It’s time to recognize those that have carried the torch for Monarch. We recently created a wall on the upper level of the Lodge near the Administrative offices that highlights the General Managers that have guided Monarch over the decades. Here’s a little backstory.
In the early years after Monarch’s inception in 1939, the mountain was a ski club, then owned by the City of Salida, and eventually purchased in 1951 by Ray Berry for just $100. The mountain began with a Chevy engine powered rope tow up the Gunbarrel trail along with another rope pull that carried guests up the lower angled slopes of what is now the Snowflake trail. The base area consisted of a log cabin known as the Inn Ferno and additional log cabins that served as an outhouse. It was a rustic experience to say the least.
Gerald Berry stepped in afterwards as General Manager to head up ski area operations from 1960-1968. Under his leadership, a T-Bar was purchased from the defunct Tenderfoot ski area near Cripple Creek, CO. This lift topped out just to the north of the current unload area of the Tumbelina lift. In 1961, a homemade lift fabricated from oil-derrick parts was constructed that traveled the alignment of the current Garfield Lift. A new base lodge and A-frame was also constructed during the early-to-mid 1960’s to replace the aging log structures. Elmo Bevington bought a controlling interest in the company in 1967, but the Berry family continued in their role of leading operations at the mountain.
Jack Watkins moved into the GM role in 1968 at a critical time for Monarch. The T-Bar had just been replaced by a Poma lift in the same alignment and the Hall Lift company was onsite to build the Breezeway Lift in 1968. This new lift added a significant amount of new terrain on the opposite side of the mountain. The Garfield lift was also built by the Hall Lift company in 1969 and Monarch was officially on the Colorado ski map. Jack carried on in his GM role until 1980 which brought about another significant era of growth for Monarch.
Ned Stock moved into the General Manager role in 1980, which brought the construction of the Panorama Lift and a huge terrain expansion. Adding the Pano Ridge terrain tied together the existing ski area pods from Garfield and Breezeway and greatly improved skier circulation. The following year, the Poma lift was removed and another Hall lift was constructed with the Tumbelina Lift going in.
After a few decades in the Ski Patrol, Grooming, and Mountain Operations roles, Rich Moorhead then stepped up to General Manager in 1993 and would see the company through a long stretch and another transformative period. First, he navigated his way through several ownership changes in the 1990’s and a new Master Development Plan. Projects during this decade included the addition of the wastewater facility, above ground fuel storage, building the sediment pond, base area improvements, and the installation of the Pioneer Lift quad chairlift in 1999.
Our current ownership, PowderMonarch LLC purchased the ski area in 2002 and it was time for Monarch to really “level up”. Several projects would be lined up in the years to come that included building the deck, paving the main parking lot, opening Mirkwood as hike-to terrain in 2005, building the Rental and Lesson Center in 2007, constructing a new water storage system, and adding two conveyor lifts for lessons on Safari/Congo. Additional lift upgrades were to follow over the next couple of years with a new Skytrac drive terminal for Garfield in 2010 and building the Caterpillar Lift in 2011.
The 2011 Master Development Plan to include No Name Basin was also created and accepted by the USFS at this time. A 16,000 square foot addition was built onto the existing base lodge in 2012 giving Monarch the much needed under-roof capacity for our guests. The initial phases of Paradise Lot construction occurred in 2012 and 2013 providing Monarch guests a few hundred more parking spaces to access. The Breezeway lift was next for an upgrade with a new Skytrac drive terminal in 2014.
The following year, Randy Stroud moved up to the GM role in 2015. Having worked closely with Rich over the previous 15 years and heading up several of these large Cap Ex projects, the momentum carried on and Monarch continued to grow. A 5,000 square foot Vehicle Maintenance building was constructed in 2016, a new Skytrac Drive for Pano was installed in 2017 and a hydraulic tensioning system for it was built the following year. The Tubing Park was also constructed in 2018 and the Monarch Pass vegetation management project was initiated to begin addressing the spruce beetle endemic. As if navigating the onset of the spruce beetles wasn’t enough, Randy also navigated the challenge of operating a ski area during the COVID pandemic in 2020.
Once on the other side of the distraction of the pandemic, he immediately got back to work with a formal proposal to expand the ski area onto the western side of the Continental Divide in 2021. While the USFS reviewed the proposal, the Tumbelina lift also received a new Skytrac drive system and the Paradise Lot was expanded yet again and doubled in size. Randy spearheaded the idea to add RFID gates at our lifts along with Fiber Optic runs and improved Wi-Fi in the base area. An additional 4,000 square foot building was constructed for the Vehicle Maintenance team and to house our fleet of snowcats. Significant vegetation management work continued every summer with the exception of the 2020 pandemic year.
In 2022 a new retaining wall was constructed, the parking lot was improved, additional tree thinning continued on the Breezeway side, and the environmental studies in No Name Basin were conducted. The Crest was also acquired in the fall of 2022 and remodeled over the winter months, primarily by Randy himself. Monarch Mountain at the Crest opened in the early summer of 2023 as work behind the scenes continued to push the No Name Basin project through.
Finally, after years of planning, mapping, studying, engineering, and generating the capital funding for the project, the proposal to expand the ski area into No Name Basin was approved by the USFS in July 2024. High voltage power runs, trail clearing, road construction, and lift engineering took place over the summer and fall months. For good measure, the Mountain Ops Annex building and another 2-bay vehicle shop were also constructed in the base area during this timeframe.
There was an overlap in 2024 into the following spring where Monarch had two active GM’s. Chris Haggerty joined the team in fall of 2024 with Randy staying on until the spring of 2025 to assure a smooth transition at the helm.
Chris stepped into the GM role at a very busy and exciting time for Monarch. The summer of 2025 was a BIG push to finish out the No Name Basin project. There were still thousands of feet of road construction, stream crossings, final touches on the trail network, signage, fences, and of course the brand new Tomichi Lift to build. By October of 2025, the project was complete and No Name Basin was poised to open for our guests in the 2025-26 winter season.
Little did we know, that the upcoming winter season would bring the lowest snow total that Monarch has seen since the 1976-77 winter season (which ironically was Rich Moorhead’s first season at Monarch). Despite this hardship, Chris navigated through a challenging winter to provide our guests with a quality experience with indoor improvements and a high quality product on the slopes. No Name Basin opened to the public on January 29th to rave reviews and LOTS of high fives.
Thanks to this group of leaders stepping into the General Manager role, Monarch has come such a long way over the decades. I am so appreciative of their ability to guide the company and provide mentorship for our staff along with the greater Chaffee and Gunnison County communities. I am thankful for all that they have contributed, and excited to see what the next generation will bring to Monarch Mountain.