Snow Farming

Monarch is one of the last ski areas in Colorado to not utilize artificial snowmaking in our operation. We take great pride in offering an all natural product and strongly believe that nothing is better than making turns down a trail covered in real snow.  We do however, use several strategies in farming every flake that Mother Nature provides. One…

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Peek at Mirkwood

Here is a little sneak peek at Mirkwood that BL shared from the other day.  The early snowfall is clinging to the bowl and it’s starting to take on its winter look.  We have a long way to go out there, but there looks to be a significant storm in the forecast that will help get things started.  Stay tuned!

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Herd on the move

We had a very nice elk herd move through the ski area this week.  It’s that time of year where hunting activity can move them over ridgelines or winter storms may push animals from the high peaks down into the forest and meadows below.  Maybe they are just hanging out within a developed recreation site during this fall period.  Or…

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From 30K

Here is an incredible look at Monarch Mountain and the No Name Basin project from 30,000′.  A good friend of the Monarch Family, Ryan Confer, shared this image with us as he was flying overhead in a commercial airplane.  Looking good down there!

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Southernmost

I had a chance to visit the southernmost ski area in the United States.  You don’t necessarily correlate the Sonoran Desert with skiing.  Yet, that is what exists just a bit over 100 miles from the Mexican border.  Mt. Lemmon Ski Valley tops out at over 9k feet in elevation high above the valley floor where the Saguaro cactus roam. …

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No Name Lines

Here is a look at the fall line down the designated trail corridors within No Name Basin.  This footage was taken by our contracted drone operator and shows a higher level view of the terrain which tend to make it look a bit flatter.  I’ve hiked out of No Name Basin quite a few times this summer and fall.  I…

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Little Bit of Winter

We had a nice storm move through this weekend.  Monarch received five inches of fresh snow and we started off the work week with a little bit of winter.  The plows were in early clearing the lot and the team was out shoveling the deck and entryways this morning.  Our patrol crew visited the snow study and logged our first…

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Snowcat Storage

Another project that is nearing completion is the additional snowcat storage building.  This will be a heated and insulated two-bay facility located in the northern end of our vehicle maintenance parking lot.  This new space will now give our VM team a total of 10-bays to park machines in a warm spot that is out of the weather.  This indoor…

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Mountain Ops Annex

The contractors are putting the finishing touches on the Mountain Ops Annex.  As described in an earlier post this summer, this facility will be located next to our Patrol HQ and will provide offices, locker rooms and meeting space for our Ski Patrol, Base Operations/Parking Lot crew, and our Terrain Park Crew.  Nice to be getting to the finishing line…

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