Category: Ragged Mountain

2023-2024 Season, January, Ragged Mountain

Ragged: Not A Powder Day

Today was my first time skiing Ragged since my first visit over twenty years ago. Back then, Ragged had just installed the first Six Pack in New Hampshire. Since then, they have added another high speed lift up Speare Mountain, and a few more glades.

However, I would not be skiing those glades today. The new snow would normally constitute a “power day” tag. However, most of the new snow was groomed, or fell on bare ground. No “reservations” today, the new snow was not enough to entice even me.

Four generally unique routes were available from the summit, with a bit of natural (thanks to an earlier groom) on some of the trails. Unfortunately, all of the open trails got a groom at some point during the evening. So, no trails offered more than a few token inches. Still, it was nice to feel natural snow again, even if only a few inches of a chop.

2002-2003 Season, Articles, December, Powder Day, Ragged Mountain

A Different Breed: The Ragged Mountain Experience

Stinky's Slide

Driving to a ski area before the break of dawn, you realize that you share the road with a different breed of the human species. Normal people do not wake up at 5:00 A.M. on a Saturday and gleefully pack their cars in below freezing temperatures. Normal people do not embark on two hour crusades to remote far off mountains that are cold and covered with snow.

Normal people do not know the feeling of trying to earn first tracks on a powder day.

Once on the highway, you pass a Chrysler Minivan with two blurry eyed parents in the front seat, two kids zonked out in the back. You get passed by some college kids in a 1988 Subaru Wagon with bumper stickers that read “Mad River Glen, Ski It If You Can” and “Cannon – It’s A Blast!” Roof racks adorn the many SUVs driven by yuppies that can barely suppress their shit eating grins knowing that they will soon be devouring powder in a few short hours. These are a few examples of the rare form of the human species known as “Skiers,” and together we all drive far and wide to earn turns after a foot and a half of fluff gets dumped on central Vermont and New Hampshire.

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