
Ragged Mountain
250 acres, 57 runs near Danbury. Uncrowded slopes, affordable family skiing, now locally owned.
Ragged Mountain's summit reaches 2,251 feet, dropping 1,250 vertical feet to a base at 1,001 feet across 57 runs spread over 250 acres near Danbury, New Hampshire. Terrain splits 37 per cent advanced, 30 per cent beginner, 26 per cent intermediate and 7 per cent expert, with average annual snowfall of roughly 97 inches. Five lifts, including one quad chair and one six-person chair, serve the mountain alongside one triple chair and two t-bars.
Ragged Mountain has weathered a genuinely turbulent operating history, including a bankruptcy and a period of closure, before emerging as a value-focused, community-oriented ski area under a succession of committed private owners. Its recent transition to local ownership after 60 years of operation reflects the resort's enduring appeal to skiers seeking uncrowded slopes at an accessible price.
Ragged Mountain Ski Area opened in 1965 with seven runs, a T-bar and a Hall double chair, though the site had been considered for skiing development as early as the 1930s. Amid limited natural snowfall and the absence of snowmaking equipment, the resort went bankrupt in 1974, was purchased by the state, and was then sold to private investors who operated it for roughly a decade before it, too, failed and the mountain closed.
Developers Al and Walter Endriunas purchased Ragged Mountain, reopening it in 1988, expanding the terrain onto adjacent Spear Mountain, and installing New Hampshire's first six-person chairlift. In November 2025, marking the resort's 60th year of operation, new local owners purchased Ragged Mountain for 6.4 million US dollars, pledging to preserve its character. Adult daily tickets run from 69 to 89 US dollars, with free access for children aged 5 and under and seniors aged 80 and over.
Ragged Mountain near Danbury, New Hampshire, covers 250 acres (101 hectares) across Ragged and Spear Mountains, with 57 runs. The vertical is 1,250 ft (381 m), from a 1,000 ft (305 m) base to a 2,250 ft (686 m) summit. Advanced terrain leads at 37%, followed by 30% beginner, 26% intermediate and 7% expert, an unusual weighting for the region. Snowfall averages around 97 inches a year. The Summit Six Pack and the Spear Mountain Express high-speed quad move skiers up between the two peaks.
Beginners have Blueberry Patch, Lower Easy Winder and Cardigan, while Exhibition and Flying Yankee are favourite intermediate runs, and Sweepstakes and Showboat serve experts. With 17 glades, trees are a major draw: Reggae Glades and Moose Alley suit newcomers to tree skiing, Rags to Riches and Pel's Pass link terrain between the two peaks, and Miss Behavin' and Not Too Shabby add more. Three terrain parks round out the mix. Ragged suits families, glade skiers and strong intermediates looking for variety and space, and the two-peak layout gives plenty of room to spread out.
The 2025-26 season at Ragged Mountain ran from 13 December 2025 to 5 April 2026, a roughly sixteen-week season supported by average annual snowfall of around 97 inches. This season also marked a significant ownership transition, with new local owners purchasing the resort in November 2025 as it turned 60 years old.
Midwinter, from December through February, typically brings the most consistent conditions to Ragged's advanced-and-beginner-weighted terrain. As an independently operated resort without major multi-resort pass affiliation, Ragged draws a value-conscious, regional New Hampshire visitor base seeking uncrowded slopes at accessible pricing.
Free access for children aged 5 and under and seniors aged 80 and over reflects the resort's long-standing commitment to affordable, family-friendly skiing. School holiday periods bring increased family visitation given this generous pricing structure and the resort's varied terrain. Weekend crowds draw primarily from central New Hampshire given the resort's roughly 90-minute drive from Boston.
Specific event programming beyond standard operations is not confirmed in available resort information. Following the November 2025 sale to new local owners, who have pledged to preserve the mountain's character after 60 years of operation, Ragged continues building on a history shaped by both hardship and resilience since its 1965 founding. This renewed local ownership remains a defining point of interest for the resort's community this season.
Ragged Mountain sits near Danbury, New Hampshire, with a base elevation of 1,001 feet and a summit at 2,251 feet across a 1,250-foot vertical drop over 250 acres spanning both Ragged Mountain and adjacent Spear Mountain. This central New Hampshire setting places the resort within a genuinely rural part of the state.
Danbury and the surrounding central New Hampshire communities offer modest local lodging and services within a short drive of the resort. New London and the broader Lake Sunapee region lie within a reasonable drive as well, providing additional visitor amenities.
Interstate 89 provides access to the broader region, with local roads connecting to the resort itself near Danbury. Winter driving conditions on regional roads can include snow and ice, though the well-travelled routes are regularly maintained. There is no direct public transport service to the mountain.
Manchester-Boston Regional Airport, within a reasonable drive, is among the nearer airports with commercial service, making Ragged accessible for visitors flying into the region, though the resort's visitor base is drawn predominantly from central New Hampshire and the greater Boston area by car.
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Colorado’s early-season dominoes keep falling. Arapahoe Basin opened on Wednesday, Keystone follows on Friday, and now Wolf Creek is joining in on Saturday 31 October, just in time for Halloween. A storm on 23 and 24 October left 20 inches of natural snow in the San Juans, and three lifts will turn from 9:00 am, covering about 30% of the mountain. Expect rocks, unmarked obstacles and open water, but also Local Appreciation lift tickets at $73 for adults.

