To all of you who have been avid readers of Scott’s Blog throughout the years I wanted to take a second to introduce your new blogger(s). My name is BL Holdinghaus and I grew up on a farm in Missouri before moving to Canon City in 2004 to become a raft guide. My first introduction to Monarch was in 2005 when some friends brought me up to teach me to snowboard, which mainly consisted of me beating myself up on Freeway followed by a beer and nachos in the Sidewinder. I immediately felt a connection to Monarch and knew that I had found the missing piece to make the Arkansas River Valley my home. In 2006 Greg Wolfgang hired me as a liftie and I have never forgotten the excitement and all I learned in that first season at Monarch. Throughout my career, I have held 15 different job descriptions while spending 2 years in Lift Ops, 7 in F&B, 1 in Property Maintenance, and the last 10 years in Administration; most recently as the Director of Planning and Development. As I start my 21st season and move into my new role as Director of Mountain Operations, I am very excited to return to the daily operations side of the business working with Lift Operations, Ski Patrol, Property Maintenance, and Cat Skiing. These departments are just a small part of what Scott Pressly oversaw so I would also like to introduce the 2 others who I am working alongside as we try and keep up the high standards that Scott established.
Zach Moore grew up in Steamboat Springs before going to college at University of Wyoming earning his degree in Communication and a Masters in International Studies and Environment and Natural Resources. He started working as a Patroller at Monarch in 2009 before becoming Cat Skiing Supervisor in 2014 and Patrol Director in 2015. Zach has always worked side by side with Scott and spent the last 3 seasons overseeing Ski Patrol, Cat Skiing, and Terrain Parks as Assistant Director of Mountain Operations. Zach was also instrumental in the No Name Basin expansion as he was our field general for all the GIS, timber and erosion control work during construction. He also worked with Ski Patrol to design all the new sweeps, patient extraction, and evacuation SOP’s that were needed for the new terrain. Zach is one of the most detail orientated and organized individuals Monarch has ever seen so he is a natural fit to fill the administrative portions of Scott’s role. In his new role as Director of Strategy & Safety Zach will be doing all the behind the scenes work, overseeing compliance and licensing with our USFS permits, ATF, Tramway Board, CDPHE, Workers Comp, OSHA, Insurance, as well as heading up our Safety Committee. If all those acronyms are not enough, he will also be overseeing Team Monarch which is a natural fit as his son Aksel is one of the top upcoming young skiers in the IFSA circuit.
Malcolm Wilber grew up in Western Massachusetts and attended Ithaca College; receiving a Bachelor of Science degree in Outdoor Adventure Leadership. He also moved to the Arkansas Valley to work on the river and found Monarch working with Base Area Services in 2017. Malcolm has been a rising star at Monarch having been awarded the Golden Butterfly Award for the 2018/19 season, the President’s Award in 2022/23, and was name Ski Area Management Magazine’s Top 10 under 30 in 2023. The past 3 seasons Malcolm worked under Scott running the Slope Maintenance, Vehicle Maintenance, and Base Area Services departments in his role at Assistant Director of Base Operations. Malcolm was also a huge part of the construction and operations of No Name Basin and if Tomichi had been a quad, Malcolm would have been on the first chair (photo above) with Zach, Scott and myself. Malcolm oversaw all our heavy equipment operators both for construction and in designing our grooming and snow farming operations in season. This coming season Malcolm will be adding Lift Maintenance and Terrain Parks to his responsibilities in his role as Director of Operations. Malcolm is an incredibly energetic and creative leader who has been a huge part of Monarch’s success and will do an incredible job heading up the new Operations Division.
As you may have guessed, we have a lot of passion for Monarch, which is deeply rooted in all the incredible guests and employees that call this their hometown mountain. I met my wife while working in the Sidewinder, watched my kids grow up on the slopes and have made countless lifelong connections with the people I have met here. At its core, Monarch is a community of the hundreds of thousands of people who have skied and worked here. Monarch is a far more complex story than one person can tell so I will be inviting Zach, Malcolm, and others from the Leadership Team to come on as guest bloggers if they feel the desire to give a deep dive into their worlds. I will do my best to keep you in the loop on what is happening at your favorite mountain, and I hope we can catch a lift ride so I can hear your part of the Monarch story.