Ragged gets a new GM

[Abubob]

You are comparing apples to oranges on that one. Maybe because Tuck's is only stable and skiable for the masses of core skier's in the spring? Just a thought.

Skiers. By the hundreds. Skiing spring corn. The market is there.

 

[thebigo]

Snowmaking done, compressors hauled off this AM.

 

[Newpylong]

Did they end up doing Pines? Haven't exactly had any super cold nights...

 

[thebigo]

Best I can determine they blew maybe 12 - 24 hours earlier this week on pines and lower cc, both were skiing great today with upper/lower cc a good option on that side. Lapped moose a bunch of times, good spacing and generally clean.

 

[medfordmike]

Hi folks, I was wondering if any of the Ragged regulars was there this Saturday? Home base for me is Pico but I usually get a second pass for variety. Over the years I have had Pico + Max, bold & beautiful, Epic Local, Indy, Skiway. I am considering Ragged for next year as my second pass. Saturday was a beautiful day and it there seemed to be a lot of racing. However, 15+minute lines and a packed base area are not my thing. Great staff though and excellent line management. If you were there how did this past Saturday compare other weekends? As you can tell from many of my choices I am not a big crowd fan. Thanks for any guidance. Mike

 

[thebigo]

Hi folks, I was wondering if any of the Ragged regulars was there this Saturday? Home base for me is Pico but I usually get a second pass for variety. Over the years I have had Pico + Max, bold & beautiful, Epic Local, Indy, Skiway. I am considering Ragged for next year as my second pass. Saturday was a beautiful day and it there seemed to be a lot of racing. However, 15+minute lines and a packed base area are not my thing. Great staff though and excellent line management. If you were there how did this past Saturday compare other weekends? As you can tell from many of my choices I am not a big crowd fan. Thanks for any guidance. Mike

I was there but just getting home from watching our ragged u10s dominate another race day. Will offer a range of comments, likely rambling, after unpacking and feeding kids.

 

[Newpylong]

1 compressor left. Not sure if they're keeping it to do the Boardercross park which they never did or if it just didn't fit on the first tractor trailer. Top of Blueberry Patch could use a refresh bigtime. Not much left to pull to the middle there.

Skiing was really good today considering I thought, but didn't get to sample too much. Ridge, Birches, and the Chutes to Village Green were good.

Wasn't there Saturday but a lady I rode with said they were mobbed for Ragged standards. Saturdays are the busiest especially when there are events. I avoid Saturdays with two kids. Today I skied on both summit lifts after lunch which is the norm.

 

[thebigo]

Ragged has built a strong racing culture, both hosting urban teams from greater Boston and their own programs. The last two Saturdays have been busy, not vail busy but ragged busy. Racing dollars are similar to pass dollars, money in the bank and a hedge against weather.

The club knows there is a problem, kids spend too much time in line. There are a few ideas splashing around how to fix it, none are remotely imminent, some are likely to offend many.

The race teams are almost exclusively on the road every Sunday mid season. If looking to avoid crowds, I would follow newps advice and ski Sundays from mlk weekend to March.

If you live in Boston, as I suspect Medfordmike does, there is no better option within a couple hours to avoid crowds. I attended races at sunapee and gunstock the last couple weekends, both had lines significantly in excess of anything at ragged this year.

 

[thebigo]

1 compressor left. Not sure if they're keeping it to do the Boardercross park which they never did or if it just didn't fit on the first tractor trailer. Top of Blueberry Patch could use a refresh bigtime. Not much left to pull to the middle there.

Skiing was really good today considering I thought, but didn't get to sample too much. Ridge, Birches, and the Chutes to Village Green were good.

Wasn't there Saturday but a lady I rode with said they were mobbed for Ragged standards. Saturdays are the busiest especially when there are events. I avoid Saturdays with two kids. Today I skied on both summit lifts after lunch which is the norm.

The truck was full but I hope they blow more, it is needed in a few spots, notably blueberry. The forecast does not look good.

 

[Newpylong]

No, Thursday looks brutal.

 

[thebigo]

No, Thursday looks brutal.

?

 

[Newpylong]

Was agreeig that, No, the forecast for Thursday looks brutal.

 

[Newpylong]

Insider Q&A: New Ragged Mountain GM Erik Barnes feels right at home - New England Ski Journal

New England Ski Journal recently visited with Erik Barnes, the new general manager at Ragged Mountain in New Hampshire

www.skijournal.com

Q&A with Erik Barnes. It's refreshing to hear that he has quickly recognized what makes Ragged special and what has been working. His comments echo much of my sentiment but it's good to hear it from the top.

