Our Ops crew has been hard at work this week getting the bottom course of our gabion wall set for Paradise Lot. Gabion baskets are wire mesh baskets that are set on top of a compacted rock layer then filled with 4-8″ rock. This creates a very stable per-engineered retaining wall that allows water to flow through which prevents the…
This is a section of reclaimed wetland from our construction of No Name Basin. During the construction of the NNB road, we had to cross an unnamed stream, which resulted in a small amount of wetland disturbance. Instead of wasting this beautiful top soil and plant life, our Patrol Manager, Keelie MacKelvey, replanted that material on a seep that had…
Today I got out with the family to to a test run (walk in my case) of the AVAD race course. It’s such an incredible view of the tram and ski area as you get to the halfway point which is the perfect reward for finishing the hard half. There is still time to register, so I hope to see…
Yesterday Knight Equipment was on site with our Lift Maintenance and Patrol crews to splice the Breezeway haul rope. Splicing a haul rope is a fascinating process that unravels the 6 individual strands (3 in each direction), pulls them back together at the marriage, re-wraps them around the core, before the final step of tucking the tails back into the…
Everyone up here at Monarch is getting excited for the race we have coming up on August 23rd at the Crest. This race is being put on by Arkansas Valley Advocates for Dyslexia (AVAD) which is a local non-profit who’s mission is “increasing access to resources for families affected by dyslexia through dedicated advocacy and comprehensive support“. Monarch has been…
The heat this week has made me so ready to get back to this!
One of our big goals this summer has been to clean up more and better ski lines in the No Name Basin trees. One area that makes a huge difference is removing lower branches on many of our dead beetle kill trees as it reduces the diameter of those trees from 5-10 feet to less than a foot. This morning…
Today marks 150 years since Colorado became the 38th state on August 1st, 1876. Colorado has long been known as the Centennial State since its induction into the United States coincided with the 100th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence. Since the USA was celebrating its Semiquincentennial earlier this summer, Colorado decided to up the game by dubbing this its…
With the Paradise Parking Expansion going full bore, the current task on hand is sorting all the fill we are creating as we need different materials for different parts of the project. The fine, clean fill will be used for compaction around culverts as well as for making a smooth and compacted final surface grade. 1-2″ rock will be compacted…
Last week I had the opportunity to take a Wilderness First Responder class with Buena Vista Mountain Adventures. Traditional Medicine is centered around the idea that a patient can always be moved quickly to a higher level of care, but Wilderness Medicine starts with the idea that help is hours or even days away. There is a big focus on…
