Monarch Marathon

A few of our patrollers started a tradition several years ago. They would pick a nice spring day during the slower weekdays in March or April. Under bluebird conditions with just a few hundred people on the mountain, they would get after it and ski every lift-served trail at Monarch in a day. I recently had a guest ask me…

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Home Stretch

Each season writes it’s own story, and this season certainly has! However, each one always shares a few of the same chapters every year. First, there is the big push to get the lifts spinning and guests on the mountain, expand our operations one by one, open additional terrain and get through the Christmas holiday. Next comes the meat of…

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Buried

What a night! The storm came in with a vengeance and was a big-time upslope storm. These types of storms come in from the opposite direction as the normally would (aka upslope). Our usual wind direction here at Monarch is primarily Southwest or West. This storm delivered a wallop with a peak wind gust of 71 mph out of the…

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MSP

I am fortunate to work with some very talented and incredible people in the Mountain Operations division at Monarch. While all staff members (and Monarch guests) had to rise to face new challenges this season, one department has been on the very tip of the spear helping to operate our ski area during a global pandemic. As a remote ski…

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Spring Days

After last weekend’s powder storm, we have seen a few beautiful and sunny days here on the mountain. Things are looking great on the slopes after the recent storms and we have enjoyed a few warm spring days of skiing. It looks like a weather transition begins later today with more chances of snow on the way tonight and lasting…

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Game Changer

What a storm! There was a lot of hype leading into this snow event for Colorado and it delivered in a big way. We have had over two feet of snow this week and with a bit more forecasted for tonight we will surpass 200″ for the season. Along with this increase to our snowpack, our operating season will now…

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Brace for Impact

Ok Colorado…we are about ready to get hammered by an historic winter storm Xylia. The northern Front Range looks to take the brunt of it but there will be plenty to go around. Monarch is located in the bottom center of the High Resolution WRF weather model below and looks to be in the 15-20″ range through mid-day Monday. I…

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