With this week’s storm, we now have enough snow to get some snowcats on the mountain.  The crew has started our annual ritual of track-packing the slopes.  This effort aims to compact the basal layers of snow while creating tracks in the snow that act as mini-snowfences to capture subsequent snow that falls or is driven by the wind.  We…

Monarch is one of the last ski areas in Colorado to not utilize artificial snowmaking in our operation. We take great pride in offering an all natural product and strongly believe that nothing is better than making turns down a trail covered in real snow.  We do however, use several strategies in farming every flake that Mother Nature provides. One…

Here is a little sneak peek at Mirkwood that BL shared from the other day.  The early snowfall is clinging to the bowl and it’s starting to take on its winter look.  We have a long way to go out there, but there looks to be a significant storm in the forecast that will help get things started.  Stay tuned!

We had a very nice elk herd move through the ski area this week.  Thanks to Matt for sharing this photo from when he arrived at work in the morning.  It’s that time of year where hunting activity can move them over ridgelines or winter storms may push animals from the high peaks down into the forest and meadows below. …

Here is an incredible look at Monarch Mountain and the No Name Basin project from 30,000′.  A good friend of the Monarch Family, Ryan Confer, shared this image with us as he was flying overhead in a commercial airplane.  Looking good down there!

I had a chance to visit the southernmost ski area in the United States.  You don’t necessarily correlate the Sonoran Desert with skiing.  Yet, that is what exists just a bit over 100 miles from the Mexican border.  Mt. Lemmon Ski Valley tops out at over 9k feet in elevation high above the valley floor where the Saguaro cactus roam. …

Here is a look at the fall line down the designated trail corridors within No Name Basin.  This footage was taken by our contracted drone operator and shows a higher level view of the terrain which tend to make it look a bit flatter.  I’ve hiked out of No Name Basin quite a few times this summer and fall.  I…

We had a nice storm move through this weekend.  Monarch received five inches of fresh snow and we started off the work week with a little bit of winter.  The plows were in early clearing the lot and the team was out shoveling the deck and entryways this morning.  Our patrol crew visited the snow study and logged our first…

Another project that is nearing completion is the additional snowcat storage building.  This will be a heated and insulated two-bay facility located in the northern end of our vehicle maintenance parking lot.  This new space will now give our VM team a total of 10-bays to park machines in a warm spot that is out of the weather.  This indoor…

It looks like we may see a return to winter weather at the end of the week.  Here is a look at the mountain before the storm.