Construction Starts on Ragged Mountain Snowmaking Pond Expansion
The expanded pond may add 20 million gallons of storage for snowmaking.
Thursday, September 29, 2016, NewEnglandSkiIndustry.com
In a Facebook post today, Ragged Mountain announced the start of construction on a major snowmaking pond expansion. NewEnglandSkiIndustry.com News was the first to report the project earlier this month.
According to the Facebook post, the lower pond expansion will increase water storage from 4 million gallons to 24 million gallons. Ragged was awaiting a Department of Environmental Sciences Alteration of Terrain permit in order to start the estimated 3 month construction project. The project is now expected to take 8 weeks and be completed before the start of the season.
The pond expansion will encroach upon part of the former Ragged Mountain Golf Course. Another portion of the golf course was surrendered in 2013 when a tubing park was constructed.
The estimated $750,000 to $800,000 project is funded in part by state financing, following Governor and Council approval of a $350,000 New Hampshire Business Finance Authority loan on August 24. According to BFA Executive Director Jack Donovan, Ragged Mountain went to the state after being unable to secure a bank loan for the project.
The $350,000 Ragged Mountain loan is the latest in a string of new state ski area debt proposals in New Hampshire. $28 million in BFA financing has been pledged to the Balsams project. More recently, the Governor and Council approved a $5,907,512 financing agreement with Pinnacle Public Finance to fund Cannon Mountain snowmaking improvements.
Ragged Mountain snowmaking pond construction, September 2016
This story was updated on October 6 to reflect Ragged's new construction timeline of 8 weeks.
