The top terminal foundation for the new lift in No Name Basin is coming together. The concrete for this foundation is poured in two separate events. The slab or spread footer is poured first a few weeks earlier. This footer will be completely underground and provides the base for the foundation. Secondly, the vertical column concrete is poured. The rebar…
There is an amazing complex of wetlands in No Name Basin with the majority of these located within the tree islands or bordering trail edges. The trail network and our project implementation plan were designed to work around these riparian areas while preserving their ecological function and special character. This included avoiding these zones all together with trail design and…
Exciting times at Monarch with the new No Name Basin trail map having been recently released and the updated front-side map yet to come. With that in mind, I wanted to refresh our readers on a bit of our trail map history with some posts I put out in previous years. I blogged about some of our earlier maps several…
While the bird was on site, we took advantage in flying out some timber from one of the NNB trail corridors. These trees were located in a wetland area on the lower reaches of the “Ambush” ski trail. We worked to minimize impact to this area by cutting trees in March, skidding what we could with snowcats over snow, and…
We recently hosted the USFS Region 2 Leadership Team at Monarch Mountain. Region 2 includes forests and grasslands in Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota and Wyoming. Representatives within the group included Regional Foresters, Deputy Regional Foresters, Forest Supervisors, Forest Deputy Supervisors, the Mountain Resort Program Manager, District Rangers, and other key USFS personnel. As a ski area that is located…
The teams from Skytrac and Timberline Helicopters have our tower foundation forms in place for the new Tomichi Lift in No Name Basin. Thirteen forms were flown from the parking lot out to the lift line in NNB along with some steel components for the top terminal. Amazing how quickly and safely this team worked to transport these items from…
The lift tower foundation forms are ready to fly. The crew from Skytrac has worked to build these out in our parking lot since arriving in early May. There are thirteen foundation forms to fly along with a few other pieces of steel that the team will transport to the ridgeline with the bird. The pilot from Timberline Helicopters has…
The motor room enclosure for the Tomichi Lift has arrived. This unit will house the drive system for the new lift and will sit atop the Continental Divide. Unlike our other matte black lifts here on the frontside of Monarch Mountain, this enclosure will be “Munsell Gray”. This was the recommended color given to us by the USFS landscape architect…
The team from Skytrac has assembled the first triple carrier for the new lift. We are using this chair as a prototype to engineer our evacuation device. The carriers will also include restraint bars and a padded seat when fully complete. Who is excited to ride one?!
We are spending the bulk of our days out in No Name Basin. There is a lot of activity going on with top terminal foundation work, tower foundation excavation, timber processing/forwarding, and service road construction. The Vehicle/Slope Maintenance teams have been installing custom made steel winch anchors. Our Patrol trail crew has also been hard at work with erosion control…
