By Bob MacDonald, Globe Staff, 02/09/99
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IF YOU GO . . .
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Directions: From Boston, take Interstate 93 through Concord; take Exit 17
(Boscawen) and drive west on Route 4. At Route 104 (that's Danbury), take a
right. The Ragged access road is about a half-mile on the right.
Ski area phone: (603) 768-3475.
Snow phone: (603) 768-3971
Lodging: (603) 768-3475
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DANBURY, N.H. -- The peak of Ragged Mountain was shrouded in mystery.
A usual reliable source listed the vertical drop here as 598 feet, while a
Ski New Hampshire media kit had it at 1,250 feet. I had heard that Ragged had
expanded, but had the gentle folk of Danbury, like those Welsh villagers in
the movie ``The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill, But Came Down a Mountain,''
hauled buckets of earth up Ragged and increased its elevation? And when it was
discovered that Ragged's owners, Al and Walter Endriunas, also owners of
Endriunas Bros. Excavating in Easton, Mass., the idea became even more
intriguing.
The truth, as is all too often the case, was more prosaic. Though at one
point Ragged Mountain did not have trails all the way to its peak, I had
simply misread my reliable source: Ragged has had a 1,250-foot vertical for
some years now.
What Ragged did add this year was another peak. Spear Mountain, to the
right of Ragged's original peak, provides more than 50 additional acres of
skiing and snowboarding for all levels and brings Ragged's total acreage to
150.
One thing that Spear gives Ragged that it didn't have before is that
almost-mandatory beginner run from the top, Cardigan Turnpike, a 1.75-mile
meandering trail that loops and dips and, though longer, is reminiscent of
Coos Caper at Bretton Ridge.
Also almost mandatory lately is glade skiing for those who like an extra
opportunity to bump into trees. Ragged has an intermediate glades area called,
simply, Glades, on the old moutain, and now it has added Joe's Ravine and
Claude's glades, expert ``runs'' on Spear Mountain.
And in the tradition of Killington's Outer Limits and Heavenly Valley's
Exhibition, the similarly named Show Boat gives you a chance to show your
bump-bashing skills or make a fool of yourself beneath the 4,200-foot-long
triple chair that serves all Spear's trails.
For smoother sailing, we'll take Flying Yankee, a superwide trail by New
England standards. Flying Yankee has a lot of roller-coaster dips and rolls,
but Ragged keeps it groomed for cruising.
Snowmaking covers 40 acres of the new terrain, all the actual defined
trails. People who want to ski with the trees are on their own.
While Ragged still isn't a ``big mountain,'' steep and deep fanciers will
find plenty of pitch on Sweepstakes and Birches, back on the main mountain.
Overall breakdown of trails is 30 percent beginner, 40 percent intermediate
and 30 perecent expert.
With all Ragged's newness, however, the area still feels like a throwback
to old New Hampshire skiing. With modern glass-and-natural-wood lodges seeming
to be the trend at ski areas, Ragged's buildings are classic white clapboard
that look right off the campus at Dartmouth.
You don't see condos dotting the long access road, and there's no slopeside
lodging. Instead you stay at old-fashioned, blueberry-pancakes type inns and
bed-and-breakfasts, the closest being Schoolhouse Corner B & B and The Inn at
Danbury.
The Schoolhouse commands a view of the mountain and serves hearty, made-to
order breakfasts.
The Inn, considered upscale and ``pricey'' by local standards, with rates
ranging from $29 to $69 a night, is a family-oriented place with no phones in
the rooms, a common television and reading room and comforting woodstoves. The
most modern touch, an indoor pool, is discreetly placed in the back.
The Inn serves a big buffet breakfast and sends its skiers off with a
sensible brown-bag lunch. Since the inn doesn't serve dinner every night,
your best bet is the bright lights of Bristol, about 10 miles away, and old
New England-style restaurants such as the Homestead, a rambling colonial house
with big fireplaces and a menu that covers a lot of territory.
Ragged, 1 1/2 hours from Boston, also attracts a lot of day trippers. And
if the area has an old-fashioned feel, so do the lift ticket prices: Weekends
and holidays are $30 for adults and $25 for 13 and under; midweek, $15 for all
ages. Children under 5 ski free with a paying adult.
Slopeside lodging awaits the completion of Ragged's golf course, scheduled
to open next year. A recent Saturday found Al Endriunas and his course
architect, PGA pro Jeff Julian, working on the plans in an office that itself
was still being dry-walled. Ragged is definitely a growth area.
