The Slope Maintenance crew was able to get a few snowcats out to start track packing this week. This process helps to consolidate our basal snow layers while creating a snow surface that can better capture future snowfall. For the last few weeks, we had left our thin snowpack intact to help cover the slopes, reflect the sun, and cool…

As mentioned in an earlier post, the mountain continues to hold snow on certain aspects. As we approach the winter solstice, the sun is tracking lower in the sky with each passing day. Combined with relatively cool temps at night, we have managed to hang onto much of the snow we received in October and November on the north and…

While we wait for winter to show up, there are still some skiing options available with your Monarch Season Pass. I skied some laps at a couple of our partner areas earlier this week. Both Loveland and A-Basin have a few lifts open along with a handful of trails. In addition to these ski areas, there are a couple more…

With the recent snow this week, we were able to begin some of our harvesting techniques. Each year during the start of winter, we harvest our piles of snow after plowing the lot. The first few snows of the season are plowed off the edge of the lot in order to clean the surface. Subsequent snowfalls are then collected and…

Our new cat barn is complete and has received its final inspection. We decided to call this structure the barn because we already have two “shops” in this zone. lt also has a road base floor, so the name seemed appropriate. As described in an earlier post, this is going to be a really nice facility for our snowcats and…

As part of our upgrade to the Tumbelina Lift, we have added restraint bars to all 58 of the lift carriers. This will be the second lift at Monarch offering this feature (the Pioneer Lift is the other). This retrofit really made a lot of sense for this lift as part of our project. The natural progression at Monarch for…

We’ve been checking the horizon every day for our next storm. While we have seen around two feet of snow thus far, it has been spread out over the last six weeks. Most of the mountain is still covered in a blanket of snow. So, we at least have some ground cover that is reflecting the sun and starting to…

I finally was able to get out for a few ski tours this week. While the mountain is mostly covered, things are still a bit thin out there. The north and east slopes are holding snow pretty well while the other aspects are still picking up some afternoon sun. Was still great to get out of the base area and…

With recent timber projects at Monarch and elsewhere on the San Isabel National Forest, there have been several burn operations here locally. While Monarch is only burning some smaller slash piles in the Paradise lot, the USFS has several larger burn projects on the forest. The Mount Shavano Prescribed Fire project includes burning 434 acres five to seven miles west-northwest…

The upper mountain appeared to be fairly covered this week. Unfortunately, we are not there yet. It looks like there is a chance of some snow this week but not a whole lot on the horizon for the second half of November. Do a snow dance. Wash your car. Burn some skis. Whatever it takes to get there. Stay tuned.