Skiing Ragged Mountain

Skiing Ragged Mountain

Sunday March 9th, 2025

Runs: 11

Distance: 10.21 miles

Elevation: 11,206 feet

Max Speed: 32.9 mph

Avg. Speed: 15.6 mph

Moving Time: 36 minutes, 40 seconds

Total Time: 2 hours, 42 minutes, 42 seconds

After an EXCEPTIONAL night's sleep, we were up and chit-chatting with Snowboard Emma's parents for a while before finally committing to going skiing for the day. Emma and I got breakfast sandwiches and we all made the relatively quick drive over to Ragged! We landed a little after 10, so we decided to boot up at the car. We met team snowboard on the walk up and got our passes - which unfortunately I had to pay for! I did use my 25% off coupon I get from Indy, but it hurt to actually pay for skiing... oh well! It was busy but the lines were moving well, I'd say longest wait was a bit over 5 minutes. First stop was the Summit Six Express!

Runs 1-3

Run 1: Summit Six Express - Upper Ridge - Upper Crewcut - Lower Crewcut - Town Meeting - Upper Exhibition - Lower Exhibition

[0.94 mi; 3:43; 1,161 ft; 32.9 mph max; 15.2 mph avg]

Run 2: Summit Six Express - Upper Ridge - Headwall - Upper Chute - Raggedy Andy - Main Street

[0.98 mi; 3:47; 1,132 ft; 30.3 mph max; 15.5 mph avg]

Run 3: Summit Six Express - Upper Ridge - Headwall - Upper Chute - Raggedy Andy - Lower Chute - Village Green - Main Street

[0.97 mi; 3:48; 1,135 ft; 32.7 mph max; 15.4 mph avg]

Tragically, we shared the lift with two VERY friendly kids who first didn't want to put the bar down and then chatted us up on every topic from the best runs to speaking different languages. I tried to get Emma to speak in an New Zealand accent, but she wouldn't commit to the bit. In an act of war, Elizabeth told the kids Emma and I were music teachers, which I denied immediately. Anyways, once off the lift, we scooted to Upper Ridge and followed Crewcut down to Town Meeting and then Exhibition - I had never skied Crewcut before! It wasn't too steep, but it was more narrow than other trails. We were DELIGHTED with the snow conditions. I had quite the day at Black (agian, vibes were EXCELLENT, skiing was rough) and team snowboard skied Loon and said it was dreadful. Back in line for the Six Pack, we went up again and went over to Headwall. Snowboard Emma reminisced about how scary it was when she was a kid, and Emma and I made a few "GNAR" jokes from the film. From there, we followed Upper Chute to Raggedy Andy to Main Street. Run #3 was the same, but Emma and I went into Lower Chute for some fun banked turns while team snowboard went into the park.

Runs 4-6

Run 4: Summit Six Express - Upper Exhibition - Birches

[0.85 mi; 2:43; 1,122 ft; 32.9 mph max; 18.7 mph avg]

Run 5: Summit Six Express - Blueberry Patch - Lower Ridge - Pines

[1.14 mi; 3:56; 1,093 ft; 29.8 mph max; 17.4 mph avg]

Run 6: Summit Six Express - Upper Exhibition - Birches

[0.83 mi; 3:06; 1,109 ft; 29.3 mph max; 16.0 mph avg]

Team snowboard went back into the park for Run #4, so Emma and I went on our own down Upper Exhibition into Birches, another run I hadn't done before. On the lift, we had solo riders on either side of the four of us. I made a joking comment about waiting for snowboarders, and acknowledged that team snowboard is not slow, but Elizabeth starting to come for me about it, so I mentioned how backflips are easy, which is something that Snowboard Emma and Elizbeth got into a hysterical-but-apparently-serious fight about last year, and that got the two of them going, fully taking the heat off of me. Emma and I were cackling and fighting for air as the two of them kept going, and at one point they even got onto the topic of learning Spanish?! The poor strangers... ANYWAY, birches was super fun! A bit steeper, a bit windier, and it had some rolling bumps at the end. The first one I got some fun air on, and the second I LAUNCHED myself off of. I ALMOST stuck the landing, but didn't support with my quads, so I landed on my bum and then skidded out. Emma had a great time with this particular wipeout. 

I wanted to go wide for Run #5, so we followed Blueberry Patch to Lower Ridge to Pines. Lovely, and moderately unpopulated. Run #6 was another lap down Birches with team snowboard to get us in line for the Spear Mountain Express (I did not get air this time - I wanted to get a little "pop," but there were too many people in front of us). 

Runs 7-9

Run 7: Spear Mountain Express - Cardigan - Home Run - Barnyard

[1.19 mi; 5:54; 1,070 ft; 28.7 mph max; 12.1 mph avg]

Run 8: Banyard Triple - Turnpike

[0.39 mi; 1:30; 159 ft; 27.9 mph max; 16.4 mph avg]

Run 9: Spear Mountain Express - Flying Yankee

[0.93 mi; 3:24; 1,004 ft; 27.9 mph max; 16.4 mph avg]

The line for the quad was physically shorter, but moved at about the same pace. Nobody wanted to follow the liftline down, and there was race training on Flying Yankee (the blue), so we went on the easiest way down on Cardigan (with a great view to Mt. Cardigan!). We got our pole picture up here and then braved the crowds and carnage on Cardigan, which was a bit rough. I think people see the easy green route and go for it, but it's on the long side and both times I've done it I've seen people struggle. Near the bottom, we cut over to the Barnyard side to hit Home Run and of course, the Barn! The Barn is so fun and silly to ski through.

I either made a friend or enemy on the Barnyard Triple - the person I was clearly in front of said "after you!" and "have a great day!" in a tone that was questionable, but whatever. Emma and I shared the comically slow lift and decided we were good over here. Team Snowboard played in the baby park while Emma and I went back to the quad and hit Flying Yankee, which was super fun! Upper half skied super well, and lower half had race training, which caused some congestion, but it was fine.

Runs 10-11

Run 10: Summit Six Express - Upper Ridge - Upper Crewcut - Lower Crewcut - Town Meeting - Main Street

[0.93 mi; 2:59; 1,099 ft; 28.6 mph max; 18.7 mph avg]

Run 11: Summit Six Express - Upper Ridge - Sunnyside - Blueberry Patch - Raggedy Andy - Lower Chute - Village Green - Main Street

[1.06 mi; 3:19; 1,122 ft; 29.8 mph max; 19.2 mph avg]

Emma and I bounced back over to the Summit Six after that run and followed the Crewcuts back down, which were a little skied off but still decent. We planned to meet team snowboard for a two more skip the last, but they were now in line for waffles and were all done for the day. Emma and I hit Sunnyside for the first time and then did the banked turns on Lower Chute as a final hurrah of the day!

Back at the cars, Snowboard Emma and Elizabeth brought over some leftover chocolate cake that we all DEVOURED. Emma gave Elizabeth back the pants she borrowed (this is the second time Emma had forgotten her shells) and team snowboard went on their merry way. Emma and I went up to the Stone Hearth - the top floor of the lodge at Ragged for an apres drink and some delicious pizza before eventually heading home. This was the first day of the "spring forward" daylight savings time, so we both made it home in the daylight, which was amazing! Another super fun weekend skiing - I am starting to feel the "end of season blues" and thinking about how long I can stretch it and also flirting with making some kind of video or something at the end (Elizabeth does this on Instagram, so maybe?).

Map of Ragged Mountain