Keystone is next. After Arapahoe Basin claimed the first chairlift skiing of the season on Wednesday, Keystone opens on Friday 30 October at 9:00 am with more than two miles of snowmaking-built terrain on Schoolmarm and Silver Spoon, plus free donuts, coffee and a live DJ. Last year the order was reversed, when Keystone squeezed in a three-hour afternoon session to beat A-Basin by a day. Snowmaking has been running since 15 October.

Beaver Creek is getting ready for the biggest Birds of Prey ever, and this time it is not leaving the snow to chance. Crews started making snow on 27 October with 16 newly installed automated guns on the lower third of the course, after last December’s warm spell forced a downhill off the schedule. Seven races across two weekends run from 3 to 13 December, the most the course has hosted since its 1997 debut, and the guns start themselves whenever the weather allows.

Winter has officially started in North America, and it is one blue run long. On Wednesday 28 October, Arapahoe Basin fired up the Black Mountain Express at around 10:30 am after a surprise announcement just hours earlier, becoming the first major North American resort open for 2026/27. Cold nights, a dusting of natural snow and a lot of snowmaking made it happen in the resort’s 80th winter. More terrain is promised as the snow guns keep running.

Sulden am Ortler has called off its 31 October opening. The South Tyrol ski area has pushed its 2026/27 start back to Saturday 7 November, citing current weather and snow conditions and saying it will use the extra week to get the slopes in the best possible shape. The season is still scheduled to run through 2 May 2027. Elsewhere in Europe, around a dozen areas are already open, led by Sölden’s 30 kilometres of groomed runs.

Two days at Sölden, two races decided by a hundredth somewhere on the podium, and one very quick Brazilian. Lucas Pinheiro Braathen led from the first run to win the men’s World Cup opener by 0.48 seconds, with Loïc Meillard second and Marco Odermatt third. River Radamus charged from 15th to fourth on a rutted course, and Britain’s Freddy Carrick-Smith banked his first World Cup points. Braathen still hasn’t lost a giant slalom since Olympic gold.

The Alps are about to swap mild, sunny October weather for something far more wintry. A cold front arrives Tuesday, and SnowStash forecasts have Monterosa Ski out in front with 64 cm over 14 days, ahead of Blatten Belalp (55 cm) and Verbier (43 cm). The snow line should fall below 2000 metres by Wednesday night, and glaciers across Switzerland, Italy and Austria are in line for the best of it. The wind will have a say too.

A large avalanche struck near Laguna del Inca adjacent to Ski Portillo on Saturday afternoon, killing four people and injuring four others. The group were day visitors mountaineering in the backcountry after reportedly being warned about elevated avalanche risk by resort staff.
Ragged Mountain runs five lifts: one quad chair, one six-person chair and one triple chair, serving 57 runs across 250 acres near Danbury, alongside two t-bars. This network has been rebuilt substantially since the resort's turbulent early history, including a bankruptcy and period of closure in the 1970s and 1980s.
The original 1965 opening featured just a T-bar and a Hall double chair serving seven runs, modest infrastructure that proved insufficient to sustain the resort through a lack of snowmaking investment and the 1974 bankruptcy that followed. Following purchase by the state and a subsequent decade of private operation that also ultimately failed, the mountain closed entirely before its 1988 reopening.
Developers Al and Walter Endriunas, who purchased and reopened Ragged Mountain in 1988, expanded the terrain onto adjacent Spear Mountain and installed New Hampshire's first six-person chairlift, a significant technological leap for the region at the time. This six-person chair remains a notable feature of the current lift network.
Following the resort's sale to new local owners in November 2025, marking Ragged's 60th anniversary, continued investment is expected to support this five-lift network under the new ownership's stated commitment to preserving the mountain's character. Specific further planned lift projects are not confirmed in available resort information.
More Ragged Mountain intelligence: trail map, snow report, webcams, resort overview.