Ragged Mountain takes riders to the Wild side

By Matt Boxler

Snowboarders and skiers who haven’t been to Ragged Mountain in the past year or more are in for a wild surprise if they make it back to the Danbury, N.H. resort this season. Not only will they find fast and reliable lift service once again, but a triple threat series of “Wild” terrain parks awaits.

Ragged Cliff: Ragged Mountain Manager Dave Suckling stands triumphantly atop the stone wall constructed to form a 25-foot cliff drop in Wild Woods. (Courtesy Ragged Mountain)Since taking over Ragged a year ago June, the new ownership and management team led by president and general manager Bob Fries, invested millions to rescue what was quickly becoming an aging ski area and have pointed it firmly in the direction of what they believe to be its true destiny as a year-round resort.

“Last year we spent $3 million to get the place back in shape,” Fries said. That money was invested in basic resort necessities like electrical systems, lifts and snowmaking. The Spear Mountain Triple, for instance, hadn’t run at all the previous two years. Also among the improvements was $18,000 spent on new rails for the terrain park.

“This year we started buffing things up ... looking at things that would be unique for us,” Fries said. “We had been thinking for some time about a woods trail and this was the year to do it.”

Wild Side

The fun starts for snowboarders at the top of the Wild Side trail, accessible off the Summit Six Pack, New Hampshire’s only six-passenger high speed quad. The Wild Side park is a more traditional terrain park with features that include 40-foot kickers, technical rails, boxes and more.

Riders have the option of entering the Wild Side from the top of the trail, or lower down. But the option that has everyone at Ragged most excited this season is the new wooded park developed immediately off the right side of Wild Side.

Wild Woods

Snowboarders rejoice. Freeskiers too, for that matter. Wild Woods, Ragged’s unique version of an all-natural, wooded terrain park, is making its debut this season. Wild Woods at Ragged – along with Burton’s “The Stash” at Killington – represent the only two all-organic terrain parks in New England.

Simply turn right when entering the Wild Side trail along Ragged’s east side and you’ll find yourself in Wild Woods, where the trees have been thinned and the natural landscape has been converted into a virtual freeriding playground.

The park boasts many unique features, including a 25-foot cliff drop, a quarter pipe with log coping, log slides, and tall tree stump obstacles scattered throughout. The all-natural park concept was something that always appealed to Ragged’s Mountain Manager Dave Suckling, a native New Zealander who has been working at the New Hampshire resort now for eight seasons.

“This is something I always wanted to do,” Suckling said, recalling his younger days riding in New Zealand when it was always open season on kicking off all-natural elements. “It’s been getting to the point where riders today are almost discouraged from riding this way. This (Wild Woods) gets us back to the old way.”

The Wild Woods project at Ragged was done completely in-house, thanks primarily to Suckling’s vision and his dedicated team. He, of course, was familiar with Burton’s Stash designs (one of which is located at The Remarkables, New Zealand). But Wild Woods is uniquely, distinctly, unmistakably Ragged.

“The big feature that we’re all pretty proud of here is the 25-foot cliff drop,” said Suckling, who has also worked for the New Zealand Snowboard Association. That element was created after excavation by stacking a big stone wall and back-filling it with dirt. “It introduces a big mountain feeling that wasn’t here before,” Suckling said.

Wild Ride

Perhaps your snowboarding skills aren’t quite ready for 40-foot kickers or 25-foot cliff drops? Not to worry, the Wild Side triumvirate also includes “Wild Ride,” a terrain park designed for beginners and progressing freestylers that features a series of less intimidating smaller jumps and rails.

Ragged’s Wild Side terrain park continues to offer more traditional rails and boxes. (Courtesy Ragged Mountain)“We’ve got a great team here, I’m really proud of that,” said Fries, a 35-year industry veteran who previously owned Bolton Valley (Vt.), served as president at Stratton (Vt.), general manager of Breckenridge (Colo.) and president of the Olympic Regional Development Authority in Lake Placid, New York.

His career started in New Hampshire in 1973 as controller of Waterville Valley and later as general manager. He’s been around enough to see Ragged, a resort largely untouched but successful since the 1960s, as having the potential to become one of the most attractive four-season resorts in New England.

“Currently, we’re 80 percent through the approval process to have an impressive real estate project that will include the development of ski-in, ski-out cabins,” Fries said. The plans also include development of new trails on Ragged’s third mountain peak, Pinnacle. “It’s very unique, we’re really excited about developing this place as a year-round resort.”

All that within 100 miles of Boston. Better get up there to check things out now, they’re only going to get more wild.

(First published Dec. 10, 2008 at skijournal.com)