Nice to hear that snowmaking is on the radar. They do an amazing job but the capital budget has been extremely small in that department.

 

[Abubob]

He mentions aging infrastructure. How old is the 6 pack? 20 years this season and breaking down several times. Almost seems like the same choices Cannon faces with the tram.

 

[IceEidolon]

Wintergreen and Wisp both have big, older automated snowmaking systems (Wisp was a SMI showcase for a while). I haven't heard good things about the maintenance and upkeep at either, and it didn't seem to be local problems holding them back. I hope Ragged is able to build out and maintain real upgrades, and I'll be curious to see if they also try to automate a bunch.

 

[Newpylong]

He mentions aging infrastructure. How old is the 6 pack? 20 years this season and breaking down several times. Almost seems like the same choices Cannon faces with the tram.

Nowhere near old enough to require being replaced, but needs to be gone through in the off-season. It has been solid since the electrical gremlin was figured out. If anything, the Barnyard would be next on the list for a fixed grip quad.

 

[Newpylong]

Wintergreen and Wisp both have big, older automated snowmaking systems (Wisp was a SMI showcase for a while). I haven't heard good things about the maintenance and upkeep at either, and it didn't seem to be local problems holding them back. I hope Ragged is able to build out and maintain real upgrades, and I'll be curious to see if they also try to automate a bunch.

Erik's comment is interesting because neither Mount Snow (where he referred to) or Crotched have any automation. In fact, Ragged had two trails entirely automated (York) but they do not use it. One of the installs (Exhibition - under the Six Pack) was a botched install. Due to the lift being there, the towers for the most part plaster it, so they use HKD sleds and other gear. It is front and center but the most inefficient trail to operate because of this. Other than this, for the most all of their other equipment is fixed with very little labor involved. So I guess, sure there are some efficiencies you could gain with more equipment, but compared to other areas, I think they are decent in the gear department.

He states making snow on both peaks concurrently as a possible goal. That is going to take some money. They currently operate a little south of 4,000 GPM and 6,000 CFM. The pipe topology is weird, not overly efficient. I believe if they wanted to operate on both peaks concurrently they would need to make some feed upgrades, and likely go up a little on the air and water side. I don't remember how much room there is in the pumphouse but I seem to remember at least one smaller HP motor/pump that could be replaced if they wanted to scale up vs out. On the air side, they did a big project about 10 years ago where they converted their air pad from diesel to electric - they lease units. Not sure if it would make sense to bite the bullet and install their own Centacs vs expanding the air pad. Depends on how much they pay for those units. New Centacs aren't cheap. They also could retire the HKD Standards and the Yorks and put in newer units and gain some air back. For the most part, it's not a mountain where a large fan deployment would make a lot of sense. The leased air seems to work, except they lose the ability to resurface from mid Feb on if they ever wanted to. That is another reason they bury trails.

Even if nothing happens on any front, for $349/year we get a hell of a value and I think most people are extremely happy. But it will be interesting to see if the owners open the purse strings a little, besides the new Spear lift, they are very tight on the capital side.

 

[IceEidolon]

I just looked up Exhibition, that's a terrible spot for EVOs. Put some short HKD sticks on those posts instead, maybe manual Klik. At least a 10' Impulse doesn't rain at 25 wb and comes with its own jack.

Speaking more generally, corporate seems to be relatively involved in larger projects and has previously gone for big auto projects. I wouldn't be surprised to hear if they're committing to snowmaking, they're committing in a big way. Upgrading a couple trails a year to SV14/Impulse from Standards makes sense, but from the group that built out the Starship at Wisp (each screen of that version of Smart Snow had a dedicated display and keyboard - it looks like NASA mission control and was stupid overkill) I don't expect rational thought.

I don't have any quibble with anything you're saying about what it'll take to run both peaks or what they should buy, I just have a very low opinion of executives and corporate decision making after shovelling out too many decisions made too high up the chain.

 

[Newpylong]

I am very surprised more places don't put the Impulse shorties on the booms that Pat's Peak did under the lift on their Cascade Basin expansion, they are pretty sweet.

The past mistakes with the York deployment were on past management's watch, the folks there now I am fairly certain aren't going to double down on the poor moves. I have been nothing but impressed with what they do with that system and the things they have done for improvements. They put in a new pond not long ago, added Impulses to a ton of trails, added pipe to Upper and Lower Chute, installed 3 TA TF40s that were sitting in the unused tubing hill on the main run, etc. So really good stuff, just incremental and not earth shattering.

 

[thebigo]

Impressive recovery today, all snowmaking trails are edgeable with barely any visible ice. There were three groomers on showboat when i arrived at 8, impressive sight.