After twenty-seven years at Monarch Mountain, it’s time for my final sweep.  I have decided that this is my last season working at Monarch and I’ll be stepping down as the Director of Mountain Operations.  This will also be my final blog post with “Scott’s Blog”.  Don’t worry, the blog will continue!

BL Holdinghaus, will be heading up Mountain Operations and taking over the blog.  After working as our Ski Patrol Director and then the Assistant Director of Mountain Operations, Zach Moore will now move into the Director of Strategy & Safety role.  Finally, Malcolm Wilber will carry the title of Director of Operations and continue to head up our Mtn Ops maintenance departments along with parking and shuttling.  This is a very talented team and a big part of why I am able to step away at this time.

I first started at Monarch in 1999 as a frontline Ski Patroller, filled in as a part-time as a Cat Skiing guide for a season, and then moved into a Ski Patrol management role in 2005, which would keep me busy over the next decade.  After that, I stepped into an assistant role before heading up the Mountain Operations Division in 2015.

During my time here, I have had the opportunity to see Monarch change and grow in such a profound and meaningful way.  During this transformation, we have continued to stay true to who we are while working to make the ski area a better place for our guests and employees.

As I patroller, I was here to see Monarch complete a number of improvements on the mountain.  I experienced the first season with the Pioneer Lift in 1999, opening Mirkwood as hike-to terrain in 2005, and skied the record-breaking snowfall of 2007-08.  The team worked to upgrade the Garfield Lift with a new bottom drive terminal in 2010, built the Caterpillar Lift in 2011, expanded the base lodge by 16k square feet in 2012, and constructed a new drive terminal at the Breezeway Lift in 2014.

In my new Mountain Ops role, we built a new 5k square foot vehicle maintenance building in 2016, upgraded the Panorama Lift with a new drive in 2017, and constructed its hydraulic tensioning system in 2018.  During the summer of 2018, we also started the Monarch Pass Vegetation Management project thinning out thousands of dead and dying trees.  While we were at it, we simultaneously constructed the Tubing Park (just for fun).

We continued with helicopter logging work on Pano Ridge and the Garfield side of the mountain in 2019.  The Monarch team navigated the challenge of operating a ski area during the COVID pandemic in 2020.  The following year of 2021 was a busy one with more tree work on the mountain, installing RFID gates at the lifts, another 4k square foot shop, and doubling the size of the Paradise parking lot.  In 2022 we constructed a new retaining wall for the base lodge, conducted additional timber removal on the Breezeway side, and started the environmental review process in No Name Basin.  For 2023, we opened the Crest and replaced the haul line on Garfield.

We received approval from the USFS to move forward with the expansion into No Name Basin in 2024.  During this first summer of construction, we installed a high voltage power line up to the Continental Divide, cleared the trail network, rerouted 700′ of the CDNST, and built half of the service road to the bottom.  For good measure, the team also built two new buildings in the base area.  In 2025, the road construction was completed, terminal grading was finished, and the Tomichi Lift was installed.  Despite a challenging winter, the team worked to open this new terrain to the public in January of 2026.

There is a lot of work and accomplishments to be proud of over the last few decades.  However, what I am most proud of is the team that we have built here.  The Mountain Operations Division is in such a great spot with a very talented team of Directors, Managers, Supervisors, and A-Team staff.  The future at Monarch is extremely bright with this group in place.

I want to thank our ownership group for all of their support for the Mountain Ops team, and their willingness to invest in this crew and out on the mountain.  I would also like to acknowledge the senior leadership that helped to mentor me in the early years of my ski-industry career and in providing an environment for young leaders to grow.  In particular, I would like to thank Rich Moorhead, George Cowherd, and Randy Stroud for their leadership and for all of their accomplishments on the mountain.  It was an honor to work with all of you!  To Chris Haggerty and the next generation here at Monarch, I wish you all the best and know that good things are to come!

Finally, I want to take a moment of gratitude for the deep history that Monarch has.  I have so much respect for our founders and early pioneers that created this incredible ski area high on the Continental Divide.  Their tenacity and grit cannot be appreciated enough.

Thanks for reading and I’ll see you on the trails.  Enjoy!