New Hampshire’s Ragged Mountain Resort is for sale as it turns 60
Skiers on the main chair lift at Ragged Mountain ski area in Danbury, N.H., on Thursday, Dec.6,2018.(Valley News - Rick Russell) Copyright Valley News. May not be reprinted or used online without permission. Send requests to permission@vnews.com. Valley News file — Rick Russell
The sun shines brightly on two of the eight trails open at Ragged Ski area on Monday, December 4, 2107. Rain is moving in today but colder tempertures are due later in the week. GEOFF FORESTER / Monitor file
As late as the 2019-2020 season, Ragged Mountain planned a "future expansion" to a third mountain, Pinnacle Peak. It never went through and is no longer shown on their trail maps. New England Ski History—Courtesy
Ragged Mountain Resort in Danbury as seen on Oct. 11, 2016. (ELIZABETH FRANTZ / Monitor staff) ELIZABETH FRANTZ
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Published: 03-21-2025 11:30 AM
Modified: 03-21-2025 2:53 PM |
It’s an interesting time for Ragged Mountain Resort in Danbury, N.H., which is holding its 60th birthday party this weekend after enjoying a record ski season – because it’s also for sale.
The ski resort and its surrounding 1,900 acres, including more than 800 potential residential lots, are being marketed by CBRE Group, a major commercial real estate firm. The ski mountain covers about 250 acres, while the development land spans another 443 acres, according to the listing.
“A potential buyer could purchase the resort or the real estate development land or buy the two together,” CBRE says in a brochure. No sale price is included.
This uncertain future won’t dampen the ski area’s birthday party, however. Ragged Mountain is holding a bunch of events over the weekend, from a Bump ‘n Jump free-style contest on Saturday to a “party ski from the summit” on Sunday including people “that have significant history” with Ragged over the years.
On Friday, the first 1,000 lift tickets were sold online for $19.65, to celebrate its opening year, and the next 100 cost $60 to honor the resort’s 60th anniversary. Typical weekend lift tickets bought in advance cost $89.
There is reason to celebrate, said Marketing Manager Kyle Matzke.
“We breached over 100,000 skier visits for the first time. It’s been a banner year in revenue and skier visitation,” he said, looking back on months of snowfall and good snowmaking conditions. “It’s nice to finally get a real winter here.”
Matzke said off-season business, such as weddings, school prom celebrations and corporate events, have also grown.
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Like many ski mountains, Ragged has seen its share of financial turmoil over the years as a series of owners have struggled with the cost of lifts, snowmaking and labor.
The resort opened in 1965 — with one story suggesting the name came from comments about its ragged conditions — but it went bankrupt in 1974. It was bought by the state, which promptly sold it to private investors who operated Ragged for a decade before they went under and shut down the mountain.
Ragged is now owned individually by Doug Anderson, a co-founder of Pacific Group Resorts, said Matzke.
The mountain plans to wrap up this ski season on April 6.
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