Looking at their snowreport online it seems that part of the problem with ragged is they list their glades as trails to boost the trail count, when the snow is low and the glades aren't open it puts a big dent in their open %. Also its really suprising that they don't have cardigan open yet, that's one of their best beginner trails besides barnyard.
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Ragged Mountain
- Thread starter gmcunni
- Start date
bobbutts
New member
It's got much more acreage vs. Pat's and Crotched, both of which I think of as feeder hills. I consider Ragged a day area along with Gunstock and Sunapee. Of those three it's the least busy and least snowmaking, but best natural terrain. Loon, Waterville, Cannon, Wildcat, Attitash I consider "destination" areas.
UVSHTSTRM
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That just means they can access snowmaking on 85% of their trails. It doesn't mean they can blow 85% of their terrain at any one time. Killington, Sugarloaf, Sunday River, Loon, etc have 85-90% snowmaking coverage, but would be lucky to be able (or would) to blow snow on 10-20% of their mountain on any given time. Reason..........water availability and compressor capacity. As far as cold weather goes, it really wasn't that impressive in terms of long term. We had a week of really good cold weather and at that time I am guessing that Ragged weighed the options between blow snow thin or blow snow for quality. Many places blow snow over a wider range of terrain and pay the price....ie it it melts out quickly vs others who will take a certain number of trails and give the trails greater coverage. Also some of those cold/colder nights had some high humidity, which can frig up snowmaking. Finally, yes we got snow, but in the end places like Ragged got very little in the grand scheme of things. 15 inches of snow in the lowlands seems great, but when the same 15 inches of snow falls a few hundred feet up and it is falling on bare ground it doesn't do shit with hundreds of people skiing on it.
xwhaler
Active member
I will very likely be there 2 wks from tomorrow as well. The RSNE tour is a lot of fun and hopefully Ragged has more open by then. I've done 2 days this yr and while the goomed runs were in good shape it would be great to take full advantage of their fun terrain.
bdfreetuna
New member
Yeah I've always thought of Ragged in the same league as Gunstock... similar to Sunapee but Sunapee gets more visitors.
Ragged happens to be 1st on my list of NH areas to revisit though. I think it has (or at least had 14 years ago before the ravine area) great terrain for a medium sized mountain.
2nd on my list is Cannon.
I don't get out to NH to ski very often.
Ragged happens to be 1st on my list of NH areas to revisit though. I think it has (or at least had 14 years ago before the ravine area) great terrain for a medium sized mountain.
2nd on my list is Cannon.
I don't get out to NH to ski very often.
xwhaler
Active member
In my mind if everything is open and its a good snow (powder day) I'd rank the Central/Southern NH as follows for places I'd want to be (in order): Ragged, Whaleback, Sunapee, Gunstock, Pats, Crotched.
Ragged has much more interesting terrain than Sunapee or Gunstock which I think are their chief competitors. Its also a better value than the other two with shorter lift lines and the ability to spread the crowds out more.
I do agree with DHS that the biggest drawback for Ragged is the time off the highway. Gunstock draws from a lot of folks who own 2nd homes on/near Lake Winni are up up in the winter and Sunapee has the marketing/snowmaking machine that pulls a lot of day trippers in.
Ragged has much more interesting terrain than Sunapee or Gunstock which I think are their chief competitors. Its also a better value than the other two with shorter lift lines and the ability to spread the crowds out more.
I do agree with DHS that the biggest drawback for Ragged is the time off the highway. Gunstock draws from a lot of folks who own 2nd homes on/near Lake Winni are up up in the winter and Sunapee has the marketing/snowmaking machine that pulls a lot of day trippers in.
gmcunni
Active member
was staying in S NH over new years and skiing a couple days. Ragged is the northern edge of where we would go to from the house. Having skied there in the past and liking it I was hopeful we'd go there. Watching the weather and the trail counts of other mountains go up while Ragged stayed flat ( think it was 18 open trails on 12/29) i was fearful of what we might find, i just wasn't get a good feeling. we opted for Pats Peak which was almost 100% open and it turned out they had great snow. is nearly 100% of Pats better than 18 of 50 @ Ragged? i don't really know but the slow progress Ragged was showing at the time didn't instill confidence in me as a consumer who doesn't have a lot of first hand knowledge of the area and how they operate.
Unless Pat's has great bumps on Hurricane, that answer is an emphatic NO! IMO. I like Pat's a lot, but I'm going there to ski Hurricane primarily and a few quick laps on some cruisers. Don't get me wrong, I dig Pat's a lot, but at Ragged, you can access almost double the vert in half the ride time off the Six Pack. 18 trails at Ragged is probably the same acreage or more than Pats, but double the vert and accessed by a High Speed lift.
xwhaler
Active member
IMO for anyone that likes Pats need to try Whaleback as the terrain is as steep and more continuous. Hurricane at Pats is fun but the Face, Jawbone, and Blowhole at the Whale are better for ~700' vert hills.
jack97
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I agree.... imo the glades at Sunapee are just as fun as Ragged. If southern NH got a snow dump, I would choose ragged in a heart beat but would not be disappointed if I had to go to Sunapee.
gmcunni
Active member
hurricane was bumped but i didn't ski it (jake did laps). was with a buddy and our girls who just like cruising around
Haven't skied Whaleback since High School, but remember it being great. Drive by it all the time on the way to VT and want to ski it, but keep moving on to other locations. Guess the reason I ski Pat's most seasons is the drive time. Only about 1:15 from Newmarket. Whaleback is in the 1:45 range and once I'm driving that additional 30 minutes, I just keep on going to ski Northern VT areas.
I definitely need to check it again. That $15 dollar Sunday Morning deal you brought up is a great deal. Wanna go Superbowl Sunday Morn?
xwhaler
Active member
Possibly....depends on whether I'm changing diapers or making turns on snow! Our son is due a week later (Feb 9) so I will have to keep you updated :-D
They also have $20 midweek tickets and a $15 last 2 hrs of any day. I'd love for you to go when everything is open and you can experience the blacks. The only glade that wasn't open for my great morning was YOOOYM but looking up that it looked fun albeit rocky and required more snow.
I'll be in touch Ryan and if you wanna make turns someplace before that let me know. I have a RSNE card so can get us 2 for 1 discounts and have both a Magic and MRG voucher I wanna use before end of season but unsure how much skiing I will get in post-baby. Would be good to share the long ride to either place if u have any interest.
Ragged is my first choice for day trips. I skied there on Fri. 1/12 for $21 (Mayan promo)
The reasons:
Less than two hrs from just north of Boston,
Affordable usually I can get some kind of deal on tickets,
Smallest crowds of any of the competition (huge plus for me)
Good vibe
Pretty good snow quality (on what's open)
Big bonus post dumps if woods are open and skiing nice.
Can't argue that the terrain has been limited this year. A high percentage of the terrain is dependent on natural and they don't get much.
The reasons:
Less than two hrs from just north of Boston,
Affordable usually I can get some kind of deal on tickets,
Smallest crowds of any of the competition (huge plus for me)
Good vibe
Pretty good snow quality (on what's open)
Big bonus post dumps if woods are open and skiing nice.
Can't argue that the terrain has been limited this year. A high percentage of the terrain is dependent on natural and they don't get much.
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