Ragged 3/6/10

[polski]

Bluebird day as I notched my first corn snow of the season (which now is in its sixth calendar month). How much corn depended on sun exposure to a considerable degree but even Treehugger glades and Rags to Riches softened up enough to be quite skiable by late afternoon - a bit loud in spots, but a lot of fun. And it was a blast hitting RtoR with deadheadskier and reefer (and earlier runs with reefer's son), even if they were treated to the spectacle of my 12-year-old son and his friend leaving me pathetically in the dust.

A Rags to Riches run at noon yielded a considerably harder surface - edgeable for the most part, but patience paid off there and it was much better at the end of the day. This also featured my first-ever venture down the Karen's Dream drop into RtoR and that was ... interesting. Extremely steep and narrow, with one badly scraped-off spot but some deep stuff too. And I say "stuff" because it was a mix of snow and ice crystals that must've fallen off the trees, plus plenty of detritus from the trees themselves. It was steep enough that this stuff sloughed a little and the ice made a wild tinkling sound as it did. First time I've ever experienced something like that.

 

[deadheadskier]

Indeed, beautiful day at Ragged today. Great to ski with Reefer, Reefer Junior, Polski, Polski Junior and Junior buddy.

I arrived about 10 figuring no rush as it would take a bit for the woods to soften up. The mountain never fully corned over, but got better and better throughout the day. Southern exposure areas were excellent. I was very excited for today as outside of Tree Hugger, none of the glades have been open this season. Spent all day in the woods outside of a couple runs down Birches and Sweepstakes.

Upper Rags to Riches

Low Angle nice trees on Rags to Riches and Misbehavin'

Lots of blow down in some areas from the recent storm.

Did you know Ragged Mountain is home to the only horizontal glade in the east?

Reefer ripping Tree Hugger

Ragged won't put much of scare in people, but they do have a few technical tree shots. Karen's that Polski mentioned

Double Take:

Triple Take:

Beautiful bluebird day with exceptional views to the Presidentials and Whites. Not the best photo as it was tough to see through the view finder in the sunny spots.

When I arrived at 10 I had to park in lot 4, which is a short walk to the lodge, but they had the shuttle going as well. I was surprised as I had always scored spots in 1 or 2 next to the lodge. The reason was because half of lot 2 was closed off because of mud. They'll have issues with Lot 4 tomorrow, by the end of the day it was a mess:

Overall, very psyched to get a day in the woods at Ragged. Due to work and other planned trips to Stowe, and of course the Sugarloaf AZ Summit, I've only got one day left in my season at Ragged during closing weekend first weekend of April. Today was definitely the best day. Hopefully next season we get more natural and the glades open up more often as they're a ton of fun. I've scoped lots of potentially great off the map stuff too given enough snow.

Now if they'd just seed and maintain quality bumps on Showboat............

 

[Warp Daddy]

Nice reeport DHS and polski -- Ragged looks very good --- got to do it sometime on my way to see our daughter . can't be too far off 89 -- might be worth a day on the way to 495 land

 

[deadheadskier]

about 25-30 minutes off 89. Would love to give you a tour if you ever make it by. It will definitely be 'home' next season as well. The lack of crowds, great vibe and season pass price ($329) can't be beat.

 

[reefer]

Ragged Rocked!

Nice report and pics boys.................
Got a quick second before I'm offf for the day. (not skiing unfortunately). My son Mike and myself got out about 9:00am. Skied groomers all morning til 11:00, things weren't softenoing that quickly. Had a blast just cruising! After a relaxed hour lunch we met Deadheadskier at noon and it was game on. Great day Ryan! It was a pleasure chasing you around the woods all afternoon. Met up with Polski, and his rippin' son, and son's friend. There was no time for pictures or scenery breaks. DHS was just flying through those trees hitting any kickers he could find....very impresive, kept me on my toes! There were very short lift lines on a Saturday, waited a couple minutes here or there but it wasn't noticeable! Great little hill, very relaxed vibe. On the right day Ragged never disappoints. The woods there are very decent! Thanks again Polski and especially DHS for making this trip to Ragged extra special!