stream that runs right across it just before where the glades dump out. This really should be addressed with a culvert and regrading in the off season as places will require 6 to 8 feet of base to cover up the stream and rocks associated with it. There is a similar situation at the bottom of Yankee that requires an equally aggressive snowmaking effort to cover up. You wouldn't know it, but looking up Yankee where it enters show boat at the bottom, the base is probably close to 10 feet deep in one section.

Hopefully when they redo the Spear lift they will put in a culvert on Showboat. That's a pretty major stream running across Showboat. I could see a lot of water in it yesterday. If they need to open that trail before they open some of their glades, then they should really clean up that trail. It would be okay to leave a big boulder or two, but some of those rocks are of a size that just seems dangerous and would require a lot of snow to cover. Since glades are one of the advantages Ragged has over nearby resorts, it seems like they should do what they can to get the glades open sooner.

 

[hammer]

I skied Showboat when I went to Ragged a few years ago...IIRC a few of the drops have some decent pitch. Bit of a runout at the end, though.

 

[speden]

that doesnt look like last sunday! :lol:

where are all the people.

and you gotta go through the barn on the barnyard trail. i carried two kids through that, one in each arm.

It was pretty deserted up until about 1pm, when three school buses rolled in. Even with that there were still no lines on the lifts.

 

[speden]

I skied Showboat when I went to Ragged a few years ago...IIRC a few of the drops have some decent pitch. Bit of a runout at the end, though.

Yeah, the top part looked pretty steep, but then as you say it seemed to flatten out somewhat.

 

[mikestaple]

Haven't been there in 3 weeks and am amazed at the increase in the amount of snow from the pics.

From other threads it sounds like you're not missing much on Easy Winder. Others have indicated it gets very flat in places.....

 

[deadheadskier]

I skied Easy Winder last year. It's kind of cool and remote for a stretch, but yes it does get very flat. I have not skied Cabin Fever leading to it and hope to at some point soon.

 

[Robbski]

I love Ragged but they have a lot of nerve calling Easy Winder a ski slope. I mean most of it's so flat it's nearly uphill!

 

[billski]

The top of it is the most windswept area on the mountain and is very rocky / stumpy and requires significant snow making to open. There also is a fairly significant stream that runs right across it just before where the glades dump out. This really should be addressed with a culvert and regrading in the off season as places will require 6 to 8 feet of base to cover up the stream and rocks associated with it.

You know where I'm going with this one....

The aforementioned conditions is what I learned on back in the bad old NELSAP days....
Stumps? Check.
Rocks? Check.
Dirt? Check.
Ice on trail requiring crampons? Check.
Grass? check.
Warning signs? Uncheck.
Running water? check.
Snow? In most places.

They did a good job of clearing the downed trees off the trail however.

All of the above features we paid money for and we're not talking spring conditions!

 

[Rushski]

It was pretty deserted up until about 1pm, when three school buses rolled in. Even with that there were still no lines on the lifts.

I'm there tomorrow and will probably be leaving when the buses arrive. A freebie ticket affords me that luxury of leaving early...

 

[deadheadskier]

You know where I'm going with this one....

The aforementioned conditions is what I learned on back in the bad old NELSAP days....
Stumps? Check.
Rocks? Check.
Dirt? Check.
Ice on trail requiring crampons? Check.
Grass? check.
Warning signs? Uncheck.
Running water? check.
Snow? In most places.

They did a good job of clearing the downed trees off the trail however.

All of the above features we paid money for and we're not talking spring conditions!

I'm all for opening trails in rough shape. I wouldn't do it at Ragged though. You are right in your assessment that it could be a clientele based decision.

 

[hiroto]

I skied Easy Winder last year. It's kind of cool and remote for a stretch, but yes it does get very flat. I have not skied Cabin Fever leading to it and hope to at some point soon.

While it gets really flat, there are couple sections at the beginning which are quite steep and not really qualify as green. I was quite annoyed by that when I had real beginner with me who got quite scared of getting down those sections. I wish they make a little D tour around those sections like Jughandle off Cardigan.

 

[Warp Daddy]

I GOTTA do this place sometime always wondered about it