Ragged Mountain Listed for Sale; “Absolutely not” Part of a Broader Pacific Group Resorts Selloff
Resort could remain with PGRI - “We would love to see Ragged Mountain stay in the PGRI family," company officials say
It’s one of the stranger portfolios in North American skiing: a Rocky Mountain resort marooned on the wrong side of Colorado; a snowy monster locked in the wilds of a Canadian island; the only ski area in Maryland; a Virginia mountain that recorded zero inches of snowfall two winters ago; the snowiest ski area in the East; and Ragged, the onetime dysfunctional Ski 93 mountain that improbably owned New Hampshire’s only six-pack chairlift for 20 years. Pacific Group Resorts collects them all:
Whatever is going on with this odd ski company, it must be working. In 2022, PGRI won Jay Peak at auction with a $76 million bid. It was a seismic addition. For the first time, Pacific Group Resorts owned a duo that worked in flawless complement: little but thickly gladed Ragged, with its two high-speed lifts and interstate(-ish) access, sits less than two hours from Boston; Jay, the aspirational big brother, sits two-and-a-half hours north of that, also off the interstate, but rough for a day trip. With pass reciprocity (unlimited Ragged for Jay passholders; five days at Jay for Ragged passholders), PGRI created a neat little hub-and-spoke network that fused New England’s best ski area with one of its most under-appreciated.
“I do think our reciprocal visits with our PGRI sister resorts have been a great thing for Ragged Mountain,” Ragged GM Erik Barnes told The Storm.
So it was shocking when the company suddenly listed Ragged Mountain for sale last month. PGRI had, over several years, purchased all of the other ski areas it operated from their owners: Wisp and Wintergreen from EPR in 2021, Powderhorn earlier this year. Ragged, according to the Concord Monitor, was winding down a “record season,” crossing 100,000 skier visits for the first time. Then-company president and CEO Vernon Greco said less than two years ago that PGRI harbored “a desire for further acquisitions.”
But perhaps PGRI had lost interest in Ragged. The company seemed to have given up on a long-teased expansion onto Pinnacle Peak, though they cut trails years ago. A PGRI statement provided to The Storm read: “After investment of substantial improvements at the resort including lifts, snowmaking, base lodge upgrades, parking lots, and base area lodging, the owners of Ragged Mountain believe it is now well positioned for the foreseeable future, and they have determined the time is right for this classic New England ski area to be ushered into the future by new ownership.”
Maybe PGRI wanted to focus elsewhere? The company had recently confirmed intentions to replace Powderhorn’s 1972 West End double with a high-speed quad, and has hinted at replacing Jay’s sometimes-unreliable Bonaventure lift (reached for comment, Jay Peak GM Steve Wright could not offer an updated timeline). Could the company be selling Ragged to fund upgrades at its other resorts? Or to escape EB-5 lawsuits related to an unbuilt hotel and other projects?
It appears not. Rather, the sales listing appears to be a quirk in legalese. PGRI Chief Marketing Officer Christian Knapp explained it to The Storm in this way via email:
“Doug Anderson owns Ragged Mountain outright. Doug is also the majority owner of PGRI. PGRI is the operator of Ragged Mountain. The sale of Ragged Mountain needs to be an arm’s length transaction, Doug cannot sell it to himself.”
Asked whether PGRI hoped to end up as Ragged’s long-term owner, Knapp offered this: “We would love to see Ragged Mountain stay in the PGRI family. However, the sales process has to run its course for that to be a possibility.”
Which means… what exactly? It sounds as though PGRI wants to ultimately keep Ragged. Knapp did confirm that Ragged’s sale was “absolutely not” the start of a broader sell-off of company assets.
So now what? As Utah-based POWDR demonstrated in selling Killington and Pico to a group of independent investors last year, consolidation is not destiny. Perhaps PGRI will spin off Ragged. If so, who would buy it? Would any of the conglomerates be interested? Is this a potential rich-skier-guy pet project? Let’s explore three possible futures for Ragged Mountain: